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Brad Aboltin
129 Plays2 years ago
Drew is Joined by avid hunter guide Brad Aboltin. Brad has been bitten by the sheep bug and is doing everything he can to chase them year after year.
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Transcript
Introduction and Prayer
00:00:07
Speaker
You are listening to the Tricer podcast, where we talk all things hunting, gear, and the great outdoors. Before we begin, let's start things out right and put God first. Lord Jesus, I thank you for Tricer, and I ask that you can use this podcast as a way to bring joy to all of our listeners. We lay Tricer and this podcast at your feet. Amen.
Introducing Brad Bolton: The Big Buck Hunter
00:00:31
Speaker
All right, another episode of the Tricer Podcast. Today I've got Brad Bolton on and I'm excited to have him on. I've known Brad, not known him personally, but known him through a local hunting form called SCH Outdoors for probably about, I don't know, eight years, 10 years, I don't know how long he's been on there.
00:00:49
Speaker
The guy is just a California killer. He kills big bucks in California, which is not an easy
Brad's Hunting Background
00:00:56
Speaker
task. He definitely won my big buck contest when I did that a few years back. And now he has gotten bitten by the sheep bug really bad. So much so that he's got his guide license and he is going on as many sheep hunts as he can because everyone knows that drawing a sheep tag is hard. But if you're willing to guide or pack, you can go on as many sheep hunts as you want because everyone's looking for a packer.
00:01:18
Speaker
Come on, Brad. Tell me about you. What's up,
The Gear Addiction
00:01:20
Speaker
man? Hey, yeah. Thanks for having me. I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to have me on the podcast. And yeah, I'm 35 years old, grown up in California. It's not typically known for the best hunting. I actually grew up in Southern California, where I was born and raised in Southern California at the age of six. We moved to central, Southern Central California.
00:01:43
Speaker
And I used to be really big into saltwater fishing, actually, and a big saltwater fisherman. That's what my dad mainly did. He didn't actually do any hunting. When I moved to Tehachapi from Long Beach, that's when I got introduced into hunting at the age of 12 and took my first buck at the age of 13. And ever since then, it's been pretty much all I can think about in anything that I do. I have a great wife.
00:02:07
Speaker
Sydney, that's very supportive of my ambitious mindset for hunting and my son Bennett, which is seven years old. And I'm a wastewater treatment plant operator up here. And that's pretty much in my spare time. It's everything to do with hunting.
00:02:22
Speaker
Yeah and another thing too about you
Hunting Tags and Strategies
00:02:24
Speaker
is you have a gear addiction like no one I've ever seen like you are constantly like buying and selling gear for the new one I know so you like you will buy things use them and then I don't like that and you will you're constantly like on Rock Slide which by the way we sponsor Rock Slide now that's cool so if you guys didn't know that we're on Rock Slide now.
00:02:43
Speaker
You've got SEH, Cos5 selling stuff, and you're always tweaking your kit and trying to get this perfect kit for what you do. You're a gear junkie, am I wrong? No, you're not. I most definitely am. I probably spend more than I want to admit on gear.
00:02:58
Speaker
Yeah, I just did a little reel this weekend. I was out glassing and I was sticking my hand. I'm like, man, I give my wife so much crap for buying organic milk at Costco. And then I was looking through my Swarovski PTXs with my 15s in my lap and my Swarovski EL ranges on my chest. And I'm like, man, you can buy as much organic milk as you want. I have a problem.
00:03:19
Speaker
I'm the same way.
Navigating State Regulations
00:03:21
Speaker
My wife buying organic milk and all this other stuff to keep us and our family healthy and everything. And let's just hope that our wives don't listen to this podcast. Oh, yeah. My wife has given up on me. She's just at this production with Tricer makes it a bit easier. Oh, it's work. She's just he doesn't even question it anymore. He just.
00:03:37
Speaker
gear's gonna show up, I'm gonna buy it, it's a tool of the trade, I like that, I like gear, and especially as we get older, we have a little bit more income, like it's nice to be comfortable when I go on hunts, it's nice to have the right gear for the job, and I enjoy gear, it's just fun, so much of that, I built a whole tripod company, right, for gear, I enjoy trying to gear, I enjoy buying gear and using it, it's part of the fun, because you can only, your tag really only is good for what, five days, right, most tags, seven days, depending on the state, but then you have
00:04:06
Speaker
all year long to think about it and buy gear and get prepared for it, you know what I mean? Half the time we buy gear we don't even use, but it's just something fun to do outside of the time. The tag is such a short period of time leading up to it. To go along with the gear, the application process, you're applying in all kinds of states, right? Obviously.
00:04:21
Speaker
Yeah, I apply in 10 different states. And it all started because of the want to draw a sheep tag that I saw how difficult that is. And I started saving up my money and I went on adult sheep hunt. And obviously, I'm still applying for those states with a hopeful mindset of my hopeful long term goal as a hunter is I want to achieve a grand slam, which is a difficult feat as an average guy.
00:04:44
Speaker
Yeah, I've been, I get to meet a lot of people through Tracer and I have a couple guys in Canada I've been talking to and they're, I'm just like, it's just too expensive for a stone hunt. And they're like, let's move to Canada. And I'm like, man, think about it. I'm like, you can go out there for six months and you could get a ghost hunt stone sheep. It saved me 75 grand. It's almost a viable option for some people just to move to Canada for six months and go kill a dang sheep.
00:05:06
Speaker
Yeah, I looked into it because of that want as well. I was under the assumption you had to live there for five years before you're considered a resident, but I could be mistaken. Oh, maybe you're right. That sounds more logistic, more right to me, but this guy was telling me, I was moved up here for six months. Maybe I'm wrong. I know that when you do, you want to be resident Arizona at six months, but you have to be there for six months. Maybe I'm just being that wrong. So you apply. So do you do, do you do Idaho every year per sheep and New Mexico every year per sheep? Cause it's a non-drawal state or a non-county state or point state?
00:05:35
Speaker
Yeah, because of the random and having equal odds with everyone. Yeah, I go ahead and I apply for Idaho. Let's see. Of course, I apply for California. I apply for Nevada, Oregon, because their sheep is also random. Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Montana, Wyoming. Wyoming's the only state that I don't apply. I will apply for sheep up until this year when they did the change, but I don't buy preference points.
00:06:01
Speaker
I apply for Idaho and occasionally I'll drop in on Alaska for different species as well, in and out because it's random as well. So we definitely saw... Me and my mutual friend, Kellen, bought her and we hunted up there in Idaho. And I can give you some more info on that. And we saw sheep, I think, three times on that hunt. And it's not a
00:06:23
Speaker
I think it's like a four percent draw on, or three percent draw on hunt for non-res. So it's, man, I really want to put in for that hunt and go do that. Maybe it's up three, but I know it was better than one. I know it's two or three percent,
Importance of Hunting Points
00:06:34
Speaker
which might not sound good to most people, but in the sheep terms, that's incredible.
00:06:39
Speaker
That's incredible. Anything over 1% is you're saying I have a chance, right? 1 in 100 is freaking good. So Idaho and New Mexico are probably must apply states for everybody, right? Like you have to put in for the states in your book? Me personally, yeah. I'm obviously very proactive about my applications.
00:06:58
Speaker
and applying for those states. But I think, yeah, Idaho, New Mexico, I think are your best odds. And honestly, New Mexico, if you can go ahead and time it where you apply at the very end of the deadline and you've floated on a credit card, you're only out, I think it's $64 for your hunting license.
00:07:15
Speaker
because that's what I do. I wait until the last day or last couple days, I apply for the species I'm gonna apply for. And then I go ahead and it doesn't even, it is even, they normally get you your money back within one billing cycle. So I don't accrue any interest or any. Yeah, that's the way to do it for sure. I'm on the same thing as you. Sometimes it rolls over on you and you get the interest, but I've actually paid it off before that credit on my account. Yep.
00:07:39
Speaker
so it's weird there's games you play for all these things for all these different states i almost wish it was like like some sort of like a everyone plays by the same rules type thing for all the states because if every single state is different every single state has different rules so it doesn't get a little tricky with applying different states every state has a different website i mean like arizona's website is going to be the worst website i've ever used in my life for applying i have
00:08:01
Speaker
I apply three kids now with myself, and you have to go through the process for every single animal.
First Hunting Experience
00:08:07
Speaker
So let's say I'm applying in the elk antelope. That's going to be eight different times I go through the process. Then you get the other one. What is it? Deer, sheep, bison. You're talking like 12 different times you go through the whole process. Where are you going to Utah or California?
00:08:21
Speaker
One thing California is right is their app system is pretty great. I can put all four of us into the same pool, apply for their tags, and check out at the same time. Just put them all in the car, check out. Every state is different, but you have to do it. That's one thing my wife, she's supportive of, and I tell her, I don't personally drink, but I hunt. I tell her, this is like an investment. When you put it up for points, it might seem like I'm never going to have a chance.
00:08:48
Speaker
But then you're going to wake up in 10 years and have 10 points. I had 10 points in a lot of states because I started on 2015 applying. And I wish I would have started. I've been hunting in Arizona with a license since I was 18. I actually technically have like almost 20 points right now for sheep. But I was never putting it for points because I was just hunting birds. I never knew to put in. Once you have the license, 15 bucks, I could have been getting points every year for these animals. But I didn't do it. So I just think if you want to hunt,
00:09:12
Speaker
What is that old proverb? When's the best time to plant a tree 20 years ago? When's the next best time today? Just start buying points now because they're going to accrue and you're going to have a chance at something. You might as well get after it.
Sheep Hunting Aspirations
00:09:25
Speaker
Go ahead. You're not going to regret having the points. I've had points where I'm like, I'll probably never use these points, but I have them. Then the opportunity comes up with a buddy or
00:09:36
Speaker
Someone said, hey, come hunt with me here. I got private land or whatever. And if you have those points, you could have taken advantage of that. But if you don't, you're just, you don't have that opportunity at all. Yeah, a hundred percent. So I had cow buying cow points in Utah, and I wasn't planning on going hunting cows, but my Colorado hunt, it got, they ended up missing tag limits because of the snowfall, snowpack, all that stuff. Then I had, since
Using Hunting Services
00:10:01
Speaker
Colorado or Utah's analyst draws in June,
00:10:04
Speaker
I was able to get to hunt for this year. I wouldn't have had a hunt in September or October. I wouldn't have had a hunt because I lost the other one. So like when you apply in all these different states, like even applying in like people hate Oregon, but I still apply in Oregon every year. Like last year, I was supposed to go to Alaska. It fell through. I was able to go draw a bull tag in Oregon and go hunt elk in Oregon. It might not be the best state in the world, but I had a freaking tag.
00:10:24
Speaker
For me, I just want to go hunting. I don't care what state it is. People are killing animals in every state in this country. Sure, the trophy cloth might not be as good in certain states, but at least you're hunting. And that's all that matters to me is finding a way to get out. I think the bigger net you cast, the better odds you have of drawing something, obviously, right? You're going to get lucky at some point.
00:10:41
Speaker
Exactly. Yeah. When you're applying for 30, 40 different tags at some point in your life, you're going to get, you're going to be that guy that draws that once in a lifetime tag. At least that's what I hope. Oh dude, like I, that's the cool thing about Tricer is I get to talk to these guys, right? And I had a guy last year in California, he drew a sheep tag with two points and he went hunting with Gioff Rowley and those guys, they went and killed a big old giant Ram. Oh, nice.
00:11:02
Speaker
Yeah. So I mean that it was just, but he had two points, dude. He's the guy. He randomly drew a sheep tag and he went hunting and it's, man, I'm not jealous at all. I'm just like good. I'm so happy for you. That's awesome. Hey, I see you got a Gohan sticker on your bottle right there. So you're using Gohan and we're going on hat as well. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a big proponent ago. I, before Gohan, I applied for this discussion. I applied for numerous states, such as yourself.
00:11:26
Speaker
and have over a decade of points in a number of states, but it has made my life significantly easier and quicker. And as a man, a family man with kids, time is so valuable and it just makes it so much easier.
00:11:42
Speaker
Yeah, Go Hunt, it has been an incredible partner for Tricer. I've been a Go Hunt member since 2016 and it has changed my life when it comes to hunting. Every single year I draw tags somewhere because of Go Hunt. 100% they have my field approval. If you don't have a Go Hunt membership, you are not hunting animals. You should be hunting because
00:12:02
Speaker
You can find a way to hunt every single year with Go Hunt, whether it's over the counter. I don't get anything from Go Hunt for saying this. I'm just, I would, with their own tricer or not, I would say this. They make it so much easier to find stuff. And you do waste a ton of time on Go Hunt, that's for sure. You will spend a lot of time just looking at hunts and dreaming and scheming. They have this cool thing now where you can actually like plan hunts out. Like I used to just write, I have a notebook and everything. So you can actually save certain areas, units and compare units and get your whole like plan together.
00:12:32
Speaker
Go hunt. If you want to apply in the West, you have to go hunt membership. It's just that good. It really is. Yeah. Before go hunt, I would go ahead and you'd have to go through all Arizona. The application process is a nightmare, like you mentioned, and then to go through it and look all through the regulations and then their codes change every year. It's not uncommon for people to accidentally put in for cow hunts and stuff like that in Arizona and burn their points on a cow tag accidentally.
00:12:59
Speaker
And because of Gohan, just stuff like that is a lot easier to not have to go through the regulations. There's sometimes though, like Arizona, for example, I do go ahead before I put in and I double check the code and make sure that it is the proper code that they didn't add hunts and bump the code number down. And then I put in for a cow hunt. I want to make sure I don't do that, of course. So I double
Dall Sheep Hunting Adventure
00:13:21
Speaker
check that. But
00:13:22
Speaker
It just has spent, it has saved me a tremendous amount of time as far as looking through regulations and stuff to apply for 10 states. Yeah. A hundred percent. And another thing too, is you don't realize when you're not using Gohan is you could be applying in Arizona every year, but how do you never going to draw?
00:13:38
Speaker
Some of those hunts are, but you can't tell what the odds are. When you start looking at the odds, you're like, oh, this is going to take me 30 years. Or some hunts, you want to withdraw as a non-resident. You're putting in for them, it's pointless. Or you learn, hey, if I group tag this, I won't be able to draw it. Having a go hunt, it really does save you. If you're going to spend whatever I spend, two grand a year on replying, maybe a little more than that, on applying all these dates with me and the boys now, a hundred dollar go hunt membership, a hundred dollar go hunt membership, whatever, is worth its weight in gold. And you will be hunting,
00:14:06
Speaker
You'll be drawing way more tags when you have a go hunt membership. The shameless plug for those guys. They are awesome. Get a go hunt membership. It will change the way you hunt for sure. Tell me what you did. How did you, tell me your first animal. You told us you got into hunting when you were 13. Tell us about that first animal. I assume you were like me. Once you put the cross hairs on a deer, you were just hooked.
00:14:24
Speaker
Yeah, my first animal was just the California D zone, fork and horn. And it's not a super crazy story, but it's just where I started. I, my brother-in-law actually got me into hunting. I didn't come from a family of hunters. Like I said previously, really saltwater fishing was our main thing and moving more inland away from the ocean, my opportunity to go saltwater fishing.
00:14:47
Speaker
Lessened. So my brother-in-law, I have an older sister and she was dating this guy and he went ahead and it was asked me if I was interested in going and I ended up going and enjoying it when I was 12 and then I got my hunter safety and I went out and I don't know if I even shot a rifle the first time I shot a deer. I think this first time I shot an actual rifle, I thought a deer.
00:15:07
Speaker
And just the old school things have changed so much in hunting the old school mentality of just kind of road hunting and driving around. And sure enough, there was a fork and horn right there. And he gets a legal buck if you want to shoot it. And of course I was game to shoot anything being a new hunter and shot it with an old eight millimeter Mauser dropped it right there. And that was that. And then after that, I just remember I couldn't wait for the next year and the year after that. And as I
00:15:32
Speaker
grew older and the finances were more stable and stuff and I had more disposable income. Obviously I started venturing out to hunting out of state and going to Utah and Wyoming when I was younger. And now it's just grown to what it is now, just a pure addiction and applying for 10 states and guiding. And so really my first story is not a very, my first buck or my first story of my buck is not super involved. It's not a, it's just a typical basically saw a buck and I shot it.
00:16:01
Speaker
A wildfire takes a spark, right? And that's definitely the spark that got you hooked. Oh, yeah. So now you've gotten this addiction to sheep. It's been fun to watch. I was looking in, see you posting about these things, posting all these stories. Your guiding sheep. Tell me about this doll sheep hunt you went on. And was it last year, 2022? Yeah. And what that was like, what the logistics were, what the cost was. Do you recommend it? Is it worth the price?
00:16:27
Speaker
Yeah, so I went to Alaska in 2022. It was the most amazing trip I've ever had in my life. There's nothing you've I sound like you've hunted Alaska or I know you are going to that's right. Yeah, we didn't get to go. We got we're still perpetually not going. So we have my they have my deposit and I have no idea what I'm going. It's pretty frustrating. But yeah, Alaska is I love Alaska. If I could convince my wife to move there, I would move there tomorrow.
00:16:54
Speaker
Really? Yeah, I love it. I love everything about it. And something about hunting thin horns is I've hunted numerous different desert big horns, but there's something in my heart that just drives me to hunting thin horn sheep. I really enjoy it and love it in the backpack experience of it. But yeah, I went ahead and actually what kind of sparked the fire for going on a personal, I always, when I was a kid, I remember wanting to go on a doll sheep hunt. When I was really young, after I got, after I killed my first buck, I remember
00:17:23
Speaker
you know, searching and looking at everything and seeing doll sheep and just thinking they're the coolest animal to the point that I realized they're only in Canada and Alaska and being, you know, 14, 15 years old, like how am I ever going to make my way to Alaska? So I even, I looked further and I saw there's Texas dolls and I thought, Oh wow, that could be a way that I could go hunt a doll sheep, not being so naive to not know the difference at that time being young.
00:17:50
Speaker
Obviously, as I grew up and found out, there's a big difference between a Texas doll and an Alaska doll sheep. It had always been an interest of mine, a great interest to hunt sheep and especially a doll sheep. For me, it was the pinnacle of all animals. But then I went ahead and I helped. A local guy here drew in 2019 a desert sheep tag for a new unit in California.
00:18:10
Speaker
And he was 82 years old at the time. He had suffered from a stroke and had a difficulty hiking due to it to the point that when we went on a desert sheep hunt, it was almost more so a road style deer hunt. We tried to go on a stock with him and with two guys, we had to carry him and it'd take an hour to go a hundred yards. And I remember him telling me he wishes he would have went and sheep hunted when he was younger, but now he's too old.
00:18:37
Speaker
And we ended up ultimately getting him a ram, an older ram, but it was a broken horn ram. And that for some reason that resonated with me. And I remember after that, I went home, I told my wife, I said, I have to go on a sheep hunt before I'm too old. I don't want this to be me.
00:18:53
Speaker
And so I started looking at outfitters, doing my research, talking to other people. I went to sheep show. I left sheep show dissatisfied actually with the outfitters that were offered there for, cause I really wanted to go to Alaska and I wanted to go to the Alaska range in particular.
00:19:11
Speaker
So I had one day I came back, I thought, I'll do some more research. I'll spend another year saving money. And I was actually looking on Instagram and Coconi guide service came up. And so I started looking at that and I'd been talking to Kellen for a little bit about it. That's when I first started met him and I knew he had a sheep hunt that year booked. So I started doing some research and it ultimately ended up talking with him, with the owner, Justin DeBay and
00:19:37
Speaker
booking a hunt with him for 2023 originally. And then my hunt got pushed for, or had the availability to be pushed forward. So I went ahead and I did that. I pushed it forward. I went in 22 and it's a, it's an amazing, I don't even know if there's words that can explain how amazing that hunt is to, to how remote it is, how you take a, you fly commercially into Anchorage, you get picked up and you got to get in a little Cessna and then you take a cub and you go, it's just, you're out there.
00:20:06
Speaker
and in the elements and you're just dealing with it. And we had such a great time. I killed on day six of my hunt, which was a great opportunity. It wasn't at the tail end where you're starting to get really stressed out, but I got to experience a lot of cool things. Sea bears, sea moose, caribou, got to do a lot of hiking and looking for sheep. And unfortunately, the unit that he was permitted to go into, it had severe winter kill.
00:20:33
Speaker
to the point that they actually in 2023 closed the unit to non-residents for the next five years. So if I didn't go in 22 and I would have gone in 23 like I was originally booked for, my hunt would have looked very much different.
00:20:49
Speaker
Obviously I loved it enough that I ended up, he made me an offer to come back and work for him as a packer and work a deal out with him. And obviously I told him yes before I even talked to my wife and that she would be supportive because I loved it so much. And looking forward to probably going up there this next year and helping on a moose hunt and gaining that experience. But it is truly amazing. And I recommend and suggest that
Working in Alaska's Wilderness
00:21:13
Speaker
everyone sometime in their life tries to go to Alaska and hunt, whether it's caribou or moose or whatever.
00:21:19
Speaker
I have a bunch of questions about this. When you say he worked a deal with you to go up there, are you like building up like a bank, like a savings to go back? So when you work with them, is it like, hey, we'll put this towards a sheep hunt someday? Are you working for free? Yeah, yeah. Essentially I work for free as a packer and return later in life. I'll add up X amount of hunts. We'll pay dividends towards a hunt, whether I want assistance on a moose hunt or maybe a grizzly bear hunt.
00:21:46
Speaker
It has to be something obviously that he is permitted to hunt in his unit that he's able to hunt. Do you want to kill a grizzly bear? It's not at the top of my list. If I was given an opportunity to, yeah, I would, but it's definitely low on the list. I would probably much rather kill a moose and definitely another sheep would be ID.
00:22:05
Speaker
Yeah, the grizzly bear just doesn't intrigue me. I don't know why it doesn't intrigue me. It's just not something that I'm like, I don't want to do it. Moose is high up there. What about mountain goat? Do you want to do goat? Yeah, I would love to do goat, unfortunately, and I will do a mountain goat. I think one day in my life, maybe in British Columbia or maybe Alaska and different on where the location is, but he doesn't unfortunately do mountain goats. He's not permitted in the area that they have permits for.
00:22:30
Speaker
Oh, okay. Okay. So I think the biggest obstacle to going on a sheep hunt for most people, for the average person is the price tag. Now it is gone. Can you speak to that? What was the price of a doll sheep hunt 10 years ago? And what is the price of a doll sheep hunt today? And why is it? Yeah. And this is going to blow a lot of people's minds and it blew my mind.
Rising Costs of Sheep Hunting
00:22:52
Speaker
I actually just got back from helping down in D 14 on a guided deer hunt this past weekend, matter of fact. And we were successful and.
00:23:00
Speaker
as I'm cutting up the deer I'm just talking with a hunter and he's going on about all the areas that he has hunted and he says they hunted the Yukon and of course my mind instantly goes Yukon it's got to be sheep it's got to be stone sheep so I asked him what and he said oh I went to the Yukon and I hunted a stone sheep moose and I think he said mountain goat I believe if I remember right
00:23:22
Speaker
And he said, you won't believe how much I paid. And I'm like, how much was it? He paid 17 grand for all three. Oh, wow. That was in 2003. So it was 20 years ago. Okay. Now I know, like Alaska, I know, you know, their sheep prices have already increased since I've gone tremendously.
00:23:41
Speaker
Even the outfit that I went with has raised his prices significantly and he's still, it's still a great deal. I think right now he's charging 26,000 and you have to pay for your airfare, your charter or part of your charter. And that is, that's pretty much the standard right now in Alaska. I know Ultimate Tully is at 40,000 right now and they're on the, the, the
00:24:03
Speaker
upper end of it for Alaska pricing, me personally, I paid 22,000, but that included my charter. So you figured charter's about two grand. So basically I paid about 20 grand, which I felt was a pretty good deal. It wasn't that long ago, within the last 10 years where you could go on a sheep hunt for seven grand. Yeah. Yeah. I think I want to say that they told me when I was up there just talking with them that 10 years ago, I think they were charging 7,500 or something, or 6,500 for a dull sheep hunt.
00:24:32
Speaker
So is it just supply and demand or are these guides greedy? I'll tell you, I think it's a couple things. One, it is supply and demand, yes, partly because, for example, Alaska shutting down. When I was up there this year as a packer, not Alaska itself, but the feds shut down two other sheaths. And I don't remember what units they were. I want to say they were in the
00:24:55
Speaker
northern part of Alaska, but they shut them down for sheep hunting. And then with the state shutting down the unit that I hunted in 2022, obviously that puts more pressure on other outfitters and as well as the sheep herds in the other units. But I think a big thing is fuel and the charters. It costs $610 an hour to fly a cub.
00:25:18
Speaker
That's why if you and I went up there right now, we plan to hunt and we made a phone call and we wanted someone to go ahead and fly us in remotely with a cub and to go moose hunting on DIY, DIY moose hunt. It's going to cost us as we speak right now, $610 an hour, because in the pilot was explaining it to me, their insurance goes up. If there's a plane crash in Alaska.
00:25:40
Speaker
their insurance goes up astronomically. It's not if you get in an accident in your automobile, in your car, your price is going to go up, your premiums for your insurance. It's as a whole for the region or for the area. So their insurance is anywhere from 25 to $35,000 just for them to fly a cub out of their pocket before they even start making it. And so they're going to, of course, pass that buck on to the consumer.
00:26:03
Speaker
And I get that, but that doesn't really, let's say it used to be 400, 300 bucks an hour. That really doesn't account for a $20,000 swing in 10 years. It's just, do you think it's just people are willing to pay it? I can't blame them because somebody's willing to pay $27,000 for a sheep hunt. And they are because they're booked out three years in advance right now. Everyone, I couldn't call and want a sheep hunt.
Valuing Hunting Experiences
00:26:24
Speaker
To go in 2024 to find a sheep hunt, I'd probably have to find a cancellation to go. They're already booked up.
00:26:29
Speaker
So people are willing to pay it. It's good for the guys. It'd be good for them. They're doing great. It's hard for the blue collar guy now to even fathom going on a sheep hunt. How did you prioritize that? How did you talk your wife into, I'm going to spend 22, plus you probably spent 28 grand with a hunt, to be honest, right? Bringing it down, taxidermy, flying it back, it's probably 26, 28 grand, right? How do you tell your wife you're going to do it? It's so important to you that you have to do it, or did she make you sell a truck?
00:26:58
Speaker
What'd you do? I guess I just in a roundabout way told her more detailed basically what I just said on this podcast like how important it was to me and the sacrifices I was willing to make to go ahead and induce. I drive a 09 Toyota Tacoma with 225,000 miles. It was that important to me instead of going it probably should have went and got a brand new truck probably could have gone and put it put that money towards a new truck but instead I put it toward the sheep hunt and
00:27:23
Speaker
Now I'll be probably driving that truck for a couple more years. And that's fine by me. And some people, maybe they'd look at it different. But that was just something that amongst a few other things I did to save up some money. My wife, she's extremely supportive. She understands I go to work for our family and then provide for our family. And in return, she always wants to be super supportive of my dreams. And she could tell how important it was for me.
00:27:47
Speaker
That's kind of what I was getting at. Cause you had to make, like for one, the one thing I like you said, what you said was that this guy said, I wish I went before I got too old because you can't, you want me, you can't buy his time. You can't buy 35 back. Like I'm telling you right now I'm 37 and this is the first year where I'm like, man, I'm not recovering like I used to. I'm in the gym four or five days a week. And I'm like, man, I am just not, I'm going slower. Like I am slowing down. I'm still by no means a slouch. Don't get me wrong. People behind me, I'm going to probably hike most of you under the table, but
00:28:15
Speaker
I'm feeling it more. I'm feeling it in my knees. I'm feeling it in my thighs. It's just things are walking up more. No matter how much I work out, I'm still getting older. And I can see myself waiting until 60 to do this because I don't want to spend the money and then not being able to do it. So you just, what you're saying is you just said, you know what? I'm going to bypass getting a truck. I'm going to bypass reballing my kitchen, whatever it is. I don't care about having the newest pair of Nikes. I'm going on a sheep hunt because it's important to me.
00:28:43
Speaker
And that's a big, it doesn't sound like you own a giant company. So that's a big truck of money. It wasn't worth it. 100%. Yeah, without a doubt. I don't regret a dollar that I spent. No one can ever take those memories away from that. Anything that happened to me and those memories will always be. For me, it was the way I look at it in life is I'm young enough. If I can swing it and go on a hunt of this stature and importance to me, I would rather work an additional year of my life past where I would normally be able to retire.
00:29:12
Speaker
but be able to enjoy this when I'm younger. That's the way I look. I can always work another year. I can always work another year, but I can't always go hunt Alaska for doll sheep. I like that. I like that a lot. It's the kind of going consensus from everyone I talk to who does spend the money, who is of my same kind of means, like just an average dude, they all say the same thing. They're looking to go back already.
00:29:36
Speaker
Yeah. They're like, how can I go back? And I'm like thinking like you just spent 25 grand and you're trying to figure out how to go back. Yes, it was worth it. Like it was that kind of experience. It was worth it. I haven't talked to somebody who went and the thing is like a lot like you went on like it was supposed to be like the worst year. I remember that like 2022 is supposed to be like the worst year for doll sheep. There was a chance you were going to spend 26 grand and not kill a sheep.
00:29:58
Speaker
Yeah, it is hunting. You can do that for anything. That's definitely a real life possibility. I knew of five other
Guiding Hunts in California
00:30:05
Speaker
individuals that were going into the Alaska range and some of them are really great hunters, phenomenal hunters. And I was very fortunate and blessed and lucky that I got a ram. I was the only one out of all of us that I knew that actually killed a ram.
00:30:20
Speaker
Yeah. I have friends that always worry about money and what if, if you spend the money, are you going to be being successful? And it's part of it is just the journey and the experience in that country. It's not always about killing. Granted, everyone wants to be successful for sure, but you got to take the risk. Otherwise you'll never get the reward.
00:30:38
Speaker
Yeah, so I was just saying that I've had friends that have gotten, they get too in their mind or too involved with the cost of a hunt and the possibility of not being successful. But you'll never have the possibility of being successful if you don't go and put the chips on the table and go for it and actually try. You're 100% not successful if you're not willing to
00:30:59
Speaker
That is incredible advice. I think everyone should give that to their wives and tell them, look, I got to go do this. It's important to me. We got to go. So dude, you're guiding now. Are you looking to pick up clients? You want to plug that at all? Yeah. We're always looking to pick up clients. I started just recently guiding in D14 for California.
00:31:18
Speaker
deer and that's a pretty fun. I just got into that and that was a pretty fun experience this past weekend. But then we typically mainly guide for desert sheep. I guide for San Gorgorno wilderness outfitters, Terry Anderson, and he's got 191 desert sheep to his name. So he's got 100% success and 191 clients that have been successful with him. So I've gained a lot of knowledge about hunting desert bighorns because of him. And
00:31:48
Speaker
It's been really great. I've been doing that the last four years, gaining knowledge and experience. Like you mentioned earlier, it's so difficult to draw these tags, especially in California when they only give away 30, 32 desert sheep tags statewide. So it is really a great opportunity for me to get out and be able to learn more about
00:32:07
Speaker
hunting sheep and something that I just really enjoy and passionate about. And I also just enjoy meeting new people and getting out there and meeting new people and hearing their story and helping them fulfill their dream of killing a sheep and all the diversity that it takes. Everyone's a little different. They got different limitations, different fears in overcoming those. It makes it very challenging as a guide, but makes it very rewarding.
00:32:33
Speaker
So if I draw a sheep tag, do you recommend getting a guide? I guess to be 100% honest, it depends on the unit to start. There are some units in California that a good hunter such as yourself would do just fine. But I think that there are certain units that a guide definitely needed and definitely will help improve your success.
00:32:54
Speaker
And one example would be
Role of Biologists in Sheep Hunts
00:32:56
Speaker
for sure is if you're trying to shoot a book ram, I would suggest going for a guide. One, they're going to be able to tell you if the unit even has a book ram or what your possibility of killing a book ram. Secondly, they're going to be able to judge a sheep and be able to tell you if it's a book ram or not. If you're just going to try to kill a sheep and be successful in one of the better units right now,
00:33:20
Speaker
You would be more than adequate and seasoned hunter, not just go out for a weekend hunter. You would be more than fine by yourself, I'm sure. And you do get, from my understanding, some biologists help too, right? Like if you draw a tag, the biologists, are they with you and you hunting or are they, there's something to do with, they're involved a little bit, correct? Yeah, they're involved a little bit, but they most definitely are not with you. If you draw a sheep tag you have in the state of California, you're mandated to do an orientation.
00:33:50
Speaker
So they used to do it in person. They recently have been doing it via Skype. They just went back to doing it in person this year, which is much more enjoyable, I personally believe, to actually meet the people. And if you actually hire a guide, the guide or outfitter has to go to the orientation as well.
00:34:09
Speaker
And then after you're successful with your sheep, you have to check in with a biologist and have the RAM plugged and they score it and they collect all their data that they need, but that is part of the hunt. So there is some process, but not, they won't, they'll give you like some little bit of information as far as the unit goes and drawing a sheep tag, but they're not going to walk you right to them.
00:34:32
Speaker
I gotcha. I was thinking if I drew this tag, I'd be able to talk to the biologist and say, where are the best sheep at? Like, where's the areas I go? But not so much. No, they'll tell
Conclusion and Contact Info
00:34:41
Speaker
you what they typically will do is that they'll say, and we can collect that information as well. But if you were to draw the tag, you could call them and what they would probably do is they'd give you, they do a flyover and they'd say, we saw the most amount of class four or class three Rams in this Mount range.
00:34:57
Speaker
and they would go ahead and they would provide that information for you. So that'd give you a little bit of information as far as what mountain range to start looking into. Yeah, that'd be cool. Yeah, so if anyone is ever lucky enough to draw a California desert bighorn
00:35:15
Speaker
tag and or if they're looking to apply and they want to contact me and get some information on what's going on per unit and have some insight there because we're always running cameras and always out there looking at the sheep. They're always going to get a hold of me on my Instagram. It's just my first name and first and last name. So it's Brad Bolton, A-B-O-L-T-I-N. Other than that, you could always call out my outfitter that I work for, which is San Gregorino Wilderness Outfitters. We have a website.
00:35:43
Speaker
And you can, or you could always find me on the SCH Outdoors Forum and contact me via that way. And I'd be more than happy to help anyone with information about these upcoming draws and what units are doing the best and what ones are not. Yeah, definitely. I would love that. Definitely. Let's look forward to doing that. Thank you.
00:36:08
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Tricer Podcast. Do us a favor, or like and subscribe on whatever platform you're listening on. Give us a follow on Instagram and Facebook at tricerusa. And go check out all of our innovative gear at www.tricerusa.com. Until next time, shoot straight, have fun, and always put God first.