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Crazy About Shed Hunting – Shed Crazy – Ben Dettamanti
258 Plays1 month ago
This week Drew has Shed Crazy, Ben Dettamanti on the Tricer Podcast. Drew and Ben discuss the balance between hunting and being in the outdoors and living the family life. Ben talks about his half nomad lifestyle and his life balance. These guys also dig into content creation and how is has changed over the last few years as well as dealing with the keyboard warrior, social media haters. Ben is his usually hilarious self on this show. You don’t want to miss this one.
SHED CRAZY – BEN DETTAMANTI
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/shedcrazy/
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@shedcrazyofficial
TRICER USA
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Transcript
Introduction & Guest Introduction
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.
00:00:23
Speaker
All right. I got a fun one today. I've got my buddy, Ben Dettamonti on today on the Tricer podcast. If you don't know Ben, he's shed crazy on Instagram and YouTube and just an all around just awesome dude, a fun dude. Ben, how are you doing? I'm doing great, man. Stoked to be here. Yeah, man. um So I've been like kind of in
Pursuit of Happiness & Simplicity
00:00:44
Speaker
this thing right now. like As I'm getting older, i'm I'm realizing what makes me happy in life. right like like I used to like want to work really, I still work really hard. right like i used to be like I was just almost like working to live rather than you know living to work is instead of working to live. right yeah And the last like the last six months I quit my old job and I've been doing Tricer, I feel like I have so much freedom. It feels it feels great. right and then like
00:01:10
Speaker
being out in the hills this year like with my kids and just out there where you literally just have like a tent, right a tent and a backpack. and I'm like, this is where I'm happiest. yeah right and like I feel like my life my quality of life has gotten so much better since I made some decisions to like walk away from some money and walk away from some other things and just focus on what I feel like you know I was created to do. um and I think you epitomized that. like You've kind of made some decisions in your life to live a life that you want to live, a life that people were envious of. I went on a hunt this year with this guy named Mike Riley, and he's a mountain climber. He lives in his van. I don't know if you've heard of Mike. This guy's super sick. Literally, he's like 27 years old. He's been living in his van since he was 19. He's traveled in the world hunting, and I'm I worked 20 years to get to where you are now. He just did it, right? Right. So he's living the dream. So dude, like, let's, let's talk like, about that. Let's talk about like what I'm sure this podcast will evolve, but I kind of want to talk about like what your opinions are on like quality of life and doing what you love. Yeah. Well, I've always been a lousy employee.
00:02:19
Speaker
You know, like my whole life, dude, I was just in trouble at work and not a good employee. And, and it was a lot of things. And the most, the thing that bothered me the most about having jobs and and working for people was just that like, I just, I just didn't like not being in charge of my own life. And I felt like when I worked for other people in any capacity, that's what it was. And so then I thought, Oh, I guess I need to be.
00:02:43
Speaker
in a career field that like gives me the autonomy to do what I want. At least I'll get like me. So I started trying to be like a firefighter paramedic and I thought I can work, you know, a 48 96 or a couple of days off, a couple of days on that'll give me enough free time. And as I got into that, I just kind of realized it was more of the same, you know, like it's just somebody you're always under somebody's thumb. You're always living somebody else's idea of what you should be doing. And that's what I always struggled the most with. So, um, for me,
00:03:10
Speaker
The best thing I can do for my happiness is be in charge of my own time. And like you said, I've turned down a lot of money. I've turned down um a lot of opportunities that would have been definitely more lucrative or maybe more prestigious in the eyes of the world to just say, no, the most important thing to me is my freedom.
Family Life & Outdoor Adventures
00:03:29
Speaker
And it's funny too, because like I have this thing. I have a YouTube channel that I never post on, but I always have the idea I'm going to post on it. It's called the Half Nomad.
00:03:39
Speaker
And that's what I always feel because I feel like half of me is like, I need to be able to be gone as much as I need to be gone. I need to be able to go when I need to go and go out and have these adventures and see these places. But then I also have a family, I have a wife and I have kids yeah and I have to be able to come home to that. That's a huge part of my happiness is to be able to see them and spend time with them and help them be a dad and like be able to teach them about the outdoors. So I always feel like I'm torn between the two. like I go until I can't stand to be gone anymore, and then I come home until I can't stand to be home anymore. And that's like pretty much that's pretty much how I live my life. I'm either in or out, gone, and I'm very lucky to have a family that falls into that lifestyle. And it's all they've really known. So I mean, that's what we do. half I'm half half nomad. I'm half homeless. Yeah, man. um
00:04:28
Speaker
And I've been starting with that too, honestly, like with my wife and my kids, because like I'm home. like December is kind of like an off month for me. I'm kind of home. I kind of feel like um I should be working right now. What what should I be doing? Because the hunts are kind of over for me. And I'm like home with the moon. It's a sea world today. like Last week I went ice skating with my kids. like We went to the desert for like you know a bunch, like 10 days.
00:04:45
Speaker
um But then like January comes around and I'm gonna be gone like three weekends and February I'm gone like almost all of February it shows and I've got a buffalo hunt my father-in-law and it's just like constantly gone. So like there's this weird balance there and and like telling your wife like well I was home for two weeks.
00:05:03
Speaker
For some reason, it doesn't compute the same way. like there's not like this like it's like hard to balance it's like you know i mean it's like It's hard to balance that. um and Honestly, with me, like the biggest issue I run into being gone is like when the kids start fighting. right like The teenagers start going at it. like that's when i like I'll tell the teenagers, like dude, if I'm getting all that, like it's because of you. you know what i mean like You're going to get it even worse when I get back.
00:05:23
Speaker
like how do you like How do you balance that? cause like i try I'm doing my best. and We're going to live in Hawaii for a month next year, like from mike March to April. I was going to hunt over there and do just a bunch of filming and use the tripods and try and bring them along on that. i I am trying to include them in like some of the shows with me and stuff, but it is a hard balance. like I thought, like oh I'm home a lot, but like when you're gone, i mean I've probably been gone. I think I was in the field 60 days hunting this year, not including all the shows and everything. I've probably been gone almost 100 days this year. you know like How do you balance that?
00:05:53
Speaker
Oh, it's tough, man. You have to have the right partner. And like, uh, I think that's the biggest place that guys find that they're not able to make it work. Is that like, my wife's a gangster dude. And like, she like has a very, she is a hundred percent willing to handle anything that comes up on her own. And then at the same time, she's willing to hand over the reins when I get home. And so that's, that's like a rare, a rare personality trait. And, uh, it wouldn't work. I mean,
00:06:19
Speaker
without her being able to simultaneously be this be a single parent for weeks at a time and then co-parent when I'm home. And I think, I mean, I have to give her the credit on that because I want to still be the dad when I come home. You know, I want to be in charge, but like I'm not under any illusion. Like this ship doesn't run the same when I'm not here. And I have to also be fine with being like she's doing a good job and letting her take the reins when I'm not here and saying if she's going to be there running everything and running the show, then I'm just going to have to say, okay, that's that's how we're gonna do things. And it's not always perfect. Like we have conflicts about it, but I feel like we've just been doing it long enough now that there's an expectation when I'm home and it might be a little more relaxed when I'm gone. Maybe it's not, I don't know. But it's just it's just that balance is is everything.
00:07:09
Speaker
How many kids do you guys have?
Homeschooling & Parenting Challenges
00:07:12
Speaker
ah We have three boys. Three boys, yeah. And how old are they? Um, they are six, uh, nine and 10. So they all just had birthdays. So I'm still remembering, but yeah. Gotcha. So you're almost to the point you haven't got to teenage years yet. So you're almost getting there. Yeah. so I don't know, man. It's going to be totally different when we hit those ages. Yeah, dude. Like my 18 year olds, he's going off to like, we're sending them off to do like, a um, like a Christian missionary school for six months. Like he's leaving in January and I'm kind of like.
00:07:47
Speaker
yeah I'm excited for you to go. like um I think you need this. Give your mom a break. Give your mom a break. you know what i mean cause like yeah cause they're like It's weird because what happens is like they're becoming men. right so like Your boys, you're gone. so you like because There is this like healthy fear of dad. right like but as they become like As these guys start becoming men, they're kind of like trying to test the waters and try to push a little of mom a little more. and like it ah You can definitely see, like I think the boys start really start like kind of separating from their mom a little bit too as they get older, right? But yeah, dude, like there's just something happens. or like When they have pubic around 12, the hormones are kicking in. like No one cries more than a 12-year-old boy, I swear. you know and But yeah, i mean I have great kids, but it's just, yeah, sometimes I can be a little bit hard. we're not here just you know I'm not here to smack the head sometimes, you know and they're kind of pushing the limits a little bit.
00:08:40
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, totally. It's, uh, I can see that changing more and more. and And like, one of the biggest struggles for me is trying to figure out like, how do I incorporate them more? Right. How do I bring them with me? And when's it time to say, okay, it's all right. If you come with me and miss school for a few days and let's go do this hunt together. And, uh, I, I, that's one of the things I like about what you do, man. And I look up to you about you as I see you out there with your kids constantly. And it reminds me to be like, dude, just take them with you. It's not that big of a deal because they love it. But the way that they.
00:09:08
Speaker
they learn to love it and grow to love it is just by being there. that's That's where my love of the outdoors came from, is from going with my dad and always was wanting to hunt more. So I think that that's a big part of what I want to do over the next several years.
00:09:20
Speaker
yeah One of the best things we did was like homeschool. We've been homeschooling since like before it was school. so We've been homeschooling our kids since like 12 years. right like Before COVID, we've been homeschooling since like 2000. OGs. Yeah, we're OGs, homeschools. right and ah It's given us a freedom to do stuff people can't do. Rather, we're going to move to Hawaii for a month. like That's freaking dope right with our kids and have that experience.
00:09:39
Speaker
um But yeah, like this year we ended up doing, of all, I think I filmed six hunts so far this year and three of them were with my kids. right like I flew my 11-year-old, I couldn't pick the hunts. right so like I flew my 11-year-old to Wyoming to go on Antelope because that's an easy hunt. Then my boys both had deer tags. right We did those hunts with them. so yeah those are like and You know it, like there's nothing more foundational for me than like Hey, get in the truck with me for 12 hours. We live in San Diego, so coming over to Colorado is a 16-hour drive. right like Sit in the truck with me for 16 hours and not only listen to some old country music and some podcasts, but also talking about life and what you're going through and what you know what I expect of you. and like you just learned I think with parenting, so much more stuff is caught than taught.
00:10:21
Speaker
right? Like if I'm a child, tell them how to do things rather than having them see me do things like, you know, and, uh, you know, the shocking thing, dude, is like my 16 year old shot that big buck this year, um, over there by you guys. And yeah dude, he out, he out glassed me like 10 to one on that hunt. Like he kicked my butt. I found that buck that he killed, but dude, that kid, like he can hunt. And I'm like, dude, like, wow, you, like, you've picked this up. Like it's cool to see him finally not looking like through the backside of the binoculars. You know what I mean? Like,
00:10:50
Speaker
Because they're annoying, right? You're out there and they're looking through the binoculars, they're tired, they're wet. It's just like, you know you're trying to make and put bags over there bags over their shoes because you don't want to buy them boots because boots are 200 bucks and you don't want to buy a 10-year-old boots. you know um yeah Cool thing is now I'm passing myself down to my kids, which is nice because now they're getting big enough to do that.
00:11:09
Speaker
but um yeah Yeah, man. is More stuff is caught than talking. Getting the kids out there with you is just it's so fun. and I've really used that to my advantage. My wife's kind of catching on to it like, hey, man, like I'm taking the boy with me. You know what I mean? so Taking the kid out and doing it. but yeah I bring the kids out. was just its There's nothing better, man. like and like I'll tell you right now, I used to deer hunt with my kid in Colorado. We killed three bucks.
00:11:34
Speaker
He's going on this mission, and then he's going to freaking college. It's probably the last time we're going to have together for a long time, Ben. like it's like wow It's wild, man. like like Think about it. like he's going to be He wants to be a lawyer. He's going to go to six years worth of school. like He's not going hunting with me. Then he's going to get a job somewhere for some freaking firm and probably work in 70 hours a week or whatever he's going to do. you know and i mean He's probably not going on to go on another hunt with me. Wednesday can be able to take two weeks off to go hunting with me or 10 days off. you know right so like I know people will tell you all the time, like cherish it now, you're going to miss it. But like I'm experiencing it now. It's pretty weird. It's pretty wild, man. like He's going. He's going. like We're like we becoming empty nesters. right or like but They're going out of the house now rather than coming in, which is really weird for us. Yeah, it's got to be a crazy feeling, man. It's like cats in the cradle. you know like you just feel like ah know You never have enough time with them when they're little, and then one day they're they're not anymore.
00:12:25
Speaker
so Yeah, crazy and that's one of the things too. Like I regret, like I worked up until May of this year, I was working 16 hours a day, dude, like seven days a week, like my whole life. I've worked that way. I started working at 12 years old for my dad. I was 85 hours a week when I was 14 when he started his company. And that's the only thing I knew, right? So I kind of feel like I robbed my kids of a lot of me, right? They didn't get the best of me. And I'm really learning that now. And I do feel like I think I have really good kids. I got kids that are morally sound and conservative and like they're good men. They're hardworking, right? Everyone's impressed with them at church. and they
00:12:56
Speaker
They have good jobs, but they miss the best of me, right? They got me coming home from a, you know, 12 hour day, dog tired, getting on my phone, laying down on the couch that I can't get up. You know what I mean? And like my other kids now are getting me and im mix they're experiencing me. And I really wish I would have done better with my older boys and kids to be in their life, you know? Yeah, you know it's just totally. You kind of lose it. You kind of look at like,
00:13:23
Speaker
I tell people all the time, like, you know, you you get in this, you know, chase. If I just go buy this boat or do these things, it's like, dude, your kid will have just as much fun freaking fish from the shore for trout at the local lake as you would if you would have bought that $100,000 boat. That boat's more for you than your kids, right? And we get so caught up in this, like, I've got to do all these things and get them all this stuff, get them this bike. Like, dude, like you go buy the best bike, we don't go ride bikes with them. You know what I mean? Just freaking go buy a crappy bike and go ride bikes with them. It means so much more than that. Or, you know, or get a football, dude, throw football with your kid. Like, it's so easy to do that.
00:13:52
Speaker
And we get so caught up in like trying to provide a life for them rather than just be a part of their life. you know I'm not trying to be all sentimental right now, but I don't know. this is No, man, I feel you. Just follow it where it goes, right? and like That's one of my things that I've been most happy with in this lifestyle and being able to build my own schedule is my wife's a school teacher. And for a long time, it was I would stay with the kids in the morning while she would go teach, you know what I mean? And then I would go out after she got home and I would go try to make videos or whatever I was trying to do.
00:14:21
Speaker
And I think having those mornings with my boys is the greatest thing ever. I still look just look back on them with like a fondness. And I feel like that's where we like really cemented our relationship is we just spent so much time together every single day. And I'll always be glad and always be grateful. No matter where this career thing ends up, I'm always going to be glad for the time that I got to like just really cement our relationship with my boys. That alone was worth it. So now it's just kind of like figuring out the next step and how to how to involve them in everything and take them everywhere. But I don't know.
00:14:49
Speaker
Are you going to take them to Mexico? That's always my question is like, when do you start taking them on those bigger hunts? I'm probably not. I kind of want to take my 11-year-old down there to do some javelina hunting. I probably won't bring one this out with us, no. I'm just going to be like a dad's trip you know and get out there and do it. But I am bringing like my five-year-olds going to Western Hunt and Sheep Show with us. So he'll be at all the banquets. He'll be flying the placard up, buying crap, you know doing the whole thing. So we're bringing him to those shows with us. Trying to include him where I can. right like We took him to the whole family to tack this year. like We had to go tack in Salt Lake. And we road tripped up. took the We have a big passenger van that my kid just totaled, by the way. Had to buy another one.
00:15:24
Speaker
Yeah, dude, it was awesome. Frickin' took out two trucks, took out two cars, 18 years old, took out two cars, guys got bottle injuries, the whole nine, suing us, it's a good time. so yeah Yeah, super fun. At the scene, the guy's like, oh, I'm fine, don't worry about it. I'm like, dude, I see your car, you're going to be hurt tomorrow. And sure enough, lawyers, the whole nine. But whatever, kids are awesome. um So anyways, ah we took the van up, went up to Salt Lake. and the tack event, rent a house, and we went from there, we went on a road trip from that. We kind of like turned it into like a family trip with it, you know? Trying to include them where we can. um And then you just got to know their limits. are Like 10 years is old is still pretty young.
00:16:02
Speaker
Yeah, right like that's kind of like right you're at the threshold right like I told people all the time like ice like my 18 year old is Still so recoil shy if I screwed him up like I was just like your first kid you're always
Family Hunting & Outdoor Strategies
00:16:13
Speaker
pushing so hard Right like you're like shoot this 12 gauge do that you know do they didn't know and like you learn like man like you can get so much more accurate by having your kids shoot a 22 or a freakin BB gun then you can't remember shoot the freakin 30-06, you know, it makes it's funny so um I just learned to kind of like not push him as hard. you know But I do kind of feel like like my 18-year-old complains to me sometimes. like You're so much harder on me than you on Simon. It's like, yeah, just there's this balance there. right like You do want to get him out on the blinds. And then you will find like that you're going to start taking your older boy out more than your other kids because they're funner. When your older boy is 12 and 13 years old, they're more enjoyable. You can like actually do things with them. and They're not like you know having to like keep him alive. They can keep themselves alive. you know But I don't know. You've just got to know the balance and just get him out there where you can and pick the right hunts for him. And um you should get to him.
00:17:00
Speaker
He's going to be 10, so you should put him in the Arizona draw this year. Yeah. You can hunt at 10. I think it's 12 in Utah, right? Yeah, 12 in Utah, but we'll start building the Arizona points next year. Yeah, start building Arizona points for them now, because you could draw like, I don't want to say the unit. I'll tell you the unit off air. There's a really good cow tag down there that you could draw with like one or two points. My buddies drew it like two years in a row. Yeah, that'd be fun. And you could do that a good first hunt.
00:17:24
Speaker
Yeah, a great first time. And then the deer tags, you used to be able to draw them every year, but the kids have crept like crazy. So now it's like three years to draw a deer tag down there. yeah I'm actually probably going to start. The problem is like the deer tags are like 30 bucks for kids.
00:17:36
Speaker
And it's easier to draw an adult tag than it is a kid's tag now. So yeah it's like, but but it costs you 350 bucks. So it's like, what do I want to do? Like my 12 year old, like my boys already had two hunts in and now my 12 year old is going to get his first. He has, he has three points now. So he should draw this year, but, uh, yeah, everything's creeping. It's just freaking hard, man. And then it is Oregon, if you have any interest in hunting Oregon, it's super cheap for kids to apply.
00:18:01
Speaker
ah you go apply oregon and for five bucks for a license and like five bucks a point so i think you can it's like twenty seven dollars to get all the points for a kid in oregon and you can start doing it at nine Wow. I better get on that one too. Yeah. Oregon and Oregon. And, uh, and, and the cool thing with like that too, is like, if you want to be like shady about it and you can just split points so you can be like, Hey, I'm going to build your points up for eight years. And then when he's 18, it only, you know, you go and split his points. You both have four points to go hunt like, you know, hell's canyon or something, you know? Yeah, that'd be fun. Yeah. It's got to game the system a little bit, right? Oh, you gotta do it. Everyone's doing it, right? There's,
00:18:39
Speaker
yeah I wish you can pass the points on. That's what I'm then worried about too. is like Some of these states, like my 18 year old, I've been buying his points forever. Now he's going to go to school. Some of these states, if you don't buy points, you lose them. right so it's like He's not going to afford it. Now I'm going to start paying for his points. I don't want to lose his points. He's got like eight points in youth Arizona. He's not going to afford that. Barely afford freaking gas. you know Yeah, some of that stuff's frustrating, man. Like my grandma, she when she passed away, she had max points for bison in Utah, and that's just the and she never drew, and that was it. like No way. I think that stuff's frustrating. Yeah, yeah I thought you can roll those down. No. if you died So you can mentor your points. Like if she would have drawn a tag, she could have given it to a grandkid or something like that. But she wouldn't know because she's a killer. But yeah, yeah she never never got to burn them. It sucked. Man.
00:19:29
Speaker
so You talked about being like a nomad and
Nomadic Lifestyle & Travel Setups
00:19:32
Speaker
doing your stuff. so my like I absolutely love like living on the road. like i but I do hotel stuffs too. I'll go on trips and I'll go to Hawaii, whatever. like What I love the most is like sleeping out on my truck and being out there. dude and like Honestly, this year I did a lot of the canvas cutter stuff, like not knocking them, they're phenomenal. i love If you don't have a canvas cutter, buy a canvas cutter, they are phenomenal.
00:19:53
Speaker
But I really wanted to up my game. like um You saw my truck I had, right? I had that old F-150, it's 20 years old, beat to hell. Everyone's making fun of it in the videos, but it's like, that's how I made it to where I am today, right? He's not buying trucks. Right. Yeah. Dude, I feel you. I'm driving an O6. I get you. So I finally bought i bought a new truck this year, and I just bought an AURU pop-up camper for it. Oh, yeah. So it's got like the pop-up top with a bed in it. like I'm so stoked, because I found like this year,
00:20:17
Speaker
Like, dude, Ben, being able to be mobile is so nice. Like, not having a wall tent is so nice, because you can, like, go and bounce across. Like, Colorado, we bounced three hours in the morning. You know, if I had a wall tent, it's like an experience, take that thing down, right, and reset it up. um So that's why I love the canvas colors. I'm hoping that using this pop-up, I can go do, I want to do some, like, coyote trips and, like, just be real mobile, like, go across Arizona or come over to Utah and be mobile and hunt. Talk about your setup, like, what you're doing, how you're sleeping, because you do have the Sienna, too.
00:20:46
Speaker
Are you going to finally die? Well, she's she's pretty much toast. So I I think I plugged the catalytic converter on it. I was in Indiana, dude. And I'm like, I have a conspiracy theory. I think these dudes like literally put sand or sugar in my gas tank or something because.
00:21:05
Speaker
I was out there on some public land in Indiana, shed hunting. These dudes rolled up on me, like five big old fat guys on four wheelers. And ah they were basically like trying to intimidate me into not parking in this, but I'm showing them on Onyx. I'm like, I'm in public, dude. And anyway, they were like, the one dude after a while was like, I've seen your videos. And I'm like, all right, cool. So I went to hike for like three or four hours and I came back, fired up my van and dude, it ran like dog crap ever since.
00:21:29
Speaker
And I thought it was something with the catalytic converter and it just had no power. And I literally lugged it the whole way home from Indiana going 55 miles an hour from Indiana to Utah. It took me like 29 hours. Horrible, but it's never been the same since. And like, I just think i maybe I'm being paranoid, but dude, I think they screwed with it or something. Dude, I've heard some horror stories, especially ah Oregon. I've heard some horror stories about Oregon and Idaho not liking non-res.
00:21:53
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, it could be something like that for sure. Cause they were pretty, they had, they had cameras and they saw me on their cameras, like cell cameras and like rolled up to see what, what was going on. But I'm like, public land. Anyway, that's a side bet. But my, my setup. So I had the Sienna and the Sienna, I loved it because like you could literally park at any truck stop, hop in the back, go to sleep. I had a caught in there, um, and a sleeping bag and it's just so comfortable anywhere you go.
00:22:18
Speaker
Um, and then my truck now, like I rolled a bedroll for a lot of years, ran a canvas cutter for a lot of years and just slept through it out in the dirt and slept. And it was comfortable. I liked that, that portability and, and the weatherproofing, but you know, as I get older, dude, I just want that next level of comfort. So I upgraded to a GFC, um, truck camper almost two years ago. Now I have it on the back of my Tundra. So I have that pop up and I built like kind of a deck system in their platform.
00:22:44
Speaker
So I'll crawl in there and I'll sleep in the downstairs. If I'm trying to be sneaky, like at a truck stop or something, or if I'm out camping, then I pop the 10 up and sleep up top. And dude, that it's so comfortable and so nice, especially you get like those GFCs, you can set them up and take them down in like a minute. Like they're so easy. So fast. So I just, I pretty much sleep in there. And then obviously I have like ultra light set up for winter backpack hunting and stuff, but dude, I love truck camping. It's like one of my favorite things in the world.
00:23:12
Speaker
Yeah. So if you don't know what GFC is, GFC is go fast campers. It's actually what I was looking at, but this company or who's in San Diego, that's why I use them. So I'll actually i drive up there and do it. Oh, that's cool. So it's a camper shell that goes on your truck and you can like pop a top up and have it, you know, like a wet, you have a wedge style or to have the street. Yeah. It's a wedge. It's a wedge. Yeah. I got the wedge too. I didn't want to get the straight up one. I was like, I don't need that. It's too, they're expensive, man. It's expensive, but you, do you work with go fast campers at all? I do. Yeah. And I actually helped Larry over there. Uh, he's one of my good buddies and I kind of helped him build their ambassador program and and get some people on board. So i was able i mean I was saving up for one anyway. I had about half the money saved up. But luckily, I got the hookup. So it was it was awesome. And dude, I absolutely loved it. It's so freaking just changed the game. you know
00:23:55
Speaker
Yeah, you'll see mine in Mexico. I'm ring i'm probably gonna sleep with mine when we go down there, because I think the house is a little bit small, and I'm like, I'm supposed to stay in my truck. But yeah, dude, that's my thing, too, is like I am getting older. like it It is nice to like be able to rest a little bit. and not and like I don't like sleeping in hotels, because I have so much gear. You you don't realize how much money is in your car until you like start adding it up. You're like, dude, there's 20, 30 grand in this truck. You know what I mean? like My wife is in this truck. And this thing got stuck. One of these freaking meth towns I'm in, you know what I mean? No offense, small town USA. but I don't leave my truck outside. I don't want to bring everything in the hotel with me. Most of the time, I'm just sleeping. Before this year, before I ran out of the bedroll, I was just sleeping on a tarp outside under the stars. Then I had a couple of nights where it was super windy and just miserable. I use a quilt, so it's just miserable. I'm getting in the truck and it's hiding from the truck.
00:24:47
Speaker
And I got the canvas cutter this year and are like the last year and a half. And those have been game changers. Like I absolutely love. I mean, like if you just want a way to sleep, like that's such a nice way to sleep. And honestly, for me, as long as it's not gonna be like super inclement weather, cause I like to be able to like, you're kind of stuck in this cocoon. So like, if you want to get dressed and stuff, like it's, it is a little bit hard. Um, it's so nice to be able to pop us in and be mobile. Like, like if I were to go out, like you want to go on Arizona and do like a mobile hunt, like those things are so rad for that. Like it's,
00:25:14
Speaker
oh It's such a good way to get around and not have to have a base camp because base camps really do. I've been trying not to with my hunting, like not pigeonhole myself. I feel like I had a, ah like when I first started hunting, I was really pigeonholing and I'd back back into these areas and it was like, if there was no deer, I was screwed. But with having the canvas curves, I'm able to move, be more mobile and kind of make a bounce. You know, and I don't move right away, but I'm finding like when you have a five day tag, you're two and a half days into it and you're not seeing deer, like you need to make a move, you know? yeah Yep. I was just like, I could, I love that. Cause I don't even roll mine up. Like I would leave it rolled out in the bed, trip truck bed, throw my gear on top of it. I'm not even care. I've moved spots and like, I don't know. I can't tell you how many hundreds of nights I spent in one of those bedrolls. They're a great way to go.
00:25:56
Speaker
Oh dude, they are so comfortable because it's a four inch thick pat. Dude, it's like, I sleep better in the canvas counter than I do in my bed at home. Like I love, and that's one thing it's weird. Like, do you have this experience? Like I spend a lot of time in the field. I love sleeping outside. When I get home and go in my room, I kind of want to go sleep outside for a couple of nights. Dude, yeah, I sleep terrible when I come home. Dude, I want to like, there's a couple of times where I'm like, dude, I just want to go lay on the, I have like an outdoor patio. Like I want to go lay on the patio and sleep out there on the patio couch. You know what I mean? Cause like, I'm just like,
00:26:23
Speaker
i I like being outside. I enjoy it. So do I. Yeah, I think sleeping outside is the business, man. and i yeah I always like want to go sleep on the trampoline almost when I get home and stuff. so But it's weird. I love to sleep when it's cold, too, man. like When it's freezing cold, I love to be outside like just tucked in. I love it. Yeah. Yeah, the hard part is getting out of it in the morning. ah You got to roll out of that sucker and do it. That is one thing about the bedrolls. You are kind of like, if it's freezing balls, you're not getting up and turning the freaking stove on. like It's cold. but But with the truck, you could put are you running like a, do you get a diesel heater or do you run in like a like a little buddy's seat or anything?
00:27:00
Speaker
a single burner body heater. I actually have a dual as well, but um I'll just leave like the GFC has the crawl through floor, you know, so I'll leave one of the four panels open. Yeah. And I'll put a propane heater on the down below and then the heat rises up through and it'll torture you, man. Like if you crank that thing on in three minutes. like You got to get out of your sleeping bag. It's so hot. Really? Yeah, that's what I got. The same thing, little buddy. and My thing is the same style. You pop it to the front. I have seen some diesel heaters they make that goes on the side and they're pretty cheap, but I don't know how. Yeah. They're awesome. They are. they Are they really cool? Yeah. and they have like A lot of them have the thermostat built in the remote, so you put it in there with you and you set it to whatever you want. It'll just automatically kick on. All the fumes are outside. You just have a heat vent coming in. like i'll I'll get one eventually for sure.
00:27:45
Speaker
Yeah, I've been looking at doing something like that. I definitely don't want to be like a douchebag, like an overland douchebag, you know, because like, especially like SoCal dude, like there's so many guys and you're like, Oh, I don't want to be that guy. But I i feel like I'm actually need it. Like I'm actually going to use this thing all the time more than once a year, right? Like I live out of my truck, right? And like, I'd rather like, I'm going to do all these PRS matches and all the stuff in the spring. Like I love having that ability to sleep in there. So I'm super s stoked on that. I am curious what you did on the deck thing. Did you actually get a deck or did you build something?
00:28:11
Speaker
No, they didn't have one that fit my truck cause I have a Gen 1 Tundra. So it's like, they didn't make a production model. And I talked to them and they're like, you can modify this one model, but it seemed a little like kind of a headache. And I'm like, I'm just going to build one. And then when I get a new truck, I'll get a deck for it. But, um, I just built one out of OSB and, and four by fours and it's super sturdy. It's modular pulls out in two minutes. It's really easy.
00:28:33
Speaker
Do you feel like I'm curious like if I want to do a deck or not? Cause it's like, I feel like a ticket of half your truck bed and you were getting two doors, two doors. Like I, yeah. Um, I think it was a good move. I'm surprised how practical the platform is.
00:28:45
Speaker
So I have one big drawer that goes underneath that I built that I put all my cooking stuff in and then like I have some of my tools and stuff it just you can lock your tailgate all that stuff locked in and then it's just the stuff that was floating around in totes fits underneath there and it leaves me more space. The one time it does get a little much is like when you like when you bring the I mean I run a kill bag too but like if you're bringing the big Yeti like I have a Yeti 210.
00:29:09
Speaker
And if you're bringing that big cooler, it's like zaps your space. And then if you need to sleep back there, you have to pull everything out. But I think i think the deck, like that type of a system actually and improves it a lot. Dude, how sick are those killbacks? Dude, they're the they're the solution.
00:29:26
Speaker
yeah Aren't they? yeah I had him on the phone this morning. is is like The guy who owns Killbag is also my designer. He's full of scholars. We're good friends. We know each other. Our doubts are friends with their kids. and like They were just doing fishing. I'm like, you've got to get these into hunting. you got it and I talked to him this morning on the phone. He's like, dude, I can't believe like half my orders are hunting now.
00:29:44
Speaker
yeah i'm like du cause like Yeah. It's such test and such a perfect product for our space because, I mean, yeah, it's like, if you need to keep ice for 10 days, like you want a Yeti for sure. But like, if you're, if you are just going to have a cooler that you need in case you kill an animal that you can bring a home in, like it's top tier. And I was, I was talking to Troy to you about some of the other possible options. Like, dude, I think there's so many products in that niche too that could continue to like make that more adapted to hunters. And I think the world is always there if he wants to go after the hunting, dude, it's, it's wide open.
00:30:19
Speaker
Dude, and for me, as somebody who doesn't kill animals every time I go out, it's nice not having that big old cooler in there. You know what I mean? Right. Yeah, it's just rolled up in the back. Because you have a lot of dudes are rolling around with those freaking 300-quart Yetis, which is half your truck. You know what I mean? Yeah, for sure. Just in case. And the cool thing about the kill bag is It folds around the animals. You can get so much more. It's not like a square box. You're trying to put an animal into a square box. There's so much extra space. The killback kind of molds around it. You know what I mean? so and then like It just fits in your truck better. It's just such a better solution all around. We've actually got a bunch of guys just switching over to it. I think Brian Barney's got one. The guys at Grady have one. I think Schneider got one now. like
00:31:00
Speaker
It's, it's the way to go. Like, and then like flying is dope. Cause then like it only weighs, like I flew to, I took their, the 36 inch, which I wish to make a little bit bigger. Uh, I took a 36 inch up to Wyoming, and put my whole antelope in there. Yeah.
00:31:15
Speaker
So they got processed, the put the envelope in there. a Thing weighed like 42 pounds, flew home with it. yeah Didn't have to pay. Dude, it was so solid. Like, it's just like a way to go. um And you can actually like, when we flew to, we took we came up from Hawaii, we was like a hundred pounds in each of the kill bags, me and Brad Hunt. We actually, you can like vacuum seal them. If that makes any sense, you can like zip it up and then sit on it and smash it down. So it's actually more compact. It doesn't have that, that whole area, you know, of your back of your truck, which is nice.
00:31:41
Speaker
Yeah. Yep. That's nice. And I liked the idea of being able to fly it to that 36 seems like a super practical size. I have, I have a 60 inch one and I was blown away, dude. I shot a bowl in Colorado this year and it's not a big bowl, but you know, three year old bowl. And, uh, it fit with room to spare quartered out, you know, we did, I did one and a half cows in mine in two of them. And it was like, I think you can put a whole bowl there. I was excited to hear you did that.
00:32:05
Speaker
Yeah, I think you could put a big bowl in there. Like after I saw how much room was left over, because you can position the quarters to take up all that space like you're saying. But I had all four quarters. I had neck meat, rib meat, heart, liver, everything. And it closed easily. And I could have put more stuff in there.
00:32:20
Speaker
And he threw ice on top of it. And then, uh, cause I was running before I was running the igloos cause I'm not going to go buy a freaking thousand dollar yeti, you know, just, a status symbol my opinion oh it is it's a status It's a status symbol. Like unless you're going to give me one for free, like I'm not going to buy one. It's my proudest status symbol. Like I like, dude, I'll show that off. Like some people put the big buck on the top of the truck, bro. I'm throwing my yeti up there. Speak of the devil. Do you know what I mean? Big old sticker.
00:32:46
Speaker
Yeah, dude. It's like, it is like, uh, it is a status symbol, but they they just, yeah, the kill bags are where it's at, dude. I'm so stoked for Troy. And I was excited to hear him talking to me this morning. He just, we're going to go to lunch tomorrow, I think, or the next day. And just, he wants to talk about everything that's going on with kill bags and that stuff. So this is the kill bags podcast, but we should, uh,
00:33:02
Speaker
It is cool to give them a shout out. If you guys don't have a kill bag, they're awesome. We've been using them in SoCal forever for ah fishing, and they have such a good application for the hunting space. So go get a kill bag, killbags dot.com or something. um I get nothing from kill bags, by the way, other than he's my friend and I like to support coal brands.
00:33:18
Speaker
um So yeah, you got the deck thing. I'm excited to get my truck set up for that. My truck, I actually got like, they built a panel, panels on both sides opened up and then it's got like the barn drawers in the back. On the one side, I put a cage in all the way along it. So when I opened up, I'm going to put my guns in there. My mind, it's going to be six. My guns will be right there. So I have them sliding around. I do like the idea of the deck because it is kind of hard, 50 totes everywhere. So I don't know. I might try the deck. I don't know. I just, I got to try it out and see, see what I'm going to do.
00:33:47
Speaker
Yeah, I've never messed with an official decked one all that much, but I just, I like the platform and I think after building one that I think a decked one would be pretty sweet. Yeah. Are you doing any kind of like grass or anything in there? No, I have like, um, um no, it's just OSB. And then I have a, like a foam pad that I put on the one side that I sleep on, but there's nothing like, uh, I thought about putting carpet or something, but I don't have anything in there right now.
00:34:12
Speaker
I seen some guys doing like fake grass, like artificial grass, and they're really stoked on that, so I don't know. Yeah, man, maybe. yeah know I yeah ah give it a try, I guess. I had a carpet kit in my last one that was underneath um the platform system, and that was way rad because it kept so much dust out. Like, mine gets pretty dang dusty. Does it? So what is, ah like, how many days do you sleep in your truck a year?
00:34:38
Speaker
Man, I think ah I kept track the first year I had the GFC and I think it was like 150 something. Really? um Yeah. So I think like when when I first started and I was a shed hunting constantly, I know my first year in this, I was over 200 days, 200 nights gone. Really? um My first year. So yeah, and an average year now, I'd say it's between 150 and 200. Damn. So what do you do? I guess we haven't really talked about what you do other than you know like, so why are you spending 200 days in your truck? Because that's like my dream.
Social Media & Content Creation
00:35:08
Speaker
Yeah, so that's awesome I make YouTube videos. um Mostly that's what I do. Like this year I've actually made less YouTube videos than ever before. um Just because, I don't know, Instagram's popping and like Facebook views are popping. And I'm finding that I'm getting way more exposure on other platforms. So I've kind of back tabled YouTube a little bit.
00:35:28
Speaker
um like So I make social media content for a living. I make stupid videos on Instagram, funny videos. I make hunting videos for YouTube, shed hunting videos. ah The thing that got me into the industry was shed hunting. I quit my job to see if I could find enough sheds to pay my bills. That was my goal. ah Luckily, I got to know some social media dudes right from the get go and they're like, bro, there's a whole other way to monetize this thing. You got to do social media. So I started YouTube. I already had a decent Instagram following at that time. so i just kind of roll everything into one, make content and work with cool companies and somehow have figured out a way to pay my bills for the last eight years doing all this stuff. That's awesome.
00:36:08
Speaker
so Facebook, surprisingly, is like our best marketing tool, which I think it's because like people who have money are older on Facebook. Instagram is what I spend most of my time on. It's like more fun, but when it comes to our ads, like Facebook's what crushes it because I think that's where guys who have 20-year-old kids aren't buying $500 tripods. It's like the dudes in their 30s and 40s are buying the tripods and they're on Facebook.
00:36:33
Speaker
um Check out their friends from high school. ah The YouTube thing, dude, is so hard. We just hit 1,000 followers. I just got the email yesterday. and like I've been like pushing the YouTube. like We're doing filming all of our hunts. But ah it's tough, man. like How many followers do we follow you have on YouTube? 30 something thousand. Damn. and that's like how When did you, i mean eight years ago when you started doing this, how many do you have on YouTube?
00:36:57
Speaker
Uh, I mean, I, when I pulled the trigger, I pushed myself a couple thousand subscribers right off the bat, just cause I had a big Instagram following. Um, but yeah, I mean, over the course of seven or eight years, it's just been a trickle. And I feel like a lot of that is shed hunting is such a niche and my channel is called shed crazy. So if people aren't shed hunters, they're not going to subscribe really. So I feel like we're covering the niche. I feel like we have like, it's the biggest straight shed hunting channel on YouTube for sure. Um, but it's just like.
00:37:24
Speaker
you really have to take off somewhere else. And I think I'm a little bit too pigeonholed to be like a giant hunting channel, at at least at this point without maybe changing the name or something. But I just, I don't worry too much about it. I think a niche is good though. Like I'm really good friends with, you know, James Visser, bow disciples.
00:37:42
Speaker
Uh, yeah, yeah, I do. I know who that is. He's got like a hundred thousand followers on YouTube. Um, and he's got a big, like 80 or 90,000 followers on. he's He's an influencer. That's what he does, right? Like he just did freaking lift run shoot with freaking, uh, Cameron Haynes. Like he's like becoming a big deal. He's hanging out with Josh Beaumont. And he's just like, dude, like just get to the first thousand. Like he just keep putting content up and it'll, it like snowballs, right? Over time, like things just keep coming in and I've seen that, right? Cause I think I started this year.
00:38:09
Speaker
I think in like may April or May, I had like 300 followers. And I'm like, well, I'm just gonna keep pushing content. And it is frustrating though, dude, like you put a lot of, like it you spend the same amount of money, like me and you spend the same amount of money to make a video. You know what I mean? yep And it's like, it's hard to make a video and you get like 400 views and you're just like, I gotta keep doing it, you know? Cause I don't know what it is for me. Like I really want to have a good, I'm trying to build this like like brand, right? Like more than just the tripods, right? Like, so I want to have all facets, whether it be, you know, YouTube,
00:38:36
Speaker
Instagram, Facebook. And for me, I really like YouTube. I feel like it gives you more of a ah look at me personally. Yeah. But it's it's hard to grow that man. It's tough. Yeah, it is. and It does. You get a better connection out of the audience there.
00:38:50
Speaker
And I've always felt like that 30 or something thousand that I have on YouTube is more valuable than the 90, whatever on Instagram. Um, just because the people there are there for you, they're there to watch what you do. They're there because it's more of a relationship kind of a thing, right? it is They're the more true followers I feel like. And, um, I feel like they're more likely to do anything you ask them to do too. If you say, click this link, or if you say, check out this product.
00:39:16
Speaker
They're more interested in what you have to say. So I think it is it's YouTube's harder to build for sure, but it's a better platform for For the audience at least and you're putting together more than just shit videos, right? You aren't putting on two videos either, too, right?
00:39:29
Speaker
Yeah. Yup. It's about 50 50 now. Um, like the last year, couple of years I've been trying to find a shed in all 50 States. yeah And so that's kind of dominated the landscape over there. Cause obviously I'm 50 something videos just into that series. Um, but yeah, how do you hunt videos too? I've done a few hunt videos this year and I have a few more to post right now. Do you do all your own editing? Yeah.
00:39:50
Speaker
you'll and You'll know that. When you watch my videos, you'll be like, this is not professional. This guy definitely does it himself. I bought my own like editing software. I did the whole thing. right because i film a lot of ah I have a film or a lot of my hunts, but like ah like my kid my kids hunt. I filmed that myself or I self-filmed it. like All my tax stuff, like my PRS stuff I'm filming or my kids are filming.
00:40:10
Speaker
I was editing myself, but it was so like, you know, like next scene, I ended up getting a kid, Ethan, he works for us now pretty much full time. And he's doing all my editing for me. And that makes my life so much easier because the editing part, like you said, with the podcast, like Chad Rikers, this or not, if you've never done Chad's podcast, I'd say Hunter. He does all my editing for my podcast and just so much better than when I was doing it myself. Like it gives me the freedom to keep producing things rather than trying to edit it. Cause like, I feel like I'll go and try and make a real, it takes me an hour and it sucks. And this kid makes, I'll text this kid how real back to you in like 10 minutes and it's phenomenal. You know, he's just better. People are just better at certain things and I'm not good at that. That's how I am too, man. And I feel like I've tried to be a one trick pony for so long. Like I've tried to do every single thing, like run the website, the merchandise, try to be like an online store on top of like a content creator, be the personality in the channel. And then you're also trying to like,
00:41:03
Speaker
you know edit your own videos, film everything, be a videographer, schedule all your travel, all your planning. So wearing all those hats means that none of them get worn that well. And the crossroad that I've been at for the longest time on my YouTube channel was like, I need a full-time cameraman and a full-time editor. And the money that it now costs to employ those guys is just like, ah, it becomes cost prohibitive. So it's like, do I want to take the big risk? And do I want to float all this cash in the hopes that you know suddenly we start bringing that kind of money in? I mean, I could. Or I could just keep paying my bills and doing my thing. so I'm always at that point of like, well, do I bite the bullet, pay the big bucks or do I just keep doing what makes me happy? Yeah, on the lowest end to get someone to film for me is like 200 bucks a day. Yeah.
00:41:45
Speaker
I pay my kid 150, so that's kind of nice. Just to hire him. Kids keep filming these days. Well, I just paid him 150, and then I took his money back from him because he when I was um on my last honey, he kicked the door and broke the door. So I was like, oh, you're paying for this now. There's your money. There you go. He's a whole 150. I'm like, no, actually it's 400. So it's kind of nice having your employees be related to you. But um yeah, it is hard. It's expensive. and That's the other thing with the YouTube stuff too. like you're paying We're paying for all these hunts to get film to do this stuff and you get 2,000 views. like Is it worth it? That's where it's tough, tough man. maybe Maybe in five years. you know that yeah and yeah it's It's such a long game thing with this with the content creation. It is, yeah. But I think that it is um worth it in a lot of ways, especially like in a business like yours because people are always going to
00:42:32
Speaker
be seeking information for the products they're going to be wanting to know. And that's that's definitely converting sales for you, right? like I know me. like Whenever I buy a gun or whenever I buy a new product or whether it's a hunting product or not, I'm watching reviews and I want to see and I want to hear people's firsthand experience with it. And I want to hear from the people who designed it. like I will geek out, especially a high-end product. So I i know that that stuff converts sales. And I know like the people that I watch on YouTube and the content that I consume, i I'm finding out about new products from them all the time.
00:43:01
Speaker
and because of them, i'm I'm finding new stuff to buy and I'm buying it. So like I really believe the model works, but it's it's not like a direct connection or a correlation. You never know how much and it's not quantifiable. So it's hard to in the world where I'm at, where it's like, I make my living by getting paid to advertise on social media, but I can't really provide any company with like, oh, this is exactly how much money I made for you or how many eyeballs I got on your product. It's hard to kind of have to trust me that it's getting done. And it's a hard pill to swallow, especially for like a marketing guy.
00:43:31
Speaker
Oh, it's super hard to follow. and it's like It's hard to quantify sometimes. and you're like You get some influencers who just push the crap out of your product where they're probably not doing as good as like Ben is using it once. you know it's like It's such a weird...
00:43:43
Speaker
It's such a weird, like, it's an actual job now. Like 10 years ago, I've been like, what? No, that's not a real job. Like, no, it's a real thing. It's a real thing. Like it's, you know, it's all his analytics behind it. And that's why I try not to do that, be in charge of that stuff. I try not to let my, like my team charge that stuff because there's tough conversations to have with people like, Hey, I got pictures. Hey, I need this stuff. You know? So it's, it's like, it's, yeah, I don't know. Social media, man. It's not going anywhere. Like it's not a good change.
00:44:09
Speaker
People thought it was for a long time. and I know like the people who would be owning it right now, a lot of them quit early because they thought it was just going to fall off, but it's not going away. Now, are you doing TikTok? I quit TikTok. um was more like ah I was more pissed off at the platform. It was a couple of years ago. I was dude getting views like crazy over there. My account grew 50,000 super fast, but they kept shutting me down for shed antlers and I got pissed at these commie Chinese guys doing it, so I shut it down. Yeah.
00:44:37
Speaker
Yeah, did we get, uh, with meta, we get hammered all the time. Like I've seen some of but maybe some so our ads now. Like we, uh, a lot of this year we haven't known that people, we haven't got any new followers unless they yeah came to us. Like we couldn't like the people, new people don't see our content. Cause you know, whatever it is.
00:44:55
Speaker
And they'll get us for anything. The AI gets us for like tripods. So you'll see a tripod and they'll shut us down. It's like it's a tripod. you know So we're starting to do stuff now. You'll see that we have the Nerf guns and stuff in the videos. And that's not to be funny. That's to like try and like we literally have to do that, right? Like I did one for the DZ head and I'm using a stick. I know I'm kind of being a smart ass with it, but like it's for a reason because if I put my rifle in there, it's gone. Like it's there's no yeah like and the only way to get rid of it is to actually delete that post. Right. So we have to get a lot of posts.
00:45:23
Speaker
um makes it really hard to advertise. I'm hoping that's going to change. like You're seeing guys like Zuckerberg, I think Elon's plowing the way for that. right like Hey, we want to be so want freedom, you know what I mean? This stuff. and I'm hoping that maybe guys like Zuckerberg will come in and maybe Bruce Narain's a little bit, but the thing is with those companies, dude it's like Zuckerberg's one dude and it's run by like 50,000 liberals. You know what I mean? So it's like, yeah it's not like he's getting red pilled though, dude. Zuckerberg's coming over. Like you can tell he's trying to be like a cool guy. He is getting red pilled for sure. You could see it. And yeah, I think he even donated like a million bucks on like one of Trump's things or something. So we'll see. I mean, you got to go like Elon just comes in and just like,
00:46:04
Speaker
you know, no, we're not going to do this anymore. It opens up, get people freedom. But ah yeah, we definitely get targeted at Tricer for, I mean, everything we try, like everything we do, we get hit up for it. And we're actually going to make like burner accounts now, just in case we get shut down. Cause they'll come in to shut your account down. Like that's your livelihood. Like shed crazies, your livelihood, 90,000 followers. They could so all of a sudden decide that like they didn't like the Ben shot an elk with a rifle and they just shut his whole account down. Yeah. Yeah. is it Like that happened to Courtney. um over her outdoor journey. 38,000 followers or something like that and they shut her down and took it away. Just gone. a Yeah, yeah that's that's tough, man. and I've had little incidents like that before where I'll get flagged and I can't post for a minute or um I had one on Facebook where I had a gun barrel that was on my back.
00:46:51
Speaker
Sticking up a gun barrel and it got flagged and I'm always blown away But I just delete them put them back up the one that sucked bad man I got deleted by so for a video where I was talking about shooting a elk in the headlights just like screwing around stupid video dude it was like at 1.8 million views and like one like one or two days and They killed it because somebody flagged it. This is so stupid. and I'm like that was going mega viral so You enjoy, like, I know you enjoy controversy a little bit. I know you like, how do you handle like you post stupid crap, right? Like, I mean, you didn't say like, I post stupid crap. You have to get haters. Oh yeah. yeah And dude, honestly, I love it. Like when people miss, when people misunderstand the joke, that's my favorite thing in the world. It's always has been like, if I can get somebody to like fall so hard on their face,
00:47:39
Speaker
and totally miss the point and then try to come for me. like That's what I just lay in bed and giggle about that at night. It's so funny. But like yeah, I get some genuine haters. you know I get some people talking crap. And um it's pretty rare that it ever really gets to me in any type of way. Every once in a while, somebody will say something that just like gets you just enough that I'll try to get them back. and I get it, yeah. But for the most part, it just comes with the territory. like people People call me fat all the time.
00:48:06
Speaker
like um They'll ask, like, how does somebody hike so much so fat still? And I just laugh, dude, because I know I can hike all those freaking soy boys right into the dirt. I don't worry about it.
00:48:19
Speaker
Yeah. I, uh, what I'll do now, cause I used to get really, cause this is my baby, right? Like it's my baby, right? And people will go and comment and most of the guys have no idea, right? They're morons, right? But I used to get really like fired up about it, right? And go after them. And, uh, what I do now is a lot of times I'll just type it out and then I'll delete it. Yeah. Yeah. I've done that for years too. Cause I'll type out this and I was like, then I'll delete it, right? Or I'll show my wife and I'll delete it. You know what I mean? Cause like,
00:48:44
Speaker
Half the time I regret it because i I'm like, I don't want to go to that level. right And one cool thing is like you probably have this. right you get You get people who defend you now, so you don't have to do it. right So you guys will comment and it'll just go and hammer. like I posted these new tripods the other day, and the guy's like, oh, it looks exactly like an RRS. And this looks exactly like the MBT. It's like so different. right but like that's what People just want to post like crappy stuff. right like people want to It's so weird how tough people are on the internet. right Dude, yeah. And I feel like Facebook, especially like it's these people who are never taken seriously in the real world, right? Facebook's so much worse, isn't it? There's so much mean on Facebook. They are, dude. And it's like so all these guys who have no other place to be relevant, right? And so they like, you know, it's the dude that's just like the low man on the totem pole at his job and his wife probably freaking doesn't let him pick out his own clothes.
00:49:33
Speaker
and so he goes on facebook so he can be like the authority somewhere and that's that's who those dudes always are man you look them up and they're just like dying for credibility they're dying to be the one that like says the thing okay you click on their phone you click on the profile like i do oh sometimes you're looking at him you're like you're looking at him and like dude like i i had a kid oh i'll tell the story but yeah i had a kid that just kept all that everything i posted copied this guy copied this guy copied and i'm just like Dude, there's 20 guys making Bino adapters. There's 20 guys making, it it's a tripod. There's 20 guys making tripods, right? You know, nothing original. So finally I was like, I was like, I'm like, he's a real estate agent and out of Arizona. Like I'm just like, I, like you know, finally I just like, I was like, call me, call me, here's my number, call me. And we had ah like an hour long conversation.
00:50:18
Speaker
I'm like, dude, like what is your problem? Why does think this? I'm like, dude, you've never created anything in your life. I'm like, you're a real estate agent, you're 25 years old. So do you think every other real estate agent, like you shouldn't be able to do that because everyone else is already doing it?
00:50:31
Speaker
Somebody else sold property first. Somebody else sold property first. Do you ever get hounded on for being a new guy? Yeah, all the time. How does it make you feel? I'm a real person, dude. You're just hammering me everything. I'm paying for these ads. I had to go and monitor you. I don't do the Facebook anymore. I had to give it to my team. I was like, I can't do this. I'm still heavily involved. I'm still heavily involved in Instagram. I don't want to give that up because I have too much fun with it.
00:50:56
Speaker
but Facebook, I was like, I can't be involved. I'll go on. I'll, I'll, I'll, I delete it and then I'll download it like for like a day or two. And I delete it again. And I let my team do all that messaging and replies back because like, yeah, they're so mean on Facebook. Dude, they're so bad. Well, I haven't saw someone one of your posts. It was funny, dude, because like, I don't know. I had to go after the dude a little bit, but This guy's you posted, it was a first tripod. It was like for the BC. And this guy's like, I'm going to stick with the original. I'm like the original, like, do you know Pythagoras? Like who who the hell are you talking about? What's the original tripod? Like tripods, man, they were like, what, since the Egyptians, like yeah the original tripod? I don't know. It just cracks me up, dude. And I go, I go down the rabbit hole. I go click through their profiles and then I start sometimes feeling bad too. Cause like, I'm like, man, screw this guy. Who is this dude? And I go look at his life and be like,
00:51:43
Speaker
I don't want to even make fun of him. He probably gets it enough on the daily. Yeah, I do that too. I'll instantly, if he's going after too much, I'll like look at the profile. like where Oh, you're a firefighter. I was like, what am I doing? what am i yeah like Why is this? It's not worth my time. you know Now what I'll do sometimes is I'll just freaking block you. like it's like Seriously, you want to be more than once. like Some guys would go on like every ad and start posting the same thing.
00:52:05
Speaker
I'll block you. I had to block. I've had, I've had companies do it to me. I've had like companies in the industry come after me and has blocked the owners. Cause like there's going to like all my ads and it's hammering me and I'm getting all fired up and I'm just, and I'm like, I'm such a smart ass dude. Like I can like, I will get you fired up and I know how to push your buttons. And I'm like, I can't keep doing this. This is embarrassing for me. Like I need to just like, you're blocked. You know what? Hopefully we don't get in a fist fight at Western hunt, you know? like it's And nobody will say anything in person. That's the thing, man. Like.
00:52:32
Speaker
You'll run into the biggest crap talkers ever, man. And when it's in person, they just, they don't even say a word, man, ever. Well, I have to imagine you get pretty, cause like, I know like Roxanne, I have to stay off of there. Cause like they, my team was like, like Robbie was like, you need to go and post more on there. You know, you need more involved, like post your stuff on there. Like what you guys are doing, like I do on Facebook, like Instagram, right? And dude, like every time I post on there, I get so hammered.
00:52:56
Speaker
We're not one of your flat bill influencers. We're not good at Bob. But but just I'm just like, dude, like, I'm just trying to share with you what I'm doing. You know what I mean? Like, how dare you say this? And I'm just like, man, you know what? Like, I'm not even going to post on here because I can't handle like.
00:53:10
Speaker
I'm just trying to share with you what I'm doing. I like
Brand Building & Marketing Strategies
00:53:12
Speaker
to be an open book. right like I post it up. like You'll never see brands post up like what they're building. I post up CAD drawings, prototypes, all the way through the product. it's never like I'm never like, here's a new product. It's just like, i kind of I bring you along for the ride. But I can't do that over there because I'm just like, all they want to do is talk crap. Yeah. Oh, dude, that's a rock slides. It's so funny for that. I found threads on there, just posts and posts and posts about me, about other people, about my buddies. It's so funny to me. and I'm like, who are these? like It's like gossip for older women. Like they're like the old women. Like there's Facebook's like the sad dads and rock slides like the old women. And I like some of my buddies are diehard rock sliders and dude, I love them. And like, I liked Robbie. I think Robbie's a stud. And I just like.
00:53:52
Speaker
It's so funny though, some of the conversations that go down over there without, you mean like who are, did I didn't even know this site like was a thing, you know? yeah so I started like, I don't know, being on it. It's a necessary evil, right? So like, and I hate to say that, like we, we sponsor it. We pay them a lot of money every month to be on there, but I'm a sponsor. There's a lot of guys there. now I get hammered. like but like i'm like I'm a sponsor. I feel like I'm just getting hammered. and I'm just like, whatever, man. like i'm it's so yeah It's hard. It's entertaining, dude. It's entertaining. and I've actually had him like so i had a fun time with them because like I like to talk crap. so like I blew my dog up for 4th of July, right? Yeah, so that was great. A full thread of how we should fire our marketing manager.
00:54:32
Speaker
Yeah. And I'm like, I'm the market. I'm everything, right? i made this So I'm just like making, all so they love making memes over there. I started making all these memes, but like, it's like literally like I, I will not do.
00:54:44
Speaker
I, nothing gets sick. I'm not going to do the walkthrough issue with my back thing. I don't want to do that. That's not my style. Like it's just like, it's overplayed, right? Like I want to have fun with what I do. I want to be a SoCal brand, a young brand, and like have fun doing stuff. And I want to blow my dog up. I want my dog up. I don't care, right? It's just funny. I want to have fun. And, uh, so I'm just like picking at them, right? Like red pill, blue pill, memes, making, just going back and forth with them. So it turned into like an eight page thread and the end I'm like, look, I won.
00:55:12
Speaker
yeah You haven't posted one, you haven't talked about one ad from any other brand except for Tricer. And we have eight pages of it. You know what I mean? Like that ad worked. I'm a marketing team. In my mind, in my mind, I'm like, I'm a marketing genius. Yeah. Well, attention wins, dude. And that's, that's the sad reality of this world is attention wins and like even negative attention wins. So it's, it's part of the the world that we're all in. And like, whether people want to admit it or not, like we're in advertising.
00:55:41
Speaker
That's what that's what ah so much of what we do is. That's what I do. I'm in advertising. like like There's jokes along the way. There's definitely hunting, but that's what I do for food. I have to imagine like being tied to... because you're I don't want to say you're tied to Hushin, but you're involved with Hushin. They get a lot of flack too. yeah Probably tons. That probably gets you hammered.
00:55:59
Speaker
Well, it's like I get madder about it than they do for sure. Like Eric, he's one of my best friends in the world. So I go to war for that kid. like He doesn't care. He's out there doing his thing, whistling. He'll look at it, chuckle. And I'm getting mad. at I'll get mad, way mad, on his behalf. Because I know like he's such a freaking good dude. He's such a good dude. And these people have all these free like preconceived notions and ideas. And they make up all this stuff. And they like this stuff that they assume that he is, and I just am like,
00:56:28
Speaker
He's just, these dorks have no idea. They have no idea. I've had a few of those in my life too. Like I got to meet Eric and Eric's super cool. Like we talk on the phone now, like I'm really hoping I can go shut. I'm trying to wheeze him a window, shut down with him. I don't know if he's into it, but I've never shut down him before. I've never shut down him before. So I want to go actually and and do it. Um, but like, dude, like I got to meet like Josh Jones from podium Archer. He's got a big Mohawk, right? Like the nicest guy in the world.
00:56:52
Speaker
I watch that guy fix three blown up bows, stop what he was doing, helping kids. Dude, the coolest guy in the world. You see him online, you're like, this guy's got a freaking mohawk. Yeah, he's a douche. Even like Beaumont, I like to meet Beaumont. Just like a down-to-earth dude just talks. Everyone just hates this guy. It's hard to be like, and that's what I'm trying to do with my YouTube a little bit, is be an open book. This is who I am so you can understand who I am. It's really hard to know somebody unless you meet them in person.
00:57:21
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. yeah People are making assumptions based off what they see on the internet. And like and if I like only judged people off of those personalities, like I'd have my my ideas too. and it's like It really is a symptom. like you have Like if you have a hundred thousand people that like you, there's going to be like 5,000 that don't. And then those people are going to be really loud and it's going to be the same 5,000 people that don't like everybody else. So it's like, if you, if you like hate somebody and that's your opinion, that's fine. If you hate everybody, then I don't take you very seriously. You know what I mean? It's the same, just the same thousand dudes piping off about everybody. And so it's like, oh, that's just your personality is to kind of like just be a hater and a shit talker. And that's fine. Do your thing.
00:58:02
Speaker
I think on the internet too, it's fun to be that guy, right? It's fun to be a tough guy on the internet, like got an internet, right? like Like you said, like in person, like, Hey, go ahead and like, I've been around you. You're a big dude. Like no one's come up to you and I'm talking about you. No, not usually. No, they're not giving up the band and be like, Oh yeah, you shit hunting. yeah No. So yeah.
00:58:24
Speaker
You've made a career out of shed hunting. I've never done it. Like I've actually, I, the only time I've ever, I did find a matching set of Coos sheds in New Mexico. Sure. That was, that wasn't a purpose. So I was looking for the pig that I wounded and never found. Um, I'm sure that pig in the middle of the desert, crazy like um, pig, pig, like a wild boar in the middle of the desert, dude. Like it was, they didn't, no one even knew they were there. Uh, it was pretty sick on a deer hunt, but, um, I did like spend like a couple hours like shed hunting and deliberately found some sheds in Mexico this year.
Shed Hunting & its Evolution
00:58:53
Speaker
Um,
00:58:55
Speaker
How'd you get into shed hunting? Um, so a lot of it was my brother-in-laws were really into it. So my, my sister married a guy and he and his brothers had been going to Arizona to shed hunts since like the early nineties. And they were just way into it. And they started inviting me to go with them a little bit. And like, I started going with them when I was like 16 years old and just started realizing like, this is a type of hunting I can do year round. I can do it without having to buy a tag, you know, like I can do it for the best units in the world.
00:59:24
Speaker
Right. And that's it. I can go experience these primo units, pick up big sheds off animals that in the tags I'm never going to draw. and go learn these units and spend time in these places. And um when I got really geeked out on it though, like was when I realized like, I can sell an elk antler for a hundred bucks. Like, Oh, I can actually like make enough money to cover my fuel. Now, like I can be cash positive on this thing I love to do anyway. So that was, that was a lot of it for me was when I started like realizing there was a little cash to be made, but also I could go do this thing, which I love. Like it was just a win-win. So you still are like subsidizing a lot of your income with shed sheds or no?
01:00:01
Speaker
Uh, not so much anymore. And that's just because the way I've, I've done it, like, it just kind of changes over time. Like it used to be like full disclosure used to be easier to find elk sheds. You know, it's, it's become popular. And that's part of the game that we, I mean, knowingly we're playing. Um, but. that has Is that Harshin's fault?
01:00:20
Speaker
Yeah, that's their fault. That's not my fault for sure. That's Eric's fault. couldn Couldn't be me, you know? um Yeah, it's it's just tougher. It's tougher now, but I do sell my sheds that I find every year and some years it'll be more, some years it'll be less just depending on the winter we had and the year and the sheds we found. And like lately I've been targeting whitetails more and they're just not valuable. and It's just, you know, if I'm targeting elk and going hard on the elk, then it'll be a decent chunk of cash every year. And you're always looking for like wintering grounds, that kind of thing.
01:00:49
Speaker
Yeah, after a while, you just kind of know what that country looks like. um You still get surprised sometimes and you'll find somewhere weird where the bulls stayed and there'll be sheds there. and But just generally, like I kind of grew up in the desert, kind of know the desert the best, Arizona, Nevada, Southern Utah. And I can just now with the amount of time I've been doing it, just go out to an area and be like, oh, they're going to be in that face or this elevation or really this this feed type or something like that.
01:01:17
Speaker
Are there, so are you using, are you like using layers and like e-scouting that or you just kind of go to the same areas every year now? I do. I e-scout it. Like, uh, if I'm looking for new stuff, we're always e-scouting and figuring out access in the wilderness or elevations, um, south faces, whatever it might be. I do a lot on, on X and then we use Google earth a little bit too, just for some more detailed satellite imagery, but mostly on X. Are you backpacking for these things?
01:01:41
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. and And not always, but like there's a few trips that we do every year where it's like legit back country, multiple nights. And just bringing out a pile of antlers. Sometimes. Sometimes we're bringing out nothing. It just depends. like it's not always a It's not always a big score. like you The goal is to load up and come out heavy, but i mean sometimes you have to leave them there because you find too many. Really?
01:02:05
Speaker
Yeah, I'm i'm hoping when we go to Mexico this year, we're hunting Sonora together in January and this ranch hasn't hunted in four years. We're going to find some sheds. Dude. Yeah. I hope so. I hope there's, I love coo sheds, dude. i I geek out over those little white tail antlers, but yeah, they're cool. There's some mules too. That'd be fun.
01:02:21
Speaker
yeah I don't know. The weird thing is Coosier and Meilder don't really like cross too much. you know which i so I always say that and then I went to freaking New Mexico this year and it was like a very drastic... like The Meilder were in this like flat and then like right here would be Coosier. Literally 100 foot elevation difference. But I did see a couple of Coosier doze burning with some Meilder buck does, which was kind of like different for me to see. yeah It is like down to Mexico, they are very like the mule deer down here in the desert ranches, and then the kuzia are up here in the kuzia mountains, right? And then like even like Cade's desert ranch that we hunt, they've only seen one kuzbak or one mule deerbak in like 20 years on this ranch. But I think it's so strange.
01:03:04
Speaker
Yeah. So we hunted one last year down there that had both. Really? And they were, they were in different places. Like, but not, I mean, they could have, they were probably in the same Canyon, you know, like the mule there would be a little bit lower down and the, he was a little higher up, but I w in one spot, we shot at a big old mule buck. And when we shot at him, a giant Coos jumped out of the same Canyon. So, I mean, I, I don't know. I've, I've seen him in Arizona where, well, one time I saw a Coos buck that was trying to breed mule does down on the flat.
01:03:34
Speaker
They say the world record is a hybrid, but they can't prove it because it's like 50 years old. The world record's like a 189 or something like that. It came out of Arizona. They say it's definitely a hybrid now, but they can't prove it. That's funny because me and my brother Googled that buck yesterday. We were talking about this. Did you really? Yeah, it's at a...
01:03:51
Speaker
It's out of, uh, it's off Mount Graham and in Southern Arizona. It's 196 inch, but I don't know, man. It looks like a white tail to me. Like it has a white tail. Like I know that they can't like DNA test it maybe, but I don't, I can't remember how that is that they decide that. Like I think a hybrid still counts as a coos, but I'm not sure. Not anymore. They did change it. They changed it now. Yeah. But they did just added javelinas, which I think is really weird.
01:04:17
Speaker
Dude, that's a new cash crop for Texas. Let's go. Boone and Crockett. I think it's Avelina's. Let's get it. Yeah, they'll probably end up being in like, ah, they'll end up being five grand on Avelina now. Dude, probably. But it's the internet that ruined everything, not Boone and Crockett. It is the internet that ruined everything. That is the funniest thing with the influencer thing, too, is it's like, oh, you ruined, the like, Randy Newberg single-handedly ruined Arizona?
01:04:39
Speaker
Yeah, the whole state. Whole state, man, you ruined that. You know, everything, you know, you guys were in shed hunting. it's It's funny, man. That's weird. It's like, it's all ruined, but how do we still keep finding sheds and killing elk? Yeah, exactly. So if you're in it for money, you don't want to find coozed deer sheds. You want to find elk? No, I mean, they're definitely for the cool factor. Like, I'm only hunting elk sheds if I'm, look, and and I'm like, I'm in it for money, but I wouldn't do it if I didn't think they were awesome. You know what I mean? Because it's not that cost effective, but it's just a bonus that I can sell them.
01:05:07
Speaker
So when you say a hundred dollars for an elk shed, is that like a five by five shed or like, uh, is that like a big 350 inch shed? Um, Brown elk right now is 15 bucks a pound. So, um, it's talking like a seven pound atler. If it's fresh Brown. So what's a seven pound antler? Uh, depends where you're at. I mean, in Utah, it could be a small five, six point, um, 300 inch, 300 inch pole, two or 90 inch pole.
01:05:34
Speaker
Yeah. and And you, in Utah, like you can get these heavy bowls worth 300 inch bowls weighs nine pounds. So yeah, in Arizona, they're lighter weight. It seems like I found like one of my biggest elk sheds ever, like off of a half of a like three 80 bowl in Arizona, weighed six and a half pounds. So fresh. Yeah. it was So frustrating when I picked it up. I'm like, what is this crap? It weighs nothing.
01:05:55
Speaker
Well, dude, like they break off so fast down there too. Like I shot a bull down there. and It's a five by five bull, but it's like a three by two. Yeah. They're always late season. So broken up. du And so those are just getting, you're just buying them and they're going to China, right? I mean, that's where they're going. Yeah. A lot of them are, but a lot of them stay in the States now and go to dog chews. There's a huge market now for pet anything. So, um, I know the guy that I sell to typically as a ah good chunk going to dog chews.
01:06:22
Speaker
My buddy was asking me, this is off topic. He's like, I want to start a business. I want to do e-commerce. What should I do? I was like, dude, honestly, I do dogs. People spend stupid money on their dogs. I hate this, but it's just a freaking dog. I don't know. It's so weird. I mean, my dogs are all in the house. When I was a kid, my dog never came in the house. I don't know about you guys, but dude, my dog was outside. He lived outside. He had a dog house outside. That was it. Now my dogs, I get up and lay on the couch looking at me like, what?
01:06:50
Speaker
You know? Yeah. I think it's my house, bro. times are dog Our dogs in the house very rarely, like but she started out just like a floofy inside dog, but she like moved outside. She wants to be outside, so she can stay outside. Yeah. My poodles. He's high man, and so he's just laying in bed with me. He's getting picked up right now. He's going to look like a little girl. He's got a ton of the groomers. That's a fun
Hunting Stories & Experiences
01:07:10
Speaker
pod, dude. We always wrap these things up with a hunting story, so I'm sure you got a couple of those. You got a hunting story? um Yeah, man. I have a few. i yeah Yeah, I got a lot. I have a pretty good one that I could tell that happened to me last year that I never made a video about or really told anybody about. Um, it's kind of a sad story, but, um, yeah, so I had this over the counter tag last year, Arizona archery, and it's been my goal for years to kill a Cuzder out of a tree. Like I want to shoot one out of a tree stand or a tree saddle or something. So I found this spot, Southern Arizona. Um,
01:07:45
Speaker
that had these big creek bottoms, and there was coups there just rutting those up and down these these creek bottoms. And I camped out there, popped up the GFC, and I stayed there for a few days. um And I just found a tree. like These trees are like, most of them are not good saddle trees. like they have They're those oaks that have trunks going everywhere, and they're skinny. And I found these two that were close together so I could hang my tree saddle off the one tree and have my platform on the other tree.
01:08:14
Speaker
and I was like eight feet off the ground. I'm like, okay, this is gonna this is going to have to work. It's gonna have to be it. So um I got in a tree and the very first day I was in the tree, I had like 20 deer walk under me, had some bucks come by me out of range and stuff, but like I knew I was in a little honey hole. And the second day I was in a tree, this buck just cruised 15 yards underneath me, big old heavy Coos buck. And he was only a two point, but mature, heavy, you know like ah a good deer.
01:08:41
Speaker
And he walked by me at 15 yards, drew my bow, and put my pin on him, boom, shot, and just smoked him right behind the shoulder. And he was kind of quartered away when I hit him. um So I could have either been, maybe I missed in front of this one long, or maybe not. um I thought I got both lungs when I shot. And he ran out to 65 yards, and he was standing there. And I looked in my binoculars, and he's bleeding out of his nose, bleeding out of the exit hole. I'm like, this deer is absolutely toast, like he's going to die.
01:09:09
Speaker
And so watching my binoculars and like one or two minutes later, I hear this weird, like this high pitch beep. And I'm like, what the heck? Like, it's like ah this beeping noise. And then out of nowhere, this bird dog, like a Britney runs underneath my tree stand and it stops where the deer was and smells. And I was kind of like, Hey, like that. And the deer like, or the, the bird dog, the bird dog.
01:09:34
Speaker
locks onto that deer standing like 60 something yards away from my stand and just takes off after this deer. And the deer tail up. I mean, it was laying there. It was standing there dying. It was on its feet. And it just runs down the canyon full speed. And I'm like, what the heck just happened? Dog runs after it. And I'm just like in shock. And then maybe two or three minutes later, a guy walks by me and he's toning the dog. And that's what I heard was the beep on the dog's collar. He's trying to get the dog to come back. But he's like 100 yards to my right, you know?
01:10:02
Speaker
And he goes down the wash and I just like stood there. I'm like, what the heck just happened? I was pretty sure I just killed this deer. And so I got out of the tree, went to where the deer was standing, the big pile of blood, foam, everything in it. And no deer, obviously. I got on its blood trail and I followed it. I tracked it about 200 yards and ran out of blood.
01:10:21
Speaker
and just started zigzagging and like it's that tall cactus mixed with cholla and then there's oaks and there's like two foot tall yellow grass. So hard to find that deer. Dude everywhere, gritted back and forth all over. I thought I found one little smear of blood down on the edge of some private property like it could have gone in there but I looked for it for four days and I never could see hide nor hair of that deer. It was such a weird situation and it happened so fast.
01:10:48
Speaker
It was just like, just lousy. And, uh, so now I have to go down and try to get some redemption. Cause I did not end up killing a deer. Bummer, man. That's a good story. I tweeted out like you could sit there for four days, right? And no dog comes by. They're like, that's when the dog comes by. Right. I figured it must've pushed that deer to me. Like that's why, cause it came on, it wasn't on a trail at all. Yeah. Like I figured they bumped the deer to me. That's why I got an opportunity in the first place. But yeah, here comes the dog right after. And it was just.
01:11:16
Speaker
It was like a bad dream, dude. It was like a nightmare, like ah like something you would dream up. But anyway, that happened to me in Arizona. My first archery, Coos Deers, rotted away somewhere out there. But you do have a 102, right? Yeah. Yeah, it's a rifle buck. Rifle buck. It counts. Definitely counts. I think Coos Deers were made to be shot with a rifle, dude. so it's Oh, they're so freaking hard to hunt. Like with a bow, I think Boone and Crock, I think, no, Pope and Young is like 70 inches.
01:11:41
Speaker
Yeah, it's so small. Yeah, I've missed, I've missed several. Did Rocky tell you about his Coos when he was on? ah Yeah. Rocky, I think has the best Coos story ever. Like, and I'll tell it cause he's not here. My little brother. Yeah. But anyway, it's it's short, but like literally killed the first Coos buck. He ever put a stock on and it was like such bull crap, dude. Cause I've been hunting them down there for years. I've had, I've missed them. I've had chances at them. I tried them, whatever.
01:12:07
Speaker
Like we went down there, glassed up ah like a big fork and then a three point Coos deer. And he's like, well, I'll go try them. Four hours later, he stuck that deer at like 21 yards and the rest is easy. I'm like, dude, come on, man. But I, maybe he'd stocked them before, but it was like the first day that we were there. He killed this buck. They're my favorite man. I'm excited to go to Mexico with you. I'm going to shoot a big one. That's my goal. Yeah. I'm stoked. Yeah. Mexico's going to be rad.
01:12:34
Speaker
So I'm excited for the food too. I'm just getting some Mexican lady dude, just cooking his food over a tire and just like, that's what I want. I want like this carne asada and beans and fresh tortillas and just to, that's the coyotes tripping out there and just no planes. It's going to be, that's that's the thing for me is the experience. It's just so nice. I was like the wild west literally. So dude, how can we help you out? Where can we find you? What do you got going on?
01:12:57
Speaker
So everything I do is under shed crazy. Um, my YouTube channel shed crazy. I think a shed crazy official, but if you search shed crazy, you'll find me. Um, yeah, same with, uh, Facebook. I kinda, everything I post on Instagram just goes up over there and then Instagram is shed crazy. So, um, yeah, I mean, sell a couple hats and a couple shirts and.
01:13:15
Speaker
It's kind of, kind of my gig, you know, but, and I got a Tricer code too. So if you're going to buy anything from Tricer, use CodeShade crazy, save your yourself 10%. We don't do discounts. We only do affiliate discounts. We only do discounts like four times a year now. So if you want to buy something and get a discount, you just in this whole podcast hour through use CodeShade crazy. You'll save 10% year round. Yeah, you earned it. You earned it. So, uh, thanks bro. Let's do it again. Yeah, man. Thank you.
01:13:41
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Tricer Podcast. Do us a favor and like and subscribe on whatever platform you are 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.