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Travis Bowman
129 Plays2 years ago
Today Drew is joined by San Diego Muleys founder Travis Bowman. Travis has become the glue that holds the San Diego hunting community together. He runs a great instagram page @sandiego_muleys that showcases the bucks shot in So Cal. Travis is also is a major part of the majority of the local 3D shoots. Despite killing a 209” Utah public land buck Travis says his favorite buck is the last buck his dad shot at 80 years old. Sit back and enjoy
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Focus
00:00:06
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.
00:00:31
Speaker
All right, another episode of the Tricer Podcast.
Guest Introduction: Travis Bowman
00:00:33
Speaker
Today we are joined by Travis Bowman of San Diego Muleys. SD Muleys is like a page on Instagram that brings awareness to everything going on, hunting in San Diego and SoCal in California. You know, laws are changing or hunt dates.
San Diego Hunting Challenges
00:00:49
Speaker
We also post up all of our little forkies that we shoot in San Diego, which is awesome. We appreciate that.
00:01:21
Speaker
Every buck that goes down in San Diego is a trophy man.
00:01:24
Speaker
Welcome aboard. I'll definitely correct you on that I know a lot of people have a lot of bad things to say about me after After an archery shoot when they walk out with six broken arrows. So I know I've been known to set some pretty tough shots I've definitely been known to set some tough shots but just trying to get people to find out what they're capable of and what they're not capable of and you know try trying to avoid the situations like what's happening up in Laguna right now where you know the
00:01:50
Speaker
The forestry service is threatening to take down all their tree stands of all the hunters up there, because a wounded doe ran through the Laguna campground the other day. And I guess the host at the campground, the person who takes care of the campground right now, just went mental. And so I guess that's not working out so well for the hunting community right now. So try to help people avoid from having to go through
00:02:17
Speaker
The woes of wounding a deer and seeing what that's all about because it's not fun.
00:02:22
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely part of it, though, right? But yeah, so it's definitely part of it. Nobody does it on purpose. Yeah, it's just it sucks. It's an arrow because I mean, there's also word around all the place that are hit by lions and coyotes, all kinds of other stuff. But when it's an arrow, they it gives them a good reason to come after us, especially up in Laguna is with it's just it's all archery. And there's just San Diego is not a place we don't like hunters too much. And they see that running through Queen of Mac or Laguna's and we're in trouble.
00:02:52
Speaker
Yeah, especially with all the people that go up to the lagoonas that do not hunt, you know, there's a lot of anti hunters and a lot of non hunters and see it watching a deer walk through camp with an arrow sticking out of its ass can turn a hunter into an anti hunter in the blink of an eye. So that's kind of, it can really work against us. It wasn't even really, it was through the ribs, right? The arrow was through the ribs. It wasn't a terrible shot, right? Just a little far back? No.
00:03:21
Speaker
You know, I'll have to double check. I heard it was in the ass. Somebody said something about ribs this morning. I was like, I hope I didn't post ribs. I wrote. I wrote ass. But but, you know, auto correct. And I got my thumbs are the size of cucumber. So fucking typing on my phone can't can't be. It's not fun sometimes. All the auto, all the auto corrects.
00:03:43
Speaker
By the way, I'm going to apologize now. I have the mouth of a sailor. I'm a retired ironworker. I was an ironworker for 31 years, so I let that bomb slip on the frequent, so I'll apologize now because anybody who gets offended by that might want to check out now.
00:04:03
Speaker
Yeah, we'll go through and I'll go through and edit them all out. It'll just be like, you won't even hear it. So it's doing your best and we'll take care of it. That'll take you a week. So what? It'll take you a week. You keep my producer in business, dude. You give her a job.
00:04:20
Speaker
So tell me about you talking about sending your mules. How'd that start? Well, you know, I started shooting archery and I got into it solely for the purpose of bow hunting and then, you know, started going to the shop, the bow and arrow shop where Bruce
Transition from Rifle to Bow Hunting
00:04:35
Speaker
was. And then in 2017, I shot a 209 inch buck up in Utah with a rifle.
00:04:42
Speaker
And that was my last time rifle hunting. After that, I put my rifles away. I haven't shot my rifle since. I've just been 100% bow hunting. But when I did that, Bruce from the bow shop was just telling me, dude, this is your way into the outdoor world. When you get a 200-inch plus buck, it opens doors for you. And I guess being a surfer my whole life,
00:05:09
Speaker
I've never liked surfers, I've never liked the surf industry. Just because there's so many people that get into it for the wrong reason. They don't get into it because surfing is awesome and they like surfing. They get into it because they want to be a surfer and they want people to think they're surfers.
00:05:27
Speaker
that I, you know, I'm always leery about that and everything I do. So with the outdoor industry, you know, you see it all the time, you look on Instagram, and you see, like, you see these pages, you know, everybody knows I hate the bow marks, but that's just me. But like, you see these pages where
00:05:45
Speaker
We're, we're, we're, you know, like you got girls trying to, trying to, trying to get likes for, you know, hunting likes by showing cleavage, you know, like you're, they're holding up a buck and you can't even see the buck. All you can see is cleavage. That drives me nuts. Like guys, guys taking a picture with their buck with their shirts off and flexing. And it's like, dude, this, this isn't a,
00:06:05
Speaker
This isn't a muscle flexing contest. This is hunting. Appreciate your animal. And so that's when I started thinking about doing something that was different for the community. Getting into something where I could focus on ethical hunting habits.
00:06:26
Speaker
And it evolved into so much more, like getting involved in the bear hunting ban fight was a big change for me in 2020 when they were trying to take bear hunting away from us.
Advocacy Against Bear Hunting Ban
00:06:41
Speaker
And granted, we don't have any bears down here.
00:06:43
Speaker
But I got really involved in that with the guys from Ridge to Ridge and all these people and the pages just keeps evolving with that. And then also learning from mistakes. I like posting pictures of bucks from San Diego, but also I don't want to bust anybody's spot. I don't want to give anybody up.
00:07:05
Speaker
I don't want people to hit up the guys that hunted, you know, they just slammed a big buck and say, you know, where'd you get that from? So, you know, always trying to work on things, make it a better page and just stay to the core, make it focused on hunters and ethical hunting habits and also putting on archery shoots, getting people to practice with their bows.
00:07:27
Speaker
Um, you know, uh, and it's unfortunate, you know, you've been at a couple of them and I haven't gotten to meet you because I'm always seem to always seem to be working at them. And every time you're there, I never get to cruise over and say, Hey, what's up? And like, you know, you're sitting in a booth and I'm so that, uh, you know, it keeps, it keeps, this page keeps me busy. That's for damn sure. Um, but it's, but I've also gotten to meet so many really, really cool people in the community. And, and then, uh, you know,
00:07:52
Speaker
I've also there's also the downside. Like I got to hang out with guys like Johnny Ryan and those guys that, you know, everything I do, I get. Oh, my God. They help like that. I guarantee you the second this podcast comes out, I'm in a group text with like Johnny Ryan and Brian Marable. And let's see that the guys from Right to Bear Arms and Timmy Timmy Cole and like just it's just ruthless.
00:08:20
Speaker
Everything you do just gets heckled and criticized. I mean, Timmy's not bad. Timmy's the guy where, like, if you want to talk to somebody who's going to be nice to you, he'll take you to a damn spot, man, to go hunt. But you talk to Johnny, and Johnny's going to tell you everything that's wrong with you.
00:08:39
Speaker
I mean you know it, you know Johnny very well. But I've gotten to meet so many people like that through this page and it's been cool and then a lot of people are usually stoked to run into me.
00:09:00
Speaker
That's the cool thing about hunting right is like with with with all these guys like Timmy and Johnny and you know Like the one thing we all have in common is hunting so then we could you know Even though it might be different other ways like we come together as a hunting community and we learn from each other and grow It's really neat. It's just like it's a small community tight-knit communities in Diego and I really appreciate you didn't learn know all these guys and you know, even like Johnny I've learned a lot from Johnny and
00:09:25
Speaker
Like he's a great hunter and he's actually a really fun dude. Somebody who I really like. Honestly, I trust him a lot too. Like I can talk to him about things and I know that he's going to be, he's not going to go share my stuff with people, right? Where you tell other people. Like I talked to somebody recently about a spot and then I saw their friend at the spot on Instagram, posted pictures with like giant objects in the background. Like giant objects in the background. And I'm like, he talked to me that's why I was like, Oh, Oh no, I did it. And I'm like,
00:09:55
Speaker
that is like exactly where I was sitting two weeks ago and now this guy's posting pictures with landmarks you know people don't get that the landmark thing drives me nuts dude like I try and like you can tell I have pins from the border to Palomar right and like yeah I'm always gonna try and like block things out and I have to be careful too because like my page is obviously your public
00:10:16
Speaker
worldwide now with my Instagram and people don't care but there's I but I don't do it dude I've been out hunting and I've had people send me freaking bone scope images of me yeah
00:10:27
Speaker
And like, hey, I saw you hunting today. And they're like, oh, dude. So like, I'm like, all my cards, you don't see treasure stickers? You know, it's, it's funny, dude. Like I was out riding, I went riding with my kid last weekend. And it was like, it was like, it was a still boat. It was like the last week of the boat season, but I wanted to go riding. It was like that rainy kind of morning, like a Saturday, two Saturdays ago. It was super nice. And I pull up, these guys are glassing and I'm like, oh, man. So I pull over, I'm like, are you guys seeing anything? And dude, my helmet's on and my goggles are on. And this guy's like,
00:10:57
Speaker
Is that Drifton Tricer? I'm like, son of a bitch, you know?
00:11:01
Speaker
So yeah, yeah. And so I took my elbows on. I took my helmet off and I was like, talk to him, which is cool. But it's like, I try to be so careful with my spots. Cause like now it's like people like they notice me and I don't, I'm not putting stickers on my cars and stuff. Cause I don't want to know where I'm, I'm hunting, you know, it's such a hard, it's kind of funny. There's a way to tell a guy who's a killer from a guy who's not like, you know, you got these guys that are talking to their phone, talking while they're hunting, like I'm sneaking through the woods.
00:11:30
Speaker
I can't believe I haven't seen anything yet. And you're like, dude, you're talking to your phone. The fucking deer can hear you. You're breaking the number one rule of hunting, which is be quiet. And then you got somebody like Johnny who he doesn't post anything until it's on his back. All our friends are like that.
00:11:51
Speaker
But yeah, when somebody finds out that somebody puts a deer down, it's almost like they're throwing those little apple pods on the back of their car so they know where they're hunting. Oh, yeah, dude, you got to be so careful. People want to know. And I feel like within the community of San Diego, most of us kind of know most of the spots, right? And it's just like, you got to be like, if you post a picture and you put the bat, I'm going to know where you're hunting. You need to be really careful what you put in there because
00:12:21
Speaker
I'm going to know where you're hunting because I'm around a lot. Dude, I've been hunting here for a long time and just riding dirt bikes here a long time. I can see from things in the background where you're hunting, so you got to be really careful with that. I've seen spots in San Diego get blown out just in a few, two or three years. People are going there, also people are talking about it, and the spot's completely blown out. There was tons of deer there, there was no deer at all. You got to be careful.
00:12:46
Speaker
I know guys here in San Diego that are so good at that. They can do that in all over San Diego, but also they're good at it in Arizona. Because the San Diego hunting community, they're huge on going to Arizona for the OTC season. I know some guys who have unfortunately given up their spots just by posting videos or whatever. It can be pretty easy to see, especially there are some landmarks in Arizona that are
00:13:14
Speaker
you look at them from 100 miles away and you're like, oh yeah, I know that spot.
00:13:20
Speaker
Yeah, I don't share unit numbers anymore. I'm almost kind of timid even saying the states I'm going to now, honestly, because it's just getting so tough with tags and point creep. And I don't share unit numbers. If I'm going to Arizona, you're never going to know what unit I'm running in. There's a small group of guys who know where I'm going, and that's it. Because I don't want to hold this unit here. And then once you say that online, everyone starts applying there, dude.
Secrecy in Hunting Spots
00:13:44
Speaker
You've got to be really careful with that stuff. Even some of these forums, like SCH,
00:13:48
Speaker
You know, there's probably, I'm on SCH really regularly. There's probably 30 or 30 bus porters that really post comp all the time, but there's like a thousand people lurking on that site every day. If you go post on there, I was in unit, whatever, 26, I've never had a 26. Arizona killed this elk. Dude, there's going to be a hundred guys applying for unit 26 elk next year and on, you know, and so he's got to be really careful what you talk about, you know, it's just, you can get some trouble.
00:14:14
Speaker
So, dude, how did you get into hunting? So, my dad grew up in Minnesota, and I think he killed his first deer when he was nine years old. He lived on a farm, and a lot of times that was how they ate. And once he got out of Minnesota and started making his way towards California, he became an ironworker like the age of
00:14:39
Speaker
I think 16, it was like 1956 or something like that. And as he was making his way towards California, he was working and getting jobs and hunting like in Wyoming and Montana and then Utah and then eventually made it to LA and then San Diego.
00:15:00
Speaker
When I, you know, as young as I can remember, I think I fired my first gun when I was five. And God, when I was, I remember my first deer hunt. I was 14 years old. He drove me to Utah. And it was, Utah at that time was kind of struggling. The deer herd was struggling pretty good. So there were quite a few units. At that time, the state was broken into five units.
00:15:27
Speaker
And this was 1984. In case anyone wants to know, I'm older than most of the people on Instagram. That's for damn sure. But so 1984, there was five units and I think three of them were three point or better, which was really good for the herd at that time.
00:15:43
Speaker
But it was really bad for a 14. You know, I just wanted to shoot my first buck and I kept seeing all these spikes and four keys and had to wait for a three point. So I did not shoot anything in 1984, 85 or 86. And in 1987, my fourth year hunting and.
00:16:01
Speaker
I was addicted from the first time seeing a deer. I knew that I was going to hunt as much as I could. Even though being a surfer and racing BMX and riding skateboard and everything, hunting was just a groove that I could really appreciate. My dad wasn't, I wouldn't say, the best teacher. The first time hunting, he just kicked me out of the truck and said,
00:16:25
Speaker
Watch that canyon. If you see a deer, make sure it's got three points before you shoot it. And if you shoot it, I'll hear the gunshot and I'll be right over. But so finally, my fourth year, we ended up on the last day of the season in 1987.
00:16:41
Speaker
We drove over to one of the areas that was any buck and I was super excited. I was just like, okay, awesome. There's going to be deer everywhere. And we pull into this area and there's no deer. And just like, like, I almost wanted to cry. And we start to hike and I swear we got like
00:16:58
Speaker
50 yards from the truck and this really nice three by three.
Memorable Hunts and Family Bonds
00:17:03
Speaker
I mean really nice for me at that at the time like you know he's about 18 inches wide. Nice three by three jumps up right in front of us runs a little ways and stops looks back and gives me that perfect broadside shot and I remember I was like shaking so bad and my dad's like sitting there he's all
00:17:20
Speaker
Well, you're going to shoot him or what? So I pull up my gun and I'm like, I went from being in buck fever to knowing that I didn't want to make my dad mad. And I pulled up my gun and I shot him and dropped him in one shot. And it took me about two or three minutes to realize that like, oh my God, I just shot. I just got my first deer.
00:17:39
Speaker
And I was so stoked and just floating, but my dad didn't really show much emotion. And I was like, well, I was on cloud nine. And I remember it was like an hour and a half, two hours to get back to Richfield, Utah, where our family, we've got a bunch of family in Richfield.
00:18:00
Speaker
And when we got back to town, that's when I saw my dad really just show his excitement that I got my first buck. And he was so stoked. And the fact that I actually, it took me four years to get it, it wasn't like it just fell into my lap. You see some of these guys, they go out and on their first day, they shoot the biggest buck that's gone down in the state in five years. And I worked my ass off for this little three point. And then,
00:18:30
Speaker
after that I mean that I was just like every year I just couldn't wait to go and and you know started started teaching my dad about camo because we were hunting in blue jeans and orange shirts at the time and then um that like that that was so awesome and that was that was really a bonding point with me and my dad because uh what it wasn't long after that I got into the ironworkers union and and I became an ironworker uh and
00:18:55
Speaker
We went from, you know, I went from being my dad's kid and my dad being really strict to then going to work for a company that my dad worked for. And every time I worked for my dad, he was even harder on me than he was everyone else. So it wasn't like there was a, I didn't feel like there was a lot of love in that. So that was the one time that me, a year that me and my dad actually acted like we were related, you know, like, like he was my dad and I was his kid.
00:19:18
Speaker
And I think I hunted pretty solid from 1984 till about 1993 when I started competing on the pro level surfing. I never turned pro, but I just kept surfing all these pro contests. I had numerous sponsors over the years.
00:19:40
Speaker
So I actually quit hunting for five years. And then I think 1998, I skipped a few contests and went back and hunted with my dad again. And I just couldn't believe that I was so stupid to stop hunting for five years. And especially with my dad. And I really regret it now because my dad's 84 now. He hasn't been able to hunt since 2020.
00:20:06
Speaker
You know, he was 80 years old and we went up and he was really starting to have a hard time getting around and now he's not confined to a wheelchair, but it would be really hard to get him out for a hunt. But in 2020, that hunt we went on, you know, that was a really, really significant
00:20:25
Speaker
point in in my hunting life was we we went up and you know trying to get my dad on a deer the night before we had seen a really really nice three point and
00:20:40
Speaker
I hiked up to the edge of this canyon. I saw the deer. I got back to the truck. I was about 200 yards from the truck. I got back, getting my dad out of the truck, getting his rifle, getting everything and getting him over to that canyon. Took about 20 minutes. There's no speed about it. And he kind of wanted to get a candy bar before we walked over there. So we had to reach into the little snack bag and grab a candy bar. And by the time we got over there, I think that deer had gone from Utah to Montana.
00:21:09
Speaker
We never saw that deer again. But I told my dad, I said, the next morning we're going to be up there early. We're going to be there first light. We're going to be at the ridge of that canyon. See if that buck is in there. And sure enough, he wasn't in there, but there was a four by three in there and 200 yards away.
00:21:26
Speaker
So I got my dad all set up and everything and he made the shot, dropped the deer. And then I just basically put my dad in the truck and I had to drive down around the bottom of the canyon and then go up and I had to drag this deer about 600 yards by myself.
00:21:42
Speaker
I wasn't going to quarter him. I wanted my dad to be able to put his hands on the deer, so I drug him. I mean, I just about killed myself and got him back to the truck. I was almost there, and I stopped, and I looked at my dad. I'm all like, are you ready for this? He's like, look at him. He's all, what? He's all, did you find it? I drug it out, and the way that he watched me dragging that thing across,
00:22:04
Speaker
And when I laid it down in front of him and he kneeled down and put his hand on it, it was like almost every single deer I've seen that my dad has gotten has meant the same to him. He's always been super appreciative. And to watch him put his hand on that animal and then I took some pictures with him and then some guys stopped by and they helped me get in the back of the truck.
00:22:25
Speaker
And then we went back to town and I remember we were inside our hotel room and I'm sitting there and usually my dad was already asleep and he still had his clothes on and he just kind of got up and snuck outside and I looked out the window and he was just leaning over the back of the truck looking at the deer, grabbing his horns.
00:22:47
Speaker
And I mean, just to see that at 80 years old, and I mean, I can't tell you how many deer my dad has hammered down over the years to see the appreciation that he still has at the age of 80. That just meant so much to me. You know, like when I shot my 200 inch buck, my dad, he couldn't make it up to where I shot it from, but he was
00:23:10
Speaker
at the base of the canyon when I carried it out. And that was a really special moment for me, but watching my dad at 80 years old, and me not knowing that that was going to be his last hunt with us, like I said, he's 84 now, but he just can't get around. That was so awesome. I was just sitting there, I was like, oh my God, people just will never understand this.
00:23:34
Speaker
probably just a four by three, not the biggest deer either one of us has ever gotten, but just probably one of the most memorable. I'll remember that, and especially after these last couple of years of hunting without my dad and really missing him. Yeah. Wow, dude. That's incredible, man. It is funny. You killed a 209 inch mule deer.
00:23:54
Speaker
Your favorite is killing that buck with your dad at 80 years old, right? And it like it hits home for me, man Because you know my kids my oldest boy 17 now This is his last year as a youth hunting right like it like it's starting to like mess me up man Like he's gonna be going to college and leaving I'm like, you know, he might be gone for 10 years or maybe never come back You know, he you know, it's just the hunter he's gonna start life. He's gonna get married
00:24:22
Speaker
We're going on a cow hunt next week. We have five cow tags. You know, my father-in-law has one, both my boys do. And, uh, you know, grandpa is 73. We're going to be in a tent together, you know, a big old wall tent and how the stove going and it's just making breakfast and being there together. And those are memories that you just, you can't get back, man. And like, unless you, unless you hunt, you don't understand it. And, uh,
00:24:46
Speaker
It's funny because you're like the third guy to come on and their favorite story isn't about the big buck that kills. It's about, you know, grandpa or, you know, these family moments where it just changed your life. And that's just awesome, dude. I'm so stoked for you. And it's just so, the whole community is just like so stoked to have you like involved and doing things for it in San Diego here, man. And just.
00:25:06
Speaker
Dude, thanks for coming on, man. Absolutely, man. Thanks for asking me and all that. I'm stoked to be one of the... I'm number five or something. I've listened to...
00:25:22
Speaker
I've listened to all except for the last one so far, I think. But yeah, I was super stoked and I love talking story and shopping. And then everything you do, you're making backpacking a lot further, a little bit easier with all the lightweight stuff. And I got your tripod last year and then I got the sticks.
00:25:50
Speaker
The tripod the tripod with the with the packing sticks, which I'm gonna be out there in in Utah again in early November Three family members have big bull tags. So I'm gonna be putting those tracking poles to to use dude I'm gonna be I'm gonna be packing out a lot of meat. That's for damn sure So so it'll be it'll be fun. But I'm gonna be telling everybody in Utah about tricer, bro
00:26:15
Speaker
That's awesome. So
Where to Find Travis Online
00:26:18
Speaker
where can we find you? You want to plug yourself? Obviously, you're public. Where do we find you? What about plugging the archery shoots? You got any shoots coming up? Oh, yeah. Actually, so I work with Chris Cook from the ranch in Julian a lot. I started setting up shoots
00:26:32
Speaker
with her. She's doing an event on labor days and she wants to have a 3D shoot for that. I won't be there for the shoot, but I am going to set up some targets for her and then I'll be off to Utah. Other than that, I usually set up all the shoots at Balboa the first Sunday of every month. Other than that, we've got a couple of big shoots planned for next year. We don't have dates or anything like that, but they're going to be fun.
00:26:59
Speaker
You might have to travel a little bit to get to them this time. But keep your eyes peeled. And that's it on Instagram at San Diego underscore mules. And I'll post about that stuff. And then you'll find me trying to, I'll be posting a couple of deer in the next couple of days. There's a couple of deer that went down in the last week that I can post.
00:27:25
Speaker
And then hopefully just I'll just keep supporting the community and keeping everybody posted on anything That's that's out there working for us and against us. Awesome. Thanks Travis man that you're coming on dude Let's do it again. Let's hook up after the season and see how everything went. Absolutely I feel like I've got an idea for kind of a Knights of the Roundtable where all of us can get together and just heckle each other Perfect. That'd be fun. All right, dude. I'll talk to you soon. Yeah, absolutely.
Podcast Conclusion
00:27:51
Speaker
All right, brother
00:27:56
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Tricer Podcast. Do us a favor, or like and subscribe on whatever platform you're listening on. Give us a follow on Instagram and Facebook at TricerUSA. And go check out all of our innovative gear at www.tricerusa.com. Until next time, shoot straight, have fun, and always put God first.