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The Optics Guro – Cody Nelson
255 Plays26 days ago
This week Drew has Cody Nelson, “The Optics Guru” from GOHUNT on the Tricer Podcast. If you want to know anything about optics this podcast should be at the top of your list. Cody is widely known as the go to expert in the hunting industry for optics and there is a reason why. He is a wealth of knowledge with 30 plus years of experience behind glass and hunting coues deer in Arizona as well as lots of game in the west. Cody and Drew talk about including tripods in your glassing set up to improve your chance of finding game. They discuss the idea of having a quiver of options to choose from. Do you have one pair of binoculars, or do you have something for multiple purposes and why that could be important. I have a feeling there will be a part two to this episode and can’t wait to hear it when its out.
CODY NELSOM
Email – cody@gohunt.com / optics@gohunt.com
GOHUNT - https://www.gohunt.com/browse/authors/cody-nelson?page=2
TRICER USA
Website – https://tricerusa.com/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tricerusa/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/tricerusa/
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@tricer6985
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Transcript
Introduction and Setting the Tone
00:00:01
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. I'll let you do your thing. If you need to go back and grab some, i want anyway, yeah.
Cody Nelson's Influence and Introduction
00:00:28
Speaker
ah that Everyone, you just heard Cody Nelson. He's letting me do my thing right now on this podcast. ah my ah If I had to say, like who is my mentor in the industry and who is the person who I respect the most when it comes to tripods? Hands down, without a doubt, it is Cody Nelson from Go Hunt. Cody, how are you doing? I'm good, buddy. How are you? Thanks for having me on.
00:00:49
Speaker
Yeah, we've been talking about doing a pod forever. Me and Cody probably just did a whole podcast before this, just talking before this. We got a fresh record, Cody. Yeah, we I was going to say, we got a little a little down on the tangent of ah of bipods. But yeah, don't we we should have done this a long time ago. i know Well, it's funny because I know you were starting it. I know you're doing it. And you and I have talked about it.
00:01:12
Speaker
at least a dozen times but I think you you know as well as anybody that when you're in this business in the way that it is in the seasons and you got to go while it goes good and sometimes it's hard to get all the little things in and I don't need to say the podcast is little but it's the truth of it is is that um customers come first is what I guess I'm trying to say.
Balancing Podcasting and Hunting Seasons
00:01:39
Speaker
which is basically why we're recording on essentially Christmas Eve. so exactly That's why we're doing it this week because it's our first time off, both of us in town, both of us doing and it. But I appreciate you saying that. um i mean I don't know. i mean i don't know you know yeah It's always new, getting on new podcasts, new um people and interests and customers. and and I think if people just understand one thing about me,
00:02:08
Speaker
i loved the glass I love I love rifle scopes, I love spotting scopes, binoculars, and and i i I just love changing people's view, if you will, though pun intended, I guess. But I just love giving people the opportunity to to be better at finding, seeing, and and ah you know ultimately
Passion for Optics and Hunting Skills
00:02:31
Speaker
harvesting game. And um ah you know tripods is certainly a huge deal with that. And so i'm i'm yeah I mean, Drew, you and I, I don't know that we ever not hit it off right.
00:02:45
Speaker
But like we weren't connecting in the beginning, you know we just with product assortment and whatever. And then there was a moment there where it felt like everything we talked about, we touched perfectly. And and we just we' i mean there's been you've been cranking some gear out, bro.
00:03:06
Speaker
you You've been cranking some stuff good and and that's I'm happy to have been just a small part of that. um and it's it It makes me feel good because you're so passionate.
00:03:19
Speaker
and you you want the most out of it. And so when somebody comes to me and says, well, you know, I mean, I've only got 30 years of doing this, right? I mean, that's kind of when I started, if you go back and it's, I'm 54 years old now and that was about 20 years old when I started, you know, really hunting and for serious and, and you know, when things started to to get um different in the hunting world,
00:03:44
Speaker
And when I say different, like I didn't, when I started, I didn't know what a
Tripod Adoption and Hunting Strategy Changes
00:03:48
Speaker
tripod was. I mean, tripod meme, that's something that, you know, my that was like a surveyor's tripod that you, I mean, we just, you just didn't think in terms of those things. yeah And I'm still having conversations with people today where they they think, you know, like a guy on Friday called and said, he's like, well, I just, I don't use, you know, I don't use my binoculars on a tripod.
00:04:14
Speaker
But you got to try. And we started talking about efficiencies and and and field of views per you know every time you move you know in eye fatigue. And he was completely... um By the end of the conversation, I think he was just like, i just I've never thought about any of these things that you just lay down. And I'm like, well, I'm like, look, I'm not...
00:04:44
Speaker
It's not just me, I mean there's people that came before me that I learned from but the point I'm trying to make is is that you have so much information, so much advantage over what we did 30 years ago because I literally just in 10 or 15 minutes gave you ah um as much as I could say a lifetime of information that literally other people, it took a long time to figure out.
00:05:08
Speaker
yeah and and and that's the And Drew, that's the most rewarding call is if that guy calls me back after next fall or spring or whatever he's hunting and says, God, Cody, I did what you said. I put optics on, I put the binos and then I mounted my spotting scope. but like you know i mean i was And it just changed. I mean, I get those texts all the time where people like it changed my my outlook. It changed like i like I'm a better hunter now because of that.
00:05:38
Speaker
You don't realize how many animals you're missing, right? Until you get onto a tripod, and you're like, holy smokes, there were deer there the whole time. I always use it as a term, Drew, and I think this is the most interesting thing. I made this very specific comment at the end that he made me explain. And I said, if you and I were to go glassing right now, and I let you pick the spot,
00:06:05
Speaker
there will be a moment in time where you cannot keep up with me. And he was like, what do you mean by that? He was almost offended. I'm like, look, this isn't mano a mano. I said, we could make it that way and make a game out of it and be fun with it. And I said, there's a time and a place for that. But I said, there's a moment where where I'm going to start finding game and be so efficient with each spotting.
00:06:30
Speaker
that I promise you, you won't be able to keep up with finding each one of those pieces if you want to see them. And he was he was completely blown away. So we I went through him and and and in told him how to do it and go through it. and And I mean, he was like, wow, I just never glassed like that.
00:06:50
Speaker
So he's going to give it a try. And he, you know, he bought, you know, and really all he needed was a, just a little bit better tripod, a Bino adapter, and he's already got the spotting scope. So he's good to go. So yeah. yeah hundred percent 100%. I had our friend Jay on last week, Jay Scott, and I told Jay a few things. I told him, one, I feel like what I'm doing is like what you said, is I'm just standing on the shoulders of what you guys are doing. right so You guys have kind of paved the way. There's guys before you that paved the way for glass, and I'll try. 100%. I'm just taking that and making a better mousetrap. and I also told him, and he kind of said, no, it's not true, but I think it is, that the best glassers come from Arizona.
00:07:31
Speaker
Um, the best guys just come from Arizona and they are the people who pioneered this, I don't want to say sport, but this side of our, our passion. And I kind of want to talk about that a little bit to start out. Like I think you guys kind of pioneered it, right? They was talking about the nineties and tripods, where all the stuff came from. So the, the, the truth of it is, is if you go back in the day, like, I'm not saying that this was like the original spark, but I mean, when you start talking about like, like.
00:08:00
Speaker
Tucson and Jensen's and You start bringing up places where where people were taking 15 by 60s It was ice that was kind of that was like really the first big like everything that you would read about I used to I don't know what I did with them, but they're probably gone by now but I used to have every article that from every Western hunting pop publication or outside or anything, outdoor life, whatever would post or or put in a post, whatever would publish an article on Kuzir hunting. Like the first time that I ever looked at an article and went, God, that looks really cool. um it it It was an article that was done, I believe by Craig Boddington,
00:08:54
Speaker
It was, I mean, it was when the magazines were almost like that, they weren't even the glossy Peterson's hunting magazine. yeah This was like the, when when it was still almost kind of the newspapery feel, right? yeah And there was a picture of Dwayne Adams perched on this huge rock outcropping, looking out over a big basin.
00:09:18
Speaker
and he had this ridiculously small, you know obviously, you know probably the best that was available at the time, camera tripod, and he had these huge 1560s mounted on them.
00:09:32
Speaker
now We can all, Dwayne comes from you know the heart of Coosdeer country, which is down in in San Manuel. And all of those guys would buy their optics and get their stuff from Jensen's down in Tucson. And you know there used to be Coosdeer clubs down there. and And the name Doyle and, and I mean, it's just the, the um I mean, I could name like old families and you just, you start thinking to yourself, those were the guys that really started pioneering stuff. And those that, and I'm not going to just say that there was one person, but like that idea of mounting those binoculars on tripods. And I would just tell you that
00:10:24
Speaker
those early 90s and then then all of a sudden, um man, you had magazines like Trophy Hunter. And then, you know, ah the the Western Hunter, and or yeah well actually it was Western, it was Western, Western Optics Hunter is really what the name of Western Hunter was before. and and and it yeah But what it started doing, and who's the other one? um ah get thicker, the Eastman's. and So some of these publications, Hunting Fool, like they they all started to grow and do those things and and those ideas of of killing you know older c clays older class you know animals and all that. it ah It all kind of started to go hand in hand together.
Glassing Techniques and Stability
00:11:15
Speaker
Yeah. And it's just until that point, you're kind of just like wandering around, trying to find a deer, then you're shooting a deer, right? You get lucky once in a while. Yeah. And then like, I remember sitting, um man, I remember sitting at at Phoenix Fire Station One. I was down there riding with a buddy of mine.
00:11:36
Speaker
And he introduced me to a bunch of guys, I mean, old school dudes, and, um you know, the Groenwelds and and ah Wally and and all i don't just a great Richie and all these cool guys that killed big animals and lion hunters and all this stuff. And I remember hearing one of the guys talk about He wasn't even using a tripod at the time, but he had this like strap that he would like put himself into. And when he was all contorted into a little ball, it would help him kind of stay focused. And I'm like, all of that, 100% all of that was completely different once you and it it entered the tripods. All of it changed.
00:12:28
Speaker
Yeah. All those little silly things. And like I just remember hearing all these stories about different things. And all of that stuff over time just began to to get bigger, better. and And it took a while. And it I mean, I'm still amazed to this day about the people that don't know about hunting or glassing from a tripod. So you know you've had all this stuff. But yes, I'm not going to sit here and say the best glassers.
00:12:58
Speaker
um Just from Arizona by me because we've had a long time where a lot of good people have have kind of learned that trade now But I will tell you that That a lot of people from Arizona Are literally some of the best blasters that I know Yeah. and you And I think you could take them in general and put them just about anywhere. Yes. And that they they will find gain, period. 100%. And I think it comes from, it's not just an Arizona or elk thing. I think it comes from, you know, certainly guys glassing big giant country and whether it's up on the strip or whether you're hunting coosdeer, you know, in central and southern Arizona,
00:13:45
Speaker
I just think that there's a certain level of um of expertise and time and try to intrude everything that you're trying to better your game every time because truth of this is you know ah everybody is different in how they learn things, but the only time to really get good at that stuff is to really be in the field and be doing it.
00:14:10
Speaker
And so you know it it it took time. But I can remember when you know the the the tripod that everybody used was you know was Bogan's. And Bogan was a sister company of Manfrotto. And then you know that all kind of changed. And it was all Manfrotto. And then you know i mean things just kind of kept you know getting better and better. then you know But the 90s, I mean, that was an interesting time.
00:14:36
Speaker
i mean there There wasn't a lot of gear. yeah um The first time that I ever tried to put a binocular on ah on a tripod was... was um I mean, hell, that was a piece of of wood with surgical tubing. I mean, i'm not that's not a joke. and then And then the guys, again, guys will remember... um I can't remember the name of the...
00:15:02
Speaker
I just know that it was out of San Manuel, Arizona. Again, you hear San Manuel. San Manuel is, just so everyone knows, I don't want to say a hunt out of there, but I had been there a lot. I was put it that way. It is the smallest town. It's an old mining town. It's a whole new town on the east or the north side of Mount Lemmon. And it's just, I mean, old abandoned golf course. I mean, it's a tiny little town right there. Yeah, it's in the middle of all those mining towns. Winkleman, you know, and it's it's it's You know, I mean it's it's right in the heart of kuzder country and and you know, I mean there's there's been a lot of good hunters that come out of there and you know, my dad was a principal back in the day back then and and You know, that's where he that's where he he kind of learned a little bit about it. And then when he changed
00:15:56
Speaker
jobs and you know we were like okay well you know he liked hunting white tails and so we started putting in for him and you know and and that's been a journey ever since then you know that kind of gets in your blood there's nothing that I like more I mean I've been a lot of different places and and I'm not gonna say that one's any better than the other but where I feel at home is in the mountains of Central or Arizona and and and certainly in in that globe, Miami, you know, superior south of there, you know, down into Tucson. That's that's just kind of my wheelhouse. It's where I feel at home.
00:16:37
Speaker
yeah I think it kind of creates great glaciers as well because it's really hard, I don't even understand until you go and glass it, how big that country can be and how much you really can see. you can really see for two It's not uncommon to glass in two miles away, it's some of that country down there. and It's really hard to replicate that in some of like the real big mountain stuff in like Colorado or Utah, but like some of the stuff like in like southern Southern New Mexico will have it, but like that area, it just really lends itself to a tripod.
00:17:06
Speaker
100%. And I don't think people realize, you know, I mean, obviously the 15s and all of that came about from here in Arizona. and and But but what what people don't really realize is is that yeah I don't care if it's a pair of sixes. Yeah. I don't care what it is that you have.
00:17:30
Speaker
When you, tripods extend the distance of what you're capable of looking through. yeah so if it and And it has an exponential effect. So I think when people are able to to get beyond those boundaries, you know, of of of mounting your tripod, some people look at it as like a, you know, like, oh, I don't want to do that.
Tripod Design Considerations
00:17:54
Speaker
I don't, I want to be free and be able to, well, ah it's it's always what I've said is good weight.
00:18:01
Speaker
yeah There's things in your pack that are good weight. So you know figure out what the things that are worth keeping. And and for me, you know I typically like you know a mid-sized middle weight tripod that's super stable and that allows me to to utilize my glass to the best of my ability.
00:18:24
Speaker
yeah And it it doesn't have to be overcomplicated, but you know then that that's the whole reason, Drew, like guys like you come along. and you know and And it's not to say that it's the original idea, right? I mean, but you're wanting to make things better. yeah You're wanting to give people choices.
00:18:48
Speaker
You know, how do we have stability and lightweight, you know, be in the same package? Yep. Well, excuse me. Um, two, those two forces are really kind of tugging at each other. Yeah, they are. And, and so, and when, you know, the work, the, and i so I say this jokingly, the worst customer I have is the guy that calls up and goes, I want lightweight. I want stability and I want to stand up. Well.
00:19:17
Speaker
you know I mean, you you those three forces completely tug at each other. Yeah. It's it's so it's it's hard because and that's where the AD comes in, right? but like i used And this is a knock and like I use a 634 for a few seasons before I start making tripods. Right. And yeah, it's ultra light. But when you start standing thing up, it just it starts flexing on you, right? 100%. Obviously, the more compact you could be, the more you can sit down, the better. I tell people all the time, like I'll stand up if I'm tired.
00:19:45
Speaker
or if maybe it's a real quick spot or I'm in some tall mansion, but ideally I'm going to try and find some sort of cliff rock or something to get on so I could be sitting down, right? If I could sit down, I'm going to be way more stable than if I stand up. I'm going to find way more game. Well, I think that there's a couple of things that go into that. Number one is I personally believe that most of the guys that are standing up And again, this is simply from what I see. Not saying everybody, I don't want anybody to get all, you know, hurt. I don't know why it's so controversial that it is very controversial. But no, but it is. And the fact of it is, is that what happens is, is that I'll be watching somebody and the first thing they do is they come, excuse me, up to like an edge of a basin.
00:20:36
Speaker
And they want to stand on the top of the rim and walk around and move around. And it's like, i it just drives me nuts because sometimes, not going to say every time, but it happens. I'm already watching deer that there should be looking at. And I've literally seen those guys walking around on top of this rim rock or whatever it is they're doing. And I just watched the deer bed down.
00:21:01
Speaker
yeah and And my whole problem with it is is that You stand up there and skyline yourself and make more noise and you you do things or just create more movement than what you need to If and I've also seen that the reverse I've also seen guys sneak up Get over the hump get down off the the shoulder Sit down and glass and now they're looking at the same deer that I was looking at. Mm-hmm That guy did what he was supposed to do. Yep
00:21:34
Speaker
And I don't think people realize how much that happens. But it doesn't take it doesn't take too long to figure out when somebody you know drives up in ah in ah in a quad and and they get out and they walk up to a rim edge. you know However, even sometimes if it's a hike, you can watch them do it. But when you're in the field long enough, you can see people make some pretty interesting mistakes. Oh, yeah. You watched your... When you sit on...
00:22:02
Speaker
I always say, you know and I've become a lot more methodical in my hunting, I think almost to a fault sometimes, but ah I really try and let my my eyes do the walking now, right? And I've learned that you don't have to go far to change an angle, right? If you if you find good glossing points, you can go, and Dwayne Adams says this, the angle to dangle, right?
00:22:19
Speaker
you can move 20 yards and get a whole other view of an area. 100% you can't. so and With coozier, man, a lot of spots in Arizona, you can stay on the same knob almost all day and find different deer. Of course. you find If you had a good knob, you could rotate 360 around this knob you know and find deer all day long just by sitting there. um and That's what's so beautiful about coozier. It's that chest match of Gotcha. Like when you finally find out it's like one o'clock and that sucker stood up in that hill you've been looking at all day and you're like, gotcha. And so many guys miss it because they pull up on the quad, get out, look real quick, even 20 minutes, then leave. And it's like, dude, you need to put... but i told It happens all the time.
00:23:01
Speaker
Like, when I tell you guys that I i carry eye drops now, right? I'll allll glass eight, ten hours a day. And you could, people, you guys, every film was with me this year, I'll glass all day long because, for one, it's like, I would throw every gun away I have if it was between glassing and hunting. Like, I want to find here. It's what I love to do. But it's, you just have to sit down and glass. I've told people in seminars and stuff that I've taught before that, like, I'd rather forget my gun than forget my optics.
00:23:27
Speaker
Oh my gosh, 100%. I would literally rather find the deer, know where they're at, and come back the next day with my gun than I would the other way around. ah It's just it's i'm just, I just i just know it yeah you know it. It doesn't bother me. I mean, somebody would say, man, that's a wasted day. I'd be like, no, this is a great day glassing.
00:23:52
Speaker
yeah it' just i you know i I am so ingrained at thinking that way that sometimes it's hard to break out of that shell, you know sometimes when when your gut is telling you to. right so um you know you know It was funny, I was laughing not it i was only laughing at Jay, although I do laugh at Jay often because Jay can do some funny things. but I love his answers to some of those questions because they're so point blank, but he answered a question to you know a guy that was like, well, how long do you stay in a certain spot? and
00:24:30
Speaker
and and you know some of that is Gut, some of that is knowledge because you've been there before. so There's a lot that goes into that, but it it really depends on on what you're doing, how you're doing it. How long you've been there? Have you been there before? Do you have you know do you have knowledge of this place you know ah continuously you know over the years? and And I think that sometimes is, is you know you've got to listen to your gut.
00:24:56
Speaker
And sometimes you got to hunker down and stay there and sometimes, you know, I mean, I will tell you that there's a there's a place that, ah you know, my honey partner and I went into and and we literally glassed on a rumor from a friend of ours and said, hey, if you want to go check out a buck, go go to this spot. And I think we went in there I want to say we went in there like six or seven times. And the the the entire six or seven times we saw two deaths. Now that, I don't know, some people would say, well, yeah that's stupid. It's a waste of your time. But we went back in there and I'm talking literally the night before the hunt. We said we're going to give this one more, one more try.
00:25:50
Speaker
And no more than we literally were just about ready to pack up and leave. I i literally whispered, I said, I got him. And he was, he was literally 400 yards below me in a little crump, clump of trees. And I'm talking three or four trees together that I probably had looked at no less than a hundred times, a thousand times. Yep.
00:26:18
Speaker
and so You think you think about the amount of time that we were in there Sometimes we'd be in there in the morning. Sometimes would be like, I mean we were just trying to play that chess game and sure enough For whatever reason the night before the Oh butter That deer literally stood up and and and fed and we were like you got to be kidding me and so we were I was fortunate enough to kill that deer and And um he ended up being a um ah a double main beam. you know It's like 103 or 105 inch double you know double main beam buck. And it's just ah it's justs a really incredible story. But yeah I mean, when you think about it, that's a lot of time to put in one spot to kill a specific deer.
00:27:12
Speaker
So, um and quite frankly, the truth of it is, ah that wasn't even the biggest deer. That wasn't even truly the deer that we were looking for. Yeah. So, but, you know, there's there's instances of that where, you know, our gut was telling us, well, we you know, we know that something's in here. I mean, who knows that deer could have been eaten by a lion, could have been killed, you know, on some other type. You just don't know. Yeah. But but the gut was, you know,
00:27:42
Speaker
The fact of it was that you know um there was a lot of time put behind that to to come out with one deer. It was worth it. I'd do it all over again. Yeah. I mean, you're only going to pull the trigger once, right? so you cant I mean, that's what I tell people all the time. like I say it all the time. to My kids, I'm like, you only need to find one. like We're only looking for one deer. like Even though you know you see 50 deer a day, you're not seeing the you're only looking for one. You can't kill all of them.
00:28:07
Speaker
you know You know, with that too, like that buck being 400 yards below you, dude, my kid, my 16-year-old, he just got a Hunter's instinct, crushed me, Cody, in Utah this year. And you know how he was you know how he was crushing me? Because there is, like, you know, he said there's not an ego thing. there is When you're glassing with people, it's funny. There is. You want to find the first deer, like you do, and it's just fun, like, got one, you know, here he is. And if anybody's telling you there's not, killed they're they're just lying to you. And I do like I you know like I say it it's not money with mono when I talk but but it is
00:28:41
Speaker
It's so fun to find. It's so fun to find the buck, right? And so he killed me. And you know how he was doing it? He was glassing that close stuff. He was getting me on the on the two to 400 yard stuff. And I was always
Preparation and Early Arrival Tips
00:28:53
Speaker
out, you know, in the 15s out over, you know, looking at these hillsides, looking at these little draws and and he just, dude, he crushed me on that. And he probably, I ended up finding the big buck on the trip, but he, he crushed me on that trip. for I have a buddy of mine that I sent to a spot one day and, um,
00:29:11
Speaker
this spot has, well, it has an unusual amount of cat claw. Oh gosh, I hate that stuff. And but it was very interesting because I, I mean, I, you know, I described everything and yeah I didn't give him all the answers, but I was like, hey, when you're sitting on, you know, on this little, this little knob or, you know, whatever you're doing, I'm like, you know, you want a glass. And in and so in his mind,
00:29:40
Speaker
When he did it, he glassed everything that he thought was the obvious, right? And I said to him, I said, well, did you glass like right below you? He's like, what are you talking about? That was just all, you know, like he didn't even, I don't even think he called it cat claw. I don't know what he called it. He's like, Oh, I was just saw that garbage below me. I'm like, bro, that's where the deer are. Yeah.
00:30:10
Speaker
I'm like, what do you, he's like, I was looking at the big stuff. I'm like, I'm not saying there's not deer there, but that's not where the deer are there. Yeah. And so long story short, you know,
00:30:24
Speaker
I can't remember if I went back the next time, and I mean, I could show you pictures of the deer that we turned up, and he was dumbfounded that those deer were living. Right, and that stuff. You know, and I told, I'm like, look, when you get in there, you gotta be super quiet, you can't, you know, you can't talk, you can't, you know, I mean, I don't know what the distance is, I used to, I don't know, Jay always said 300 yards,
00:30:52
Speaker
If you're within 300 yards, they own you. But I think the truth of it is is that people have conversations and smoke and do all kinds of stuff. And it just drives me nuts. But if you're within 500 yards or where they're living, like you've got to shut up and be quiet.
00:31:12
Speaker
yeah can be real quiet that's a you If you're having a conversation that I can hear you, ah you know, half a mile or quarter mile or or a mile away, like you're talking too loud, buddy. but it It was, it was just that that moment that he was just like, are you kidding me? So anyway, I i say that just because I think that's the thing is is that people need to learn that like I don't care if you have a 10 power with a real wide field of view, use it. If you have a 15, use the 15s for what they're you know the big stuff. Use the 8s and 10s for the wide field of view, the thick stuff. And I think people would be, actually, they'd be a little bit surprised on what they can find that's pretty close to them.
Investing in Quality Optics
00:32:03
Speaker
yeah man yeah i wrote If they've done their work getting in, they're being quiet, getting off the top, not being skylined, and you know all that stuff that makes that sense, if they'll do that, I truly think the guys will be more successful than they already were.
00:32:18
Speaker
And honestly, especially in the morning, get in there at least 30 minutes before sunrise, at least 30 minutes before sunrise, get into your spot. yo mom You get in early off get it settled down, get your breathing down, be quiet, get your stuff laid out where you know, it's, you know, just be quiet about it, like, like zippers and, and, and, and screw Velcro, but like, just like, get everything set right.
00:32:45
Speaker
and you're there early enough, you can be super quiet, super methodical about pulling your gear out of your pack and getting your tripod set up and your glass already on there. and and you know Or if it's super cold, I like to sometimes put my glass inside my jacket to keep them warm so that because I'm warm on my face, that I don't automatically flog my vinyls up. i mean ah All of those little things, I think that guys miss and don't take enough time to do, but if you're there a half hour early, you get you get calmed down, you dry out a little bit you know from the sweat in or you know whatever you did, and um you have your stuff laid out where you like it, and like I always take my tripod out, take it out of the sleeve, lay it down, like I have you know my phone, my digiscoping, whatever it is that i that I'm doing right around me, it's always, almost always in the same spots.
00:33:45
Speaker
And so I think when guys do that, it gives them a time to get ready so that they're not you know they're they're ready for for what's about to take place. And and it it forces you to glass super early. And I think guys, when they glass like that, they they realize that they can get you know in there pretty close, pretty tight, and and not be a disruption.
00:34:08
Speaker
Yeah, and like for me, um I like what you said about running your eights and your tens. I run my eights all the time on a tripod. My eel ranges, right on a tripod, and I find game all the time with them. When you're on a tripod, especially when you run real nice eights, especially in the morning, like first light, those eel ranges and all piers are going to suck in the light. Absolutely. And you're going to see so much more. And I guess we should go into a glass now, because we kind of went through tripods.
00:34:34
Speaker
like Man, like I'm such a snob. like I'm such a swirl guy. like I have the hardest time. I do run some other stuff. I run some Mavens. I have run, which I do like the Mavens. I've run the Zoo of Sixes a little bit this year, but not on a tripod. i've just I don't know. um My kid ran them. He did pretty good with them. But man, like once you run really good glass, like once you run Swarovski, it's hard to go back because it just sucks in that light, man. It's just so much more clear. It's why I go back into the whole thing of, and I and i stand by this,
00:35:05
Speaker
and because of what I do and and you know and obviously I represent a lot of different people, but i but but it doesn't change the message. Buy the best class you can afford, put it on a tripod and slow down. there's it's just that If you'll just do those three things alone, and notice I didn't say you know i didn't say you had to spend $3,000, I'm just simply saying try to make a better purchase than what you already have.
00:35:34
Speaker
Or, um you know I mean, just you know if you can if you can not buy $200, you can buy $500, I think you'll be rewarded with that over time. and and And I think that people need to do their very best to to just kind of follow that guideline. um and And I think that they'll be rewarded for it. And I and i don't think people truly understand And maybe I'm wrong, maybe, you know, i but I don't think so. Cause I've been doing it so long and I really just truly believe it. When you look through good glass, there's kind of that aha moment. And whether somebody wants to admit it or rather they just want to be like, holy cow, like man, those guys were not kidding. Like this is the real deal. Like this is like, I can really see through stuff.
00:36:30
Speaker
And that explains to you through stuff because that's really where it makes sense. So 500 yards away, you're looking into a bush. Do you want to look into a bush? So and this comes from this really, it truly comes from glassing kuzdeer. And I'm not saying it can't happen with other things, but I'm just saying that happens. Kuzdeer can stop.
00:36:52
Speaker
and they can dip their head to feed and you'd be like, did that deer just move? Like you could take, you can look at your buddy for 30 seconds ago. Oh, there's deer on that hill too. And you turn back, you're like, where did that deer just go? And you'll spend 10 minutes finding that, trying to find that deer, like moving your body. And then you'll go back to the same bush and he picks his head up and takes a step forward. You're like, I don't know how they do that.
00:37:20
Speaker
and i've got the great ghost Look, I've got great eyes and I'm fine game and I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I'm the best, that i but i I can hold my own. I think I should tell you that. and i mean you know they They fool us all sometimes. and and I'm just saying that when I say look through stuff, I'm like saying physically being able to look through catcloth, physically being able to look into the shadows, physically looking behind a tree that's got just enough of a breakup that I can see movement behind it. And when you can do those things, I just think that there's glass that does that you know exceptionally well, and then there's glass that doesn't do it at all.
00:38:08
Speaker
and And I think that that um you know like like I always say ah ah a really true testament of a really good piece of glass. And you know I think that some of the best animals that ever get found aren't always because you were you know looking with the sun at your back.
00:38:29
Speaker
But if you really wanna test something, look into the sun, not directly in the sun, for God's sakes, don't go do that. But but looking, you know when the sun's right on you and and you're you're looking into the shadows, you know some of the best deer we found have been found that way. And and and I would tell you that if if it weren't, you know good glass just you know filters that just way better than other glass.
00:38:58
Speaker
Yeah, and that's that 11 to 2 p.m. time that everyone kind of oven to three, 11 to two, everyone kind of goes back to the truck on and man, when you can last the sun in your face, especially for those coups here.
00:39:10
Speaker
Dude, sometimes they just get up, and there they are. You need to be looking into that sun. I bought my first pair. Everyone talked about it. I got my first pair of 15s, the 15 by 56s, Swarows, and 2018. It was a stretch for me. You guys buy these binos. This is a stretch for me to buy these binos. I think I got a deal on it for like $2,400, like that from my friend on the gun shop in town.
00:39:34
Speaker
I still have those binos to this day and those binos are responsible for more animals dying than anything I own. yeah way more than any i mean Those things, like they just I love them. and I'm going to i'm goingnna replace them with the 14s this year probably. I don't care what anybody says. they's still the they're They're the workhorse of the West. yep They won the West. I started saying that a long time ago. and you know The guys that that that that did that way back when, and they went to Swarovski and said, we need to take you and show you, and they did it. And the 856 already existed. And you know the engineers and everybody who looked at that was like, yeah, I think we could do that. And they did. They they they did it right. And yeah, are the 1556s perfect?
00:40:24
Speaker
you know what I like to see a ah four millimeter exit pupil like the old 1560s ice or you know I mean yeah there's a lot of little things but like look when you're looking at that long distance and and and you know and and and I say I don't know I mean when you get past a thousand yards man everything starts to get out there but those 15s just that there is nothing like somebody that
00:40:54
Speaker
How do I explain that? There's there's nothing like somebody that's like been grown up on eights or tens. And then literally, you you then turn and you you there's there's nothing like that guy that that he's you know he he might be even a good glasser. And then he you know and he he he stretches those tens as long as they'll go. yep And then you're like, here, look through these.
00:41:22
Speaker
And there's a realization, and like and and it's again, I talk about that aha moment, but it's a different kind of an aha moment. He realizes that he's just now basically bridged the gap. He's literally able to see at that 2,000, 2,500 yard mark that he was just that was almost that was almost completely, totally out of touch. yep and And when you can do that,
00:41:53
Speaker
There is just nothing, there is nothing that that that honestly like shows you or says, oh, like you're looking through 15, you're looking through the good stuff right now. And there's I don't think there's anything that opens people's eyes to like, oh my God, I didn't realize this was possible. And honestly, like I run a BTX for the last couple of years, too.
00:42:20
Speaker
I prefer my 15s on my BTX sometimes, a lot of the time, honestly. BTX is nice, but I feel like the 15s with the bigger, I just feel like I can find more stuff for the 15 than I can with the BTX. Well, the BTX is is um like I've always, even from its inception, I've always thought that the big eyes, you know the the twins, look, we've been doing this for i mean I mean, honestly, the the the first the first set of twins came out in the late 90s and you got guys from Tucson that David Miller and with his Spacemaster, I don't even know what they were, 20 to 60 by 60s or whatever they were.
00:43:02
Speaker
I mean, that guy was mountain, you know, Bushnell or Bosch and Lomb or whatever's together. and And you had guys that were putting Swarovskis together and and and, you know, that stuff's been going on for a long time. Adam, ah you know, you had Benny Wells and some of the, um oh, I can't think of the guy's names from t from up north. um Oh, man, that's gonna say... Adam's doing it really well right now. No, but Adam's doing good. Adam's the guy... Adam's the hit gaam's the good first guy that really kind of took it to a level like, hey, I'm gonna do them all. And the best part of it is, is that the the he's got a ton of different, you know, pieces that he can make put together, right?
00:43:52
Speaker
That's Adam from Adam's adapters. He makes twins. Super good dude. Super ingenuity. I think he's ah um he's ah he's a machinist by trade. And I think he just looked at it like, hey, I could do this. And I could just do this a little bit different and a little bit better than than everybody else is doing right now. And and I think he's knocked it apart. He's done a great job.
00:44:15
Speaker
I don't think it answers all the questions, but I think it does a pretty damn good job of, of making some of those, those pieces of gear together. And there's all of those, all of those different kinds of glass have certain things about them that are better than others and why you would choose one versus to the other. I think that's a whole other pot. You could spend the whole podcast talking about that. Yeah. But what I'm trying to say is, is that I use that big glass for the finding. I want to know where the pockets of deer are at. I want to know her where things are hanging up. I want to be able to sit and look at a place that I can literally look 180 degree, you know, and left and right. And I can see different big canyons and I can see a lot of different country.
Deer Rut Strategies and Optic Preferences
00:45:03
Speaker
And sometimes it's all about, you know what, maybe I'm just, maybe I've got a late December whitetail tag like the guys are doing right now. Maybe I'm just looking for a pocket of does to keep checking.
00:45:13
Speaker
because those does got to get checked sometimes and if you catch them right you watch a doe hard enough and you watch their you know you you if you really do if you watch their back trails and you watch them long enough I guarantee if you watch the same trail that the doe went there'll be a buck that'll hit that same trail and and the and and quite frankly that's how I see a lot of big deer yeah just check and you you say You're saying just checking, running roads, getting out of the truck, glassing big canyons. Glassing big country, whatever you think looks big, and then you find a pocket of does and you're like, oh, well look at that. Let me watch where these does go. and yeah And you kind of watch those does go somewhere and then bed down. And then shoot sure enough, if if the ruts even remotely close to being on, if you've watched exactly where that that that trail was,
00:46:08
Speaker
ah I can't begin to tell you how many times that we've seen deer, you know big bucks come around and and follow the exact same trail and stop where that same deer stopped and and and they're just running their lines. they're out looking you know there's i mean They're cruising. They're looking for doing what they're doing.
00:46:27
Speaker
And ah that's what I've always you know used for encoder hunting away. That's ah what I've always used the the the big glass for, whether it was Coa's or whether it was Dr. Optics. whether I mean, all of those had had purposes.
00:46:42
Speaker
yeah and Some people are still around the Highlanders, man. I can't believe, like, freaking Marlon Holden is still around the big highland, or big Coas. Yeah, I mean, well, the but like the well look, there's there's a couple things. 15-pound optics. There's a good thing that they do. I just sold the set to a but couple weeks back, and and the guy described to me what he wanted. I'm like, well, first of all, I'm like, look, let let me just be really... The the glass of them is incredible. Yes. They're 13 or 14 pounds.
00:47:10
Speaker
So you gotta have a tripod that's but stable enough for him. So let's just say you're at 20 pounds when you're done with it, right? Well, that guy can sit behind that glass and sustain the elements better than a lot of people can with other optics, period. I don't care what anybody says. Just because of the weight. just the whistle of the town you can't You can't replace that weight.
00:47:38
Speaker
Yeah, and um I'll be the first one to tell you like hey look I'd love to have The perfect world where I could have a big tripod and heavy glass and have straight tubes and the whole I love all that But don't get don't kid yourself anybody that's lugged those around and knows their true virtue. I Mean there's there's nothing wrong with them. It's just you know like we just tend to have different lighter different stuff now Yeah, but there's no reason not to use them Yeah, I just find like with the big glass, like when I went to New Mexico this year, I gave my partner my 15s and I took the the BTX and we're only having like this like mile, like a mile across Canyon. And I was like, man, like the 15, it's nice to be able to look into stuff, especially in the middle of the day, like when you start picking up the BTX, but I can see more efficient with the 15s than I can with the BTX sometimes. yeah Like you just, you can see stuff more. Like if I had to pick one glass, if you're like Drew, you're going to, I'm going to drop you off, whatever, the Frank Church.
00:48:37
Speaker
I'm going to drop, it's going to be my 15s. They're just going to go with me. Right now, a cool thing is these new 14s came out, which I'm probably going to upgrade to this season. Amazing. You should be able to get some 15s for 1,500 bucks. There's going to be a lot of 15s for sale coming up here on these sites. It's almost like for people to say, well, I don't want to spend 2,400 bucks for a new pair of 15s. Good. You don't have to.
00:49:02
Speaker
Everyone's selling them go buy some 15 because we're all getting everyone who's been using 15s forever is upgrading to this 14 because the 14s are I Don't know how to describe it. Like I haven't looked at the 14 to look through the 12s a lot and else They're high-definition like I don't know how to describe it are then you look through a pair of NL pures and it's it's like it's like looking at in 3d well, it's
00:49:26
Speaker
They've just touched on that, and i ah like I always refer to that as the EL pop. Because look, there's there's nothing i mean look SLC glass was amazing. But SLC glass by definition has more light gathering than others. Not by much, but by a little. But that EL, when they first came out with them, it just had that I don't know, there's just that warmth and that vivid like, you can like reach out and feel and touch what you were looking at. It took your first time looking at a flat screen TV. That was amazing, right? I mean, ah yeah that was incredible. And then, and then and then i'll yeah I'll never forget, Tommy called me, you know, a mechanic from Swarovski, he's like, hey man, he's like, dude, my NLs just came in, he's like, come take a look at these.
00:50:19
Speaker
So i was I think I was at a baseball tournament, and and we were i was we kind of met over where I could see him pretty quick. And the first time I looked through him, there was a big giant scoreboard like on the backside. And and and I looked through the ELs just to have a frame of reference. And there's I just couldn't believe that you took the EL that had 335 foot field of view, and you just cranked it out to 399 feet. I'm like, wait a minute. So in the 10s, you're telling me that to you tell me that ah now I get 399 foot, but i so you know I still have the same size, compactness, and the whole thing. i mean like That was just a whole other level.
00:51:14
Speaker
and and And that vividness that you talk about, that that pop or you know however you want to describe it. I mean, look, is the glass truly? And I think that's what people need to understand is that pet the most common question I get is is people will say, oh, well, this has obviously got got better glass. Well, it's not exactly always the way it is.
00:51:43
Speaker
but there's different pieces of glass within the tube to make it do what it does. Does that make sense? Yep. The same high quality is still there. And the filters in the in the prisms are so can be, but I think people get this envision that like, oh, they went and found a clear, it's it's that's it's not what it is.
00:52:10
Speaker
that every piece of glass in that tube has a job. How it's working inside of it. And it's a combination or however they're doing that. And it's basically like it's just the mixture of how those things go together. That, yes, when I have taken a set of 1042 ELs and compared them side by side with a set of NLs,
00:52:37
Speaker
I don't know. Is it maybe 2% better? Maybe. ah i mean it's mean I don't know. Is it 3%? It's close. I can get a little deeper in the resolution chart, but it's not like an overwhelming. But then when you add that field of view, and then you realize like the ergonomics, like you start adding all that up. And then and then that's that's the other question people go, well, is it worth $1,000?
00:53:08
Speaker
i know I don't even think about the thousand bucks. I'm sorry, yeah but I don't because I know that that glass just made that of a piece of glass not feel as good as that. So I'm i'm taking the better in the field. of yeah I'll take it all. and And honestly, over the time too, like let's say you get them five years ago, it it it doesn't cost you much. You spend not many days in the field.
00:53:36
Speaker
It's just, you know, they're going to last you forever. It's not like you're buying them for, it's like, it's like my 18s. Yes. I just paid $24 bucks for it. It hurt me at the time. But I'm like, I don't even know a thousand days in those things by now. I have no idea how many days I have on those, those, those binos and they're just as good as the day I bought them. Yeah. It's, um, yeah, I just don't think people can quite understand that, you know, just, that's why i it it goes back to that thing of wherever you're at on that spectrum, like just buy the best you can.
00:54:07
Speaker
you know Figure out how to get them on a tripod. you know Any tripod is better than no tripod, but try to figure out how to get them on a tripod that fits your needs. and you know and and learn to and i and i don't know I've changed this over the years, I used to just say, and slow down when you glass. Well, that's a great you know line. It's not just a line, but it's it's it's in a lot of cases, it's like, hey, just be methodical when you do it.
00:54:36
Speaker
Yes, is there a time to race? Sure. Is there a time to be fast? to Sure. But is there a time to slow down and be methodical and and and take it all in? Absolutely. And I think if guys will just, again, and this kind of sounds like a broken record, but if you'll just do those three things, you will find more game that way. Period. You almost could put a time on that. like You know the time to slow down? Probably around 8 30 a.m. until about 5 30 p.m. like the The vast majority of the day is going to be slow. The vast majority of the day is going to be slow. The vast majority of the Like when things are just off the charts, those days are sometimes few and far in between. and I mean, yeah, I can remember a lot of them, but the fact of it is is that like pretty much when you get to that 8.30, 9 o'clock time, things start to die down and and it's time to start looking into the shadows.
00:55:40
Speaker
and figure you know the deer come on the other side and you know and and again it ah depends on the weather depends on the you know it just depends on a lot of stuff but it all comes back to that you know putting them on glass that you can see behind you know from a tripod I you can't I just you just can't do it as efficiently So here's another thing people don't understand too with good glass is edge clarity. And a lot of like slowing down is also just like looking through all of your glass, not just the center of your glass. And talk about that because like people don't see that. You're not always looking, don't look right in the middle. You're not gonna like, I pulled my face off the binos. and I'm looking through the whole. So this is kind of a thing that you'll, yeah this is an interesting thing that people
00:56:27
Speaker
um I was in a meeting one time with with ah one of the larger companies. and i'll i won't I'm not going to say who it is because I think it sometimes is unfairly characterized because that person would be there to defend themselves. But if you look at certain pieces of glass, they'll tell you, oh, well, we we make our glass so that you're concentrating on the center portion.
00:56:50
Speaker
And that's that when they say 93% or 92% or 91% light transmission, that's what they're talking about. So when you say edge to edge clarity, sometimes you've got to be careful because the different manufacturers don't always build their glass all be the same. and and And I pose the question, and I'm like, well, you don't you're building something and you're trying to go like this, but we're asking you to create this. Yeah.
00:57:19
Speaker
and they, the Europeans, especially at the time, didn't understand what we were asking for. because all all we wanted to make sure was is that the edge to edge was as clean as it could be. And that edge to edge um that that that, you know, you could, you know, we we're still asking companies to put quarter 20 screws in the in the center of the hinge so that you can just amount of stud to it. You think that's, you know, and and we, you know, we're still, we're not even doing that consistently. I mean, we're getting better. But the fact of it is, is that,
00:57:54
Speaker
When we said that to that company, they just looked at us like, what? and And when we said mounting on a tripod and we started talking about, you know, looking at every single detail within a single field of view, and then you're going to move that field of view and you're going to basically kind of overlap to the next one. That's why when you have, if I could have the same magnification, but with more field of view. I think that makes me a more efficient glasser for every field of view I change.
00:58:34
Speaker
because I can let my eyes do the walking instead of keep moving, right? yeah and Because moving creates, again, your eyes have to focus and refocus, but at least this way, your eyes are allowed to walk within a room, then you move over. And what what I think is, and and I know there's people out there going, man, these guys get way deep in the weeds on this, but it's just the truth of how it happens.
00:58:58
Speaker
yep My binos don't move a lot. My binos will stay, like, I'll come to us, like you said, a field of view, and I'll lock the bino. Or my pan heads, you don't have to lock them, just kind of leave it where it is. And I just start looking. And I'm cutting my faces a little bit off the glass, or I'm not touching the glass. And I'm looking at every piece of that before I move. Because you miss so much by just scanning the middle, and you're missing the field of view. And I'm not even talking about Gridding something at this point. I'm just simply saying when I put my glasses up I want as For the same magnification. I want as much feel of you as I can guys I take yep Yep, and I'll let my eyes do the walking and let that happen and I just think it makes for very efficient glassing and so yeah, it's there are companies out there though to build their glass for
00:59:52
Speaker
they They want their you know their center of the ring. They want that as good as can be, and they're not as concerned about the outside edges. and we're you're missing stuff we're you know we're in reverse well it just so happens that like the els um you know they they have that edge to edge the the uh the sfl or i'm sorry the uh well the sfls are good too but the sfs from noctomans from lyca you know ah i mean all those brands are pretty clean when you get up to the top anyway but
01:00:31
Speaker
um But it's just again it it tells you it explains a little bit about the focus of The optics companies are listening, but they're not yet completely listening You know I mean they're still doing because I think the natural thing is is that they're thinking Because the birding world is such a big strong um customer you pick your eyes up when you when you have a You know, it's kind of like a ghost ring sight. Well, the whole idea behind a ghost ring sight is your eyes naturally gonna go to the middle. Well, that's the same thing with binoculars. You pull up and there're they're thinking that your eyes naturally gonna go to the middle to find that bird or whatever and watching land or whatever it is, even though we're not doing it like that. yeah We're hunting a completely different way.
01:01:23
Speaker
and People don't understand that, too. I mean like i don't know what the truth of this is, but I was told like the number one buyer of BTXs is like 60-year-old white dudes looking for birds. It's like it's burning 10-fold or something like that. I mean, even as a hunting company that we are,
01:01:40
Speaker
um I have a guy in California that that um I think that's a hundred percent It could be true. I don't know what the actual numbers are I know that there could be some truth to that because I can't begin to tell you how many guys that I sell those and the guy that that like the the last BTX I just sold the guy is um he has a ah He has a ah house that looks at the ski slopes at Big Bear and And all he wants to be able to do is look on the mountain and see the birds and the trees around him. And then he wants to see the skiers on the ski slope. That's it. That's all I cares about. So, um, but to be ten you know, and it took me a while, but we finally got him like to where I, you know, like where he kind of got me there. And, and you know, the funnier part is, um, when it was all sudden done,
01:02:40
Speaker
You know what he liked best? What's that? Fifteens. Fifteens? You can't beat him. He puts the VTX on the one deal and he puts the fifteens on the closer slope, but he likes he like he likes looking at the fifteens that way.
01:03:01
Speaker
so I feel like I get less eye stress out of 15s. They do the BTX as well. I don't know why I feel like I get more eyesight out of the BTX. I don't know. I've looked I've looked an awful lot through the beat. I use the BTX 115. That's kind of my go to long range rig and I use the 95 for years, but um I don't know the exit people's is good and strong and I I Don't know. It's that's been a go-to of mine for a long time. I I run the BTX. I mean, I put, I don't even know how many hundreds of hours on it this year, hundreds and hundreds of hours. I love it. I use it all the time. I backpack it. So you know like yeah so I'm like Grady. I pack a thing around, especially on once where my kids have the tag. I don't have to carry a gun. That's for sure.
01:03:45
Speaker
Yeah. it's ah it's ah The biggest, my biggest issue with like the big glass is ah just the the volume it takes up in your pack. It's just a big deal. You can have your tripod too. I think that goes back to that whole thing of you know listening to Adam and and Adam's got different pieces and you could do STCs and And there's some, look, again, everything has its shortcomings and not enough of this or too much of that. But the thing that I love about those STCs or even the 55s from Koa together is you're really kind of lessening that footprint in your pack. You're saying the new STC is the 56 millimeters? Yeah, the STC straight tubes. Are those things slick or what? They're pretty dang phenomenal.
01:04:32
Speaker
Because those are what, 28 ounces? um So they're they're they the whole thing ends up weighing about five and a half to six pounds. That's not bad at all. and so in it But it's so much more of a smaller package. Yeah. um I think it's a little short on the long um the longest distance. in the and Because when you turn it up to 40 forty power are the exit pupil's a little Different but I think it's wheelhouse God if I if I could just keep them at 20 or 25 power. It's pretty um yeah, it's amazing Really? Yeah, they're they're pretty dang clean the the only realize the only problem that people have with them is is that the i pd Because straight tubes you can only get them together so much
01:05:22
Speaker
And so um I think the other good option is the Koa 55 straights because you can you can turn them and you can get, ah you think yeah, you can rotate them in closer. So I think there's some some give and take there. and And guys, look, you know, we say these things and and I always want to be really, like I'm ah um'm an opinionated guy. That's for dang sure.
01:05:51
Speaker
But I'm never one to say that a guy can't be successful doing the way that he sees. Because you got to go with what's right for you. I can only really listen to people's scenarios and go, OK, well, because you say that and you want to do this, this makes more sense. And ah in it and again, it just depends on what a guy you know wants and what his focus is and what he's willing to carry or not carry or And that's, I think that's the difference is, is that you spend a lot of time listening to people and just listening to their needs and what they want to be really good at or what they're trying to concentrate on. um I could say a lot of things like, well, I don't do that or, you know, Jay Scott doesn't do that or Darr Colburn doesn't do this or, you know, you start talking about people and and how they do things. I don't think there's a whole right or wrong
01:06:50
Speaker
But I will tell you that there's some certain things out there that are just really tried and true. yeah you know i mean you know mean You just start talking about guys that that have just known and done this.
01:07:05
Speaker
Yeah, you know and I told people all the time, too, it's funny because you know you'll have... The average dude's got 10 guns in his safe, right? You've got a coyote gun, you've got a .22, you've got all these different guns, all these different broad heads, but then you want one binocular, right? like Or one tripod or one whatever. and like It doesn't work that way. It doesn't work. You you almost need to have like a quiver of tripod or a quiver of optics to do different hunts. The PGA allows 14 golf clubs in your bag.
01:07:32
Speaker
Yes. The optics are the same way. To me, I think there's certain optics you know that would just work for so many different scenarios. you know it's like i like I can tell you right now, like I love thoseig those SIG stabilizing models in my truck. I absolutely love having on my truck to pull up and it's freaking stabilizing stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a cool tool for that reason. but I'm running in Mexico this year and I'm running roads, pulling that sucker up. It's awesome. People side by side people laugh at this.
01:08:03
Speaker
And, um, but I'll show you something that, um, you know, my brother is always doing things about lightweight and, you know, he's, he's into glassing too, but it's like this little piece right here. Yeah. It looks like a pen, right? Yeah. Okay. It it basically looks like a, remember those Mark a lot markers? Yeah. The big ones. Yeah. here i'll grab ah Where is.
01:08:35
Speaker
So here's a Sharpie, okay? Sorry. Here's a Sharpie right here. Yeah. Okay. This is a five magnification by 10 millimeter Zeiss Mini Quick. Your brother's carrying it? Well, I mean, I carry it in a... this I never go anywhere without this.
01:09:03
Speaker
If I'm in a kid's game, or I'm driving down the road, or you know I may be on a road trip where all my gear's in the back, I can't tell you how many times I've pulled over and said, you know what, let me just take a quick look at this. it i i just I have on occasion not carried a chess piece of glass just to have that little mini quick do what it does.
01:09:32
Speaker
Yeah. Or your range finder. Yep. Why not? Yeah, it does the trick. Yeah, it's it's like you have a quiver. I mean, obviously, like me and Cody are going to be our psychos. Jay Scott's a psycho. like We've got so many optics. like It's stupid how many optics I have. like I'm putting a camper on my truck. That's all my partners. I'm like, at any point in time, I have $30,000 in optics on my truck, right? I'm going to show it. Absolutely.
01:09:57
Speaker
you know it's but you just kind of figure out what works for you and it's going to be certain glass for certain situations, right? Like you'll, I run a, a Cali 554 is my spotting scope and I don't really need it. I have bigger spotting scopes. I don't them really use them anymore. Like I kind of figure out what works the best for me, um, what I need for a hunt. And I bring that glass accordingly. yeah i know and Sometimes I have glass in the truck. I think it just matters as to what, I think it matters to what the task is at hand.
01:10:26
Speaker
And yeah again, to me, I have to listen to customers and and I want to understand what they need and then what they're telling me they want. And sometimes I have to, you and i have i I seem to be able to you know help guys. I feel like a ah great deal because guys are like, oh, I didn't, I never even thought of that. And it's like, well, you know again, it's not about me.
01:10:51
Speaker
But you're telling me one thing, but what you're trying to do is complete opposite. Like we need to refocus your thinking. And once they do that and they get the right glass, they're like, Oh my God, this is, this changed everything I do.
01:11:05
Speaker
Yeah, and I think a lot of times simple is better, you know, a lot of times it's it's not that doesn't have to be the I think there was this big focus long to get the biggest spotter possible, you know, and now we're getting to these smaller things and we kind of realize, are we going to use a spotter the whole time? Probably not. You're probably going to be if you're if you're me, you might use a spotter 5% of the time. And and here's here's the thing what I would tell people. And this is so some people think this is nuts, but I can't even begin to tell you how many years and still to do to this day, where I have a chest glass of 15 or mid range and then have a spot and scope with me. That's three pieces of glass that I haven't even talked about my my range finding capabilities yet. Does that make sense?
01:12:00
Speaker
Yep, three pieces of glass. And there's guys that are calling me like, Oh, I want I want like a set of 10s and a spotting scope. And that's it. and And again, I'm not saying they're wrong. I'm not saying they're anything. But how do we maximize that, that two piece system versus three piece versus it just depends on what a guy's trying to do at any given time. And I know people that have carried more optics than that.
01:12:29
Speaker
That's why I like having a good hunting partner because a lot of times we'll do something like that where it's like, hey, we're backpacking. I'll carry the 15s, you carry the spot, or something like that. Absolutely. Now, what about this? I tell people all the time, ah I would much rather you spend money on a pair of Swallow 15s and get a... I don't want to say something lesser than, like, I think that Vortex makes great glass. But like, if you had to choose between getting a great spotting scope and a pair of great binos, like, I'm always going to say binos first. I'd rather get a great pair of binos and then get a spotting scope that's a little bit lesser. Well, my my in i mean my my instincts tell me that.
01:13:08
Speaker
But I would generally classify that as, I ask the person, what do you think you're gonna spend the most time behind?
01:13:21
Speaker
And most of the time, they'll be like, oh, well, I probably for sure glass through the 15 more than anything else or, you know, 12 or you know whatever they're trying to do. But like they'll say, OK, which what should I upgrade first? I can't do I can't do it all. What should I do first? Figure out what you're going to glass with the most. Figure out which one is going to make the largest impact first and do that.
01:13:46
Speaker
and then start filling in everything else. That's what I say. you know butt Whether it's 15s or whether it's, I just try to figure out what's gonna make the biggest impact first. Do you know what I mean? so um Like for example, if a guy tells me that you know he's he's hunting thicker country and he needs you know a set of 10s, then I have a wider field of view,
01:14:12
Speaker
he may be lacking in the fact that he doesn't have anything just to give him more magnification so that guy might it might it might help him he's got covered what he needs cover with the tens but he just lacks that ability to turn up the magnification and go yep that's the buck I want So like, you know, that's where you start talking about the Koa, you know, 55s or, you know, or the, the five 54s or, you know, or, or the ATC STCs or, you know, a compact versus, or, you know, like the, uh, another good one that people have been, um, the, the compact, uh, razor, the, the 13 to 39 by 56. Well, I think that that honestly, when they change that one,
01:15:00
Speaker
I think the improvement that they made to that was far greater noticeable in what I would consider like awesome more than even so their 65s and 85 razors. You can pick one of those up for 800,000. Yeah, 100%.
01:15:18
Speaker
So if you had a good pair of 15s, you can get that spotter and pretty much do what you need to do. It comes back to that like, okay, listen to what the guy, you know, what what are you trying to do? Which thing is going to make the biggest amount of impact on you first? Which one are you going to spend the most time behind? And generally speaking, it is, it's, you know, it's that 15 thing. Yep. So, um, yeah, it's, uh, yeah, yeah. Truth. I mean, you know,
01:15:47
Speaker
I get every scenario you can possibly think of. yeah you know and And now you got the the six hours that that you know are are changing you know the way people think. And I think people need to look at them. I think they need to look at, you know like I was talking to a guy that just has the most, ah yeah I feel horrible for this guy, but he's got the worst hand tremors of anybody I've ever heard of.
01:16:12
Speaker
And you know he's taking medication. And and you know I look at those things and go, you know what? If that's what that's what helps him glass better, by all means, you've got to go do it. yeah you know And I think that that you know i mean you know you're a tripod guy, and you're trying to sell tripods. And and that necessarily doesn't fit on your your docket. But you know of anybody that's asked me or that would want to listen,
01:16:40
Speaker
I've told them like, hey, ah you want to make those things even better? Just make it so that when the there's what I call like a shimmer mode. Is it when you're on when you're on a tripod and I hit and I hit a certain mode and you're focusing that, you know, there's ever just that ever slight so movement that it's that it's handling that movement to not just the not just the big inertia stuff.
01:17:06
Speaker
Yeah. um It's getting there. You're going to see that. You're going to see digital stuff. You're going to see. There's no doubt. and And that's the other thing. We've had image stabilized glass for 20, 30 years. we We've been using it. We've been using it in California forever on the boats. Of course you have. You've been using it forever finding tuna. Because cannon, right?
01:17:26
Speaker
called gyros. Yeah. 10,000 more gyros. Yeah. Zeiss had their 20 by 60s Zeiss for, I mean, those have been around for a long time.
01:17:38
Speaker
Yeah. You have to use stabilized binos. If you didn't use stabilized binos, everyone would be throwing up the whole time. Because you're trying to, you're on a boat that's moving, in an ocean that's moving, you have to stabilize binos. We've been doing it forever. They're really cool. And some guys have been using them for hunting. I mean, I know guys have used them, but the problem is it's a $10,000 pair of binos. Up until now, I know Sig's putting them out there. I think they're a great tool. I have them in my quiver. I have them in my pack. I'll bring them over. I have gone nowhere in the truck and not have them with me.
01:18:07
Speaker
all the time. and though Especially like right now when the bucks are starting to move a lot more and you're driving down the road and you look up and, oh man, I love to glass that. You stop, roll the window down, you keep the truck on. Leave the truck running. just yeah youre youre Because what it does is is it saves me time.
01:18:27
Speaker
Just where I would normally have to get my tripod out, get my glass, sit down, get settled. You don't want to be really looking and spend, you know let's just say 15 or 20 minutes. And you're telling me that I could sit in comfort and just hammer what I need to hammer. And what and if if if I don't see anything out and moving, I'm on to the next spot. i'm I'm moving down the road to go to my my next spot. But I like to glass and and do things in between in those Excuse me, those image stabilized, that but they're so effective that way, it's not even it's crazy. For the guys horseback or the guys you know the guys that are that like to walk those canyon you know rims and look down into things and and pull back and look and then go 50, 100 yards down and go do the same thing, there's no there's nothing wrong with that. This is what we're talking about, it's about that quiver.
01:19:22
Speaker
It's about the quiver. and that's I could think of like certain hunts in my head where I hunted odd-ad one time in New Mexico. and It was a ah mobile glassing hunt where we were just going 100 yards, glassing fingers, crossing top of ridges. and Those binos would have been perfect for that hunt. Perfect for that hunt because we never sat down because where those sheep are, it's just the fingers you're hunting in,
01:19:44
Speaker
You can move 100 yards to see a whole different finger. We just constantly moved to these guys and went down looking at them. We all end up killing four sheep in like five days or something, but that was what had been perfect for that. We're kind of like an hour and a half into this thing. Drew, what this tells me, you tell me if I'm crazy on this.
Admiration for Coos Deer
01:20:02
Speaker
We just need to do more podcasts.
01:20:05
Speaker
Oh, dude, I could go all day with Cody on on glassing and optics, man. I love it. I absolutely love it. I had Jay on and I asked him the same question. I normally do a hunting story, but since I know you love Coos Deere as much as I love Coos Deere and Jayla's Coos Deere. Cody, why are Coos Deere God's favorite deer? Why did God create Coos Deere for us? This is the best you ever made, my opinion.
01:20:26
Speaker
you know Man, it and and and look, I've haunted mule deer a couple times, and it's more than a couple times. so But i look, they're my favorite deer, because i I just don't think there's a prettier deer in the world. I know. I mean, everybody's got their thing. I mean, Brady's got you know brady's got his thing for mule deer, and there's nothing wrong with a big giant. but There isn't. There's nothing wrong with a big old mule. There's not.
01:20:58
Speaker
um But I'm going to tell you something. when you're we you Remember now, I'm 54 years old. I've been in Arizona since 1973.
01:21:10
Speaker
I grew up in the shadows of the you know Superstition Mountains there for a while, and and I've been around these things enough to know. I just like watching them. You take ah you take an eastern whitetail, which is a pretty cool animal, and how skittish and and and yeah in and how they can be, and you put them in a western setting, and I just, I think that the country they inhabit, inhabit I think that the the the just their general makeup and how they operate, I just, I don't know, and then you put,
01:21:48
Speaker
you know You put on there just how beautiful they are. I just i just don't i don't. Just for me, like man, if I could hunt meal or if i can hunt elk in the rut with my bow, you know hunt you know hunt quail over a dog and and hunt coozed deer for the rest of my life, I'd be a happy, happy dude.
01:22:09
Speaker
ye So I don't know if that's what you were looking for out of that answer, but there's just something about those little suckers and the way they operate and they're in their given, you know, territory. And man, it's just there's no place that especially from about mid November through about February ish.
01:22:31
Speaker
you know, like through the pig hunts, there is nowhere that I would rather be than in central, you know, south central Arizona, looking over, you know, coosdeer and I'm not a big, you know, have a lead a dude but um but when you're Hey, they're booting Crockett now. Well, hey, they they they didn't they did, they did step up made the book. made the book um But I just there's nothing like being in that country to me. I just love the country they live in. And um You know, I, I love what you see when you're around them. I love, I just love what they have to deal with with mountain lions and coyotes and every bears and everything else. I mean, think about what you get to see when you get to see. cus dear I mean, i all those qua moon you know, yeah I mean, because it's all that stuff. I just, I i love it all.
Hunting Anecdote: Cody's Son and Kudamundi
01:23:23
Speaker
So I'll, uh,
01:23:26
Speaker
I'll tell a coup de monde story real quick and then we'll end this thing. So you said you mentioned coup de monde. So coup de monde is like the Arizona monkey. It's like a ring-tailed cat thing, right? yeah I still, to this day, have not seen one. I killed one in Mexico. I've never seen one in the wild in Arizona. My kid's seen him multiple times. So my kid is, he must be 12 years old, my other boy's 11. We're driving to Arizona for a deer hunt for him.
01:23:47
Speaker
And they're like, dad, what if we shoot a coup de monde? I'm like, dude, you know if you shoot a coup de monde, I'll full mount that thing for you. And not I'm thinking they're never going to see a coup de monde, right? And long story short, we ended up killing a really good buck on the hunt for my buddy's kid, like a 95, three by four. It was a good buck. My kids didn't get one, but I but i had my reverse one out of my truck, and I had to drive back to you when I traded my truck out for a Jeep. So my kids stayed hunting with my buddy.
01:24:14
Speaker
And my buddy said, sit on this rocket. And here's my kid go, Kudamundi. And this year's, boom. Three away, three to the comments. Kill the Kudamundi, dude. And I had to full mount it. My buddy, Ed Fanchion, if he's listening to this or not, he told me, he goes, if you ever shoot one of those again, I will never touch it. He had to put so many stitches in my kid's room. He said there's more stitches in this Kudamundi all the way up the tail than there is in an elk. So he got this full mounted Kudamundi in my kid's room right now. I don't think there's an animal.
01:24:45
Speaker
I mean, I've seen him, you know, you want to say a hundred. I've seen him a lot and I've seen him probably the farthest north that I've seen him was was was in the Matazelles there, just just west of Payson there in Arizona. um And I've seen him all the way down south, clear to the Mexican border, varying sizes and shape, you know, whatever. but and I don't think that there's an animal that I can, I mean a mountain lile lion certainly gets everybody's attention.
01:25:25
Speaker
But we've just stopped and glassed and watched them do what they do. and they just mow their lawn and they'll dig and they'll roll over a rock and get a tree. i mean as I just think it's funny because whenever they're around or whenever we see them, it just kind of everybody stops because it's it's such an odd looking little animal.
01:25:50
Speaker
yep and so we're They're in the middle ah middle of Arizona down there. It's such a strange opportunity. I've had them all over the top of us you know when we've been in canopies, in in on quads, you know on a road. and i i mean i've just i've seen them I've seen them alone. I've seen them in a pack of... thirty i mean they i just I can't tell you how many times we've seen them, but they're just the craziest little thing in the world. It's like like watching a ah certainly without the noise. It's like watching like a pack of baboons or something. That's just how crazy it is.
01:26:24
Speaker
Yeah, pretty cool. But yeah, that's- Go ahead Guzy. You'll see some Kuda Mondays. Yeah, that's a- You could actually one a year or something down
Cody Nelson as Optics Expert
01:26:31
Speaker
there. So Cody Nelson, Go Hunt. When I buy my optics, I buy them from Go Hunt. They are the optics authority. um I still buy optics, believe it or not. Cody doesn't give them to me for free. I've tried to get free Swaros. He won't give them to me. Yeah. When I buy my 14s, I'll be from Cody. Yeah. it's um if if ah if you know If anybody has listened to the podcast,
01:26:53
Speaker
They have questions, and they want maybe you know how what we're talking about fits to their scenario. All I would ask is, give me a call. yeah And I still, to this day, people are like, man, I didn't think you were going to call me. I thought somebody else was going to call or whatever. I'm happy to talk to people. It's what I do.
01:27:17
Speaker
um you can You can always reach me. I i put my cell phone out there, 602-399-3699. You can reach us on the regular phone at 702-847-8747. You can email me at cody at gohunt.com. You can email optics at gohunt.com. um But long story short, if you have questions and you ain't reaching out, I can't help you, but I'd love to help you if you do.
01:27:44
Speaker
so Yep, and you're going to get the same treatment you got on this podcast. You're going to get way more information than you needed. You're going to walk out of there with the right glass you need. There's nobody I trust more with Optics than Cody Nelson. He is the dude, he is the person who the the best glass in the world go to. I mean, you talk to anyone, any of the big guys, I mean, they all use Cody. He's the guy, gohunt.com. They have been my, they are like my first and favorite vendor. They're the first guys who picked me up and I have so much respect for you, Cody, so much respect for Go Hunt.
01:28:13
Speaker
Not really. to gohu dot com You can buy my stuff there. You get points back on my stuff there. So if you buy my stuff there, you're going to get points back, which is kind of a cool deal. well if if if Man, it's you talk about vendors and stuff, Drew, and and I know we're probably choking up on feel good with all this. but ah You know, you you started small and you had some products that were that were pretty damn cool and then and then it was like somebody bit you with the... yeah Like, how do I really jump in this with both feet? And um I'm just going to tell you thank you from from Go Hunt.
Collaboration and Closing Remarks
01:28:51
Speaker
um You've been nothing but supportive of us. You've listened to us and our our needs once, whatever, you know with tripods. We've had ah so many of those good, you know just awesome discussions about new products and and how to make things better. and and
01:29:08
Speaker
I would hope to think, and in and I think we're like this, but I don't think there's a better industry to be in and to have people like you that is allowing us to take create this stuff as we go and make better gear. it yeah It's just that simple.
01:29:28
Speaker
So its course if you guys man if you guys aren't at least looking at stuff and and and and searching and looking at why Drew does things the way he does, I would ask you to do so. If you have questions on why it's being done that way, call us. So happy to help. Awesome podcast, dude. Let's do it again. Thank you. ah i Man, I cannot believe that it's Christmas.
01:29:53
Speaker
Well, it's day tomorrow our next Christmas Eve tomorrow. I cannot believe that we've gone this far um But I wish you and your family drew ah Happy holidays. Merry Christmas, and I'm sure we'll talk before the New Year's out But my daughter's got a late white tail tag that I'm gonna be kind of sunk into here for the next ah yeah Well the day after Christmas, so um It's ah it's time. It's go time Go time, dude. Thanks, Cody. Thank you, sir. Have a great day. again Bye. Thank you for listening to the Tricer Podcast. Do us a favor and like and subscribe on whatever platform you're listening on. Give us a follow on Instagram and Facebook at TricerUSA and go and check out all of our innovative gear at www.tricerusa.com. Until next time, shoot straight, have fun, and always put God first.