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James Visser – Bow Disciples
198 Plays1 year ago
This week Drew has James Visser from Bow Disciples on the Tricer Podcast. This is a first for the Tricer Podcast. James is in studio and recorded face to face. The dynamic between James and Drew is hilarious. These guys have conversations about almost every hunting topic you can think of. You don’t want to miss this one.
JAMES VISSER – BOW DISCIPLES
Instagram - @bowdisciples
Website - https://www.bowdisciples.com
Link to the upcoming Bow Disciples Challenge - https://www.bowdisciples.com/collections/event-tickets
TRICER USA
Website – https://tricerusa.com/
Instagram - @tricerusa
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/tricerusa/
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Transcript
Introduction and Prayer
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.
00:00:22
Speaker
All right, let's do it. All
First In-Person Podcast with James Nisser
00:00:24
Speaker
right. The first like in-person, two-person Tricer podcast in studio here. So James Nisser. I'm excited, dude. It's a pleasure to be here checking out your office. I'd seen little teaser clips online, but it's cool to be here in person. You did a great job with the decorations and just like the flow of the space is really good. So you guys are killing it. It's cool to see.
00:00:49
Speaker
Yeah, I wanted to do it. I was like, James, let's do it online. I've never done one in person. He's like, I live right down the street. So James came in, did it. So I'm excited to do a part with you to get you on here and do it. I had to pull your leg a little bit to get you in here, but I think it's good. And anytime you can get in person, I just think there's like a different vibe, you know, than like through a screen is like, so sometimes I can feel like a interviewee a little bit, whereas like when you're in person, it's just, it goes, you know, flows.
00:01:19
Speaker
100%, 100%.
Meet James Nisser: Archery Celebrity
00:01:20
Speaker
So about James, I mean James is like a local archery celebrity guy. Like he's our local influencer in San Diego for archery. So James runs Bow Disciples. He's like one of like, I don't want to say one of the first YouTubers, but I mean he's been YouTubing for a long time. And that's kind of where you got your start was like YouTube, right? And now you're doing like, you have a big following on Instagram stuff.
00:01:45
Speaker
Bottom line is you're an archer, you're a hunter. I guess influencing stuff kind of came after that. Tell me about you, tell me about James Visser. Yeah dude, I've talked about it a couple times, but not like chronologically per se, but it's my whole life.
Transition from Biking to Archery
00:02:02
Speaker
I have always been super active in a doer and I've been a bow hunter literally my whole life. Like there's VHS tapes we have at home that we could dig out where I'm stalking rabbits at three years old and pull up diapers with like a long bow. Like I literally have been bow hunting my whole life.
00:02:21
Speaker
And then I became a pro bike rider in 2010 through 2013. I was on this thing called the FMB World Tour. It's a mountain bike tour. Yeah, freestyle mountain bike tour. So I was like, I did crazy tricks and stuff. Bro, I just got a mountain bike. Yeah. So, okay. So here we go, right? So, but how I got
00:02:44
Speaker
Anywhere I'm biking was one I had skill at biking somewhat I'm better at archery and hunting than I am at biking But I was a good biker, and I had a crazy work ethic, so I was always trying to get better But the key part is I was filming videos and vlogs
00:03:00
Speaker
in 2007. I put my first video on the internet in 2007 and I made a mistake and put them on this website called Pinkbike.com which is like the biggest biking website in the world because on Pinkbike you could upload videos with any music you wanted and it was the best place to be. In hindsight had I been putting those vlogs on YouTube in 2007
00:03:24
Speaker
My life probably would look different now, like with like how big YouTube is, you know, and they were good videos way ahead of the times, you know, to be vlogging in 07. So anyways, film videos and grow a biking career.
From Real Estate to Bow Disciples
00:03:39
Speaker
Then when I retired from bike riding in 2013, I kind of was in this transitioning phase of life and I like worked a normal job, you know, where I showed up to work and left, like was not self-employed. That was the only time I like, I got a job when I was 12 feet and horses, but after that, then I went into business biking because I was an entrepreneur with all these sponsors and making videos, earning revenue myself.
00:04:07
Speaker
as a contractor essentially. Then I worked a job and I felt like a job was so easy. You know, it was a cool job, worked my way up to like a management position really quick. I was like, man, all I had to do was show up, put in the effort, get paid and go home. And then it's like, I'm done. But I got bored of that after a while. It was like, I got to do something else.
00:04:30
Speaker
I was like, what can I use the skills that I used in biking, filming, going to the post every day and grow something else? So then I thought, I'll do real estate. I can use video to grow the business and I can make a lot of money selling these houses. So I got into real estate in 2015, started filming videos about real estate.
00:04:52
Speaker
And then I thought to myself, I was like, man, I've hunted my whole life. I've shot archery my whole life. I love making videos. And I wasn't feeling creative, really. Real estate stuff was just like simple videos. So I said, maybe I should start a YouTube about hunting and archery. So in 2018, with my buddy Nick, started putting videos up.
00:05:18
Speaker
Here we are today, six years later, still going. Yeah, so it's pretty cool. That's kind of the journey. But to your point, I mean, it's like the videos just happened so organically. You know, it was just like I already did both things. It was just about meshing them together. And then beyond that, I never really thought of it as like something I could monetize or like do for a business. And obviously it's grown a lot.
00:05:48
Speaker
So now it's like getting to the point where it is a pretty significant side income for me that's like probably before long gonna be, like I don't even have to sell houses if I don't want. I'm still going to because I enjoy real estate, but it's crazy. I wouldn't have guessed that, you know, from the origin, but since it's just like work and persistence is all it was, you know.
Growing Bow Disciples on YouTube
00:06:13
Speaker
That's awesome. And you have like a pretty big following on YouTube, right?
00:06:17
Speaker
Yeah, so on YouTube, we're over 40,000 subscribers, but our viewership is quite high. In fact, if you go on Social Blade and compare our channel, Social Blade basically, you can look up anyone's statistics. Our viewership is...
00:06:36
Speaker
One of the highest in the in hunting for sure on YouTube like out of anybody because we're pumping out so much Content and we've done it for so long that I mean on YouTube were generally, you know
00:06:52
Speaker
between 60,000 and 150,000 views a day. Really? On YouTube. Wow. Just YouTube. Because on all your stuff. No, only you. Oh, yeah. On all. Because you have so much content out there that it's all getting viewed, like combined. That's pretty cool. Yeah, it's crazy. Like it's a staggering number. It's a big figure, but it's cool, man.
00:07:13
Speaker
It's so funny too because when I first started doing the archery videos to your point like back in 2018 no one was like filming videos that much at shoots or there was some guys but it was interesting because at first people would kind of be like what are they doing with the camera like and now it's gotten to the point where
00:07:33
Speaker
it's so cool like we'll go to an event and someone's there and they are like oh we flew to this tack from australia and my wife here bought the eva shockey gen 2 because of the video breanna did on the eva shockey gen 2 that happens all the time meeting people from all around the world who are like man thank you so much i got my first bow because of y'all or whatever and to me i think that's
00:07:59
Speaker
The coolest thing about it is hunting. We're getting attacked constantly by people that are very precise in their legislation and trying to get rid of hunting. In California, of course, we've seen it with mountain lions in the 90s. Bobcats just recently, they've attempted it with bears. And the only way we can combat that is to grow more hunters.
Engaging the Hunting Community
00:08:24
Speaker
So we have more allies to go vote
00:08:29
Speaker
donate money, sign these petitions, whatever it may be. So most hunting channels and archery channels, and this isn't a slight, but it's the truth is they're preaching to the choir. Our stuff is very different and fun and like comedic a lot of times. Don't get me wrong, there's informative stuff as well.
00:08:53
Speaker
you know skills tips and stuff but a lot of our stuff is just a riot to watch it's really entertaining and I think that makes hunting less intimidating or even archery a lot of our people only shoot bows but guess what if they shoot bows and they watch bow disciples guarantee they're an ally of hunting so to me that's like extremely rewarding and important and I think that as hunters it's very important to
00:09:24
Speaker
evangelize, so to speak.
00:09:28
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. You definitely got it in a good time too. I feel like, because I have like 250 subscribers on YouTube. It's a grind. It's a grind. I feel like it's getting harder and harder on every platform, right? Like, even like Instagram especially. Like, if I got Instagram in like 2015, you could have 100,000 followers. But like, now it's like, I have 11,000 followers. I put a post out, and 1,500 of them, 300 people see it. I know, dude. They like the algorithms crazy. And same thing with YouTube. Like, it was a lot easier to grow
00:09:57
Speaker
years ago and just getting harder and harder to grow a channel and do stuff so you guys kind of get into the right time. The vlogging thing is intriguing to me because I'm going full time Tricer like in a month and I was like, I'm going to be traveling a lot. Like I got some really sick stuff going on like in June I'll be going to
00:10:15
Speaker
Montana, but I'm gonna like road trip through Utah I'm gonna see a bunch of people and I'm gonna go like fishing with the guy who runs Amelia foundation And then I'm gonna go ride dirt bikes and Cody rich. I'm like, man I need to like vlog this stuff and put it on YouTube So I don't even know like the first thing about vlogging. Yeah, so I've got like a GoPro I've got like some that handy cam you talking like I like that camera. They like the vlog end up vlogging camera That is a perfect camera vlogging. Yeah, so like I think just need a little handheld tripod. That's the handle I need to make one a tripod. You should you should make a tricer
00:10:45
Speaker
Selfie vlogger selfie vlogger. Yeah, actually I tried you would make it cool too. But yeah, I mean It's tough like any anything any of these social media platforms is They're all beneficial to grow if like you have I mean in reality we just talked about this on our podcast the other day, but like companies that pay for ads
00:11:12
Speaker
they pay for views, they want views.
Viral Instagram Growth
00:11:15
Speaker
So if you can grow organic views yourself and then have something of your own to promote, whether it's merch or an event or a tripod, then you're getting the exposure organically. And then if you do ads on top of that, it's even better. So, I mean, we do it all. We do Facebook, TikTok, Instagram,
00:11:40
Speaker
YouTube, of course. But YouTube's our main thing. That's our main thing. Yeah, it is. And then, but on Instagram, we got 70,000, which like... You got a lot of photos. That happened on a whim, dude. It happened on a whim. So like, tell me, because like, I have a girl who we, who works with us, who overnight got 65,000 followers. That's basically what happened. Yeah. How did that happen? So it was actually a month when this happened, but, um,
00:12:06
Speaker
In 2022, I went on in Elkhun's
00:12:14
Speaker
Super remote, you know, so there's no service like I'm certainly not able to upload any YouTube videos and at this time I was literally filming a video editing it and putting it up right then So like all I had was just what what I just finished, you know, so it's not like when I'm out there I can't put out videos so I was gonna go a month and I was putting out two videos a week at the time at the time and
00:12:38
Speaker
And then I was gonna drop to zero, basically, for three weeks to a month while I'm on this hunt. And I said, I don't wanna put out no content. So I thought to myself, I said, well, I have enough service to put out short form content, like Reels, Shorts, TikToks. And I thought to myself, okay, well, instead of doing two videos a week, I'll just take a little bit of time each day to put out
00:13:07
Speaker
Two like ten second videos every single day for while I'm here and just see what happens I think the Instagram had like a thousand followers at the time So I started putting out video with two videos every day one in the morning one in the evening ten seconds or less usually all of the sudden dude One of these suckers just starts going off the rails like I'm talking You'd refresh his phone a million
00:13:35
Speaker
Million and a half two million and then before you know it that videos at 70 million right crazy viral and I mean it was growing 2,000 followers a day, but a lot of them
00:13:49
Speaker
were from the Middle East, like Iraq, Iran, which like shut up. We do have some like real followers out there, but a lot of them I think were like, I don't know, like it seemed body, but like it was organic. We didn't pay for anything. It just started going ballistic. And then it was so crazy because I'm doing two of those a day.
00:14:09
Speaker
And I think like that one went to 70 million or whatever, but then there was like, in that same span, we had like five others hit five million or higher. And the low ones were 200,000 or higher for a month straight twice a day. So we went from a thousand to like... The algorithm just did something weird. Something weird, but like honestly, our engagement on Instagram sucks because like you go look at our likes and it's like,
00:14:37
Speaker
might get like I'd say between like 150 and 350 which is good but it's not what we should have at 70,000 but it's because so many of those followers I think are like kind of dead accounts or something so I think we more have like probably like 10,000 that are real
00:14:56
Speaker
on Instagram, but how can you control it? It's like, you know, so now it's cool because I can see the retention chart and it's like every month we're kind of losing and gaining the same followers now, but the ones we're gaining are like actual real people. Like you can go to their page and it's, so I don't know what the heck happened, but yeah, it was a whirlwind. But as far as the vlogging, I mean, I think you should do it. It's just, it's a learning curve, like,
00:15:26
Speaker
you know, what to film, how to edit. Well, you don't edit, but like, you know. Yeah, I'm not going to edit. So like, I'm going to like, I'm like contemplating like, Oh, I should just pay someone to drive with me and film for me. Like some kid from the church or something. Get an intern. I've thought about getting the intern. I can like do something like that or have, I mean, one of my kids could go to and do it, but I think they need to go to school. So I mean, yeah.
00:15:45
Speaker
I'm sure there's like some like 18 year old kid that wants to like film for YouTube or something like come work for me for But I don't want I don't want to bring one out on that trip with me like that would suck Yeah, you have someone you're I don't know I'm just gonna kick it around like that's kind of my thing is like I'm definitely like to be organic with my stuff and like you kind of get what you get with me like I'm like Hey, I made a new by adapter. It's like this thing isn't even be available for you know, I
00:16:11
Speaker
maybe a year and I just put it out on the internet. Cause like, I just, I like to do it. So I just throw stuff out like that, you know, and just, so I don't know. I kind of like, it'd be nice to have those thoughts. I do have a Tik TOK now, I guess, but I don't do it. So I've never seen it. I told my office, like, they're like, you need a Tik TOK. You're so funny. And I'm like, yeah, I'm not going to do that. So they, uh, they take my videos and put them on there for you. I guess. Yeah. So they're making them with things that I make. I put them on Tik TOK, I guess. So I don't know.
00:16:38
Speaker
I have no idea how many followers I've ever had. TikTok's funny, man. It's like... I don't scroll on TikTok, if that makes sense. I am not a TikTok.
00:16:52
Speaker
Engager I don't sit there and like watch tick-tocks, but I do post on there So like I use it in the capacity to go on and post a video, but I don't consume it, but it's funny because sometimes while I'm uploading the whatever clip I'm uploading I
00:17:12
Speaker
TikTok I find if you like close the app it will stop the upload so you got to keep it open only takes like a minute, but it's so funny like They're so good with their algorithm that even in that minute I could like get caught for like you know like scrolling through watching videos And I'm like how do
Unique California Hunting Seasons
00:17:29
Speaker
they do it? You know I have no intention of watching it, but you talk about like an elite
00:17:36
Speaker
This algorithm, TikTok's like a different beast. They're really like, I've never been on TikTok. I've noticed how I get on there. I'm like, I never wanted to do Instagram, but now I kind of have to do Instagram. Yeah, I have to. And I have to do, I mean, like, whatever. It's fun. I get to engage with my customers that way and see them. And like the YouTube stuff's fun for me, just like product videos and just what I'm doing. I want to start filming hunts. So that's going to happen this year a little bit. I'm going to have some people filming for me and just getting that and putting some hunts together just because I'm planning on hunting two weeks a month.
00:18:04
Speaker
from August on. So I'm gonna hunt Sierras, I think, in August here, archery, which will be fun. Yeah. Yeah, you guys, I should remember, I guess, yeah, whatever. California, we can hunt in August. We can hunt in July. I've hunted in July. You can hunt in July. I've shot in here on July, I believe, 9th, I think. You can hunt in July in the A-zones. So yeah, we have some good, we have some fun stuff that people don't know about down here, which is kind of cool. Yeah. So hunting in July is a trip, man. I've done it twice. Really? It's crazy. I swear I think I shot
00:18:33
Speaker
if not the first deer in the country legally last year, like I had to have been close. Cause I shot a deer on like day two of the opener in a zone or whatever. And like, I, I hadn't seen anyone else post something. So I was like, maybe like I had to have got one of the, but yeah, it's so weird hunting that early. I'm just not used to it. How do you, so I've been kicking around the A zone a little bit. How do you like the A zone?
00:19:01
Speaker
I love any type of bow hunting so I really like it.
00:19:07
Speaker
If you guys don't know, A-Zone runs for basically like, not Santa Barbara, like Ventura all the way up to like San Francisco and into like central, like to the 15 or something. It's like a big gigantic unit. A lot of it's private, but there's a lot of public too. Yeah, no, it's cool. Yeah, this is my first black tails too. I did it back to back years. So I got two black tails, but those are my first ones. And I will tell you, black tail,
00:19:34
Speaker
It's like the best eating meat, especially those early season bucks. That's my best tasting meat. Hands down. You think it's because they're not like not as I mean, it's a rough country. They're not moving as much. 100 percent because even even some of that I've shot a lot of early season mule deer bucks as well. Amazing eating as well. Something about when the bucks are in velvet and they're just kind of chilling with the boys, you know, like they they eat amazing. But the black tails, even better.
00:20:01
Speaker
Really? Yes. And when you're hunting blacktail, you pretty much all spot and stalk, right? Do you spot and stalk those? Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah, both ones I shot, yeah. I mean, I'm sure there's spots you could for sure sit like a pop-up blind or maybe do a tree stand, but so far I've only spot and stalked of one. There's videos of both, but one...
00:20:25
Speaker
One of them, my glass, it was crazy foggy. Got really lucky, saw him move in. There was like three of them, I think. Got up there, ended up, I mean, I got in such a perfect spot. Wind was good, here he comes, doe comes out, he comes out like 30 yards, maybe something like that. Thumped him perfect, ran like 40 yards, went down. The next one was like one of my best stocks ever. Dude, I glass up this buck, and I thought he was bedded, because all I could see was the tip of his antlers.
00:20:55
Speaker
And it was crazy windy, but he's only like 300 yards. Normally I'm glassing stuff like two miles away. He was right here. You know, just got found him close. Turns out the grass was neck high on the buck.
00:21:12
Speaker
on the whole area, it was neck high. So he was standing, so I could see him moving around, it was like a shark fin, you'd see his horns moving around. So I said, I'm gonna go out there and stalk this buck, wind's just howling in my face. So my dad stays up on the binocular, I didn't need him there on this one really, but I was like, watch this, this'll be cool.
00:21:32
Speaker
I stalk in I get in there and like I mean again the grass is here so I can see his antler tips out here and uh every once in a while I would be stalking I can be loud because I mean it was like windy so you know you're not gonna hear me
00:21:47
Speaker
but were level ground. But the grass, like I said, is super tall. So I'm stalking. He can't see it because his head's below the grass. 100%. So every once in a while he would see something move and I could see him look at me. I'm like 50 yards at this point, but I cannot see anywhere near torso. So I'm seriously, I'm sitting there thinking to myself,
00:22:07
Speaker
If I'm gonna get a shot at this buck, at ribcage, I need to be 15 yards. So I got a ways to go. So I'm at 50, he would like look, eventually he'd go back and I could see him start to try to, he was trying to flank me to get the wind. So I'm like, nah, I'm not gonna let that happen. So we're flanking each other like this. And I had range, and he's at like 30, but again, I can only see his ear.
00:22:31
Speaker
25 20 14 so now 14 yards and he's just feeding behind this Bush and you can't see you can't see any no I can just see antlers and ears and he's walking right to left and I go you know what if he takes one more step I'm gonna be able to see the top of his Back and just bury my pin down into the grass and I'll smoke them right here He takes like two more steps
00:22:59
Speaker
put him down right there 14 yards really mm-hmm stocked in 14 yards which is not my closest I actually stocked a buck once he was sleeping when I got to him I was five yards really he was like this slump four by four
00:23:14
Speaker
yeah but stockings what I do it's what I'm like and
Archery and Ethical Hunting
00:23:18
Speaker
I think it's what I'm best at in life like what God put me here to do is be a spot in stock archer I think like especially on mule deer it's just like I get in this my dad always says it's just like watching like
00:23:33
Speaker
It's just like what I do. I don't know. It's weird. So I have never killed a deer with my bow. Until now, I've just never had the time to print an archery. Now I'm like, I need a full-time tricer. I have the time to do it. I have the time. Normally, it's like, okay, I have five days of rifle hunt. Let's go. I can hunt two times a year. Now it's like, I'm going to put all this time until I'm not going to buy it. I'm going to blow seven points on a...
00:24:02
Speaker
Really good really good a really good Oak tag in Colorado this year cool, so I'm gonna do that archery And then I'm going to do mule deer here
00:24:15
Speaker
archery as well, and I'm gonna try and do that. And then hopefully I put them for both tags in much other places as well. So I want to put a lot of time into archery now, because it's really intriguing to me to get it close, and like, I'm not, so I don't know what it is, like, I don't know if you're trying to talk about this at all on the podcast, but like this year I'm going to only shooting a .30-06, like wood stocked .30-06. You talked about that at the shoot, I think. Yeah, so I'm going away from like the high-end rifles, and I like the archery thing, because like I just like, I have this bad taste of my mouth right now with like, where the industry's going, which is like,
00:24:42
Speaker
pushing this like long range, high BC, shooting a mile away. It's just like, man, like I want to like, I really, at this point in my hunting career, I really enjoy the hunt more than the kill. And like getting out there and glassing and finding them. So the archery thing for me, if I can go put in, you know, two weeks in the Sierras in August, I'm going to kill a deer. Like I should. At least you'll learn a lot. Learn a lot, right? Yeah. And that's the thing, like,
00:25:10
Speaker
with it especially with spot and stock hunting like bow hunting it's just like there is so much knowledge you have to gain to be proficient you know and i think that
00:25:23
Speaker
I think that's why we're gonna see a pretty significant drop-off of active hunters here soon. They'll still be allies in the sport and vote for our stuff, which is a win, a net win. But I think that when COVID came around, just like any other outdoor industry, tons of people got into it, whether it's biking or camping or off-roading or whatever. But I bet a lot of those people went out and they were like,
00:25:49
Speaker
bow hunting is impossible because that's what it is if you don't have someone to show you how to do it it's like been there and done it it's like it's tough it's it's you're gonna go and be like that's impossible i'm not gonna do this anymore so i bet a lot of people i bet if you go on ebay or like facebook marketplace i bet you're gonna see a lot of used bows so here's the thing if you look at california's uh
00:26:14
Speaker
like draws in 2020, we've gone down like 30% to this year already. It's gonna go another 20% at least. It's gone down like it like peak in 2020. And if you look at Gohan, it'll show you like the applications. It's just like on this steady downhill right now. And I was actually sharing this with Darrell Sloan and Jay Chutes and I was like,
00:26:37
Speaker
This is really cool. I was looking at other states, and it wasn't as prolific in states where their hunting is very, you know, just like core. But it is going down in those states as well. It will be. It will continue, I bet. But California was like, holy crap. Everyone decided to go hunting in California. Maybe because we were all so locked up here, it was like... Yeah, that was probably a factor. Our state was like so freaking back ass words. It was like...
00:27:00
Speaker
So everyone's like, we gotta go, we gotta go hunting. So they all got it. But it's going down tons. I'm like, oh, it's gonna be easier to draw some of these tags. For sure. And hopefully it translates into other states. I mean, I know you're not supposed to be hoping for hunting to go down. No, no, no. Yeah. But as somebody who draws all, draws across the west and like every year I'm putting in places, like, I hate watching my points just creep up like crazy. Yeah. Dude, no, I agree very, very much so with what you just said. Like a lot of, a lot of these,
00:27:28
Speaker
A lot of people that a hunt will really like bash on anyone that's like growing honey. Whether it's Cam Haynes or Steve Ranella or me. Or go hunt. Or go hunt. People hate these guys and I'm like you understand that that is such like a selfish and naive approach because first of all
00:27:52
Speaker
I've probably, the influencer and Cam Haynes, Steve Rinalo, we've all hunted longer than you have. We were here first, most people that are keyboard warriors have been hunting like two years. Meanwhile, Cam's been hunting 40 years. I've been hunting 25 years. Steve's been hunting, who knows how long? Same with the guys from Go Hunt.
00:28:17
Speaker
But like, it's like, oh, well, we're not going to draw as many tags. Well, you have one bonus point anyways, because you just started, you know, like I just don't get the selfish approach and that is not helping to sustain hunting. You have to support Cam and Steve, like.
00:28:33
Speaker
or me, that's foolish not to do, but I think a lot of times people get really jealous of people, like Cam Haynes for sure, you go read his comments, jealousy's nasty, and I think that unfortunately in hunting especially, well not, it's any sport, it really any sport, but I just think people gotta stop doing that. Like you said, it's just like, what's the point?
00:29:00
Speaker
of the negativity and like, yeah, you could be mad about point creep, but that's not Cam Haines fault. Yeah. No, definitely not. Like the, uh, Randy Newberg's a great example. Everyone hates Randy Newberg. They say he ruined Arizona archery. He single, Randy Newberg single-handedly ruined the over-counter archery hunts in, uh, preposter in Arizona.
00:29:23
Speaker
Which he didn't. You can still apply for it. You can still go there and do it. But they blame Randy Newberg. Because Arizona Fish and Game has sponsored Randy for a few years. And it's like, oh, it's all Randy's fault. It's goofy. It's goofy. Really, if you want to... We actually talked about this, me and Brandon McDonald. And I forgot who else we were talking to on Instagram Live.
00:29:46
Speaker
Really what has made it, what's made more people apply out West and go do these over the counter hunts, like anywhere with an over the counter hunt, the reason that more people go is not because of influencers. It's because of the accessibility of information now. Back in 2000, when me and my dad wanted to go try to hunt in New Mexico for our first time, you had to like,
00:30:15
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know, like look at a map and call your buddy who knew an area, and like that was the only way to do it, was on the ground research. Now, you go on, go hunt, and there's all the information. Or Onyx, like Onyx makes it so accessible to say. And now Onyx has an unfold as well.
00:30:34
Speaker
Yeah. And it says like you click on it right here and it says, Oh, that's public land. So you go, okay, I'll go over there and I can hunt, which I think that's awesome. But that is what's made more people feel comfortable to do it. Cause the barrier to entry is more attainable with the information. But for people to sit there and like blame Tam Haynes, it just doesn't make sense to me.
00:30:55
Speaker
Yeah, I've been hunting public land for a long time, right? So probably, I mean, since I was 13, I remember being, like, when I first started hunting, like, San Diego, I've only been big game hunting since 2014, but it's never had, they hadn't even teach
Technology in Hunting
00:31:11
Speaker
me to do it. But I would do, I bird hunted like crazy. That's cool. And I would go get, like, all the Cleveland National Forest maps. You have to go get them, you have, I still have them in, like, drawers. You have to pull them out and you have to, like, figure it out. Like, so often,
00:31:25
Speaker
We were definitely poaching. Cause like, it's like, how the heck do you know? Like, you don't know. Like once you get like, but it was like so much easier than like, like, Oh, you know, I don't know for sure. Like you just like, you know, cause like you're like trying to figure out where you are on this map and there's no like even garments like, and then they came out with like the onyx chips.
00:31:41
Speaker
Which were really cool. I didn't even have one of those. I had a Garmin Nuvi That was like my big like safety thing like, you know mark my quad or whatever It did save me a few times, but I never had the chip, but I do remember it. That was cool They came out. Yeah, you can catch you where you were before now is all on your phone It's like so like I'm so stoked on like I'm like
00:32:03
Speaker
I can't wait until I'm going to buy a Starlink for this year because I can kind of run this thing kind of wherever, right? So I can do this wherever I am. I'm going to buy a Starlink, but I can't wait until all cell phones go to Starlink. Dude, Starlink. It's coming. How is that not here yet? It's coming. That's crazy to me. Because you're going to be able to like, you're going to be anywhere, which I mean, I guess. Unless you're in a tunnel or something. You're going to be anywhere on the wall. It may be like have access to this information. Insane.
00:32:26
Speaker
Which is cool and also not cool. Because you can't get away. Because I can't get away. And with Tricer it's like, I never can get away. It's kind of like this, it's become this beast where it kind of, I don't have a nine to five job. It's like a four AM to like 11 PM job. But it's like in spurts throughout the day. It's like seven o'clock right now, we're hanging out talking.
00:32:47
Speaker
You know, you're trying to fill them all, steal all stuff. So it's kind of nice to turn that off when you're gone, but you're not going to need a in-reach anymore. No. You're not going to need a spot anymore. It is coming so soon. 100%. Where you're going to have access to everything, wherever you're on the road and be completely safe and have that like the very entry go way down. Like wherever I am, I'll know where I am. I'll be able to talk to my wife. You know, I'm not going to, I'll be able to freaking FaceTime. Like it's going to like, I talk all the time with the podcast. So I get a little bit like I was going for 14 days this year. I started getting homesick.
00:33:14
Speaker
Like I get like, I start missing my wife, start missing my kids. Yeah. It's like, dude, like, especially when it's crappy, like when you're getting your freaking kicked in, sorry, you can get butt kicked and like, it's like, you know, it's 20 degrees and it's snowing and raining and you're blowing stocks, you know, or my kid missed an elk and you're just like, an elk just living in hellholes. Like I get homesick and like having the ability to be like, Oh, Hey, like FaceTime, my kids connect is going to be pretty cool.
00:33:40
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, you're anywhere in the world. You are right, too. That's that. Like I said, I'm surprised that hasn't happened yet, but it's got to be like within for sure within five years. That's 100 percent. And actually, speaking on Starlink, I did a
00:33:57
Speaker
a bison hunt last year in the book cliffs. You did book cliffs? Yeah. You drew the tag? No, I filmed. My buddy did. I filmed it. It's a great video. You should go watch it. Really? Yes. Really? Archery. But I did. It was insane. Because I got to do all the stocks and everything, of course. I was right there filming. But amazing opportunity. It was, like I said, once in a lifetime, I will probably never get to do it again. So it was really, really cool.
00:34:22
Speaker
but a guy on that trip had a Starlink and it was because there's no service on book clubs like anywhere really but it was cool because when we get back to camp because he we filled the bison tag opening day we were there like two days early to scout and he had actually been like a few weeks prior to scout more so we got we got fortunate but we got a big bowl the first day
00:34:45
Speaker
So then when you get back to camp, it's funny. Everyone's like, Hey, uh, you're gonna fire up the star link. And then as soon as everyone is, it is kind of funny. Cause as soon as it's on, everyone got the phone out, you know, like not, not like, you know, we're not sitting on our phones, but it just is, it shows human nature. As soon as it's on, you check your phone, you know, well, I'm getting one cause like my, like I said, like I, my, my goal is to hunt two weeks a month.
00:35:09
Speaker
Like, out of state, I'm gonna be gone. It's my goal for this year is to hunt two weeks a month, and I'm just gonna get a star link, and then I can be able to come back to camp, do some emails, jump on some, do some freakin' Zoom calls, whatever. Like, middle of the day, if I have to go back to camp, do some Zoom calls, whatever. As long as I'm, I mean, if I'm backpack hunting, that's not gonna happen, right? But it'd be nice for wherever I am to be able to do that, because even when you're hunting, and you get off the mountain, when you're in the middle of Utah or Colorado, there's not service a lot of places, right?
00:35:36
Speaker
It's good to fire that thing up, it'd be nice. So I already told my partner, I was like, hey, we're buying a sour link. Plus, I go to Baja a lot. It's just nice to have it down there. Do you like off-road or what? My partner races Baja. I like to fish down there. So we like Bay of LA last year. We do a lot of San Felipe stuff. So now that my son's adopted, we can go. We were like out of Mexico for like four years. So we weren't allowed to go because he was in the fast care system. Now he's adopted, we can go to Mexico all we want. Oh, perfect. Yeah, I love Baja, being right there.
00:36:06
Speaker
It's funny, I like never, I've only been to Mexico once. Really? Yeah, to build a house. My kids are down there right now. I did like the house build for a church trip, like your classic, you know. My kids are down there for five days on a missions trip. Are they building a house or what? No, we're working orphanage. I used to go to Mexico twice a month for missions work when I was like probably from 20 to like 23.
00:36:27
Speaker
I was in Mexico a ton doing mission stuff. And like Baja, like mostly in Sonata side, so like down past the Sonata, down to like San Canteen, which is like four or five hours south of the border. It's been a lot of time down there. It was just really like kind of formative years of my life and just seemed to experience that. And we try to pour it out to our kids. Like we took my son to Kenya last year. And he's going back to Kenya in a month for two weeks with my wife. I feel like he's going to probably move there for like a year or two and he graduates high school.
00:36:54
Speaker
What kind of like trying to pour into that, right? But we do have a heart for missions and going overseas and doing stuff like that. I had a blast. We live right next to a missions field. Mexico is right there. Yeah. Building my house was cool, but like it's funny because as far as Mexico, I think I just haven't gone much because like.
Safety and Media Portrayals in Mexico
00:37:10
Speaker
what they say on the news all the time, like people getting beheaded by cartels. It's so much more dangerous up here, dude. Go freakin' walk down the street, dude. California is a hellhole for homeless people on crack and run around. I can't let my kids go outside. You try and go down second street here, it's just like...
00:37:28
Speaker
you're going to get mugged. Got to move to Ramona. I got to move to Ramona. Now that I'm not in, I don't have to go to work. The studio just got built. I'm staying in the studio for a while. But yeah, but no, the thing with Mexico, I'm going to tell you this is like, once you get past the border towns,
00:37:51
Speaker
It's not dangerous. It's those like big city border towns where you're going to have like might have some issues. And most of you are not going to have issues unless you're going and buying freaking cocaine and going on the strip clubs and doing that stuff. If you're in the scene. Everyone I know who's like had big problems always doing something stupid. Something stupid, yeah.
00:38:10
Speaker
who went to Mexico and brought his like, it was his daughter's boyfriend at the time, and he went and tried to buy coke, and they ended up getting like, getting like a ducked in, they had like a pay off, a couple grand, and like Cabo, and like, you don't, you don't do Cabo? I've never been, I only went one time on a church trip. You went right here. I know, I only went one time. You got it down in the Cabo with a wife, man. I should, I should. It's a freaking hop, skipping a jump. I should. We fly to TJ, it's awesome. Do you, you fly? Oh yeah, you go to, when you go to, you can drive, it's a sick trip. Yeah.
00:38:36
Speaker
But no, dude, you go down, you just walk across the border, it's all on a bridge through America, into the airport, and you jump on an airplane, you're in Cabo an hour and a half. Really? Oh, dude, it is. I gotta do this. Cabo's awesome. Yeah, you're gonna have to send me that itinerary. Yeah, do you go say secrets and he gets all-inclusive, like whatever you want, all day long? Like, I don't drink, so I just eat like a bunch of sushi and ice cream. Bunch of sushi and food? I ate that soup. Ice cream, dude. That sounds amazing to me.
00:39:00
Speaker
Dude, yeah, you got the whole spicy margarita thing going. I don't like spicy drinks. I love spicy food. Well, they have fruity drinks, or you can get beer. I like fruity drinks a lot. You can get the drink with the big, the pineapple. That's what I want. The umbrella and the pineapple. All you want all day long, right? That's what I want. They cost you like 800 bucks a day for you and your wife. You go there for three days, 2,400 bucks, maybe not that much. I think it's like 600 bucks a day.
00:39:25
Speaker
the best food ever. You want to go to Benihana? You want to do it? Yeah, you got to do it with your wife. I need to do that. Yeah. And then I love fishing. So we went to like Bay of LA last year and now it's like a six hour drive. That's on the Sea Cortez side. And it's just wide open yellow tail. Oh, yellow tail. But like, but deep water. Do you fish here at all?
00:39:44
Speaker
Uh, I used to a lot, not anymore. So like, you know, I hear when we fish yellow tail, we fish them on top water. When you fish yellow tail on there, you fish them like 300 feet deep. Really? And they're giant. So you're bringing up like a 40, 50 pound yellow tail. Dude, it is like, you are work. Oh, I bet, dude. You're clicking that thing into high speed and you're just like railing, trying to get this thing up. And then, uh, you get big old grouper. I mean, it's just,
00:40:07
Speaker
Magical man got a grouper a big one. Oh, but I should couple on her like no, no, we didn't even that big but we got some like 40 pounders like some big ones I can give you some fish too much. I would love that. I actually met some dude speaking of grouper
00:40:22
Speaker
In Florida, it's like you can apply for a tag for a Goliath grouper. And I met a dude who actually drew one. So he's going on a Goliath grouper fishing. But he doesn't get to keep it. I'm not sure how it works. I don't think you can keep it. I don't think you can either. But I'm not really sure. I can't remember if he said you could keep it. But you get to catch one. Really? I think you do get to keep it. He said something about a size. I think anyone can catch them. You must want to keep it or something.
00:40:49
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know how that works cause like if you see it or you're supposed to like cut your string. You can't like not catch them. I think anyone can catch a green room. Maybe it's a tag to keep it.
00:40:57
Speaker
Maybe that's what it is, but yeah, I don't know. And then you did the coosdeer hunt down in Mexico, right? Yeah, I'm going back again. I'll go back every year until I can't. Yeah. Oh, 100%. You got to do that. You loved it? Oh, I loved it. Absolutely. I can get you on a tag for really cheap. Yeah, yeah. I can get you on a tag. Sounds fun. I can get you on a tag for 3500 bucks. Nice. And you'd be chasing 110 inch deer. That's sweet. You should have a mule deer tag for 5500 bucks. How far is that?
00:41:22
Speaker
Depends on where you're going. You're going to go across Nogales. So for us, we're going to drive into Nogales. So like below like 30A, 36B, like all those units over there, you know? So you're driving to there. That's like five, six hours from here, six hours. And then you're going to drop down. We went like four hours south of the border where we went. But there's plots that are closer. But we are four hours south. I don't mind to drive. So we're going this year.
00:41:44
Speaker
One of the owners of Mountain Ops, one of the owners of Olin, his dad, my partner's, my father-in-law, Shed Crazy, Ben Dedamani. We're all going to Mexico together. It's going to be a freaking hoot, man. We're all going in January. So we actually bought a ranch. When you go, you buy a ranch, right? So we bought eight tags. We all went in together, bought eight tags, and we basically own this ranch from September through February. Wow.
00:42:11
Speaker
so we can go home whenever we want. I'm not going until January until I arrive. I would go September for sure. If I got the tag, I would go until November. But I'm a lunatic. But now that I'm like...
00:42:24
Speaker
semi-retired from my other job. I'm like, I don't want to go down and kill an animal. But at the same time, I'm like, well, what if I went down and killed something and then now I can go help other people? Yeah, 100%. My partner's both haven't killed a buck before. My father-in-law, he killed a good buck in Mexico last year, but he's going to have a harder time on this hunt because it's a
00:42:46
Speaker
We're all sitting in water. It's spot in stock, but it's a big mountain ranch, right? So we have this giant thousands of acres to ourself, mountain ranch going on coozed deer. And you're like... That's bitchin'. You're like in the west, dude. It's like the old west. It's just like...
00:43:00
Speaker
There's no airplanes, there's no cars, it's just you hanging out. You got some Mexican lady just making these rotillas over some like rim tire or something, like some makeshift. It's just baja. That's not baja, but that's why I like baja, right? It's just different. It's cool, man. I love Mexico, man. It's cool. Yeah. Sounds amazing.
00:43:22
Speaker
I don't like everybody walking across the border, but I love Mexico. I don't know if you hunt where I hunt locally, but dude, like you...
00:43:32
Speaker
there's a lot of people coming across that are not Mexican. I've never seen a black guy in Mexico, and everyone coming across the border now is like black or Asian or Indian. That's not a racial comment, that's a truthful comment. Middle Eastern, and it's like, scary as hell dude, I've been out there in the mornings, and there'll be 60 Middle Eastern dudes aged 20 to 40. No women and children. And you're like,
00:44:00
Speaker
I don't want to profile, but you're going to blow us up. Yeah. Someone, one of you guys is going to blow us up. It's crazy. Without a doubt, dude, like we had to go, me and my kid, like save this big group of Indians. Like I have a heart for these people. Like I don't, I'm not like, Oh, I'm going to run you over. Like I want to, like, I don't want to, like they were, they were totally dying. They were dying. So I gave them like four gallons of water and it was just like, they were all Indian.
00:44:26
Speaker
Like Red Dot Indian, right? From India. And they're like, are we in California? We're like, yes, yes! We're in California! They didn't even know where they were, dude! And it's like, dude, I'll glass up 100 illegals in a day in, you know, six deer. Yeah, that's insane. You know, it's like, I don't like hunting the spawn anymore. It's like...
00:45:03
Speaker
Yeah, cuz you get caught we give them thousands of dollars and we let them go like $4,000 a phone we let them go Yeah, the guys here like the Mexican dudes I'll have like dude those guys if I get one of those you have to pack for me It'd be awesome cuz like oh, they got those giant makeshift backpacks on just full of drugs You and they're all like the side of some of those freaking hills going straight I'm just like I actually have a buddy that
00:45:13
Speaker
Say unsafe and scare. And deer gets spooked.
00:45:28
Speaker
he's like special ops border patrol and dude the stuff he does bro he'll show he'll like have videos or whatever he flying in a helicopter dude like repelling like getting
00:45:41
Speaker
the baddest dudes like but he literally carries a machine gun and wears camo and they'll like glass up dudes and find them like straight up like wild special ops stuff but it's all the dudes with the huge back because he's bringing across that's why there's somebody freaking junkies out here is all fentanyl dude they're all bringing fentanyl is wild it's gnarly and that's what no is wild
00:46:05
Speaker
And that's what we're dealing with in San Diego. It's like, dude, it's all these guys were talking themselves and like skinny as heck. They're all on fentanyl. And it's like, it's like so much worse. It's so much cheaper than heroin. Oh yeah. So much cheaper than cocaine. And it's much more potent. And it's like, it's like a matter of like not if, when you die, that's the problem with fentanyl. It's like,
00:46:25
Speaker
that's the problem with fentanyl is it's like they just wrecks people's lives and then like every time you take it it's like i don't know what the percentage or 1 in 20 chance you're gonna die or something something stupid oh it's pretty high dude it's pretty high and then they end up freaking dying it's insane and they're bringing ross backpacks full and it's like i don't know the whole poll like i like
00:46:43
Speaker
There's just so much money in drugs like that. That's why, I mean, it's like, they're making these pills for two cents and they're selling them for, I don't know, $15 a pill or it's huge margins. You know, so.
00:46:59
Speaker
It's crazy, I mean, it's gotta be the business with the largest margins out of any business. I mean, you have some close ones like popcorn has crazy margins. Beauty products have huge margins. Supplements have huge margins. Cause those are all white labeled. That's all they are. Like no one has like proprietary stuff, but yeah, it's crazy. Drugs, like of course they're always going to be a thing because the margins like almost a hundred percent.
00:47:28
Speaker
Yeah, my... I do a lot of joking politics online and stuff.
00:47:36
Speaker
When it comes to the border and being in San Diego, being in Arizona and seeing it, and you're seeing it, you're just like, man, I don't care what party you are. This needs to be fixed. This is scary. I started carrying now. I never carry. Now when I'm hunting, I carry down there. If I'm hunting in that area. Give my spots. I mean, the border runs for a long way. Oh, of course.
Border Safety Concerns
00:48:00
Speaker
But I carry a freaking gun on my chest now because I was down there one morning. I'm driving with my kid.
00:48:07
Speaker
And there was a bonfire, and this is San Diego, so it's a tinderbox, a bonfire in the middle of the street with freaking like a hundred dudes, Nicaraguan Middle Easterns, like, in the, like, and like, and I'm like, they surround my truck and I'm like, here we go.
00:48:25
Speaker
Oh my god. This is it. And they're like, they're getting through because they want to know like, is there more patrol? Are they coming? Are they coming? Yeah, they're coming, you know, like little, and I'm like, I'm caring for no one. Like, I'm going to get behind my kid and they're going to freaking take my car and, you know, leave. Yeah, dude, you got to. So it's just, yeah. That's crazy, man. But they, uh, yeah, dude, it's gnarly down there, man. It's just, and it's just,
00:48:48
Speaker
But politics aside, just take care of that. It doesn't make any, I don't comprehend, politics are so dirty, I hate politicians. I hate politicians, I like my brother-in-law, because he just does not give a damn about anybody, he's like one for school board, and he's just like, I'm gonna stop, he'll be on the school board, and all the conservatives are all allowing this stupid crap, and he's like, no, screw that, we're not doing masks.
00:49:14
Speaker
No, screw that, we're not letting boys go to the bathroom. He's just fighting these guys, like this staunch guys who have been Republican or Democrat forever, and they've been on the board for years. He's getting them kicked off. He took out a 20-year incumbent and got on the part, and he crushed it. That's crazy. He crushed it, and he's just like making waves. I like him, but just like the politics out of it, like, oh, no, what's with these people? And it's better for our voting.
00:49:37
Speaker
It's just crazy, man. And you see it firsthand. Like you hear about it on the news and you see it, but when you're in San Diego or Arizona and you're hunting, you just see waves of people, no joke. Yeah. I mean, what I always, you know, think about with the politics stuff is like when everyone in Washington, all of their donors are the same people or the same companies.
00:50:06
Speaker
I think that's a little suspicious. It's like, okay, you run on these different platforms, but in reality it's like you're saying talking points to get elected. The people that are paying you all this money outside of your $170,000 salary that you and I are paying, we're not the ones making their net worth 200 million. So when all the donors are the same, I'm like,
00:50:30
Speaker
Seems a little fishy. Well, plus then you see it out and they're getting like $300,000 speaking deals. Here's 300 grand to come speak at our school. It's just like, dude, that's so dirty. Like there should be like, I don't want to go to a politics podcast, but like, dude, there should be term limits. Like you guys, you guys get eight years and you're out of there, dude. Nancy Pelosi in there forever. Like Diane Feinstein in there for freaking 700 years at dinosaur. He's like this evil.
00:50:56
Speaker
Mitch been in there forever? Yeah, both sides. I don't care.
Political Frustrations
00:51:00
Speaker
Both sides of him are dirty, dude. That shouldn't be your career. This is a random pod. I like it, though. This should not be your career. We've got it gone everywhere. I wonder if people like this. I don't care if you like it. I don't care either. I don't care if you like it or not. Listen to it. Don't listen to it. Turn it off. When did you start Tricer?
00:51:17
Speaker
I created the first tripod in 2017, but I didn't start the trip until 2020. Just in time for COVID. We started in January and COVID hit. Great. Well, that probably helped your business, really, huh? Well, dude, our first tripods weren't that great, so we didn't really help anything. Those are the ones with the... They were like three-legged trekking, but they weren't bad. We sold a lot of them. I mean, I think that's a very innovative idea. The one that had three trekking poles, and then we kind of evolved into other tripods, and then the last couple of years, it's just been like... Now this thing's a rocket ship, right? We just can't even...
00:51:46
Speaker
We're just trying to keep things in stock, getting prepared for it. That's cool. So you don't keep inventory here?
Tricer's Growth and Quality Focus
00:51:51
Speaker
Oh, no. No, this is all like just... I probably have 15 tripods here because I'm constantly doing things and trying things and doing stuff, right? Yeah, that's cool. But I don't keep inventory here. No, like if you want to buy a tripod in San Diego, you can go buy one at Bono Shop or Right to Bear. Does performance have them?
00:52:08
Speaker
No, I didn't even perform much. I didn't even get into Willow Creek. We have a big, like, a really big distributor market now. We're in, like, all the shields. Like, we're working on a bunch of some big stuff that I want to talk about. Like, we have a lot of distributors across the country now selling our stuff. That's perfect. So it's kind of nice. We're actually putting a thing on the site now where you can, like, look up at, like, a dealer locator, and you can go find it. And, like, we don't ever undercut our dealers. Like, we don't give out. Like, we do sales. Like, you know, we'll do, like, a President's Day sale. Fourth of July and stuff, but, like,
00:52:35
Speaker
You're gonna get the same price from our vendor, dealers you do from us. So like, people go by in person and I get it, man. You're like. You wanna try it and. Yeah, this stuff's not cheap. You wanna try it out and see it. Yeah. I mean, honestly, we get most of our sales from, we do really good advertising, but like. You do. Mostly what we get our sales from is like, you buy my tripod, you go in with your camp, your tripod is so much better than everyone else's tripod. Yeah. Then they come back and buy my tripod. And that's what we. Watermelon thing. Yeah. That's what we, and that's what was like, that's the business I wanna have. Like, I want people to buy my stuff not because it's a gimmick, but because like,
00:53:05
Speaker
It's really nice and enjoyable. It performs, yeah. It performs and that's what you get all the time, dude. Like, dude, I took my tripod out, the guy takes me a day to do like six guys buy your tripod. And your parents, they're like, it's like, they're all, like three guys already bought it, the other guys are gonna buy it before season, like, cause it's like, you use this and it's like,
00:53:23
Speaker
Holy smokes, this is actually made for hunters. This isn't like some photography tripod that I'm trying to make. Hey, of all the photography panels, this is the best one we could use. So let's use this. This is where we've been doing forever. Now it's like, hey, here's one made just for hunters, right? And it's just like people are just eating it up. They like it. And I get a kick out of it. I get a kick out of making stuff, dude. I love it. I saw your video about...
00:53:46
Speaker
you were talking about making this and how you were up in the morning, had an idea, and just had to get to it. I think that's cool. And obviously, the business is doing great. I think, like I said, you've done a phenomenal job, I think, of getting a lot of people the product, which is a great way to get brand awareness, is have a lot of different people run it that have a following that trusts them.
00:54:16
Speaker
Yeah, and the cool thing is too is like...
00:54:20
Speaker
people want it. Like I really like, like just so everyone's aware, like I really don't reach out to anyone. Yeah. Like I'm never like, Hey guy that has a ton of followers, will you? I don't do that. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's like, they come to me and I'm like, Hey, here's my, let's work together. You know what I mean? Like here's a discount. A lot of them just give discounts out to some guys like, Hey, you got a lot of followers. You try it out, use it. But, uh, most people will like, honestly, a lot of guys just buy it. Yeah. Right. Like me and, um,
00:54:49
Speaker
Graylight Hunter Marlin Holden, he's kind of in partnership with us now, but he's been buying my stuff for a long time, and he's just like, dude, I love your stuff, let's work together, right? Marlin doesn't, I don't pay Marlin anything, he just likes to use our gear, hook him up with some stuff, but that was just an organic thing, because it's like, we have good gear. The other thing about the hunting industry is,
00:55:09
Speaker
You can't really fake it. I don't know any hunter who's like, I'm gonna use this crappy piece of gear, because this guy's paying me. You could pay me a ton of money, and I wouldn't use some crappy tripod, because then I'm not gonna find any animals.
00:55:21
Speaker
Yeah, especially a tripod I think is like, I think people have asked me that before. What's the most crucial piece of equipment for the type of hunting I do? And for me, it's always either I got to have really good sneaks, like good shoes to stock in.
Essential Gear for Hunting
00:55:40
Speaker
And a tripod for me is paramount. It's my most important thing.
00:55:44
Speaker
So I'm like really picky with the feel of my, cause I spend an absurd amount of time glassing. Cause like. I'll do, it's 10 hours a day. No, I do. I do all the time and I'll leave and I'll have black rings around my eyes. Like by the end of a hunt, like my eyes are just feel like they're just like dry.
00:56:03
Speaker
And sometimes I'm doing that every single day for 30 days straight. I bring eyedrops now. Do you bring eyedrops? No, I don't. I mean, I still get dried. I bring eyedrops now. I think it's the BTX more this year, because I have the BTX now. I can't get out of it. It's just so fun. But to your point, a tripod is crucially important for Western hunting. Or not even Western hunting, because I've Western hunted out of a tree stand. I'm ground blind. But for spot and stalk hunting, it's paramount. To me, it's the most important thing.
00:56:33
Speaker
I would take a $500 pair of binoculars and a tripod over a 3,000 pair of animal piers and no tripod. I will find way more animals with a pair of Vortex Vipers
00:56:48
Speaker
off a tripod, then I will with a pair of NLPers off hand. I never glass off hand, ever. I don't either. When I hike around, I don't run a bino harness. I have a good relationship with marsupial and they're like a part of our giveaways, but I don't run a bino harness. When I walk, I put my binos right here in the stop pack and if I need some magnification, my rangefinder has six.
00:57:14
Speaker
I only glass when I sit down and spend around, I spend four hours behind a tripod. Really? I want to go hunting with Jim. I was sexing with Jim this week from our soup deal. He's running our stuff now. He bought my stuff. He bought the new head, he bought our tripod. It's cool talking to guys like that who are innovative and doing stuff. His company is just freaking blown up. He's got so many employees now. I got their vinyl harness. Those guys are really cool over there doing stuff.
00:57:43
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I'm excited they threw in a they call it an enclosed pack for one of the giveaways So it's a bino pack with a rangefinder and in the other pocket as well So you got two pockets and the thing and yeah, I mean just cool brand cool
00:58:00
Speaker
They do a good job on social media too. My buddy Cade is actually like one of the main social media guys there. He does a good job with it. He's probably seen him in the videos, got a cool mustache, tall skinny guy. I've been joking with, I talk with Jay Pibern a lot over there.
00:58:15
Speaker
And we have this new Tricer camo coming out for all of our tripod bags. And I'm like, dude, I want to make a dino harness. I want to do a collab, like, marsupial dino harness. I don't know if I talk them into it or not, but I know they just did something with, they just did their first thing with, like, origin. Oh, I saw that. And I'm like, uh,
00:58:32
Speaker
I wanted the dino harness like this like have like the Tricer camo on it called that is sounds cool. I like the dinos funny and the logo like your Triceratops logo would look pretty good in place of the kangaroo. Well, I want the kangaroo too though. Have you seen my pattern?
00:58:49
Speaker
I'll show you afterwards. I have a Tricer pattern. Oh, you're saying you want to do the camo pattern. I want to do the Tricer camo pattern and call it the dino harness. Like with the marsupial dog. I'm talking all along. I shouldn't be talking out loud about this. This is fun. It's fun, whatever. Maybe this will talk to marsupial dog. Marsupial, make me a dino harness. I'll give you the pattern. Let's do it. Let's collab on making 500 of these things or something and sell them. I know we'd sell them.
00:59:18
Speaker
Talk about the sneakers. So, like, I run kiddo treks, I run crocs at camp, but I also have, like, some Solomon Trail shoes now. I'm thinking, like, if I'm going to have the Sierra Sierra, I think I'm going to run on my Solomon Trail shoes. For hiking? For hiking and for stalking.
00:59:35
Speaker
Yeah, see for stocking, I'm very, very picky with what I stock in. And generally for the last several years, I've been using water shoes, like the shoes you use in a pool or at the beach. Really? Yeah. Like the toes, the toe ones? I have used toe shoes in the past. Those are not my favorite. Just the standard ones you wear in a pool. Like the cheap ones at Walmart. Yes. 10 bucks. 10 bucks, yeah. Like neon green. Yep. Yep.
01:00:00
Speaker
Here's the thing, I'll stock into about 150, 100 yards, wherever I feel like I can get to, then I'll drop my backpack, take my boots off, put on my stocking shoes, and all I bring is my bow, range finder, and that's it. So I don't bring anything with me, because I need to be as minimal as possible. And the thing about the water shoes that are really, really good,
01:00:26
Speaker
is they're super light, number one, so they pack well, and they're slim, so they pack in your pack, no problem. But when they go on, they're extremely soft on the bottom, but, and this is key, they do offer a little bit of protection, because I'm doing a lot of stocking in the desert with cactus.
01:00:45
Speaker
If I'm hunting higher country, it doesn't matter as much. But I do like the foot protection. And the most important part is that I can feel the ground because they're very thin and soft. So I can actually step. And if I feel a twig or something under my foot, I'll actually move it so I don't snap it. Or if I feel a rock about to tip, I can feel it in my foot. So then I'll lay the rock back down
01:01:13
Speaker
and then adjust but with a boot there's no way I could do that because they're clunky, they're thick, I can't feel the ground. I have to be able to feel the ground because then I can make certain adjustments to make sure I'm minimizing any noise.
01:01:29
Speaker
So the shoes are paramount. That's a good idea, dude. So I was... I was going to be sneaky and use my Solomon's. No, because the Solomon you won't be able to feel the ground at all. No, I like that. So like I have like some of like the... I want to say gimmicks, but like some of like the big soft ones, I'm like, I don't like these. So I ran those for a long time or a while. What about moccasins? Do you have no moccasins?
01:01:49
Speaker
I have some bare feet, I just feel like there's a- So the bare feet, here's the problem with those. They're cool, we ran those back in the day a lot, but when those go over your boot, they're so fuzzy that they pick up a lot of grass and twigs, and then you're crunching those. The water shoes don't pick anything up. I've also tried rock climbing shoes, not great, and they're very expensive. And then now, my buddy Tim got me onto these shoes. They're water shoes, but they're,
01:02:17
Speaker
I don't know how to describe it. It's almost like a water sock. So it goes over your, it goes up to here and it fits like real tight and it literally is like a thick sock.
01:02:49
Speaker
but nothing penetrates it.
01:02:51
Speaker
Well, no, I would argue they actually pack a little bit better than the socks, the water shoes, because I really compare to my ran water shoes for probably five years. So to switch was kind of a big deal, but the only downside of the ones that you saw is I don't think they pack as well.
01:03:09
Speaker
It's just slightly. It's like, I'm really like nitpicking here, but as far as usability and wearing them on the actual, on a stock, I think they're better in pretty much every way, just slightly. You can't go wrong either way, water shoe or those. I feel like they're gonna fit your foot better. They fit tight. They fit tight, yeah. And they bend over stock. For that reason, I was looking at that, I was like, oh, these would be good for stocking. And I really thought, now I feel like I'm a genius. I really thought that,
01:03:38
Speaker
they were going to roll on me, like when I'm really testing them on a steep rock. I thought it would roll or something. Not at all. It stays so firmly under you. They're very impressive. And dude, I was on some like steep shale. Like I was like really, really testing it. I could not get them to break loose. I couldn't get them to roll. They're crazy quiet. And they're cheap.
01:04:05
Speaker
I only had one thorn go through into my foot, which you'll get one or two on a water shoe too. But you need that, but I had one big thorn just go right through. But other than that, they're amazing. Yeah, and they're 30 bucks, I think, 27 bucks. They're on Instagram all the time. Amazon, yeah, or Instagram, yeah.
01:04:27
Speaker
I've been going a long time. How long have we been going? I have no idea. I feel like it's been like a while. It's 7.22. It's probably an hour. Nothing bad. Yeah. What do you normally do? Like an hour? Like an hour, hour and a half, hour and 40. It depends how good it is. It's a good podcast. I'm enjoying it. So we can't do them in person because I'll just freakin' go for three hour podcasts. I'll be like Joe Rogan. I just don't like to edit them that long. Yeah, I don't edit. I'm jealous of that. I might need to outsource your edit guide for my pod. I'm just gonna pass it out. Dude, he would do it. Yeah. He would do it.
01:04:59
Speaker
You're gonna, we're gonna contact shoots. We'll probably talk shoots. We should talk shoots. Oh, shoot, yeah, we can do that. So I know you and me are going to Tack, Utah and Montana. We're both gonna be. You're gonna Montana, too? Yes, sir. We'll be at both. Oh, dude, hang out. With the BD crew, both disciples crew. So those videos always do crazy numbers. It's a lot of fun. Do you have an extra spot? Huh? Do you have an extra spot any days? You could probably jump in. Yeah, we got morning. They give us morning time. So we're in the morning. I only have a spot on Sunday.
01:05:28
Speaker
8 a.m. We're shooting 8
Vendor Status and Travel Plans
01:05:29
Speaker
a.m. every day. I only respond on Sunday right now. I'm on the wait list for the other two days, but everyone's told me, like, don't worry, we'll get you in. Yeah, you probably could, yeah. So I'm just like... Especially if you're a vendor at the Utah one. I'm a vendor at the... Utah, I'm not worried, because I have passes for that one. I bet I can probably get you in our group if you wanted to. So, like, I'm going to shoot with on Friday and Saturday in Montana, because I'm going. I'm going up. I'm thinking I'm leaving, like, that Tuesday. Yep. I'm going to go road trip and go do all that stuff. I'm road tripping too, yeah. And then...
01:05:57
Speaker
From there, I'm going to get there. I'm going to be there all weekend. So I was like, I'm hoping
Competing in Archery Events
01:06:00
Speaker
I can shoot. I know one day they're doing like Cody Rich is like the world champion, like elk calling. So he's like, he's like, uh,
01:06:09
Speaker
more of the judges and asked me to go to that and check that out with them. So that'd be kind of fun. That'll be cool. Yeah, no, they're great events. Shout out to Sean, Monica, all the people that coordinate them. It's crazy to watch the events grow. I've been going to tax since 2019. So quite a while. And they're always fun. So yeah, I'm doing Texas, actually, with
01:06:32
Speaker
Myself, Brandon McDonald, another YouTube archery guy, Tim Connor, another YouTuber, and then Podium Archer. He owns Spokane Valley Archery. His name's MFJJ or Podium Archer on YouTube. So we're going to have a cool group. This should be fun. That's what I'm bugging you guys for hanging out because I know you guys, people who like get to do cool stuff.
01:06:51
Speaker
Yeah, so it'll be cool. And then doing Montana doing Utah all four days. You bring your mountain bike? I'm on a mountain bike. And my dirt bike. I would like to but because I'm gonna stay for a whole week after because I'm doing lampers like archery.
01:07:07
Speaker
Oh, you were telling me that, yeah. Archery school week and after is like a three-day deal, so I'm gonna go to that too and hang out with those guys. So I'm like, I'm gonna go ride dirt bikes with Cody, and then I'm putting my mountain bike, and I'm probably gonna bring my canvas cutter, bed roll, and just go up with myself and do some backpacking by myself, and just like, you know, and like, bring my mountain bike, go find some trails, ride my mountain bike, and I'm super into the mountain bike right now. I love mountain bikes. It's like, the running hurts.
01:07:29
Speaker
Like, dude, the mountain biking is fun, but I am getting, like, dude, like, I got bruises. Like, dirt bikes, like, I feel like are safe from the mountain bikes. Oh, I don't know. I don't know. Dude, mountain bikes, maybe I gotta get used to it, because, like, I don't ride dirt bikes my whole life. I get on a dirt bike, I'll go freaking, you know, 70 miles per hour through the desert, open desert, and hold a thing open, and not...
01:07:47
Speaker
back off mountain bike dude like it's like i feel like if you try them back off you crash like it's like you have to descend it's like when you're going down a hill it's just like send yeah yeah biking's fun man but uh i'm excited and you're having a booth at utah right booth at utah yeah no booth in montana so you got a shoot coming up yeah you guys do like
01:08:12
Speaker
I mean, it's pretty cool because I don't have them wrong, but I feel like the 3D stuff's really gotten bigger and bigger last couple years in San Diego. Yeah, I mean, it's cool. It's just like we've always had such a good...
01:08:29
Speaker
Archery scene anywhere really from Riverside down or into Yuma like I kind of look at all of that as the same mix mm-hmm and just in San Diego County you can do three 3d shoots every month like I was telling you like you can do Balboa the first week Alpine the second week Henshaw the third fourth week every single month and like That's rare to have that many 3d shoot opportunities. It's Balboa
01:08:58
Speaker
Henshaw alpine alpine alpine at Lemon Grove Lemon Grove. Yep. Yep and But yeah We do we have a shoot May 18th 19th at Henshaw with bear say bow hunters is our second year doing it bow disciples challenge to and it's pretty neat because It used to be a shoot called the Oak Valley challenge and they've done that for like 20 years and
01:09:25
Speaker
we were going to replace it with a bow disciple shoot back in 2020 we had it all planned we had agreed to it we're just about to roll out the promo and then like boom covid came cancelled it right and honestly it was probably a little soon for we weren't that big at the time and then um
01:09:42
Speaker
didn't do it for a few years just like never relinked and then last year we uh we talked about it we decided to give it a go reschedule it so we did last year was our first year we had um
01:09:59
Speaker
3 archery courses, 20 targets each and we had 159 paying shooters from 5 states come.
Archery Event Details and Giveaways
01:10:08
Speaker
So crazy turnout for year 1 and year 2 it's 3 courses, again 20 targets each, all new courses plus a 10 target kids course.
01:10:20
Speaker
which was is new to this year and last year we didn't want like any vendors or giveaways like we wanted no fluff just like really good shooting come hang out camp have fun make new friends and it went amazing so this year we're doing the same thing just come out shoot have fun a lot of people are going to camp
01:10:39
Speaker
I'm going to camp. I'm going to bring the trailer. Yeah, me as well. I'm going to bring the family up. Let the family go. They can go fishing. You just want to go shoot the shoot. Yeah, you should. It'll be packed. There's a music show Saturday night. It'll be like 10 or 11 songs set. That'll be really, really cool. Food trucks, probably multiple. And then a lot of giveaways. Tricer hopped in on that, pumped on that. And Bowtech flagship Core SR, the Bowess shoot. A PSC bow, a marsupial pack.
01:11:08
Speaker
three dozen arrows, like three strings set, like also- You're freaking expensive, dude. A dozen arrows all done up. They're going to build them on the app. So my arrow company I work with, whoever, so three different people are going to have a chance to win a dozen arrows and they'll make them. What arrow company do you work with? Deer Crossing Archery, which I love, love big time. They are
01:11:30
Speaker
Amazing arrows. Like I feel right now I'm shooting better than I ever have. I feel really, really good on the bow. I have shot with you and you shoot very well. That was an off day for me actually a little bit. Appreciate that. But these arrows shoot every bit as good as any other arrow I've ever shot, but they're under half the price to the consumer. Really? Yeah.
01:11:50
Speaker
so i'm like i'm all in i'm dutch so like by my heritage i do not like to spend money i'm very frugal and arrows are crazy expensive so when i got these and i was like let me see if they shoot well because i need to perform
01:12:06
Speaker
They shoot every bit as good as anything else, but they are a fraction of
Arrow Durability Story
01:12:10
Speaker
the price. And they're extremely strong, which is important to me. I like a strong arrow. You can go watch a video on YouTube or Instagram. I shoot this javelina up a steep cliff.
01:12:22
Speaker
My arrow doesn't pass through, so it's hanging out both sides. You can see it. This javelina tumbles down the cliff 20 yards, going over my arrow each time, cartwheeling. The arrow didn't even break. Really? I've never seen spring. And you shooting like a 300?
01:12:38
Speaker
300 spine, yeah. 300 spine. Yeah, I'm shooting at 400. I'm shooting at 60 pounds right now. And I want to go, I need to buy limbs now. I had shoulder surgery, so I had to go down to like 50 pounds. Oh, you're going to go down, huh? No, I went down. So now I'm like, I'm ready to go up. I don't know. I don't know. I'm shooting so, I wouldn't. For me, I'm shooting so well. I'm like, I'm just going to shoot at 60. And the arrows are shooting good, so I'd probably just keep it at 400. But now I'm like, in my mind, I'm like, well, I'm going as eloquent. Do I need to go to like a 300 spine or a 340 spine and go to a heavier aerial or am I okay shooting? I'm shooting at,
01:13:08
Speaker
a 400 with a 100 grain tip and a 25 grain insert.
01:13:14
Speaker
So your arrow's probably like 400 grains. Sure. Wait, something like that. I have no idea. Yeah, probably. But anyway, yeah, so dude, it's crazy. And then, yeah, three dozen arrows, three string sets, custom strings, all sorts of stuff. And that was really cool. Everyone hopped in on that so fast. Because believe it or not, even though I've been doing the YouTube a long time,
01:13:42
Speaker
Never did any brand deals or anything for the first five years, and that was intentional I wanted to be fully independent for five years, so I did it for five years Not a single other in the bow shop obviously been going to bow shop since 2005 Actually before that, but that's when Bruce owned the shop, so I've known him since oh five, but I worked with them obviously the whole time, but then in this year actually I
01:14:12
Speaker
was like you know what like some of these brands I want to work with but I was very selective on which one so like the arrows I fully support and back like I really really love them same with my strings that I run are amazing and then obviously Botec and then
01:14:31
Speaker
Who else am I working with? You shooting the 334 or whatever? No, I shoot the Core SR. I always forget a couple of my company. But anyway, I think it's cool. I think it was cool to be independent for so long because I think a lot of people, I think a mistake that I see a lot of aspiring YouTubers or aspiring influencers make is they attach themselves so fast to just so many different companies. And I'm like, I think that's goofy.
01:15:01
Speaker
Remember being on some of these calls to set up Oh in stabilizers aim for a pass-through amazing stabilizers, but I remember being on some of these calls with these companies and I would be like hey look like When I'm doing these deals I don't want to bounce from one company to another one to another one to another one every year like I'm looking at this as like a 10-year deal, you know, like hopefully that's my hope and
01:15:26
Speaker
Things can always happen, but like, I'm not gonna go into a partnership if I don't think it is gonna be a decade, you know?
Neutrality in Gear Reviews
01:15:36
Speaker
Yeah. That's one of the things cool about Tricer, right, is like, um, we get to be Switzerland. I tell people all the time, like, we're Switzerland. So, like, I'm doing a pack series. Yeah. And I'm gonna have on Eberlestock, Mystery Ranch, I'm Hoping Stone Glacier, XO, um, Kefaru, and, like, one other podcast. And Tenzing.
01:15:56
Speaker
Oh, initial ascent. I don't have Tenzing. I'm gonna make Tenzing. I'll be seven. But like, it's a very unbiased, like, hey, tell me your stuff. Like, you know what I mean? It's like, I don't have to do that. Like, if you look at my closet right now, like, open it up, it's gonna be Sitka, Stone Glacier, Kunyu, I mean, like, the whole deal. Because, like, first light,
01:16:14
Speaker
I don't want to be, like, I like to be Switzerland. I like to use everyone's stuff and like try different stuff out and like do your, I do get some gear to try some stuff, right? I do get some gear swaps and stuff, which I like doing. But I enjoy being Switzerland. I enjoy like, the thing is with gear is like, I see the benefits of like, Kuiyu.
01:16:31
Speaker
and Hillenburg and Atlanta equipment. And like, my stuff is like, I hate this. Like I have to only run first light, everything across the board. You're telling me that everything they make, which I, first light is phenomenal. I have a bunch of other stuff is better than everyone else. That's not, there's no way.
01:16:50
Speaker
So when you're switching them with your gear, you know what I mean? I'm not going to get locked in, so that's why I wear solids, so that way I can just interchange my gear. Because there's certain pieces, there's some Stone Glacier stuff that I love. So they have this light hoodie. I can wear what's called a Helio hoodie or something like that. I absolutely love it. And first I'd have some stuff like their puffy's that I love. And then Stone Glacier has a pant that I'm really into right now. And then I love to use base layers. And then I run freaking merry-wool socks. You know what I mean? Not merry-wool, darn tough socks.
01:17:20
Speaker
Yeah, it's cool to be switched on and be able to use other stuff and not be locked into one brand 100% and that was something I had to really consider when I Decided to do some deals this year because now it's like I mean could I still go to a review verse like another arrow or another stabilizer or another bow I'm actually doing another bow review here in a bit and
01:17:44
Speaker
Some company hit me up a chinese company, but they make like a really sick bow You can buy an amazon for cheap and it looks amazing. So i'm like, yeah sure i'll try it like c and whatever But like I knew when I was doing these deals I was like i'm definitely going to be like pretty exclusive With the product i'm not going to like go shoot an elk with a gold tip or arrow or whatever but my uh
01:18:09
Speaker
I was okay with that because I really, I do believe in the product and love the product and I want to help smaller brands. That was another thing too. Like I could have gone and done a deal with a bigger brand. You forgot native archery traditions. I actually don't use the straps. I don't know. Everyone else does in our crew, but I do not just cause uh,
01:18:27
Speaker
I just run a simple loop, it works really well with my release. But you saw a bunch of his stuff, right? A lot, yeah. He makes an amazing product, dude. Dude, I love it. I actually want to get him on the podcast to kind of tell me how. I want to get him on, too. And he's like, oh, I don't know. He's tough to get on. Bro, come on. I'm just going to talk. He's such a fun guy to talk to. I'm working on it. But yeah, I mean, I knew that would be a sacrifice, you know? You'd be an exclusive.
01:18:53
Speaker
What I was gonna say is I think it's neat because I Forgot I forgot but uh
01:19:04
Speaker
being exclusive to somebody. Yeah, no, being exclusive and then I'm saying like, ah, shoot, I don't remember. I don't remember. You gotta be like Trump. I don't know, I don't remember. You don't see that one? All right, so back to the arrows. Yeah. What are you running for, you running mechanicals or fixed? Mechanicals, yeah. For a long time now, yeah. Is that because like, is that because that's what Bruce sold you on, that's what you're gonna use? Yeah, I'm actually gonna switch soon. So I actually shot muzzies for,
01:19:32
Speaker
probably a decade. I shot the OG Muzzies, which you actually slid the blades in. They had a screw-on cap. They were great. I love them. I think that's what I have. Yeah? The G5 swing band? Oh, no, no, no, no. They don't make them anymore.
01:19:47
Speaker
I ran those for a long time. Fixed blade, three blade fixed. They were great. At distance they would start to pull a little bit. Then I switched to these broad heads called G5. I think they were called the Strikers. They don't make them anymore either. It was a cool mechanical. It dropped back, but they were a real pain to
01:20:06
Speaker
set in, not having to deploy. They had some downsides, but I did run those for probably like three years. Then I got on the Rage Hypodermics, ran those for- With the collar, the plastic collar.
01:20:19
Speaker
That's the ones I ran for a long time. I have like 15 of those, that's what my kids used. Yeah, and then I got onto the Rage Tri-Pan with the plastic collar and now I do the Rage no collars, which are pretty neat, pretty slick, but I think I'm gonna try the Grim Reaper's pretty soon. Mechanicals. Grim Reaper three blade, yeah, mechanical. You've killed all of them with their mechanicals? All of my archery, except one, were with mechanicals. Really? I've shot six bulls.
01:20:49
Speaker
Yeah, so five with mechanicals.
01:20:52
Speaker
Really? I'm pretty sure it's accurate. Yeah, five with mechanicals. So you mechanical everything? Yeah. Yeah. And my buddy shot that bison with the mechanical. Really? Mm-hmm. Yeah. See, I don't know why, like, I'm like such a fud when it comes to stuff. And I'm like, I just want to fix blade. Yeah. But I can tell you, I shoot my arrow and I'm like, oh, I'm pulling high right now with like, I'm freaking dropping dimes. So you should be able to tune that out of the boat. That's what, so that's what, yeah, my buddy is telling me to go tune it out. Like you tune it in the, in the rest, right? Like in
01:21:21
Speaker
On a Bowtech, you actually can just move the cams, because it has deadlocks. So the Bowtech is like the only brand you can do that, which is really cool. So I have no idea how to do any of the stuff. You don't have to go to the shop. But basically, so most bows, you can only move the cams left or right with like a shin, essentially, and try to get them aligned. So then what you do is you get them close, and then you move the rest.
01:21:49
Speaker
With Bowtech you can actually, there's a set screw on the top and bottom cam that basically runs an axle so with an Allen key you can just move the cam back and forth in exact increments. So you can literally align them perfectly. So it's like the easiest bow to tune.
01:22:10
Speaker
All right, so like in like July, we're gonna do, or after July, so like before my hunts, we're gonna have to do like a video, like how to tune a bow tag. I don't know how to do it, but I don't work on my stuff. I don't work on my stuff. Do you make your own arrows? No. You don't do it either? No, I have them send them now. Yeah, I don't. Oh, send them done. They'll send them done to you too? Yeah, oh yeah. Anybody? Yeah, whoever, yeah. Yeah, you go on the website, you build out your arrow and they send them. Oh, that's rad. Yeah. So what's a dozen arrows cost?
01:22:38
Speaker
For the ones I run with the discount code, I think you could probably build my exact arrow and get it shipped to your door a dozen for like maybe just over a hundred bucks. Really? With my discount code. What's the company called? Deer Crossing Archery and those arrows by the way.
01:22:52
Speaker
I think you run the black gold Hunter XT's. Those arrows are .006 straightness. So that's like the lower kind of cheaper gold tips. Still a great arrow. The straightness doesn't matter that much. But the gold DCAs that I run are the high end ones. So they're .001 straightness, much straighter arrow. And they're also 8.7 grains per inch, which I think the
01:23:20
Speaker
pro gold tip is 8.8. So it's like the exact same grains per inch, same straightness as their pro model, but like I said, under half the price. How much does that matter to you being that accurate? Like for me, I'm like, oh, like I want to hit the 12 ring, but I'm like,
01:23:41
Speaker
I don't think archery gear matters nearly as much as your talent shooting and how much time you spend shooting.
01:23:58
Speaker
And this is gonna sound crazy, but I don't care. I do think it's true. And I think it would be true in Supercross or Viking, whatever. I do think that some people are just more talented than others. Like I think someone could shoot just as much as someone else or more, practice way more. You know, I think that's just a fact that some people may have a lower or higher ceiling than others. But I think that, I tell people this all the time, if you wanna get better at archery, just shoot more.
01:24:28
Speaker
That's the biggest thing. You can chase spending money, but just like, you know, in Supercross, I can go build Cooper Webb's bike. I am not going to be anywhere remotely close to Cooper Webb. That race was sick. It was insane. Race leader. I meant to text you. Race leader. You did text me. I think we texted about it, but that was the race of the year.
01:24:47
Speaker
Bro, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Those are four passes for the lead. Dude, Cody Rich texted me. He's like, web. And I went to church. I couldn't finish race. And I texted him back. I'm like, new rule. Do not text me. Yeah, me and my brother have that. We have to text each other.
01:25:04
Speaker
Okay, I won't go on Instagram because if you want to show me a run right now Yeah, I was like new role. I won. I we have to text. Did you watch? Yeah, exactly cuz like me and my brother Yeah, so I had to do it cuz I I've done it to him too. Yeah, we'll erase this year I'm like you roll for each other. We gotta say did you watch 100? Cuz once I know that we have wins I'm like it's still a really good race. Yeah, but seeing it was like yeah I was so I was watching it live actually I was fortunate to be able to watch it real time and man like the race was just
01:25:33
Speaker
It was chaotic. I mean, you got people stalling, lappers stalling right in front of... Jet would have won that race for sure if he didn't crash. And even if that lapper didn't get caught right in front of him on that wall, I think he would have won too. So they got lucky. He had two pretty big mistakes. One bad luck, one mistake. That is way off of topic. And most people don't want Supercross. It's a very small niche of us. Way less arctic. So back to shooting. I try and shoot...
01:26:04
Speaker
a dozen to 20 arrows a day. I think that's perfect. I don't want you to shoot too many. I think it's you today, but I shoot pretty regularly five days a week. I think that's perfect. I just, you know, in small, I try and do 30 to 40 yards. I don't even want to mess with 20 that much anymore. 30 to 40, perfect. I can shoot 40 yards out here and then 30 going that way to a deer target. And I just do, I'll do like 10 in the deer. I'll come over here and shoot 10 to the 40.
01:26:29
Speaker
I'm good. So I think for practicing too, if you want to actually become like a better, more accurate shooter, I would suggest practicing more at dots, like not on 3Ds. I would just shoot dots a bunch and try to focus on the tightest groups possible.
01:26:46
Speaker
that's all i really practice how small can i shoot these groups because if i'm shooting groups that big at 80 yards like i know i'm shooting pretty good and then some days i just might be a little worse or whatever but for me groups is the best way to become really accurate and then the only time i shoot 3ds
01:27:09
Speaker
is that shoots. So what's important for me is I need to know where to aim. So like I'm looking and I see, okay, there's a 12 ring and then what I'm doing is like looking and I'll look for anything, a blemish, a shadow, a piece of grass, anything that like, okay, that piece of grass right there is cutting around the 12. So if I hold just left of that piece of grass,
01:27:36
Speaker
and break the shot right next to that piece of grass on the left, I should be in the 12. So that's like, I'm essentially doing the same thing when I'm doing 3D, but I'm having to find different references to hold on, whether it's a shadow, a black spot on the target, a sunny spot, like, you know, usually I can find something.
01:27:56
Speaker
Gotcha, breaking the secrets out. Yeah. That's good. Yeah. That's good. So you don't, I mean, where you live, you're not shooting 60 yards. Uh, I'm actually pretty close to morally. You get a morally, you shoot morally, right? So, but you at home, you shoot like 20, right? I don't even shoot at home. Yeah. I mean, I'm in a condo right now that, uh, so I don't, I don't shoot at home, but my parents, I shoot there. When I go up, I'll bring my bow and I can shoot as far as I want. And then at morally I can shoot to a hundred. So I'll, I'll practice.
01:28:27
Speaker
you know go to Morley and I'll find like usually a piece of paper in the trash or a plate and I'll just put like a little something out and I'll just sit there and just shoot grooves. Yeah one thing I learned about going shooting at BOA is like you need to bring some targets because like yeah I always like literally like is finding a piece of paper on the ground and staple to that thing. That's what I do yeah. Shoot at them. Yeah but yeah I mean. How many days a week do you shoot? Dude I go through phases sometimes I'll shoot like every day.
01:28:51
Speaker
And then sometimes I'll shoot like once a week, but it really depends. And what's funny is sometimes, sometimes after I don't shoot for a while, I'll shoot insane. Like I'll whip my bow out and go do a shoot. And I like, I just did a shoot.
01:29:08
Speaker
I shot in Yuma actually and I hadn't really been shooting a ton other than the two days right before. This was 60 targets and at Yuma they score 12s, 10s, 8s, 5s.
01:29:22
Speaker
Out of 60 targets, I think I only had three that weren't 10 or 12s. Really? I think I had three eights. Did you win? Something like that. It was something like that. It might have been a couple more eights, but yeah, I did, yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, by a good margin. But I was like shooting ballistic. I mean, it was just like everything was in. It was crazy.
01:29:44
Speaker
So some day, and again, I like wasn't shooting that much. So sometimes I do tell people that too. Like if you're slumping or you're kind of getting over it, like just set the bow down. And then when you've got to shoot or you want to, then whip it out. And I swear sometimes that's like when I'll shoot the best. That's why I only try and do like a dozen to 20 arrows. Perfect. Because like I do too many, then I'll start getting tired. Then I start making bad habits. I just think things go wrong. Yep. So on the distance, if you do shoot distance. Yeah.
01:30:13
Speaker
Like, I think Marlon Holden got a hunter. He says, like, he won't shoot anything closer than 50. Because he says, like, he has more control at 50 yards than he does at 30, because, like, things can go wrong. You know, he's spooked. 100%. What is your ethical range on an animal? Ethical. Well, I'll say this. Most of my hunting shots I've probably shot
01:30:39
Speaker
I don't know, 60, 70 big game animals with a bow.
Preferred Hunting Shot Distances
01:30:43
Speaker
Like, you know, I'm shooting like five or six a year usually. Again, I'm always out west, so I'm not going to Georgia and shooting 10 white tails or something. I would love to do that, but out of 60 animals that I've shot with my bow, let's say roughly 60 to 70, I would say all, but I would say 95% of them were between 10 and 40 yards.
01:31:08
Speaker
Really? Yes. I do not like to, I love to get in tight. That's like what I love to do. It's what I pride myself on is to, I think that like I said, I feel like stalking is what I'm best at doing. And I just, I want to get in there snug, you know? So I do agree with Marlin a little bit on that. Say I stalk a buck that's bedded.
01:31:31
Speaker
And I gotta sit there and wait for him to get up. I've sat on a buck for like four hours before. But he's right. I don't like to get closer than 40 most of the time. I'll sit at 40 and wait for him to get up. Because any closer, at 40 I am definitely within his personal space. So any little mistake or the wind switches or I accidentally roll a rock.
01:31:54
Speaker
it's over, like the margin of error is just so slim. But I have had it where I get to 40 and I just look at the terrain and the animal, hopefully I can see him at this point. And sometimes I'm just like, I can get another 10, another 20, you know, I got to just kind of read the situation, but I do agree with him. I think there's certainly some benefits to sitting at 40 or 50 rather than pushing in tighter.
01:32:23
Speaker
He also only shoots at broadheads. What do you mean when he practices? Only shoots at broadheads. I don't shoot field tips. That's what Cam Haynes does too, actually. Yeah, I would do that. I don't really see a benefit because I shoot mechanicals, they shoot the same as my field tips. Is that your feeling? I need to do that. They shoot the exact same as my field tips. I need to do that. I just need to do good mechanicals.
01:32:46
Speaker
Another thing, I don't want to shoot broadheads all the time because I would tear up my fletches constantly. Some shooting groups like this, so I'd be cutting my fletches off all the time. You know what I mean? I hear there's, there's, I could see the benefit to it, but if your broadhead and field tips are hitting the same place and it's
01:33:06
Speaker
Is that your take with the Rages? I had the exact same place, yeah. Really? Yeah. And it's just like, you just know, you let it go at 60 yards, hit in the same spot. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, yeah, very, very good. That's what I need to do, is just use those ones and just buy those things. You have to tell me which ones they are and buy a bunch of those. But I don't know, I got to figure out if you're at 125, if you're running 100s. Oh, yeah. You might want to do 125. I'm probably going to go to a 340 arrow and go up to 70 pounds and go to a...
01:33:33
Speaker
go to a 125 grand, too. If I was you, I would also suggest not really pushing yourself on the poundage because you are coming off a shoulder injury and a surgery. It's like, you can, because you have a long draw, too. Like, what's your draw, like 30 inches? 30 inches, yeah. I think it's 30 and a half. I mean, like, I actually did a really good video on this. I had a physical therapist come and teach exercises.
01:34:02
Speaker
to Breanna on how to increase draw poundage right and the girl she said the craziest line I had never thought of this line but she said as you know for women archers
01:34:17
Speaker
We're generally pulling almost our max poundage every single time we shoot. Whereas men, I could pull my 70 pound bow a thousand times in a day. You know, realistically I get, my max may be 120. You know what I mean? So I'm well below, it'd be like bench and 135 if I can throw up 250. You know, it's just like, it's kind of lightweight. And when she said that, it really clicked for me because women oftentimes like Brianna's always wanting to get her poundage up. And I'm kind of like,
01:34:48
Speaker
why but when you're shooting 46 pounds each pound makes such a big difference and her draw is 24 and a half inches yeah so you're getting no speed on draw the only place you can pick up speed is poundage yeah but for her you got to think when she's practicing 46 pounds is like i mean that's like
01:35:11
Speaker
you know, max. So this girl's training was all about, we have to train to make our max as high as possible. And that was like, wild. Cause it's so much different than how men approach shooting above. I can tell you shooting 60, I shoot a lot more, like I'm not as sore as everybody else shooting 70 or 80. That's why I was saying essentially doing these shoots. So that's kind of like, I mean, like if I, I'm going to make the call, I'll make the call in July. Or just go 65.
01:35:40
Speaker
Well, but I gotta change my limbs then, so I'm like 400 bucks, I don't know. If I'm shooting really good at 60... I would leave it. Plus they can get you to like 62 on that, 63 maybe. Yeah, if I'm shooting really good...
01:35:53
Speaker
And I get hurt. I mean, what, it'll kill an elk. A hundred percent. A hundred, I can use a hundred grand tip and I can kill an elk. A hundred percent. Like I can just get in there and kill an elk. I'm not planning on shooting an elk past 40 yards at all. Yeah. I'm going to kill an elk in my bow. Like I know it's supposed to be, I know everyone's like, Oh, your first time elk archery elk hunting. I'm going to kill one dude. I'm going to figure it out and kill one.
01:36:10
Speaker
I do not think elk hunting is as hard as mule deer hunting, and I don't even think it's really that close, personally. I've shot a lot more mule deer than elk. I shouldn't say I will count my bow, but I'm going to have 14 days to hunt this thing, and I will hunt that whole thing, and I will hunt that thing for sunrise and sunset. I will figure it out. And if I got to get up in a freaking tree saddle over a water hole, I'll do it. But my goal is to hunt them, like, call.
01:36:35
Speaker
Do the whole deal, call them in, and figure it out. I've definitely shot some bulls out of trees. It's exciting. It's a very underutilized way to hunt elk, for sure. So it's Heather sent me a tree saddle, a whole set up, dude, like, $200 bucks. I have it in my brand new. It's in the box still. I was talking to him this week. I'm like, dude, still in my shed every year. I haven't even tried it. So, like, I might have to go out, like, that'd be a fun thing to do with you, too, one day, is, like, learn how to use a tree saddle.
01:36:59
Speaker
I've never used a saddle. Really? So I set up stands like I'll hike into the hills like I'm a lunatic. You know, dude, I got a lunatic. I'm a lunatic. I literally timber. Timber ninjas, a dude that I have a relationship with and we should like talk about like maybe like getting one and like doing like a video like how to use it and do it like. Yeah, that'd be cool. They say they're awesome. They love them.
01:37:20
Speaker
The saddles? Yeah. Saddles are cool because they're so easy to move and they're very easy to move around. Thing is I'm sitting a ton of hours in these elk stands and I think for that I would rather be on a stand than a saddle. So do you, see I was thinking that like maybe I'll just sit, maybe I'll just sit water. I never have sat, that's not true. I've sat water, I've shot one, I've shot one. What do you say? No, I've find like, see,
01:37:49
Speaker
Most of the places that I've done the tree stand elk hunting is over the counter units. So they're very, very low elk density. And I'm in the any bowl, the bowl units, which are like, it's rough hunting, very rough. So there's almost no elk, pretty much.
01:38:06
Speaker
So you have to find, I'll like just spend my first few days of the hunt just hiking as much as I possibly can and try to find areas that are like, okay, this looks like potentially, you know, an elk might come through here. Like whether there's a bedding source or some feed or a wallow or water, whatever it may be. And then I'll set a stand and like, dude, I sat a stand one time for,
01:38:36
Speaker
I was getting up and I would hike in down this huge cliff, two, couple miles probably, in the dark. I would climb up, sit in the dark for an hour in the tree. It's like, I don't know, I don't know what time I got up. Crazy early. Sit till probably 11 a.m., get down.
01:38:58
Speaker
Doesn't get dark till nine. Hike back to camp a couple miles, make lunch, take a nap for like an hour. Hike back in at three, sit the stand till whenever sun's set or it's dark. Climb down in the dark, hike back out, get back to camp at like 10 or 11, cook, go to bed and do it again. I did that every day for three weeks. Really? Yes. You got a bull? I did, yeah. I went three for three on an over-the-counter bull hunt.
01:39:28
Speaker
two five by fives and a six by six. And I think, I seriously think the success, I never look at those because I think it's kind of an irrelevant stat. I think it's like 1% for bulls of that caliber. I killed a bull, a five by five bull in any elk unit in Arizona.
01:39:47
Speaker
Oh. And it was the only elk I saw. Was that one of those over the counter? No, it wasn't over the counter. I had to draw it. It was a horrific tag. And it was the only elk I saw was the last night. And I sat water.
01:40:05
Speaker
And it just like, you just heard like a dinosaur behind you just crashing through the bushes and it jumped the thing. I was rifle hunting. I shot that thing. And it was like, God, this elk just manifested. Dude, I killed it the last day. And it was like, it was the only thing that might stop water the whole hunt. Cause like, when you couldn't, it was real hard. Cause it was one of those units where like, it wasn't really mountainous, but it was like mountainous, but it was penny and juniper. So you couldn't really glass more than like, kind of like these rolling, like northern Arizona, like rolling.
01:40:30
Speaker
I know the exact country. Dude, that is insane. Sometimes hunting, dude, you just have stuff like that happened, dude. Persistency breeds luck, though. Persistency breeds luck. I talk about this all the time, dude. Persistence is so key. I had it, same thing, dude. I'm hunting this unit. It was my first time.
01:40:48
Speaker
and i me and my dad dude i mean we are workers bro so like i'm i've lost like 25 pounds bro like working so and i mean it was bleak as a second to last day just like you i i think i'd seen like one elk i've been busting butt for like at least a few weeks just like grinding hard and i was like this is just this is not gonna happen i don't think
01:41:12
Speaker
Dude, I'm sitting there second to last day. It's almost dark. I hear something rustle in the bushes. And I hadn't, I had not had one thing come by my tree. Not a single thing the whole time. I hear, I would hear bugles, but they would just never come in the open, which I made a good adjustment, but, um, the following years.
Unexpected Success in Elk Hunting
01:41:33
Speaker
But dude, I hear a rustle. I look to my left.
01:41:37
Speaker
And I see something go like this and I was like, is that a mule deer? Like a buck or what? And it moves, it was a bull, dude. It had come out of the tree line. A school bus. And then another bull comes out and I'm like, Oh, I'm just like, Oh my gosh, there's actually something here. Like it wasn't even like, I wasn't even psyched. It was, it was a weird. So I'm like, I wonder if they're going to come in. I was sitting this wallow. This one just be lines it dude, straight to the wallow at my camera set up. And I was like,
01:42:03
Speaker
I'm not even gonna turn the camera on. Like, I'm not blowing this, you know? And I was like, he went behind the tree. I was like, man, so I reached up, turned the camera on. Dude, he walks out 18 yards, dude, thump him. He ran off and I was just like, just like you. I was like, the good Lord had to have put that bull there. Like, there was nothing pointing to that happening. I was nothing. When I shot my bull. I was in shock, dude. You can watch the video. When I shot my bull,
01:42:34
Speaker
It was the only time I ever cried. I'm not a cryer. It was the emotions I had. It just didn't even make sense. Yeah, exactly. I was in shock. I shot him, and I just fell down. I was just like, I cannot believe that it happened. It was the only elk. Dude. Not a cow. I mean, the only elk we saw, it was just the last night. It just showed up, and we shot him.
01:43:00
Speaker
right next to a road, and we have to drive my truck into this drinker and put this bolt in the back of my truck. I love it, dude. Dude, it was crazy. Dude, that's a good way to end this thing right there. Some good stories. Dude, thanks for having me. When you went all over the place. We did all over the place. So tell me about what's wrap up, what can we find. Tell me your shoe. When's your shoe? This is going to come out a week before your shoot. So we're planning on that.
Upcoming Bow Disciples Challenge
01:43:22
Speaker
Yeah, so the Bow Disciples Challenge, 3D shoot, May 18th, 19th, I would love
01:43:30
Speaker
I would love everyone to come. I want it to be huge, so please everyone come. You can get tickets and information on Bodecipals.com, but you can also find, you can just show up as well and buy a ticket a day, I have no big deal. So you have the option. All the information is on our Instagram, Bodeciples, Bodeciples YouTube, Facebook.
01:43:53
Speaker
TikTok, we're everywhere. And then on the website, we got merch release straps and stuff like that. So come on out and yeah, appreciate it. Thanks for having me on, dude. Awesome, dude. Let's do it again. Yeah, man. That was fun. Did we kill the battery? No. Oh, it's starting to, it's in the mic right now. There we go. That's it. Dude, that was great.
01:44:14
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.