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Predator Hunts, Firehouse Grit, and Storytelling with Lane Walter
5 Plays5 minutes ago
In this episode, host Drew Miles sits down with Colorado firefighter and seasoned outdoorsman Lane Walter for a raw and honest conversation about western hunting and the grind behind the lens. The two dive into the world of predator hunting, the influence of their mutual friend Mike Hearn, and Lane’s evolution into filming hunts — including the unforgettable moment of capturing Brian Barney’s first hunt on camera.
From high-pressure hunts to the lessons found in failure, Drew and Lane explore what it means to be a modern western hunter. It’s not just about pulling the trigger — it’s about the story, the chase, and the community built along the way.
Whether you're running a call at the firehouse or running ridgelines in search of coyotes, this episode is packed with authentic hunting talk, behind-the-scenes insight, and a few laughs along the way.
LANE WALTER
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/r2lane/
Website - https://www.lanewalter.com
TRICER USA
Website – https://tricerusa.com/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tricerusa/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/tricerusa/
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@tricer6985
#TricerPodcast #WesternHunting #PredatorHunting #PublicLandHunter #HuntFilm #DIYHunter #MountainHunter #HuntTheWest #StorytellingInTheWild #CoyoteHunting #BackcountryHunting #WesternBigGame #OutdoorBrotherhood #FirefighterHunter #HuntingStories #BrianBarney #FilmingTheHunt #HuntHard #HuntEthical #WesternLifestyle
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Transcript
Introduction to Lane Walter
00:00:01
Speaker
All right. Time for a new pod. I've been out of the saddle for a while. i've been traveling a ton. I'm going knock a bunch out this week. And I'm kicking them off with ah Lane Walter out of Colorado. how you doing, Lane?
00:00:13
Speaker
and I'm doing great. how are you doing? Doing great, man. i We have a mutual friend, Mike Hearn. Mike works with Tricer, works with me. And i was like, i need some guys to talk to you on the podcast. I'm running out of people. And he's like, you to talk to my buddy, Lane. And I don't know nothing about you, dude.
Mutual Connections and Respect
00:00:28
Speaker
Right. I did. I absolutely love Mike. He is really good people. Our, uh, our buddy Lance is living with him right now. Cause he just retired from the military and Mike's getting ready to get out. I mean, two solid dudes. Yeah. And definitely is Lance the big coyote guy.
00:00:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Huge predator hunter, man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So like, I know Mike's super into predator hunting. told me he goes to this roommate all the time. So
Life in Colorado and Filming Passion
00:00:48
Speaker
I'm into that. And you are, uh, living in Colorado, little North of Denver and you're a firefighter.
00:00:53
Speaker
Yep. Yeah. I'm a firefighter in the, largest department in the city are in the ah state and then trying to stay busy with that. And between that, between my kids and wife and then hunting and filming hunts and doing as much as I can. And I do some rodeo filming and yeah, trying to stay busy.
00:01:10
Speaker
Oh, you actually film hunts. Yeah. Yeah. like Like I could hire you out or like. Yeah. I started out, man, 2012 with Trevin Stolzfuss without back outdoors. And he kind of ran me through some camera schools, started learning some stuff with him.
00:01:25
Speaker
And then 2014 branched out, started filming with some other guys. I did some stuff with Eastman's. I filmed Brian Barney's first time. Did you? ever film Yeah, did guy kind of.
00:01:36
Speaker
He was like, hey, i got I need to hire you this fall. i'm like, all right, cool. And he's making it sound like it's going to be this easier hunt. and then And it was supposed to be. And then last minute, he's like, hey, there's this other guy that we're going film for the first time.
00:01:47
Speaker
going to have you go film him instead. So I went from filming. Nothing easy about filming Barney. to Dude, yeah. it he That guy is an animal on the mountain, man. just a straight up animal probably one of the greatest hunters of our generation as well awesome just phenomenal hunter just has like that like sixth sense when it comes to killing animals with a bow and just the way he does it just so genuine and when you know how it is when you're hunting and you get to know people when you spend time with them on the mountain and just spending those few days with brian on the mountain was awesome dude seeing him for the pressure on the first time like that i've seen break so many people when you're filming their first hunt
00:02:25
Speaker
and the way that he just kept his cool the whole time on it. And he would let me know, he's like, I'm feeling pressured to fulfill this time, you know, because they're putting all this trust in me
Filming Challenges and Success Stories
00:02:33
Speaker
and everything. And at the same time, he just was awesome.
00:02:36
Speaker
So. Yeah. So I film all my hunts now and like, I've kind of just like, I just tell everybody all the time. Like I just suck at hunting. Like I'm not like I kill a lot of stuff. Right. But I'm not Brian. Right. And I'm not.
00:02:48
Speaker
And like, I've kind of just been like putting them, even if I don't kill something, I put it out. Right. And like, I'm just kind of like, just get to know me. Right. Like I've learned, like, I love hunting just as much as Barney or Lampers or Schneider, any of these guys. Right.
00:03:00
Speaker
But, um, I just don't kill giant stuff like those guys have seemed like seem to do every single time, you know? and And I love it. Like we just did a bear hunt and it was me, Cody Ridge, my buddy, Travis, and then Brad hunt. And like very, I mean, all of us can glass, all of us can hunt, but I only got one opportunity to bear in seven days.
00:03:17
Speaker
You know what i mean? It was 90 degrees. And like, what are you goingnna do with this? I'm like, don't know. I'll probably put a film together and put it out. Like, I mean, the the majority of dudes, that's why when you talk about pressure, like there's a reason why success rates are 20%. That means like four out of five guys go home empty handed, right? All the time.
00:03:33
Speaker
All the time. Every hunt, right? And in in that 20%, 10% of those are the same dudes killing every year, right? I mean, 10% of those tags are the same dudes are just freaking killing elk every year because they're just phenomenal hunters, right? What I joke around with guys at work and stuff is that there's hunters and there's killers and guys like Brian and Lampers and Schneider, they're killers, just straight up killers. My father-in-law, just a killer. You put him somewhere, he's going to kill something. and yeah I got to work for it.
00:03:56
Speaker
And the reason I'm successful is because I stay out there for 30 days if have to. That's that's me. 100% is the only reason I'm successful is like, I'm just too stupid to quit. Right. And I put myself situations where I glass all day long. You'll never see me go back to the tent. Like I will stay out in the sun and glass all day long. Cause I know like, I just don't have the skillset to like that sixth sense these guys have. And I mean, like, I don't even know how many animals I've killed this year. I've killed a ton just between January and now.
00:04:22
Speaker
It's just, I just don't have like, there's a level to this thing.
Hunting Skills and Career Choices
00:04:26
Speaker
Like there's like, there's like high school football players and there's like Tom Brady and like Barney's in that Tom Brady, like level of Hunter where he just like there, he just is in the right spot, right time, understands it, just reads it better and just sees it. And like, I'm more than willing to admit that I love Hunter as much as him, but he's just next level. Awesome.
00:04:48
Speaker
and excel And obsessed his scouting. Like when we were on that hunt and he's talking, he's like, Oh yeah, I was just up here last weekend. And I, he got done watching his daughter's like volleyball game. on a Friday night and then he drove overnight to get there and then he hiked in and he did a 26 mile loop just glassing.
00:05:05
Speaker
And then he was home Sunday night so that he could take his daughters to school again on Monday. And then four days later drove the eight hours back to where that hunt was and it was hunting it. So less his obsession level with it is huge. And I think that's a huge part of why he's so successful with it too, is he's like, that was his 20th time driving down there and scouting that spot.
00:05:25
Speaker
Yeah, he's that. i And then he's also like in really good shape, right? Like I've, I camped him for a week and, uh, the guy got up and went, we were doing like a ah seminar together and the guy got up every morning at like 4am and went hiking.
00:05:36
Speaker
You know what I mean? Like and I'm up there like, I'm sleeping next to this lake and get up and go do some trout fishing and do my thing, you know? And he's just, yeah, he's a killer. I have so much respect for Brian. This isn't a podcast about great Brian is, but, um, he's been on the pod before and I have so much respect for him and a lot in common with them when it comes like our father's businesses and construction and the whole thing. So yeah. Awesome dude.
00:05:57
Speaker
So, so man, firefighters like kind of a cool gig. Like I've been telling my kid, like, you what are you going to Like my one boy is going lawyer. He's going to college right now. just picked him up from his missionary. He did a six month mission strip.
00:06:10
Speaker
He's going
Selective Filming and Hunting Adventures
00:06:11
Speaker
to go to college this fall. He wants to be a lawyer. My other boy, like, He's kind I don't know. And I'm like, dude, firefighting or a nurse? He doesn't, for some reason, the nurse he can't get over the nurse thing, like being a male nurse, like Fokker, you know, like ah the parents. yeah But like, dude, my buddies who are firefighters, my buddies who are nurses hunt all the time.
00:06:30
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. The schedule makes it really easy to get out and hunt because I can do shift trades with people. And so during the summertime, I'm working shift trades so that I get all of September off. And that's a huge draw to it. Oh, you just stack everything.
00:06:44
Speaker
I just stack days off. Yeah. Just with trades and everything. That's not why i went to it originally. I, ah my older brother joined the fire department closest to our house when I was like 16.
00:06:56
Speaker
And then I 17, we were out hanging out and one of the guys was like, Hey, you swung by the firehouse, you come check it out. And that night I swung by the firehouse, they were doing a training. They ah put me through like some down firefighter stuff. And i knew right then then that's what I was supposed to do with my life.
00:07:12
Speaker
It was awesome. I had a guy from Greeley. and that was out there training. And he was like, Hey, this is, yeah he' he's like, you're pretty good at staying calm and being natural in this. And you should look into this. And I, I just fell in love with it. I knew that's what I was supposed to do for my life.
00:07:26
Speaker
um And then eventually got hired on the biggest fire department in Colorado, the busiest um for two years, I was on the busiest engine in the state. It was, it's just awesome. And I absolutely love it.
00:07:37
Speaker
So if your boy's looking at it, it's an amazing job. It's changed a lot in the 20 years I've been doing it. but it's still an amazing job and it's what I'm supposed to do for my life. And then the but benefit and the bonus on top of that is, hey, like ah you can have a ton of time off.
00:07:52
Speaker
I think the thing that I was working in the oil field before I got hired on at the fire department and I was making $160,000 a year back in as ah twenty two year old that hadn't graduated college And then I quit the fire department, quit the oil field to go to the fire department and make $45,000 a year.
00:08:13
Speaker
So $120,000 pay cut is the best move I've ever done in my life. It's the happiest I've ever been for that because I'm actually doing what I'm supposed to do and chasing my passion. and
00:08:25
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome. And I didn't get to experience that right. And so I went full-time Tracer last year and like, it's just been an explosion ever since, like the best thing I ever did. Right. And like having a job that i love is next level.
00:08:38
Speaker
That's like, it's so important. People miss that. Right. They just look for a job. Like I just need a job or a career. And I think that's kind of a product of like our society of like the public school system. Like it's where we homeschool our kids. Like it's like they just trying to create these like little employees. And like just you have to go get a You have to this stuff, which I guess is like kind of like a more of an old school mentality.
00:08:56
Speaker
But man, like when you can find something you're passionate about, like firefighting or being a sheriff or whatever it is, you know i mean? maybe it is being an accountant. Maybe you just love being an accountant. um You never work a day in your life. I never understood that until the last couple of years. And I'm like, oh, wow, like really, I feel like I'd never work a day in my life. Like I got the coolest job in the world. Like I'm talking to Lane right now on a Monday morning about hunting an elk and we're to get into sheep and all that stuff here. And and that's awesome.
00:09:20
Speaker
Yeah, it is. And there's still days, man, I have to go to work, you know, and it feels like I'm going to work, but at the same time, it's still my passion. And then I get to chase the hunting and I get to film as much as I want. It's, it's amazing.
00:09:35
Speaker
And so are you like available for hire? Like if I needed you to go film some hunts, like you're available for that? Like you have your own like gig? on I've gotten to where I'm kind of, I'm kind of, I'm really picky as to what I'm going on now. I'm so busy with my hunts and then hunting with the family. And then the guys that I'm already filming, Derek Wolf retired from the NFL a few years ago.
00:09:55
Speaker
And I've been his main camera guy for a lot of stuff. And I, between filming with Derek and then i and other guys, I'm pretty, I try to only take a few gigs a year.
00:10:06
Speaker
um I do some stuff with Copeland Creative, who's someone that Mike has done stuff with and they're, to in my mind, some of the best. And like, he'll call me and hire me out as like a, a subcontractor type camera guy with them. And I try to only go out with the cool guys.
00:10:20
Speaker
I've had some phone calls from different people where it's like, ah Hey man, the one specifically about two minutes in, I was like, I think I'm booked for when you need me. He was, I haven't gave you dates yet. i said, yeah, I know because and this is supposed to be fun for me and it wouldn't be fun being out with you, bud.
00:10:38
Speaker
So yeah, That's awesome. but yeah. So you guys just heard Lane to shut me down right there before I even asked them. Nope, nope, nope, nope. I'm not shutting you down. I'm just saying like, and the thing is a lot of these hunts, like I like to film, I like to hunt myself. I'm doing it because it pays for my hunting and my camera addiction. yeah So it's got a like September. I don't film in September except for Derek.
00:11:00
Speaker
Um, but that's because we're hunting together this year. Um, but I tried to never film in September. So when it comes to a bow hunt, like most of the time I'm out, I hate doing white tail. um The only person I've ever filmed for a whitetail hunt was Evan from Hoyt for Hoyt.
00:11:14
Speaker
um And that's because it was Evan and he's such a good dude and they needed somebody. Yeah. and But I try to, so if it's a, but if it's a sheep hunt or a mountain goat hunt or like something really fun, dude, I'm in, I'll be there and I'll cancel probably like my run of the mill elk hunt so I can go be on that instead.
00:11:30
Speaker
I'm going to British Columbia this August to go film a guy for an outfitter up there. And just because it's a BC mountain goat hunt. mean, It's not something I'm going to be able to go do anytime soon. So I might as well go film somebody do it instead.
00:11:45
Speaker
Yeah, man, I, uh, I'm kind of like, I haven't been on a sheep hunt yet or a goat hunt. So this year, my buddy Ed drew ah goat tag in Colorado. took him like 28 years. Are you talking about Ed Fanchin?
00:11:58
Speaker
Ed Fanchin, yeah. Dude, Ed Fanchin, my father-in-law grew up with Ed Fanchin. I've known Ed for about 20 years.
00:12:07
Speaker
So ah I'm going over to Colorado ah like the end of July to spend a week with him. we're go to spend seven days just scouting sheep or scouting goats together. Mountain goats. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I already got all kinds of spots in there that to text over to Ed for that unit.
00:12:21
Speaker
Well, there you go. So, yeah, so similar because I can't draw the tag. world Yeah, he had 31 points, I think. Oh, yeah. Ed's right up there with it. When I said my father-in-law is a killer, Ed's right there with him on it.
00:12:35
Speaker
So, yeah. Yeah. Talk about killers. Yeah. Small world for sure. So I'm going to go over there with Ed just because like for one, like I know when I kill my first bull, I'll never forget this. Ed said, where are you at? I'll be there to pack it out.
00:12:48
Speaker
Yeah. And, That's something never forget. That's 10 years ago. And he drew this tag and I was like, you know, I know the hunts like during I'm going to be gone a lot, but I'm like, I'll go with you. I'll give you a week of my time to go scout with you.
00:12:59
Speaker
And he's like, done. it So we're going over there. I'm going his house and then we're going to drive up together Colorado and just go spend a week scouting and just trying to find some goats for him because he will not pick up a rifle. Oh, absolutely not.
00:13:11
Speaker
Absolutely not. Well, if he's not tagged out by the time I get back from one of my hunts, I'm going to go out there with him for a few days too. So I've told them, Hey, if you're not tagged out towards the end, I'll be there towards the end and helping you out. so Yeah, it's it's wild how many people Ed knows in the industry. And like he's not really like a known like a known dude, but when it comes to like people who are absolute bow killers, Ed is up there with all of them. I mean, I think Ed's got to be like 60-something now.
00:13:39
Speaker
He's got be close, yeah. Close to it. And the guy just is a freaking beast in shape and just gets it done with the bow. And yeah, I'm just so pumped to go look for sheep with them or go to them. That's what was going to talk about. Like, I got this, huh? What am I looking for for these things? And you know the guy already, so...
00:13:54
Speaker
ah Which is funny, dude. Yes. And the way I know him isn't through Pope and Young the way he knows so many people because he's one of their top scorers. It's literally my father-in-law and and him grew up together.
00:14:05
Speaker
And um they started hunting together. And I believe Ed is the reason my father-in-law picked up a bow for the first time. Like they did it together. So really cool small world. Like if you talk to him about fishing off from Catalina Island and stuff, like that's what they used to do all the time.
00:14:21
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Did did your father and I used to go to Catalina and hunt goats and pigs with that? Oh yeah. Yeah. you can't do that They used to make the Catalina quiver where they would ah just double and triple ah stack their arrows and try to take over like 12 arrows over there for the weekend. And he'd come back with zero.
00:14:37
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That's how Hawaii is, man. Like every arrow you shoot in Hawaii, you lose because it hits lava rocks. But man, there's so many goats. It's like, if you ever want to go just like get some reps in, like dude, go over to Kona and just kill 10 goats. You know mean? And you could do that easily in a few days over there.
00:14:55
Speaker
That's how Prince of Wales is too, hunting over there for those black tail deer. If you lose an arrow, you can just kiss it goodbye because you're not going to find it because there's a triple canopy that you're shooting into. You'll yeah will not find that arrow between the grass, the devil's club.
00:15:09
Speaker
And everything else that's in there. So I learned really quick over there. Like you got to make sure you're solid on your shot. Cause you're kissing the arrow. Goodbye. When you shoot it. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to go, uh, we're going to go do not Prince of Wales. We're going to go above Sitka this year and go do black tail, but we're doing open site lever actions.
00:15:26
Speaker
Oh, nice. I'm doing that in August. so It'll be during the, it'll be, they'll be in velvet. I'm going to go with, with Eric, Eric Chesser, Denimani and Brad Hunt. We're all four going up. They're all bringing lever actions.
00:15:38
Speaker
I think Eric's bringing, Eric's like sponsored by Weatherby. So he can't bring a lever action, but he's bringing his rifle, but we're all going to go do, you know, open set lever actions and go get our first, my first Sika black tail. Can you edit out what island it is if I ask?
00:15:50
Speaker
Or do you want i want me i'll just want to – I'll just tell you later. Yeah, say because there's one up there that my father-in-law and Ed have hunted actually. So ask Ed about it. They flew into and they had an awesome time, dude.
00:16:02
Speaker
So, yeah, I'm excited. We, uh, it's weird. Cause like the outfitters aren't allowed to tell you where to go, but like, they'll tell you like, no, like, Oh no. You know what mean? So they kind of tell you where to go. Right. So I think we've got a really good spot. He's like, Oh, he's like, kind of look over in this area here.
00:16:17
Speaker
And, uh, but man, it's a pretty cheap hunt, dude. Like we're all in like three grand a piece to go do this hunt. It's not that I love black tail because of that. You can do it for pretty cheap and it's fun. They call it the poor man's mountain goat hunt.
00:16:28
Speaker
or the poor man sheep hunt because the stuff that they live in ah depend on, depending what Island you're on, it's brutal country, man. And it's fun. Yeah. And we're, so we're going to be, I mean, like, I think it was, it's 1800 bucks or 1850 for a plane. We're doing two planes. So that's 3,600, but it's four of us.
00:16:44
Speaker
right? So 900 bucks a piece. Then your ticket up there from San Diego or wherever we're coming from Utah. They're all coming from Utah. Those three is only 800 bucks. I mean, right there, you're 1600 bucks in plus your tags. I mean, you're like, you're sitting there like maybe three grand, a little bit more all in for this hunt. And you're getting an Alaska experienced hunt in grizzly country to you'll actually two bucks where we're going. So that's going to narrow down your islands right there.
00:17:07
Speaker
um And, ah I'm excited to go do it, man. I've never been to Alaska. I know Ed's always been talking about it. Like we, we tried to do caribou a few years ago and we got screwed over cause they shut the unit down. We lost all our money. yeah the guy The guy took my money. They cooked like two grand from each of us. It was a bummer.
00:17:22
Speaker
But, um, so I'm excited to go up there and do it this time and check it out and see how it goes. And then, I really like these adventure hunts. So I'm going to try to you know try and do Alaska, you know, every other year or something. I try to be up there every year. And this year I'll be in British Columbia instead of Alaska, but last year i was in British Columbia and Alaska flew up there with my kids and my wife and flew back into a lake. And, and my wife ended up shooting a moose while the kids were there, which is awesome. The kids just all day were fishing for pike. It was, it was awesome. And once again, it's, it's more affordable than you think.
00:17:52
Speaker
It's getting more expensive than it what it was, but it's more affordable than what you would think it could be. And like with the Alaskan credit card for your flights, you have an $800 flight, but then you get a companion flight every year. So then you're if you do it with a buddy, that's down to 400 bucks and there's just little things you can do. And I got enough points on it to most of the time when I go up there now, I'm just flying on points. so So there's stuff you can do to make it a little bit cheaper, which nice I have the Alaskan credit card.
00:18:20
Speaker
So, yep. Yeah. It's awesome, man. Yeah. Sweet. So your jam is like, do you like, do you like filming more than hunting or hunting more than filming?
00:18:31
Speaker
Um, man, if I can have a bow in my hand, I want a bow in my hand. But the realistic thing for me is that I can't go hunt goats and sheep every year, yeah but I want to be hunting goats and sheep every year.
00:18:41
Speaker
So if you give me a bow in my hand on an OTC Colorado elk hunt over filming somebody's mountain goat hunt, I'm going to go do that mountain goat hunt. As long as they're like a cool individual, you know, I don't want to be on the mountain with somebody that's horrible.
00:18:55
Speaker
And then the same thing with like sheep and stuff uh, two years ago I went and I filmed Derek down in New Mexico because I had like a zero point draw tag here in Colorado. And he was hunting the Gila and I'd never been in the Gila. He's like, dude, I really need someone to come with. He's like, I don't want to use this camera crew that this company was trying to send with them. He's like, I just want to use you.
00:19:15
Speaker
And so I was like, all right, cool, dude. So I went down there for 10 days with them and it was a blast. So, I mean, we got worked over hard, but it was a blast. So, um, it's kind of a, I can't give you a one over the other, if that makes sense.
00:19:27
Speaker
and So, I mean, now if I have a tag that's taken me 10 years to draw, I'll probably go do that 10 year, obviously that 10 year draw tag over somebody else's hunt at that point. But it's kind of hard to apples to apples, you know?
00:19:42
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I keep having these 10 year tags and i have a hundred percent draw odds on and keep getting point crept on them every year. So I got point crept this year in Colorado for the third year in a row, hundred percent draw odds. Yeah.
00:19:53
Speaker
um I end up drawing, Oh crap, need to return that tag. I need to return my, I got second choice tag, which is kind of up by you, honestly. um But I'll probably return that tag because my kid drew statewide general rifle tag for Utah.
00:20:08
Speaker
Oh dude, that's awesome. So it's the tag that goes from, so in Utah, when you hunt in Utah, you can only hunt it on the general units from like August, like 14th through September 4th or something like that, or August 1st or something like It's like before the rut.
00:20:20
Speaker
Well, my kid's tag is a rifle tag statewide in the general units from September 13th through 23rd. Oh, so, so it's a rad tag. And I've got a bunch of dudes over there, right? They were kind of like,
00:20:32
Speaker
you will get you a bull, right. You kind of give you some, I just need, I just need some areas to kind of go cause it's generals a little bit harder. ah so I'm probably just going to turn back my Colorado second choice tag, which last year was an over the counter tag.
00:20:45
Speaker
Um, Because I don't want to be gone all of September because I'm going be gone all October and November. so yeah i hear you on so I'm trying to figure it out. I'm already going to Alaska and and I don't know. i might I might go hunt like five or six days the first part of September and just sit a wallow that I know that there was some elk on last year. So I might just go over there by myself, hike down.
00:21:07
Speaker
the problem is it's just such a commitment. to drive It's an 18-hour drive to get up 20 to hunt in Colorado. I mean, it's far for this unit. And then just hike down, sit that wall for five days, then drive home, be home for like five days, then drive back. But my kid's tag goes from the 13th to 23rd.
00:21:21
Speaker
And then two days later, him and my boy drew new Mexico tags for deer that are on a military base. And it's another dope tag. It's like a 70% success rate. So I'm like, gosh, I'm going to be gone just forever. Right. At least you're at the point you're doing it with your kids, which is way cool.
00:21:37
Speaker
Oh yeah. And I'd much rather go, I'd much rather go chase bulls with him and we're going chasing bulls in the route with a rifle. Like, and, I think we can find a pretty good bull. Right. I mean, he's not going to be super picky, but with the right, I don't know, maybe I'm being egotistical, I'm like, man, with a rifle during the rut, like, I feel like it's a pretty much a gimme hunt for me.
00:21:54
Speaker
Um, we should be find a bull and get a bull killed. You know, it should be a slam dunk, especially in Utah, dude. Some of those units are awesome that you can be going and hunting with that general. So, um, do you ever get that, uh, that anxiety a little bit with applying for the tags of like, if I draw this, I'm going to be gone for two to three months straight away from the family.
00:22:13
Speaker
Oh yeah, dude. My wife, like I'm trying to stay married, bro. Like she just bought a calendar that has like my, my, my f freaking COO is like, you should buy this calendar. And it goes on the wall and it shows like all my Google, my Google hunts, right. Everything on there. And it's like, just, just red from like September through.
00:22:29
Speaker
And the thing with my wife with Tracer is she's like hunting season is year round. Right. She's like, used to be like, oh it's hunting season. She's like, dude, you always hunt. Like I find a way to go hunting. Right. Like this year I went to Hawaii with her on that one. I did go to Mexico.
00:22:42
Speaker
Where else did I go? I went bear hunting. i went to Africa. Like I've been gone, you know, I've got a lot. So I'm trying to balance it out. The problem is like, this is like, like my one boy is going to college. He's done hunting, right? He's not done hunting, but he's pretty much done hunting with me for six years.
00:22:57
Speaker
This is my son's last year. so I'm like, we're going to get after it. So I'd much rather turn my tags back and go, go with him. yeah. but Yeah, you're just trying to be a good dad, right? And trying to do everything, right? So I'm kind of guiding this year most of my hunts because we got, I might go do that. I'll probably keep my tag and go to Colorado five days. mean, why not?
00:23:15
Speaker
Like if I can kill a bull of my bow, I won't be picky. I'll freaking shoot rag horn over water. I don't care. If it comes in, I'll shoot him, get out of there. um So we have his hunt and then we go straight to New Mexico, come back from that. And like a week later, we're going fly to Africa um to go do missions work, me and my son and my daughter.
00:23:31
Speaker
And that's the Kenya one? That's Kenya. Yeah. for we We have 140,000 kids in ministry over there. So I'm bringing over my son, my daughter, ah few other kids from the church and then two my buddies. And we're going I'm developing a program. So we can send our kids over to Africa when they graduate to do missions work for us, which would be awesome. So we're going to, this would my son's third time over there.
00:23:49
Speaker
He's like the Justin Bieber of Kenya. Everyone loves him. All these girls are trying to marry him all the time. Trying to give him much sheep. Is that just outside of Nairobi? What's that? just yeah that road it's no It's eight hours north of Nairobi.
00:24:00
Speaker
Okay, cool. In Katali is our main base. We have a college there. It's pretty sweet. I mean, it's we're in like every public school in like Kenya now. It's wild. We're in Uganda. We're moving into Rwanda now, like Ethiopia, like Somalia, like 140,000 kids a week are in ministry now in the schools. We're going into the schools and teaching. It's wild.
00:24:21
Speaker
Dude, that's cool. We talked about a little bit before this turned on, but I'm going to get that name of that for my boys to start looking at. I asked about Nairobi, though. I got some guys from my firehouse that go over there every year, and twice a year, and they teach firefighting for two weeks to the Nairobi Fire Department stuff. And just trying to and then they take over a bunch of gear that gets donated and stuff for them.
00:24:41
Speaker
Oh, dude, talk about like Nairobi has like those, like the slums, like the little like some dog millionaire gnarly. And that's really good that's where they're going. And that's where they're doing the work. We're talking like, I mean, cardboard houses for miles. It's it's pretty gnarly. It's like I was just in South Africa and it was like, we did some ministry stuff down there as well.
00:24:59
Speaker
And it was like, yeah, this is tragic. but Then you go to Nairobi, you go to like Kenya and it's like ten x like the poor, like people, like we were in mud houses, you know, you're doing like, it's, it's pretty gnarly.
00:25:11
Speaker
But it's crazy thing is like, there's a love of crisis people have and how excited they are to be there and to work with you and like cook you dinner. Right. They out in the yard catch a chicken, they cook you dinner. you know what i mean? Like you just, they're still joyful. Right. It makes you really put things in perspective, like how, how screwed we are as Americans with like our emotions and our, what our depression, our
Cultural Insights from Travels
00:25:31
Speaker
anxiety and all stuff. and it's like, dude, these guys are living in mud houses, you know,
00:25:34
Speaker
not even check to check. Like, I mean, like with a happy day day, dude, how school you met I mean, it's like with all their kids having a good time and just enjoying life. And we're so like, Oh man, like,
00:25:45
Speaker
my kid only has a $800 rifle, man. He doesn't have that 3000 rifle. You know what i mean? Like it's just, it's pretty wild. yeah My kid wants like a hundred dollar batting glove and he's 11, you know, it's like, oh you know, so yeah, know all the cool kids do. That's why we don't do travel baseball. don't want to get into that right now, but dude, like it's like all these dads, the dads are wearing more gear than the kids are. Now, did you go down on the ball field they're all freaking decked out with their,
00:26:11
Speaker
you know, their shorts and their shirts and their mullets and their freaking $300 glasses. I'm like, dude, grow up, Peter Pan. Exactly. Grow up. that that's ah That's a sport right there, man. that's ah That's a racket, that whole. They went from like little league to travel ball. Like if your kid doesn't play travel ball and have a pitching coach, he's not going to make the majors. And I'm like, dude, look at you. Look at the mom. He's probably not going to make the majors no matter what.
00:26:34
Speaker
but Yeah. And here in Colorado, we don't have just a, we don't have a little league. It's just straight up. You either play rec ball where it's horrible and kids are making grass castles in the backfield or it's travel ball.
00:26:47
Speaker
No way. and yeah I couldn't stand watching the rec ball oh and helping coach with it last year. So now my kid's on a travel team and it's a it's a mild travel team. We're not going all over the place, but still enough to where I spent the weekend in Cheyenne at a baseball tournament.
00:27:02
Speaker
So, yeah. See, that's what i tell people. It's like, like Derek Wolf, Derek Wolf has a kid. I'm like, yeah, he's probably gonna make the majors. He's probably going be a giant. He's probably going to be. Yeah. We've already talked about it. He jokes all around. Like you need to get her in volleyball and basketball because she's the size of my eight year old and she's only like five.
00:27:21
Speaker
Well, dude, do you see that shot putter? What's that girl? What's his face? His daughter? Brock Lesnar's daughter? Yeah, right here. Holy crap, dude. She's like massive. She's but broke the shot putter record. I want her to go fight some of these trannies.
00:27:35
Speaker
Like, I want to like get Brock Lesnar's daughter to go out there and be like, oh, let's do boxing. Let her just beat the crap out of some people, dude. like No kidding, right? Dude, she's a beat. They should put her in every sport and just be like, just let her wreck shop on all these freaking dudes that are coming in there and taking over girls sports right now.
00:27:51
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, they should. So off topic. Sorry for that little day digression, but that's the fun stuff for sure. It's going fun pod.
00:28:02
Speaker
So, you're into sheep, you're into how long you've been hunting. Like, do you, are you like a killer? Are you killing elk every year? are you, I wouldn't put myself in that killer category the way like Lance Banning and like, you you know, my father-in-law and Ed and Brian, those guys, I'm not, I'm not there. Like I, I've still make the same stupid mistakes, you know, five years in a row. And then, then usually that lessons kicked in where it seems like those guys just know not to do those silly mistakes that make.
00:28:29
Speaker
Um, I started hunting, I grew up Northern Wyoming. Um, my dad would just go out and shoot a deer and an antelope every year for me. And that's what hunting was. And we moved to Colorado. He lost access to all of his hunting spots and kind of stopped.
00:28:42
Speaker
And then when I was 14, went out with some buddies from church and kind of got back into it, tried, but then I didn't get upset and I grew up shooting competitive archery. I was telling you, i was in Chula Vista for the Olympic training center out there for a couple of weeks.
00:28:56
Speaker
I'm just trying to shoot on that national level. grew up shooting with guys like Brady Ellison, who's, you know, won the Olympics. Like, I think that he's been on a team that's got gold. I know he's at least got a couple of silvers and stuff. So grew up shooting with those guys and then met my wife who, you know, girlfriend went out with her dad and Randy, who's the killer.
00:29:17
Speaker
And that first day we went out deer hunting and I was actually, you know, within rifle distance of a deer. And then next thing I know, 70 yards from these three bucks that were just gorgeous, I was hooked. And I was like, this is the only way I will hunt for a very long time to get this close. And then I still wasn't taking the shot at seven yards. We ended getting 20 yards from him I ended up killing my first buck.
00:29:37
Speaker
And then, uh, that guy was just hooked, absolutely hooked. And then I went over the edge obsessive, um, kind of the sign, not quite as bad as my father-in-law. My father-in-law wasn't at either my wife's birth or his other daughter's birth. Cause he was out deer hunting
00:29:54
Speaker
and he literally would quit his job every August and go back in November after hunting season. And him and Ed would travel all over the place and hunt. Really? So, yeah. And so,
00:30:07
Speaker
Wasn't quite that obsessive with it, but it was enough to where, um yeah, just went head over heels with it and just tried to get out as much as I could and just get as obsessive as I could about it.
00:30:17
Speaker
And yeah, that's where I'm at now. That's why I picked up the camera. I always loved trying to film stuff just for kicks and giggles to share with friends. But then i realized that that was a way for me to get out and extend my hunting season just out of September.
00:30:31
Speaker
Because most of the bow hunts here in Colorado, you just have September and then you're done. And that wasn't enough for me. And I didn't want to pick up a rifle. So I'm going to start extending my stuff a different way. And so that's when i started filming.
00:30:43
Speaker
So you're not rifle hunting at all then? i I am to the point now to where I will rifle hunt because there's just some places where I need to pick up a rifle to get out. get attacked. If that makes sense. Yeah, I'm kind of on the mindset where I will hunt ah anything I can get, right? muzzleloader, archery. That's kind of how I draw so many tags as well is I kind of put in for everything.
00:31:03
Speaker
Yep. Right? And I have every weapon in the safe, right? um And if I could draw a muzzle or a tackle, do that. If I could draw a rifle tackle, do that. And then we're even doing some stuff now, like, right. Like I i switched over to like only using a 30 out six now for the last couple of years, like some old, a Woodstock 30 out six.
00:31:18
Speaker
And now I'm kind of like, Oh, I want to go to a lever open site lever action. Right. And so we're going to that. Like, so it's like, even though it's a rifle, I'm making a little bit harder as well. Right. Cause it's like, for me, like that sick of black tail hunt, I'm like, man, like i really don't want to go up there and just freaking pick some deer off at 500 yards. Like I can do that. I can go up there and kill. I could probably get two deer down in the first day.
00:31:37
Speaker
If I do with almost at lever action, it kind of adds a little bit to it. It makes a little fun and a little a challenge. Right. Exactly. Exactly. And like, I'm not a purist, like I said, I'll do it. But last year I shot the first buck I've ever shot with a rifle.
00:31:51
Speaker
that's because I was up in Montana. It was my last morning. And I was actually, I had the rifle leveled on a doe because it was like, I'm just going to take home some meat. And then the buck walked out behind her. And then I still looked at my bow and I was like, is there any way I could stock up on that sucker?
00:32:07
Speaker
And there was just, it was too much open space between me and him to try. So that's why I shot him with the rifle. And it was the last morning I had to get going. and And that's, uh,
00:32:18
Speaker
A whitetail or? That was a whitetail buck. Yeah. white tail Yeah. But I still don't think I've shot a muley buck with a rifle. Usually the rifle is used for me for meat. Like I love shooting antelope with rifle.
00:32:30
Speaker
If there's one species I don't like, but I like rifle hunting over a bow. It's going to be an antelope that God made those to be shot with a rifle. So they bed down the middle of a field. Like they're just like horrible.
00:32:42
Speaker
I, they, those God made those to be shot with a rifle. That is, that's my one that I prefer rifle hunting over. And I've shot a lot of antelope with a rifle. Yeah. Like I went and killed one this year, i first antelope ever.
00:32:54
Speaker
and it was kind of like not fun. Like, I want to say it wasn't, it was cool. Like it was a cool video. I mean, honestly, the video is blown up on YouTube, but it was like, Oh, there's just an antelope everywhere.
00:33:07
Speaker
Right. We, it was like a six year draw tag. And it was like, I could have shot antelope the first out of my tent, right. They're just everywhere. And they can just lay down 300 yards, shoot antelope. You're done. You know? But it's kind of like, it's kind of a cool like community thing. It's kind of like, I equate it to like the dove hunting of, umt if you dove hunt in Colorado, but like we dove hunt down here.
00:33:25
Speaker
We go out there, you know, and like 10 of us line up everyone's just shooting stuff and having a good time.
Hunting Experiences and Aspirations
00:33:29
Speaker
Like, Antelope Hunting is kind of like the dove hunting of the big game world. Like, I don't know how picky you could get with it. I guess you can get real picky, like New Bridge will picky on it. and But it's like, man, they're all two points.
00:33:39
Speaker
like Like, I don't know. i tell a lot of people it's a great first hunt. Oh yeah. Because if you don't want to get out and hike a lot, you don't have to, depending on where you're hunting. You can drive around a lot, spend a lot of time in the truck and glass and find something to go out after. You're going to see a lot of animals.
00:33:54
Speaker
So it's a great first time that someone's wanting to get into big game hunting. And personally, I love antelope meat. It's one of my favorite meats. I know some people that hate it and I don't get that um because as long as you get it cooled off right away, it's some of the best meat that you can have.
00:34:09
Speaker
Yeah. I'm a big fan of antelope antelope and access to your manner up there. I like them more than mule deer. Honestly, Oh, absolutely. All day long. And so I'll take antelope or mule deer all day long. I'm a big fan of it. So have you killed a sheep or a goat yet?
00:34:22
Speaker
Yeah, I've killed both. So I got my Colorado bighorn in 2014. It was the year my son was born. So he he was like a month old. My wife had him with on the hunt with me.
00:34:34
Speaker
And then just up there hiking, glassing and stuff. So that was cool. And then I shot my mountain goat in 2018. Schneider was with me. on that one. That was fun.
00:34:45
Speaker
So, and then last year I got to go on Derek's mountain goat hunt and film him. And I filmed everything for the slam except for a stone sheep. So I filmed a doll. I filmed a Rocky. I filmed a desert, but I haven't filmed the stone yet. And that's probably the closest to a slam I'll ever get when I filmed that.
00:35:04
Speaker
Now, did he shoot a desert? Was this like a Mexico desert? ah no, actually it was Dave Baroneo. He, uh, He shot his in right outside of Pahrump, Nevada.
00:35:15
Speaker
Oh, you didn't film Derek's desert. I didn't film Derek's. No, no, no. I filmed a different guy. Derek is supposed to be doing one this December though. and I'm going to try to go with on that one. A Mexico one or up here?
00:35:26
Speaker
Mexico. Mexico. Yeah. That's what was saying. Like i was wondering, like how how did you get a slam already? I think I just started hunting a few years ago. Right. I don't know yeah much about him. just know he's got a bigger bank account. That means he has to go to Mexico.
00:35:38
Speaker
He definitely has the option for it. Yeah. Have you not been to Mexico to do sheep hunts yet? I have not. I know that's one i haven't hunted or filmed down there yet. So we're actually, I'm talking with me and some guys from initial ascent like Dennis and then Dave Barone are talking about doing a coos deer hunt down there.
00:35:54
Speaker
Oh, I'm going in January. I go every year. Really? I might have to hit you up after this because Dennis was talking to somebody down there about trying to set something up. Yeah, I go every year. go go down there and coos hunting. I'm a huge, coos is my jam. Like you're like pick one animal, I do coos deer over everything.
00:36:09
Speaker
Dude, for the past four years, I've been obsessed with coups, and I love it because of the way it extends my season into January. And I've done Arizona OTC, and I've done New Mexico draw, and I didn't draw my New Mexico this year, so I'm going to just try to get the OTC in Arizona again and be back down there. Since they've limited that tag, it's been so much more fun being down there.
00:36:28
Speaker
Yeah, i I got screwed over this year. I didn't get my tag, and so now I can't hunt it, which is a bummer. But i um I'm possibly going to an Arizona resident next year, which would be sweet. So I'm thinking about making the move over to Phoenix. i've got I'm looking at some houses. I got J. Scott and...
00:36:44
Speaker
Jay Piper, I'm looking at houses for me right now. So I might make move over there and I've got like 14 points. So there's going some sick tricer hunts coming out as an Arizona resident. So I'm like, now I'm like not even putting in, was like points only. I don't care. I'm not trying to draw any tags because if I can get over there with 14, 15 points and be a resident, there's going to be some unit 10 hunts coming up and some really good, I'll probably draw the kaibab then, go hunt the kaibab for deer.
00:37:06
Speaker
um it used to could the kaibab at like nine points and now it just keeps creeping on me every year and like now i know kaibab like ever so i've been even putting it i've been putting in for the archery kaibab which isn't even a good hunt i've been putting in that tag in because i'm just like i'm never gonna draw as a non-resident now um i'm in no man's you get in this no man's land in arizona where you just get screwed and uh That's where I'm at too.
00:37:26
Speaker
If I can become a resident. and like So like we used to, like my kids would draw. The cool thing was my kids would draw every year in Arizona and now that's got crept. So hopefully they draw this year we can go over there and hunt coos deer again. So now it's been like every three years they can draw.
00:37:39
Speaker
um So the problem is for me is like i used to be able to draw too, like i the leftover tags. I drew a leftover tag a couple times we killed coos deer. Yeah. Cause that doesn't affect your points. But now that thing is just, everything has gotten so brutal since COVID and all the little, all the little tricks and the gimmicks I used to do to like get tags every year have just been, it's been shot in the foot.
00:37:57
Speaker
So yeah, hopefully my kids draw, draw deer tags this year. So we'll be over there. I'll get back from, um, I get back from Kenya and then like a week later, my kids will have that deer tag in Arizona. And then a week after, then I think that backs right up to my farm. I'll drew a later season bull tag. It goes like the 23rd of, uh, of November.
00:38:18
Speaker
so we'll go basically be over there for two or three weeks hunting deer and elk. So I'll just be guiding. I'll be guiding and filming, but that's why I asked like, do you like filming or hunting more? Cause like, this sounds lame, but like, I almost, I'm really starting to enjoy the filming.
00:38:33
Speaker
mores with the photograph More so the photography. I absolutely love the photography. The photography more than- did baseball game yesterday. i took the camera out just so I'd take some photos of him playing baseball. And I had more fun watching that baseball game because I had my camera in my hand than just sitting there watching the baseball game.
00:38:48
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah, the filming, the filming is okay. I don't mind the filming so much. It's, it's, it's fun. Like I'll film my, I'll film my kids' hunts this year. I might bring a filmer onto like his one elk hunt because I'm just wanting to make sure we get them a good bull killed.
00:39:02
Speaker
But I film most of their hunts. But the photos, I really love having a camera around just to get the photos. Like when I started using a high end camera, Like I'm loving that. Like I got a Nikon. Much better than an iPhone, dude.
00:39:13
Speaker
Oh, so much better than like, and honestly, so I got rid of all social media off my phone. So I have no more. So so I don't think any pictures of my phone anymore. it's all my camera. So like, I feel like it's so much more selective and you can do so much more with it And then you have to like, so I don't have to go back and edit them versus just like, Oh, it's on my phone. It's posted on the internet, you know, and like make these photos.
00:39:31
Speaker
I'm really enjoying the photography side of things. It's just kind of peaceful. Yeah. Yeah. I was filming my buddy in Greenland. we were doing muskox hunt over there and we got off the boat. I have two and a half days of travel to get there, get off the boat. We're just putting a stock on these muskox. And he looks back at me and goes, why do you have a shady grin on your face?
00:39:54
Speaker
And I was like, Randy, this is my happy place. Yeah. He goes, yeah yeah. He goes, yeah, this is cool. Right. He goes, we're hunting. I go, no, no, no. Like with my camera in my hand, being in this spot right here i said my soul is so happy you have no idea and he just looked at me goes that's really cool i was like it i was like and at that point in that moment right there i would not have traded having the camera in my hand over having the bow in my hand really yeah and at that point i didn't know i was gonna get a shoot one too oh you showed it a couple days yeah dude a couple days later like everyone's tagging out and the outfitter comes to me and he's like hey uh
00:40:32
Speaker
He goes, I was saving these tags because I try to like protect how many bulls are killed in this area. He goes, but the locals have been in here poaching, not poaching, poaching his area is what he called it because they had tags too. But he's like, I don't, he, before they'd stay away at his area, but then he was killing big ones. He's like, I'm not going to come back for a few years. So going to shoot a couple more. You want to shoot one?
00:40:51
Speaker
I was like, well, this is a, at the time it was a $10,500 hunt. And I was like, I can't afford that. He goes, don't worry. We'll work something out. And we worked something out. And so. Needless to say, I didn't make any money on that trip when it was all said and done. And my wife didn't go to go on the Belize vacation that we were supposed to do with that money.
00:41:09
Speaker
But I shot a muskox and it was really cool. Yeah, that's the way to do man. I've had a few of those where it's like, hey, we killed, like we were in Texas this year. We killed a buffalo. I fondled it. I'm like, you want to kill a whitetail? I'm like, yeah, I don't want to pay that much for it. end up shooting a whitetail for like two grand, right? Yeah, dude. You can get these guys sometimes times to kind of, I've been joking with all my friends in Mexico, like all my guys. I'm like, dude, when someone backs out of a sheep hunt, I'm 15 grand I'm in.
00:41:34
Speaker
15, I'm just going to be 75, but like when it happens, you need 15, you got a guy that'll do 17. yeah god tell it's over i'll say i always tell him, like, I know it's going happen. Like i just can't do 75, but like, Hey, you guys get a chance for 15 G's to come down there.
00:41:49
Speaker
Shoot a sheep. I'm all about, don't care how big it is. I'll kill shoot 15 grand. I screwed up. I should have done it a few years ago. It was it was pre COVID. Then I was filming a guy's sheep hunt up in Alaska And the outfitter was like, hey, if you want to come back next year, I can do it for you for $14,500. He's like, and then you got to pay the pilot.
00:42:06
Speaker
And I was like, okay, cool. But you know how it is, you know, young kids. And like, you feel selfish, like spending that money. I can't touch that hunt for $30,000 now. It's so expensive. And it was only a few years ago. And I'm like, oh, there's one thing that I kicked myself on with hunting. I should have done that.
00:42:21
Speaker
Yeah, my buddy just did it. My buddy Kellen did it. And it was, I think he got it all in for like 24 or something like that. that's And it's like, that's and now but and that was like four years ago. Now it's like, you can't even touch it for 30. It's, it's, man, oh you know I don't know. You're talking about stone, stones up to 120 How do feel about it?
00:42:39
Speaker
how do you feel about it I think it's BS. um How do you feel about it? Cause like, it's just, it's, it's, I mean, I get it. It's a supply and demand thing, but man, like I won't pay 30 grand for a doll sheep, but I don't how money I have, I'm not going to do it. Like I just don't like, i I'd rather go travel to New Zealand and go hunt tar or something and do that.
00:42:59
Speaker
See, I love the sheep so much. If I had 30 grand to spend on a hunt, you do it. It would be, um it would be that. And I, I'm pretty sure I would take that over ah grizzly bear hunt.
00:43:10
Speaker
So, um, I, yeah, I, I really want to get a grizzly with my bow or a brown bear. I don't care which one. I just want a brown bear with my bow on the ground.
00:43:21
Speaker
And then i really want to get the doll, but, uh, I'd still, yeah, I'd spend a 30 if I had it. Really? Not selling my truck for it. Now, if they called me, if if, if you were to get someone to call me 17 grand on a desert sheep hunt, I'd probably sell my truck, dude.
00:43:37
Speaker
so you're trying to go do it I would sell my truck and go do it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm always pushing them. Like, Hey, you get it, you get an opportunity. Someone backs out and they deposited, you're stuck. You just need some 20 grand or something like that. It's call me up. I'll do it.
00:43:48
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know, man. Like I just 30 grand a lot of money. And then there's also the fact like you're not guaranteed. Yeah, I know. I know. You're in that the last couple of years and how couple yearss on it.
00:44:01
Speaker
The last couple of years, it's a $30,000 experience because the last couple of years have been pretty brutal up there, man. Yeah. Well, hell, on the on the flight up to where I was hunting outside of Smithers last year with Derek, there were some guys on the plane that were like, oh, yeah, I'm back for my second. One guy was back for his third try at a stone sheep.
00:44:19
Speaker
And, yeah, the outfitters were giving him a break, but not that big of a break, not on a $100,000 hunt. And it was funny. The one guy sitting on the plane, he was like, the first time I booked this hunt, it was $40,000. And he goes, and the second time I came back, it was 60 and now it's a hundred.
00:44:33
Speaker
Yeah. I just, man, like, I just don't know. I mean, I guess there's no way to cap it. If you were willing to pay us, they're going to pay it. But man, like, and I'm not knocking guys, it's like, dude, like they're making a lot of money. mean, it's like there, some of those outfitters up there are making millions, literally millions. so but we Because a lot of the, like a lot of their help isn't getting paid peanuts.
00:44:55
Speaker
Oh, dude, they're not paying those guys. Oh, i know they're not paying them 20 grand to do the hunt. They're paying those guys freaking, ah your you know, a thousand bucks a day. like that's it bres Not that much. No, if nightpe not much, dude. If that, because a lot of those, stuff like up in, at least in BC and stuff, they get, Canada has a program for people to move there.
00:45:15
Speaker
And so they get these people to come in that for their packers and stuff. And the guides are a little bit different, but then they turn the packer into a guide that they've trained. And so then they're still only working for peanuts because they have to work for three years before they can get their residency.
00:45:29
Speaker
So for those first three years, they ain't paying them jack, dude. Yeah, I've been kind of like, I was joking with somebody, was on a Canadian, Canadian, I'm like, man, I almost want to give a residency. Let's go live up there.
00:45:41
Speaker
Let's go live up there and get my stuff. Just go do that for a few years. I tried to tell my wife and into a living in Alaska. That'd be the one I'd do. She won't do it though. Cause like I, like i said we're going to move some tax reasons and stuff before I get out of California for a few years.
00:45:54
Speaker
And, I'm like, dude, Alaska is zero tax. and we I joke around with my wife that when as soon as I retire from the fire department, I'll have a house in Alaska and I'll have a place probably in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming. I'm from Northern Wyoming. and I'd like to go back there.
00:46:09
Speaker
And then I'll have my parents' place in Wickenburg, Arizona. And I'll just be bouncing around between those three, but I'll be an Alaska resident so that I can be hunting up there. Yeah, I'd love to get my – because if you're a resident, you can get your brown.
00:46:22
Speaker
You can get your dolls. you can get your like For me, like it's like instead of spending all that money on – the guys from Limitless Outdoors, Colton and Justin, moved out there. Awesome dudes. Love those guys. We sponsor them. Just give them money just because we love the ministry and um expect nothing from them.
00:46:40
Speaker
And they ah they did it. And now they can go hunt browns, goats, and dolls every year and moose every year. They love they love moose. It's funny. They're like I was talking to him'm like, no, we're in it for the moose. And I'm like, you don't want dolls. actually both freaking killed doll this year and killed. like That's so awesome, like but i was just dude. so awesome. Dude, to be that resident, I told my wife, I'm like, that's like $100,000 savings plus.
00:47:01
Speaker
More than that. More than that, right? You're talking between all three hunts. Go live there for six months, get your residency, you just spend two years of it, get all those hunts done, get a goat, get a doll, get a brown bear.
00:47:14
Speaker
And, you know, it's almost, pay it pays for itself. You know, you live in Alaska. It's a cool experience. You can go fishing, do the whole thing. now You're going to spend seven months up there to do it. So it's kind of like a, you know, little hidden secret.
00:47:26
Speaker
That's cool. Yeah, no, i i I absolutely would love to do it. We'll see where my kids are at for school and stuff. But once I'm, I got 14 more years at the firehouse. And once I hit that 14 year mark, then I plan on being somewhere else.
00:47:40
Speaker
Not because I don't like Colorado, but because I just, there's so much opportunity in other places. So I like your take on the brown bear with a bow. If I kill, I have no desire to kill a brown bear. If I did, it would be with a bow.
00:47:52
Speaker
Only way I'd want to do it. And like, like watching Brandon Burns shoot that brown bear and like lay down and they shoot like 14 yards where it was a couple years ago. Like that's where I'm like, that would be cool. But it's sitting back a shoot one from three or four hundred yards away with a 300 wind mag. I'm just like, nah, it doesn't get me off.
00:48:08
Speaker
um I'm with you on that. It's got to be on the ground with a bow. Yeah. Yeah. Where he kill it. Where he can kill it. Calling it in. It's gnarly. you can yeah calling it in s gnarly So ah being in Alaska, dude, we were hunting up there in one spot and we glassed the first couple of days, we glassed over a hundred bears and most of them were brown bears. so And then you're walking through those alders and stuff like just through those bear tunnels. It is, dude, it gets your heart going so much. And I never came close to one. We walked up on a couple of black bears. Like, I mean, I could reach, there was one i could have reached out and just slapped this black bear on it, but, but they were so scared up there because of all the brown bears. I wasn't even worried about the black bears.
00:48:45
Speaker
So what, ah what are you carrying? A 10 mil what are carrying your chest? Oh, dude, I carry a 10 mil once. You couldn't get me to do that again. ah It's a 454 Kasul. ah It's the Alaskan. I get you.
00:48:56
Speaker
yeah I, the one time I had a 10 millimeter on me, I'm sitting there and um I had killed a caribou and I had blood up to here from gutting it out because I was so far away from camp. I had to get back and by myself walking around, I'm like,
00:49:09
Speaker
I might as well throw this thing at a bear instead of shooting with it. i'm like, and I don't care that I have 17 rounds or whatever it was. Like I need a 454. So I got back and i bought a 454 Casool. And that's what I carry up there. I need a hand cannon.
00:49:21
Speaker
So I have a 44 mag that I carry on my chest. I also have a 10 mil, but everyone's, you got to use 10 mil, 10 mil, 10 mil. And I have the Glock 20, but I have the 44 mag with like a 280 grain hard cast in it.
00:49:33
Speaker
And I'm like, I have my phone. It was a 454. It's just too much gun for me to like be accurate with. Like, I feel like I, 44 magnum is kind of like that good in between. It's a light gun. Yeah. My theory with the 454 is I'll shoot it once.
00:49:45
Speaker
And if I miss, I'll shoot it again. I'll knock myself out and then I don't have to worry about it. Yeah. There you go. no joke, dude. Like when you shoot 454, it's like, especially those hard casts in it, it's like, it is a hand cannon. And mine, that Alaskan is only a two and a half inch barrel, dude.
00:50:00
Speaker
Yeah. So i mean ah it's something that I do practice with though. I take it out every year before I go and I make sure I shoot a few rounds as fast as I can through it, try to be accurate with it and So there's a lot of guys I think that just get it and they just strap it on their chest and like, okay, cool.
00:50:16
Speaker
And yeah, you're going to be sadly disappointed when that comes. So I always try to get out and I try to practice and then you want to try like really having fun with it, do a reload after you've shot a couple out of it and see how that goes.
00:50:29
Speaker
So. Yeah, I like, so I'm kind of like a FUD when it comes to my stuff. Like, I like bolt-action rifles. I like revolvers. Like, my everyday carry is just like a Smith & Wesson.38, small titaniums, like 12 ounces.
00:50:41
Speaker
And I have, like, the Glock 43 and stuff. I just don't like it. Like, the semi-autilus as much as, I feel like the revolvers just like... I absolutely love it. Do you? Oh, yeah. I don't hate it. I don't hate the gun. I just don't like as much as my revolver. just feel like the revolver is just fits better. It just, it's easier. I never, I don't even know what's on me. right because like lock forward three four I'm flashing everybody all the time. And yeah.
00:51:01
Speaker
So I don't know. I like the revolvers. I'm a huge Glock fan after my police Academy. I went to the RC unit for a few years. So I had to go through the whole police Academy and do all that fun stuff. And, uh, after putting 5,000 rounds through a Glock. And and never and never cleaning it. So it's funny, is well at the at the department, we were allowed to carry a Glock, a Smith & Wesson, um or the yeah the Springfield XD.
00:51:26
Speaker
And I had a Springfield XD. It was the first pistol I ever bought. And so the last day of the academy, after shooting this Glock, then I shot that Springfield, and I had two malfunctions in the first 100 rounds.
00:51:37
Speaker
And the instructor just walked up to me and goes, are you a Glock guy yet? I said, I am now. And just, you just cured it 5,000 rounds out of that Glock doing everything I could with no malfunctions. And literally the first 20 rounds out of that Springfield, I had a malfunction.
00:51:50
Speaker
And I was like, all right, cool. I'm a Glock guy now. So, but then you still couldn't get me to carry a Glock 10 if I'm in grizzly bear country. I'm back to the revolver on that one.
00:52:00
Speaker
Yeah. I'm probably going to go revolver when I go up there. I just like, I feel like it's more for me. Like, it's just more like, I just know, know the gun. It's simple. It's done. i don't know. i don't know what it is about it. I like the revolver, but then you talk to Joel Turner is like, you're crazy. you need to carry, you know, 17 rounds.
00:52:15
Speaker
pump So I had a buddy go up there and he asked me before he went and ah they were up outside of, um, Katze butte. So lots of bears. And, yeah I was like, dude, you're going to want something bigger. And he had a 460 and he had his Glock 10 and he took his Glock 10 and he came back. He goes, as saw as soon as I saw a bear and how big it was, I wish I had my 460. I was like, yep.
00:52:40
Speaker
Yep. Yep. Yeah. That's, I told you that was going to happen. So and he's like, I didn't leave my buddy's side that had a four 60.
00:52:49
Speaker
So like, yeah, dude, like that tried. So that's where my thought is on it. I just, I need that bigger bullet that can actually stop it. If something's going wrong instead of pissing it off. One thing I like about having, like, so, and again, I am not a bear expert, right, by any means. Anyone listening to this is just like, can call me idiot. That's fine.
00:53:07
Speaker
ah I'm bringing my.30-30 with me. Ben's bringing a.45-70. But open sights, that's like the better bear gun than anything, I think, is open sight lever action. Like, I'm not pulling my revolver until I've unloaded, i think it holds like seven or eight rounds in that.30-30.
00:53:20
Speaker
So I load every one of those.30-30s into that bear. absolutely. Then I'll go and grab my revolver out because open sights are great. And having the.45-70 on you, with open sights is just that's what that's a bear gun so yeah oh yeah we have backup now if you're carrying a bow different story you know what i mean you're dropping and going straight to the revolver right and that's where i'm at 99 of the time up there the one time we did get bluff charged uh me and lance uh mike's roommate we were out there doing this float hunt and we come around the corner there's this grizz cub on the corner of the river because we're doing a float hunt and it's just sitting there digging
00:53:55
Speaker
And I look up and I go, oh, dang it, where's mom? And then she comes out of the bushes right up to the edge of the water and just like slaps it and stands up and snapping her teeth at us.
00:54:07
Speaker
And the rifle is like all buried in. i don't have my gun out because we're on the boat. And look over at Lance, who was a special forces guy. So he's super calm under pressure when it comes to this kind of stuff. And he doesn't even have his gun out, dude. He's just sitting there and he's just like,
00:54:22
Speaker
why are Erbing it like his trigger, like to pull it out and if she comes any closer? I'm like, dude, get that thing out at least if she comes up for it. He's like, it's fine. It's fine.
00:54:34
Speaker
So, yeah, yeah. That's fun though. I mean, I like that. I like the idea of being in, like i was in grizzly country for a week last week. Like I like the idea of being in grizzly country. I like the idea of being around them.
00:54:45
Speaker
I like the idea of having animal
Wildlife and Hypothetical Discussions
00:54:46
Speaker
that can eat me. i don't know what it is about it, but like, it's cool. It's cool to be. I sleep like a baby in that tent too, by the way. Like it does not bug me like at all. So it's, it's fun to be somewhere where you're, you you are lower on the food chain.
00:54:59
Speaker
Oh yeah. Cause you really are those things. We were talking, I was in Africa and we were going back and forth Africans and they're like, Oh yeah, lion would kill a grizzly. I'm like, there's no way. I don't think a lion or a tiger kill a grizzly, you know, at all.
00:55:12
Speaker
No I don't think animals are agile. I don't know. They are agile, but dude, like you get like ah grizzly on a lion or get those paws on a lion. Like, I mean, it'd be hard to kill. I mean, there's a lot of neck there because the lines you go for the neck. there's a lot of neck there. Cause we're having the whole, like, this is the point when everyone's having this like a hundred man versus gorilla thing. We're well, screw that. What about a bear versus a ah grizzly? You know, sta man, that I mean, a bear versus a lion, ah a bear versus a lion or a tiger. I mean, they're both huge cats and quick. That's it. I don't know.
00:55:44
Speaker
I just need to, you know what i need to get I'm a toss-hole some this too. Like, i just need to find like a rich Middle Eastern dude who can put it together.
00:55:52
Speaker
Like, I need a rich Eastern dude who can get me like a hundred dudes and one gorilla and then also get me a lion and a grizzly. We can just solve this right now. Like, a you can't tell me they wouldn't do it. You can't tell me they haven't done it. Dude, those guys have so much money. There's probably video out there somewhere, yeah. There's probably a video, dude, of like one gorilla and a hundred dudes. Like, oh yeah, let's go down here and do it.
00:56:12
Speaker
it's flying their Falcons around and having the fight. That's what I need,
Memorable Hunting Stories and Reflections
00:56:16
Speaker
dude. But, ah fun podcast, bro. We always end with a hunt story. You want to tell us hunt story? Anything could be a sheep, go. It could be anything. Oh man. I think the, it's hard.
00:56:25
Speaker
Uh, someone was asking me the other day what my favorite hunt has been. and it's just hard to, uh, hard to like pick what my favorite has been. Um, Africa was awesome. I had so much fun over there. I had no desire to ever do it. And then my wife bought one. Same exact feeling.
00:56:39
Speaker
I want to go back every year now. oh this year and I was like, I want to go back every year. Yup. It's not what i thought it was going to But I think this last one with my kids, um, taking my kids up to Alaska, we flew in, a hundred miles from any road, just me and my wife, two boys and my father-in-law were there and they they were just feral for 10 days. We didn't bring in any iPads, no electronics for them.
00:56:59
Speaker
I had my camera. And, uh, my phone just so I had my GPS, but that was about it. And it was the most fun hunt. And then watching her shoot that bull after, i mean, she's been up there a couple of times trying to shoot a moose. It was, that's probably like my most fun hunt that I've been on.
00:57:18
Speaker
Or at least one of my favorites just cause having the kids there and stuff. And so we shoot it and we're rolling over to it. And I told my kids, it's getting dark. I told my kids im like, Hey, you're about to learn what type two fun is.
00:57:29
Speaker
and My son goes, what's type two fun? And my father-in-law goes, you're about to find out. was like, it's the fun that you hate when you're doing it. But when you look back, that's all you ever want to go do again.
00:57:40
Speaker
And so, yeah, about 20 minutes later, I'm in the water and my waders fall down. And so then I'm soaked from my chest all the way down to my feet and it's 35 degrees. and I'm sitting there working on this moose and we're rowing back an hour and a half back to camp and I'm soaking wet.
00:57:57
Speaker
And like, but I made sure my kids had their stuff on. So they weren't as miserable. And the Northern lights came out. Um, you can't beat that kind of stuff. So, and it wasn't even my moves. Hey, never forget that stuff, dude. But, uh, fun hunt, dude, Lane, um, you're on Instagram. We'll be finding on Instagram. You got YouTube stuff. Just R2 Lane on Instagram, letter R number two, LA and E. And then, uh,
00:58:19
Speaker
YouTube, Lane Walter Productions. I throw something on there like every year. It's funny. My kids have a baseball channel. They just it with their phone and they've got it way figured out way more than me when it comes to that stuff. I just like to film it and put it up. It's fun.
00:58:33
Speaker
um I have a decent enough following. I get a decent enough amount of views on it, but it's not like I try not to make any of it my priority. The fun for me is like being out doing it. um Editing it's fun and putting it out, but yeah.
00:58:47
Speaker
Awesome, dude. What a fun pod, bro. Thanks coming on. Hey, thanks for having me, dude. Appreciate it.