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Who Created NRL Hunter – Travis Ishida
4 Plays11 minutes ago
This week on the Tricer Podcast, Drew sits down with Travis Ishida, the founder and owner of NRL Hunter. Travis shares the story behind the creation of NRL Hunter and how his competitive mindset helped shape it into the powerhouse it is today. If you've ever wondered about the origins of NRL Hunter or the vision behind its growth, this episode is a must-listen. Travis and Drew also dive into the camaraderie and friendly rivalries that make competitive shooting unique, highlighting how experienced shooters are always eager to welcome and support newcomers to the sport. Whether you're a seasoned competitor or just starting out, this conversation offers valuable insights into the spirit of NRL Hunter.
TRAVIS ISHIDA – NRL HUNTER
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/nrlhunter/
Website - https://nrlhunter.org
TRICER USA
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Transcript
Introduction and Purpose
00:00:00
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.
00:00:17
Speaker
We lay Tricer and this podcast at your feet Amen. All right. Aloha.
Guest Introduction: Travis Ishida
00:00:22
Speaker
I'm still over in Hawaii right now. I've got my buddy, Travis Ishida from the NRL Hunter series on today.
00:00:30
Speaker
are you doing, Travis? I'm doing fantastic. I'm a little bit jealous that you're in Hawaii still. And I'm, I mean, I'm in California, but Hawaii, I wish I was there with you, brother. Yeah, dude, we actually live, ah me and Travis actually live about an hour apart from each other. So that's kind of like one of the things that really hit us off with us is like, oh, dude, we didn't realize like you're in Riverside. I'm in San Diego. We can literally meet in the middle of 30 minutes to go to lunch and stuff.
00:00:51
Speaker
But ah yeah, dude, I'm still over here. um
Hunting Tales from Hawaii
00:00:54
Speaker
Killed a couple of goats last week. I've gotten out a few times with my bow. I got out yesterday and I got really high up on like the volcanoes, like way up there, dude. So it was actually a little bit cold. It like 6,000 feet elevation. And it's just like, it's ah it's not an island up there. It's like big country, right? And there's just sheep everywhere, bro. Like I got some video. There's one probably 50 sheep in this one herd.
00:01:14
Speaker
But dude, I found these two big mouflon rams and dude, they're so spooky. I could not, I don't know how they busted me. And I got to like probably 80 yards before they busted me. But they're just switched on. Different level. The goats are like, the goats are retarded, dude. You can freaking stab them with a spear.
00:01:30
Speaker
But they're still fun to kill. But ended up shooting U at 84 yards yesterday, which is kind of cool. It's definitely a poke for me. Yeah. And when it comes to like ah honing your bow skills and like getting reps, dude, this is this is a redneck paradise, bro.
00:01:47
Speaker
That's awesome. i but I've never hunted mouflon before. ive I hunted axis in Hawaii, which was fantastic. um And I've done a little bit of bow hunting and bow hunting is definitely something um want to spend more time doing because it is so much fun. It's a completely different game to me than rifle hunting.
00:02:04
Speaker
Yeah, man. So I'm on this weird, and now this is, this is totally opposite of like what your shtick
Simplifying Hunting Gear
00:02:09
Speaker
is with NRL, right? Cause I have, I have both sides of this thing. Like I have the long range rifles. I'm learning how to do that as well. But like, I've been the last couple years, kind of this journey as I've been killing more stuff. Like last year I went to, and everyone's retired here. We say, I went to a Woodstock 30 out six for everything. Right.
00:02:22
Speaker
This year I'll probably still be using that rifle. It depends on what hunts I'm going on, but I'm also using an open site 30, 30. So I'm going go to Alaska sick of black tail this year. i bought an open site, stainless steel, a Marlin 30, 30.
00:02:35
Speaker
And I'm bringing my bow. We're going to sick of black tail for a week. Me and Ben, ah me and shed crazy. And that's what I'm bringing. And I'll find a way to get it done. Cause I feel like at this point, like I could find a way to get within, you know, 50 yards of a, of it ah sick a sick of black tail in a week. Right. Like I can get it done. Right.
00:02:51
Speaker
Now I might not shoot the, a big four by or three by right up there. Like if it's, if it's bigger than a fork, you're supposed to shoot it. I mean, they're, they're, they're just giant deer. My understand if it's a four by, you just killed every second of the day.
00:03:03
Speaker
But, um but like, it's really more challenging. So I really enjoy the archery side of it. So like being over here with my bow for the, this month, it's really been um ah way for me to kind of like come back to myself right a little bit. And like, I've been traveling so much, you know, my schedule, like but I'm like, you talked to me, I'm like, I'm in Texas. I'm in you're the same way, dude. Like, it's like, I'm all over the world all the time.
00:03:24
Speaker
And like being over here, I've actually been able to develop, like, I can't talk about what it is, but we, I finally locked down the final designs of a product we're doing this fall. And like, it's just been really good for me to do that and get that field experience and just use my bow.
00:03:35
Speaker
Right. There's something to be said about me running just my AD tripod, the LP pan head and a bow versus like, you know, having to get out there with my BTX and a JC and a DZ and get content and do all this stuff and be going, going, going. And like the archery thing is just so cathartic, man. Like you go out in your yard, you're having a bad day. you got in your yard and you shoot 20 arrows. Like you just, it's relaxing.
00:04:01
Speaker
It is. i mean, there's,
00:04:04
Speaker
Bowhunting is definitely more primal, at least in in you know in my respect. um Going out there and able to sling some some arrows and kind of tune yourself a little bit and just like not focus on anything, it's it's a whole other level. It's a ton of fun. i've only I've only been blessed to take two animals with the bow, and I'm hoping to to up those numbers here in the future. But it's definitely a skill set I need to get better at for sure.
00:04:34
Speaker
Well, if you go to Hawaii, you can shoot like three goats a day on most of these places. You can shoot sheep. You can shoot pigs. And pretty much everything is open. Like some of the preserves I've been hunting are only open. Like they were only Saturday Sunday. Now it's Friday through Monday.
00:04:47
Speaker
but ah But you can freaking just go in there and hunt. dude Buy tags. Make tags you want. Go hunt sheep. Do this stuff, you know. And go hunt. There's turkeys over here right now. i got I did a video. I still hunted a turkey. And I got to like...
00:04:59
Speaker
three yards of a turkey in her hands and, and her pulse. It was, I didn't get to find any toms, but like, it's just, it's dude. And like, even if you want to do like some, some wing shooting with your shotguns, like, dude, they've got, Asian pheasants, Indian pheasants, regular ring neck pheasants. They've got chukar partridge. I mean, it's like quail. I mean, there's just, and dude, when you're out there, they are everywhere.
00:05:19
Speaker
Like you're hunting and they're everywhere, dude. Like, so it's, it's definitely like the big Island is the, like the land opportunity for hunters. I think for rednecks, like if you want to go over, like take your family to the beach and I've been doing it really well. Like, Hey, you know what? Like,
00:05:33
Speaker
fridays i'm gonna go hunting or my days i'm gonna go hunting and the rest of the week i'm doing stuff with you guys right or in media like tuesday my day or it's tuesday right now i'm in meetings from it sucks dude i'm like three hours behind everyone at least six hours behind the east coast so i'm in meetings from like 5 a.m m to like 4 p.m today but um it's a really good place to balance out like going hunting and doing family stuff right and it's and it's just such an easy way to do it like you can go knock out a goat hunt Like in the morning, I can take you out. We can go kill two goats each and then in three hours.
00:06:04
Speaker
yeah You what I mean? And like, it's yes, they're not, it's not like super, it's not, it's not unsporting. I mean, you have to stalk them. They run away. You know what i mean? But it's like, you're going to get enough reps where you're going to get them killed.
00:06:14
Speaker
Right. As long as you can shoot your bow's not off, you're going to get it killed and you're going to get those kills, which are so important for bow hunting and for for stalking and for drawing back. And, you know, like yesterday I was down behind a bush. and I pulled drew on my knees and I stood up and I shot this, shot this sheep. You know what i mean? Like, it's just that stuff that you're, you can't only get what once every couple of years on a mule deer. Right. then Unless you have a, you know, over the counter tag, but like, you don't want your, you don't want your first,
00:06:40
Speaker
you you know, real big bow hunt to be a tag you waited 10 years to get and you haven't killed anything, you know? Right. No, definitely. I think that the more opportunities that you set up for yourself, whether it's big game or Turkey or or whatever it is, uh, the more repetition that you get, the more practice you get with any discipline, the better off you're going to be for that trophy hunt or for that, uh, bucket list hunt and,
00:07:02
Speaker
you know That's kind of what the NRO
Travis's Journey to NRL Hunter
00:07:04
Speaker
Hunter is all about, right? And I don't mean to be segwaying into that, but it's all about repetition. That's where we're going. And that's where we're going with this. so I, I'm obviously I'm making new tripods. I'm trying to do some stuff, um, in the shooting space with, you know, the bipods, the new hexagon leg tripods, all this stuff.
00:07:23
Speaker
And I, as a man want to understand these sports rather than to sponsor these sports. Right. I don't want to, like, I don't agree with like lab engineering, right. That's why i'm out here hunting right now. Like where my engineering is done is in the field. Right.
00:07:37
Speaker
And like I wanted to go all in on PRS and NRL. PRS is sort of your competitor, but like you guys are, in my opinion, totally different brands. I know you came from that space.
00:07:48
Speaker
came my space and the and you is... you're a hunter. You're not just a shooter, right? You're not bench rest guy. You are you have created basically the tack of shooting sports to become better at hunting.
00:08:03
Speaker
it is one of the most humbling things I've ever done. Cause like, I am terrible. Like I know that been getting some slack on the internet lately from people, but like people talking about like my scores and stuff like that. I'm not trying to pretend my scores are good. Like my scores are terrible, bro. They don't like, it really doesn't matter.
00:08:15
Speaker
Um, Like I hit dirt, you know what I mean? by target But targets, but, uh, dude, it's like such a good way to become a better hunter. Cause you're not just like going and shooting off a bench or going to the range and shooting off, you know, prone.
00:08:32
Speaker
you're enabling hunters, Travis, to go out and shoot from awkward positions, acquire targets, the whole nine. So dude, um and and and I could tell you when you go out NRL hunter match, like every dude there is rocking First Light, Sitka, Kuyu.
00:08:44
Speaker
They're wearing bino harnesses. Like when you go to a PRS match, they're not wearing bino harnesses. They carry that, we know what i mean? like Like these are like ah hunters doing it and you've enabled that. And dude, like let's talk about the games that like, let's talk about where you came from. You came from the PRS space, correct?
00:08:58
Speaker
Yeah. So Back in in the day, um it's kind of funny. So back in the day, I come from a marketing photography design background.
00:09:08
Speaker
And that's what I was doing for a long time. I met my girlfriend at the time, who's now my wife. And I started getting heavily into firearms. And she was like, you know stop spending so much money.
00:09:19
Speaker
And so my my whole thing was, well, if I can't spend money on this stuff, I'm going to turn it into a business because now I have a reason to spend money on this stuff. Mm-hmm. And at that same time, i was going through that discussion with my then girlfriend, my wife now, one of my best friends who owns really big agency in ah action sports world, marketing world.
00:09:42
Speaker
He was like, Travis, you're really into this firearm stuff. You've been doing this forever. The firearms marketing side is weak in comparison to a lot of the other parts of of marketing industry.
00:09:52
Speaker
So why don't you go and support that industry? Why don't you you go and take what you know from you know the years that you've been doing all this other, what I call corporate marketing and take it to the 2A industry.
00:10:05
Speaker
And I was like, dude, that's like something I've been talking about. And it's the right time because I was kind of getting tired of all of the ah politics and in the industries that I was working in at that time, which was a lot of the entertainment stuff.
00:10:18
Speaker
So. I started a company called Contingency X. Through that, it was a full scale marketing and media service company for the two a industry. And one of the first companies I got on board with was a company called U.S. Optics.
00:10:32
Speaker
And I got on board with them because I met them at a law enforcement trade show that a buddy got me into. And we started talking and they're from Yorba Linda, California at that time.
00:10:43
Speaker
And I grew up in Yorba Linda, California. And so I'm like, oh, you're here and I did this. and You know, so we had that connection, right? They invited me down. you know, I did some some pro bono type work for them to show them what I was capable of doing.
00:10:57
Speaker
They loved it. They brought me on and they were big into the long range space. So they're like, Hey, this is the space that we want to focus on. And up until that point, all of my firearms type stuff, like most young, you know, young men was more tactical than anything, you know, this is youre this is like, you're, this is like the AR craze, right? When all of us are building ARs.
00:11:21
Speaker
yeah's all this This is when we're all just building ARs like crazy. 80%ers going nuts. The whole nine. Yeah. yeah Right. you're You're sitting in your garage with your drill press and you're like, Oh shit, that's too deep. Yeah, dude. Like that's, this is like, what is it? This is like, Oh 10, probably Oh eight to like Oh 12. Like that era where we just went nuts.
00:11:42
Speaker
All of us were all building guns back then. And, um, okay. So I got into you know, in order for me to do the right job for us optics, I had to get into long range space. And that's how I found out about the PRS.
00:11:56
Speaker
So I started working with the PRS. We started doing our media services for them. We created all the all the video work that was done from like 14 through like 17.
00:12:11
Speaker
We were the only media company going out there doing photography, doing videos, doing all of that. And a lot of people attribute Contingency X, my company at that time, to the growth of that sport.
00:12:24
Speaker
um I think we definitely had something going to do with it. It wasn't all us. The sport was getting big, right? The PRS sold. When the PRS sold, the new owners didn't honor any of our agreements that we had with the original owner because I didn't have a a paper contract, right? My agreements, you know, the the original owners, a good good old guy from Texas. It was a handshake. We'd known each other for a couple of years.
00:12:50
Speaker
And I really, you know, my intention was to help him out. Had i known he was selling the PRS, I would have made an offer, right? But I had no idea. um So the new owners at that time were like, you know, we're not interested. We're not going to deal with this. um We're going to do our own thing. So I said, OK, well, I've got so much time and money and and hundreds of thousands of dollars at that point in in years worth of work building up this brand.
00:13:19
Speaker
I couldn't walk away from it. So I talked to a friend of mine out of Las Vegas and I said, Hey, this is what I want to do. This is like 2017, 18, what's the timeframe of the 2018, uh, 27, 16. Okay. 2016. Okay. Yeah.
00:13:31
Speaker
okay twenty sixteen okay twenty six to Um, yeah right around 2016. So, which is crazy to think that like you've been doing this for that long, right? Like that's, that's a long, i don't think people realize like,
00:13:44
Speaker
Dude, this guy's been – like, you think, oh, Interval Hunter, he kind blew up. It's like, he didn't blow up. Like, I feel like he tries to blow up. Like, no, it didn't. We've been doing this forever. It just took time. So, you like, you this is, like, 2016. You're like, I got to create something on my own.
00:13:57
Speaker
And, like, now, yesterday, like, you're selling out every freaking match. But, like, that's – dude, that's 10 years ago, bro. Yeah. I mean, it was – yeah, it was 10 years of of hard work, right? Okay. is It was – It was never easy. I mean, literally when we started it, we would drive. I have a 2006 E350 Ford Econoline van that's all four by four out and camper style and all that.
00:14:23
Speaker
And we would drive across the country to all these matches to show our support and to do video work and to do everything we could to to help it blow up, right? Grinding dude. I love to hear it. I mean, my wife, my girlfriend at the time, my, you know, Brittany, everybody knows Brittany cause she was always on the road with me, you know, and I had different camera crews that were on the road with me.
00:14:42
Speaker
My, I had my, my best friend, one of my best friends, Nico, he was my road dog. You know, he was in charge of making sure that the van was always operational. He was good mechanically. And then he would shoot the matches. So we had this whole like tribe that would travel across the country with us when we first started. And it when's the first match like that long 2016?
00:15:00
Speaker
Oh yeah, 2016. No way. Yeah. For NRL, not NRL Hunter. For NRL, okay. Yeah. So for andr for NRL, when we first started, it was a very similar format to the PRS with some tweaks that we thought made it more accessible to people, right? So we were basically like the the same vehicle, just a different model.
00:15:23
Speaker
Okay. So Ford and Chevy or whatever. Right. Yeah. You're going at this point. You're like, I want to go head to head with these guys. They yeah kind of, they kind of burnt me. I want to go head to head. Watch what I can do this.
00:15:37
Speaker
Well, it was, it has evolved into, because now it's totally, it's similar, but totally completely different. yeah' Now it's like, it's not like at first you're just like, all right, well I have all stuff invested. i want, I could do this.
00:15:48
Speaker
a little bit better, which was do this. that's how everything starts, right? Everything starts. Yeah. It was just, you know, it was like, They were doing it one way. The community wanted something a little bit different. So I offered a different flavor of what they were doing and it took off.
00:16:03
Speaker
I mean, we went from, I think the first year it was six matches to when we finally stopped, we had 30 plus matches. um So it definitely grew. We had a strong following.
00:16:14
Speaker
um we had a ah lot of loyal support and it it was just, it was a whirlwind of stuff. And when we talk about hardships, I mean, This was all self-funded.
00:16:25
Speaker
You know, I, this was never, you know, I don't have a loan from a bank. I don't have dad money. I don't have any of that type of stuff. This is all self-funded, uh, sweat equity, you know, three am up at 3am until 3am in the morning up at 6am doing it all over again. I
Challenges and Growth of NRL
00:16:41
Speaker
mean, this is just, you know, the grind, right?
00:16:43
Speaker
And it was never easy. You know, when whenever you have competition, your competition is always going to do what they can to stay on top. And that was no different here. But we persevered through all of that. Right. Well, dude, it's ah ah it's it's nice to find me being punched up at. Right.
00:16:58
Speaker
Like when you're coming up and there's like a big dog, I'm to speak for what happened to you or not, but like you're getting punched down on. For one, you remember those blows. You remember those blows, dude. And they, move and like, if you're anything like me, they is motivate me.
00:17:12
Speaker
Right. Like, that that's all of you that's all done right. There's motivations. You're getting punched down on. They're trying to, they're trying to squash you. I'm sure you're starting to take some equity or take some, you know, some, some shares. Yeah. some market share out or share yeah And it's like,
00:17:25
Speaker
yeah dude Keep going. I mean, you know, every time somebody told me I couldn't do something or that they were go to prevent me from doing something or they would literally destroy me, it was just like, okay, bring it. You know, I'm just going I'm going to do what I'm going to do.
00:17:38
Speaker
have always taken the high road. I've literally had advisors from our industry and outside the, you know, outside the industry tell me I should be doing things differently, you know, but I always took the high road.
00:17:52
Speaker
Um, And that high road, you know, eventually, you know, the community started seeing, hey, all this shit keeps getting tossed on to the NRL or on to Travis.
00:18:03
Speaker
yeah But they always take the high road. And I think that earned a lot of respect from a lot of different people because we didn't play in the dirt. Right. And it took a while, but we're here and we're better for it. Right.
00:18:16
Speaker
So. Cause there was at that point, are there camps? Is it like, I'm an interlocker. I'm a PR because now it's very, a lot of crossover now, but like at the time, I'm sure it was like, you got to pick your team. Like what East coast, West coast, Biggie and Tupac.
00:18:30
Speaker
So it it was like that in a lot of ways, but all of that came from the other side, not from Oh, okay. So I was always and have always been about growing the sport and getting more people to shoot. That's that's my mission.
00:18:46
Speaker
I don't care if you're shooting high power, if you're shooting bench, NRL, PRS, competition dynamics. I don't care what you're shooting. Just shoot. So our policy at that time was let our match directors you know host matches for other series if they if that's what they want to do. We're not going to prevent them from doing that.
00:19:07
Speaker
We just didn't allow them to use our brand equity. for those other those other companies. So if we had the Tracer Tactical match, you couldn't use that name for PRS match or a competition dynamics match. You'd have to create your own brand for that match.
00:19:25
Speaker
And that was the only stipulation. The other side was like, if you do a match for the NRL, you can't do a match for us, which is not a policy I believe in.
00:19:37
Speaker
how it all And so that created a lot of division for a good five years, a good five years. um I lost people that I thought were my friends.
00:19:48
Speaker
I had people that started with me that ended up stabbing me in the back, you know, and to me, ah my outlook is very simple. Good riddance.
00:20:00
Speaker
You know, du if, if that's how it is, then, and that's who you are, then that's cool. I don't need that person or that company or that whatever in my life. And I'm just going to keep moving forward.
00:20:12
Speaker
Well, dude, and I say this all the time, right? Like I've been getting some flack for some of my tripods lately. Right. And it's like, dude, like innovation is what, like drives is only good for the end consumer, for the shooter.
00:20:25
Speaker
um Right. Like if you would have like, like we would still just be freaking shooting PRS, bro. If you didn't start NRL, you know what I mean? Like, well for sure and and like you, and you've seen changes in in the PRS space as well. It's more accessible than to other guys. So you don't have to go shoot like a giant Rick. I go out there and I'll shoot it. And I got guys shooting Ruger American next to me. You know what i mean? Like you can get in there and do it.
00:20:44
Speaker
And like you, by coming in and competing, it didn't, you did not for this You did not take market share from PRS. You grew both market spaces.
00:20:55
Speaker
PRS is bigger than ever, bro. And NRL is bigger than ever now. And it's because you were not necessarily competing, but you were innovating and growing. And that's what the market needs, dude. that's what like That's what we need, dude. And like you guys the reason why...
00:21:10
Speaker
the no I'm not saying you are, but sure, you are. Yeah, like you're the reason why freaking Weatherby's making high-end rifles now, dude. And Browning's making high-end rifles now, dude. like you can go You used to have to go spend $10,000 to build a custom rifle, and now you can go buy a custom rifle. You can go get Seekins right now with a chassis on it for $3,000, and it's going to be damn near as accurate. It's going more accurate than most 95% and you can go shoot right now, dude. And that's because in a row, you didn't do it, dude. To put this way, Seekins is making an interrel or comp Pacific guns now, dude. You know what I mean? Like that's bro. Like you, you've created a whole, and like, that's so good for the sport. It's so good for the end user, for the shooter. know what I mean?
00:21:52
Speaker
No, it's, I mean, that, that's the whole point, right? Is if we work together as a community, we all grow, we all prosper. There's there's a space for everybody. And, know,
00:22:04
Speaker
Everybody has ah slightly different taste in in what they like and what they want to use, which means that there's room for everybody to be able to be prosperous if we work together. If we have ah the same common goal of, hey, we want everybody to learn how to be more efficient off of ah a tripod or how to properly use a bipod or how to use a rear bag, and we start teaching these methods, then going to be fantastic.
00:22:28
Speaker
Ten years ago, yeah roughly ten years ago, when we first started shooting off of tripods, Everybody was like, hell no, we're not going to do that. That does not work.
00:22:40
Speaker
And it
Innovation in Shooting Gear
00:22:41
Speaker
it took a long time for people to see the value and the the the benefit of shooting off of a a system like a tripod.
00:22:52
Speaker
What about a rear tripod support? That was the something that people talked about 10 years ago, bro. didn't even hear about that. Rear tripod support. And you're just like, dude, like once you did not exist 10 years ago, like with my new bipod in a hunting situation with my new bipod, I can sit down and then use my tripod as a rear support and have a freaking rock solid 300 yard rest.
00:23:13
Speaker
like And that's something that came out of these sports that has been like so good for the space and transcended into the hunting space. And that's like, that's where I love in innovation. did I love what you're doing. I love hearing the story, dude This is good. so yeah I mean, it's literally like rear tripod support is, is a few years old. It's not that old. I mean, probably yeah three or four years old.
00:23:33
Speaker
Right. When it actually started taking off before that we were using, you know, Manfrotto's, And, you know, spray painting them. So they were all camouflage all, you know, to, to use those to glass off of. And, and then people started, you know, figuring out how to shoot off of them.
00:23:50
Speaker
And now you cannot go to a NRO Hunter match and not see somebody with a tripod. Some guys carry two tripods. Yeah. I mean, that's,
00:24:02
Speaker
It is now, in my opinion, an essential piece of gear for you to have a complete system. So whether that's a or that's hunting, or even if that's just going out to to glass and scout,
00:24:17
Speaker
You know, i always, always have a tripod on me. I have a tripod that just lives in my truck, so I never forget it. Yeah, dude. um And then it's driving innovation from companies like Tracer, right? Like we have this new tripod that's going out with like all this stuff on there that are...
00:24:32
Speaker
you would need have thought of 10 years ago, but it's all just coming from like hearing what you guys are doing and like, Hey, we need to lock these legs out and Hey, we need to have weights in the legs to make it more stable. Right. And we have to like, and and like, honestly, where I'm getting a lot of that from is me just and shooting these matches as well and shooting PRS and doing stuff.
00:24:48
Speaker
Cause I'm learning like, there's so much more like, right now you think we're at the pinnacle and we're not like 10 years from now, like, no, try ball through so much better. Like, you know what I mean? And stuff will be, and guns will be so much better. Right. And like, it's just, I just hope in 10 years, I just hope in 10 years, we're not shooting laser beams and shit like that. I just hope we don't go We don't go to all like,
00:25:13
Speaker
Like I bought my kid a Burris. Seekins is building my kid at 6'5 Creedmo right now, my 11-year-old. Nice. And I bought him one of those – Burris gave me one of their scopes where you can like – the Velocitor where you can like just turn it and it tells you the range. Yeah, yeah.
00:25:26
Speaker
It doesn't range find for him. I didn't get one range finder. I got him to where you can just – I'll be like, I can tell him 300 yards. He can turn to 300 yards, right? Right. And he can just turn it. has Blisthix in it. Yeah. i know those are display in there yeah yep And I know those are legal and in NRL, right? They are right now.
00:25:40
Speaker
Yeah. We don't have, we don't have a ah regulation against any of that. As long as you make weight. Oh, you make weight. Yeah. I just wonder like where and we're we're going off topic building this brand. we don't want to get back to you, but like,
00:25:53
Speaker
where Where does technology cross the line with these some of these sports and what we're doing? Because it's getting so advanced. like The ballistics are getting so advanced. And the wind calls... i mean like You will see scopes that are pulling wind calls for you very soon.
00:26:06
Speaker
see when You're going to see scopes that are like have that are catching the wind, whether it be from just like just digitally catching trees moving or whatever. And like AI is going to be there. we're It's going to freaking just give you a dot and you pull the trigger and you hit that target. well It's coming. there There was that company. don't know you remember them. um Tracking point.
00:26:24
Speaker
you remember tracking point? You ever hear that system? So it was a rifle system that was primarily developed for the military where you're looking through a scope, but it basically, you it looked like were looking through a video game and you could hit a button on the side of the rifle and throw find a target and then hit that target with that button.
00:26:45
Speaker
And it would follow that, it would follow that object, whatever was moving that animal. And as you were, as you were following it you could pull the trigger and hit that animal at whatever distance, as long as you could, as long as you could hit it with that crosshair.
00:26:59
Speaker
Really? So it was literally a video game and it went into development. It was the whole nine yard. It was like a 15, $20,000 rifle. They had ARs, they had Vulcans. They had all kinds of different things for it.
00:27:10
Speaker
I don't know what happened. Um, They're not around anymore from what I understand, or maybe they're just redeveloping. I don't know, but they're they're not the big news like they were a few years back.
00:27:22
Speaker
But that technology is is there. And then if you look at what some of the military guys are using with with their lasers and their softwares and all that kind of stuff,
00:27:33
Speaker
Technology is... It's coming, bro. It's insane. It's coming. It's coming. And we don't need to go into this whole rabbit hole of like it ruining sport shooting sports or hunting because ah you know we can... To to each their own. You know what I mean? like I'm using OpenTite 3030 this year. I could use...
00:27:48
Speaker
A freaking custom rifle, dude. I mean, I've got guys on my rifles all the time. i'm like, no, I'm good. i don't need it right now You know what i mean? Like I got enough guns. Like I i just, yeah you choose what you want to shoot, right? And if you want to go out there and you want to shoot animals at a thousand yards, like by all means, go do it I mean, I took a poke at a freaking shoot at 84 yards yesterday day and I never thought I'd be doing that. But I mean, i just shoot so much now and I'm like, oh, done.
00:28:08
Speaker
Did frigging quartering two, put it right there by the shoulder and done. Yeah, that's the whole thing, man. If you're confident in in your skill set, you know that's that's what where your ethical limit lies.
Ethical Hunting Practices
00:28:21
Speaker
you know if If you've never shot your bow at 100 yards, you've never shot your rifle past 300 yards, Don't do it starting on an animal. Go get a target and and practice on a target. And that's kind of that whole theory with the NRL hunters. Like our maximum allowable range is a thousand yards.
00:28:38
Speaker
And the reason it's a thousand yards is not because we want to encourage people to shoot a thousand yards. It's we want people to understand that you can't hit a target that's not moving at a thousand yards.
00:28:49
Speaker
Why the heck would you try that on an animal? And in in our hunter, you're doing it off of a rock with a stick up your butt. So let's get back to it Let's get back to it. So now we've gotten to the point where you've done this. You're not competing. You are taking, you are almost becoming equal to this PRS series. I don't know about equal in that space, but you weren't really equal, right? There's still like the top dog in that space, that precision rifle space, but you're doing some, some pretty cool stuff now. It's like 2018, 2019. Yeah.
00:29:17
Speaker
PRS was always larger than as far as they had more matches. They had more members. they had they were They were the bigger organization for what we call race gun, for sure.
00:29:30
Speaker
um you know They were based out east. We were based out west. Out east, they had more matches. They have more people. Biggie and Puck, I told you, bro. it's suck it's it Literally, they just they had that market.
00:29:42
Speaker
But then you know five years ago, Um, I had a ah friend of mine, his name Scott Satterly and Scott was big into the PRS. Like he, he was one of the best in the PRS.
00:29:55
Speaker
Right. Um, he came and started helping me out with NRL Hunter or with NRL at that time. And he put on this one-off outlaw match and it was a loose format of what NRL Hunter is right now.
00:30:12
Speaker
And it sold out. And everybody that went to that match came back saying it was so much fun and this is what they want to do. And it was, you know, just, it was just an amazing event. And Scott is is an amazing match director. He's a great guy. Yeah.
00:30:26
Speaker
So Scott and I were literally with a couple of other friends sitting down at his house in Washington. And ah we were going to a regular NRL match, race gun match. And he's like, we we got to do this.
00:30:39
Speaker
But I don't want to, you know, Scott didn't want to create it. He wanted me to take what he had started and turn it into a series. Right. So I'm like, okay, Scott, and I know your match was a success, but i don't understand it fully.
00:30:54
Speaker
So let's break it down. So we literally got butcher paper out on his dining room table and we started just drawing and and making notes and and, you know, writing all this down.
00:31:05
Speaker
And we came to a conclusion that in order to make it a series, we had to change it just a little bit, not a lot, just a little bit. Right. And that year I made the announcement that the NRL Hunter was starting and the NRL race gun was going away.
00:31:24
Speaker
And for me, it was all Z bro. but all It was, it was a simple decision. Honestly, if you look at it at that time, there was an estimated 6,000 people that were shooting race gun matches. So that's PRS and are all, you know, the race gun, the 25 pound six dasher.
00:31:45
Speaker
There's 6,000 people in the United States. 6,000 people is not a lot. Right. Right. You look at the numbers back then and there was 11 or 13 million hunters in the United States.
00:31:58
Speaker
So even if I've got 10th of a percent of hunters, I'm still better off than if I got 100% of the race gun. of the race gun nope So why not put my energy there?
00:32:10
Speaker
Why not do something different than what the PRS is doing so that I don't have to deal with any of the animosity ah or or nonsense that had developed for the past, the the previous five years.
00:32:26
Speaker
And honestly, NRL Hunter format just made more sense to me. We all got into, you know, so Rich Edmonds, who was the the godfather, he created the PRS.
00:32:42
Speaker
He created the PRS originally with a bunch of his buddies that were all hunters so that they could become better hunters. They went out there and they were start shooting shit and they turned it into a match. Just a bunch of friends, you know, saying, I bet you I could do this. I bet you I could do that. Let's try this. Let's try that.
00:32:58
Speaker
And it turned into a series. And Rich did a phenomenal job. Well, it got away from that somehow. It got away from hunting. It got away from the practicality.
00:33:09
Speaker
It became a you know ah super heavy 25, 30 pound rifle with the smallest caliber, moving the fastest it could move and who could shoot the fastest, smallest targets at whatever distance.
00:33:22
Speaker
And that's great because that's how you find out who the best shooters in the world are. Now to the average guy, who the best shooter in the world is doesn't mean anything to me. I don't care.
00:33:34
Speaker
If you say, Hey, these are the best hunters for whatever, for this region, for the world, for whatever, and they can teach you how to hunt, well, that's useful to me.
00:33:46
Speaker
That excites me. Because now, if I need to go out and harvest an animal for my family to eat, if I need to go out and ah manage livestock, if I need to go out and do, or not livestock, but manage animals or do any of that type of stuff, I'm learning a skill set that makes me a better person.
00:34:06
Speaker
I'm not GI i Joe. I'm not a military dude. You know, military dudes, for the most part, don't engage people at those distances and they're not shooting half um MOA targets. They're, you know, their, their targets are much bigger.
00:34:19
Speaker
So now we develop a sport based upon a practical application in real world scenarios. A
NRL Hunter: Community and Accessibility
00:34:27
Speaker
blue collar shooting sport is what I would call it. blue collar shooting sport.
00:34:31
Speaker
Yeah. It's for everybody. It's the dudes that you would see in your deer camp are out there doing this together. And you know what? I have hunted every year with somebody from the NRL Hunter every year.
00:34:46
Speaker
You know, you're talking about your 30s, 30s. You know, I go to a lever gun hunt every year in Missouri and all we shoot is open sight lever guns. It's awesome. It's a ton of fun. i'm I'm horrible at it, but it's a ton of fun. yeah You know, i need to practice my open sight, you know, shooting. I'm going to spend some time before I go to Alaska. cause That's the other thing about filming this stuff, too, it is it's like you don't want to be that guy. So i got I'm going to spend some time shooting.
00:35:11
Speaker
Yeah. Really dial in. It's, I mean, open sight shooting and scope shooting are completely, completely different worlds. And my confidence, like scope shooting, I'm very confident in what I'm capable to do.
00:35:22
Speaker
In open sights, I'm like, I'm timid still. You know? i did it's Yeah, It's, it's hard. It's hard because like you have to like, the scope, it's just like you put the center of the X on the animal and pull the trigger. Like with this so open sight, like that thing is, you need to know like what height to put it inside of the the ghost ring, right?
00:35:40
Speaker
Or the back y you know the back sight. Like it's just, Yeah. Raise a skill set, dude. Like that would be, dude, I was going to tell you, that'd be dope match, bro. Let's do like some, uh, some open site 30, 30 matches, dude.
00:35:52
Speaker
A hundred yards and in find acquire and fire, dude. Open site 30, 30. Oh dude. Like that would be a fun match. That would be a we fun match, dude. Or even a, I mean, we talked about doing muzzle loaders.
00:36:05
Speaker
You're going to Luke over Arrowhead just crushing everybody with this 1,000-yard muzzleloader. That guy's built some sticks. Muzzleloader would be fun, dude. um you have Maybe he has to get three shots off in in the time frame or two shots off.
00:36:20
Speaker
yeah Yeah. I mean, so, you know, and and one of the big reasons we haven't done muzzleloader I've never shot muzzleloader. So I don't understand the capabilities of it. I have a ton of friends that have done it and they're like, it's, it's pretty simple, but dude I just have never done it yet. We need to get you with Luke and Arrowhead rifles and do maybe do a match with them. Cause they make the best muzzleloaders. And du we're talking like Luke would go and sell Cause like, dude, like no offense to NRL Hunter or PRS, but dude, like we are the biggest Q dorks in the world.
00:36:48
Speaker
And if there's a series, Like, dude, like, you know, for a fact, you guys are all by buying arrowhead rifles because they want to win, you know, it'd be fun. That'd be a really cool thing. Cause like we all shoot, like I shoot muzzleloaders every year now. I find a hunt tag go because it's a way to draw tag and like, dude, that's loaded. Like, dude, I shot a pig in Mexico this year. like trying to load and i'm like dropping crap on the ground and I'm like, I'm on video and I'm like, I think the thing came off my rod and I'm just like, ah, you know?
00:37:12
Speaker
I think I put it in. can't remember what I did. can't remember. I did something wrong, but like you just, yeah, dude, like that'd be really neat. Muzzlers would cool. But even like the opens, the lever action thing would be sick, dude. Like have a, have a station with like a fake horse you guys sit on or, know what I mean? Or even just like a, even just like, like a fake horse, like just like a pole with a saddle on You know what I mean? You've done that. I'm sure.
00:37:32
Speaker
We've done, we've done some cool stuff. Like, um, wash I think it was last year the year before we had a stage at our Arizona match where you had to put all of your gear that you were going to use on the stage inside of a bucket.
00:37:47
Speaker
And it had to weigh under a certain amount, just like you would pack your gear on a float plane. So it was like, okay, well, what are you going to take up to the stage? Because you can't carry all the stuff that you have in your pack.
00:37:58
Speaker
Right. We've had it where you've had to crawl through, crawl under a ah bar to, you know, replicate barbed wire. We're not putting real barbed wire out there. We don't need people getting their gear cut up or their backs cut up or whatever, you know? So we, we do different things in the stage design with the match directors who are super creative to try to emulate as much of a real world scenario as possible and not just create um,
00:38:24
Speaker
a gimmicky game, if that makes sense. Oh, dude, it's so like... going to get back to NRL Hunters. Now we've got... like converts I shoot both. I shoot PRS and I shoot out in NRL. I've been to two matches from NRL.
00:38:35
Speaker
um You can do a whole PRS match in 100 yards. NRL Hunter is like it along you're hiking you're doing these things it's all these weird positions and they're using the terrain there better than building obstacles are something they build but like mean one cool example would be like surge has a minivan they bought for like 500 bucks at the last match and like everyone's everyone's doing certain things like i literally climbed up on the roof and laid prone and it was like i ended up i' getting two hits on this moving target at like whatever it's like 600 yard 500 540 it was hard but like it was very hard it was freaking hard dude um yeah
00:39:08
Speaker
A lot of people zeroed that stage. Oh, dude. Yeah. I don't do that. That match was like 40 mile power wins. I did so terrible that match, dude Like it was so bad, but whatever. It was still fun. But like, and it's not like you go out there and you guys aren't like, oh it's raining.
00:39:21
Speaker
right, see you later, guys. Nope, you're like, it's raining. Well, the deer is still moving. Your tag is only good for five days. You got to hunt it. You know what mean? Hey, thats it's literally, we were in 40, 50 mile per hour gusts. The porta potties blew over, you guys. listen The porta potties blew over this event in camp.
00:39:36
Speaker
And that's how windy it was. And we're out there shooting bullets out to 900 yards, you know, at targets, right? And an unknown ranges, finding them and doing that stuff. And it was really cool. i mean, there's your eyes. i had sand in my eyes for days after that match. It was really cool.
00:39:48
Speaker
So anyways, go ahead. good I going say, you know, obviously you're not going to shoot an animal in the real world in 40, 50 mile per hour winds. But if you can do it in those conditions, you know that in a 10 mile per hour wind, you know how to handle yourself. Oh, dude. It makes my 300 yard shots so much easier because I'm typically like a trisander a quarter a mile, 420 yards. Like it makes those shots chip shots.
00:40:10
Speaker
And that's the point is just to build your confidence so that whatever position you're in and and whatever distance that you're you know, that you're confident in that you can execute properly. i mean, that's, That's it. I don't care. Like i have a threshold of of between five and 600 yards is kind of my threshold. But when I'm practicing for my hunting season, I shoot at a thousand yards yeah because if I can hit that thousand yard target 10 out of 10 times, then that five or 600 yard shot is going to theoretically be easier for me.
00:40:40
Speaker
Of course, conditions you know dictate whether the shot's going to be taken or not. But you you practice to the extremes so that the norm becomes easy. All right, dude. So now you are sitting in Washington. You have butchered paper on the table. You are drawing out what is now going to be the NRL Hunter Series. You've made the announcement.
00:40:57
Speaker
We are no longer NRL Precision Shooting. We are in al Hunter. And... and it, and I was looking in, this thing became wildfire. Everyone knows, in even if they haven't shot it, they know what internal hunter is now.
00:41:11
Speaker
It's some, they know somebody who's shooting it. And this is my industry, in my space, in the hunting industry. Like I know someone at every company who's doing it. People want to do it. Like I was hanging out with Brady Miller a couple weeks ago. I got young message with him and I'm like, he's like, yeah, i want to do it. I want to try it. You know what i mean?
00:41:25
Speaker
um so what happens? You, you, you, you open the series up. What happens? we We opened the series up. we only I forget how many matches we had the first year, but it was under 10. um It was just ah a small you know a small series, but we have a shorter so a shorter time frame. So our series runs from January, and our Grand Slam, our championship, is the second week of August.
00:41:48
Speaker
And we designed it that way because we want people to be able to go out and hunt, use the skill sets that you learned at the first half of the year to go out and apply them. So we had less than 10 matches the first year I think it was eight.
00:42:01
Speaker
um You know, they're doing well. They're they're picking up. you know I don't know that we had any sold out matches, but all of the matches had decent attendance. And from there, it just started compounding.
00:42:14
Speaker
I mean, the next year we added, i think every year we add, we've added between six or 10 matches every year. um including up to this year. you know This year we have we had scheduled 32 matches. We had one dropout just because the match director got a new job, blah, blah, blah, whatever. So we have 31 matches.
00:42:36
Speaker
um 31 matches in essentially a six-week time period because we have one match in January, but then we have SHOT Show and Trade Show season. Um, so our matches really get busy starting towards the end of February all the way through until, uh, July, ah beginning of July for the whole month of July, we have no matches because we use that month to get out invitations for the grand slam. And then we have one match in August.
00:43:05
Speaker
So from February to July, we have 31 matches. And this year, all of the matches either sold out or they didn't sell out by like one or two people.
00:43:16
Speaker
So every single one of our matches is completely full. Which is 200 competitors. right It's going to be anywhere between 120 to 180 competitors. pay all the same um And then staff and so on and so forth.
00:43:32
Speaker
Gotcha. Yeah. Okay. So it's, um, it's It's crazy. I mean, literally, people that were shooting the first matches with us you know back in the day are calling me up saying, hey, can you get me into this match? It sold out before i had a chance to get in. you know and And we tell people our complete schedule in October, the year prior.
00:43:55
Speaker
We tell people when we're going open up the matches a year prior. I mean, not a year prior, but the year prior. So like in December, we tell everybody, hey, these are when these matches are opening up. And they're still, you know, selling out before people can, can get in. So we're, we're truly blessed right now.
00:44:12
Speaker
That's awesome, dude. God's good, bro. Okay. So now we've established this brand. You've built this awesome thing. The thing is like, it is nowhere near where it's going, which is really neat to see. Like this thing is going bigger for sure. There's other, we've talked to before on this podcast about doing like one day things, doing trainings, doing like these skill sets, but dude, I'm not going to lie to you.
00:44:31
Speaker
The average dude It's intimidating and we're scared about to do it. Like we don't, we don't have to nail North for a rifle. Like what do we do? It is. and And it's not just the the average guy. There's a lot of quote unquote hunting celebrities that don't want to shoot our matches because they don't want to be they don't want his They don't want their skill set to be seen in public, so to speak. No, dude, trust me, dude.
00:44:57
Speaker
I'm out here, and I've got some of these guys on the internet that aren't really big fans of me right now, just talking about crap on me online and stuff. And I'm like, bro, I'm just a... For me, though, I don't care, right? I tell people all the time, I am not a great shot.
00:45:09
Speaker
I am not a great hunter, but I love it just as much as everyone else. I had, dude, I have just as much fun in a hunter match as the guy who's shooting a one 50, right? Like, yeah I just love it. And like, it got to go and do it get that skill set. And like, it's only going to make you better.
00:45:23
Speaker
Right. So like, screw that man. Like I post my misses. I do that stuff. Cause like, want people able to know, like I'm just out there having a good time. Like I build really freaking good tripods, really good bipod. That's it. Other than that, like I'm just out there having, living the dream and having fun, man. Yeah.
00:45:36
Speaker
so And that's all it's about. You know, like if you look at my scores, I'm not one of the best shooters in the world by any means. I i'm i am at best a mid pack shooter, but I know what I'm capable of and how to implement what I know in a hunting scenario.
00:45:51
Speaker
So I'm able to put down, you know, I'm able to to so take what I learned from these competitions and put me in my freezer and feed my family.
00:46:02
Speaker
So to me, that's a win. Yeah, the hard thing is, and I know like like my local club does an NRL match every once in instead of a PRS match. you know, down here San Diego, Surge and those guys. yeah They do some like local small stuff.
00:46:14
Speaker
It's hard when there's only one match, though. but um So let's talk rifles, right? Let's what's get let's get into gear, right? like In my opinion, and tell me I'm wrong, all you need is... your hunting rifle with some sort of ballistics dial on it.
00:46:28
Speaker
Right.
Fostering an Inclusive Hunting Community
00:46:29
Speaker
As long as you can say, you don't want like your old, you want to be able turn your dial up so you can dial ranges, a range finder, a dope chart, some binoculars, and you can go out and do all these matches. Yeah. And we'll figure it out. And honestly, we'll probably loan you gear when you're out there with us.
00:46:42
Speaker
Yeah. If you need gear. I mean, if I'm driving to a match, I always have gear on me. If I'm flying to a match, the match director usually has extra gear. Yeah. Um, the r ROs shoot the day before the regular competitors. So there's always gear there.
00:46:57
Speaker
And our community is so forthcoming with, if you need something, it you know, it could be, i'd literally have seen guys take triggers out of their rifle to give to somebody because their trigger went down.
00:47:09
Speaker
I shot with that guy. I shot the guy last, the last match it happened. Yeah. When search took the trigger out of his rifle and gave it to gosh, guy who nice guy who goes he goes to church, he goes to church with me in search game. Search game is he's like, yeah, he had this true this trigger and like the thing freaking when it goes, it goes, I guess.
00:47:26
Speaker
But yeah, yeah and and I'm not by no means I don't think I'm knocking PRS. I shoot PRS as well. It's just the same kind of community. Like, it's like, dude, like you show up and they're like oh, borrow my thing. Like I'm, if you're shooting with me, I'm like, you want borrow my rear bag?
00:47:39
Speaker
You want to borrow my tripod? You want to do this stuff? Like I, like everyone's out there trying to like, the cool thing about PRS and NRL is like, you're only competing with yourself. So no one's like trying to hinder you to like not shoot good. I i don't know. Maybe there are guys at the top, top level that might do that to each other. I don't know.
00:47:53
Speaker
but like, I don't think anyone's out there like, Hey man, I don't want to help you. Cause don't want you to shoot well in this round. Like we want to hear impact when you shoot. You know what i mean? we want you having fun and doing it. And like, I'm going to have my kids start shooting with me. You know what I mean Like I'll go up there with them.
00:48:07
Speaker
and And one thing I've noticed too is like my father-in-law is 76 years old. um He got dumped on too, which pissed me off. But anyways, he's 76 years old. was shooting these matches with us. And I'd just be like, okay, he just so you know, he's not going to do that position.
00:48:20
Speaker
He's just going sit here on the tripod and shoot. yeah right just and And it's like he's in the skills position skills the anyways. And who cares? You know what I mean? Like he's shooting, he's getting his stuff in there. I'll tell you what, dude, that guy is going to shoot a public land bull this year in uh, November in Arizona. Oh yeah.
00:48:37
Speaker
He's got to do a public land at 76 years old, dude. Everyone out there i can suck an egg, dude. This guy's to out there and get it done. du That's awesome. And our owners can help him with that. And PRS can help with that. Cause we're doing these things. We're learning positions. We're learning like, Hey, your good position is seated with the tripod with a rear tripod support. And he's very stable.
00:48:53
Speaker
He can't get praise a hard time getting prone, very hard time. getting front But I'll tell you what, if we can get him seated with a tripod, I can stretch him out with a sturdy nosler. ah to some pretty, you know, I'm not going to past like 600 yards, but I can get them in that range very easily, very stable to make that shot.
00:49:08
Speaker
We've proven it. We've been doing, we do a lot. We're doing training courses together. We'll be shooting on weekends. And like NRL really opened my eyes to that in these different positions, you know, and it's, it's, and that's the point, you know, figure out, figure out what works best for you. Like, you know, traditionally we're talking about precision rifle, uh,
00:49:24
Speaker
prone is going to be the most stable position that you can get in. And there's no arguing that, but that's true. If your body allows you to get in prone, Right.
00:49:36
Speaker
I have a jacked up back. I got a broken collarbone from when I was a kid. So my shoulders sit different. I am traditionally more accurate off of a tripod in a kneeling position than I am prone.
00:49:51
Speaker
Really? Absolutely. And I'm more confident off of a tripod than I am shooting prone. And my rifle is set up for me to shoot off off of a tripod, not prone.
00:50:02
Speaker
Oh, gosh. Wait you get that Pricer X, bro. You're going to just be killed. right Nothing's safe. And and it's it took me like... three years to figure it out. Right? And so my my friend, ah Phil Vallejo, who was a scout sniper, he does training, he does all this. he He's just a phenomenal person, big time hunter, the whole nine yards.
00:50:22
Speaker
You know, we were sitting at my house and got me into a position in traditional prone. And he's like, dude, your body is all jacked up. You know, it's not in the right positions.
00:50:34
Speaker
And like, I can't go into the position you're asking me to get into. And then we went to the range and that and we were working on tripod stuff. And he's like showing me different ways to get in the tripod position. And i went into a kneeling position and i was way more accurate than I was in the prone positions.
00:50:50
Speaker
And he's like, that's what you just got to do, bro. that's where he That's where your body is telling you that you are the most stable. And that's what comes from doing these PRS NRL matches and learning that stuff is get out there and do it, man.
00:51:02
Speaker
And ah my my point is, is that you don't have to go out, you guys. Like a lot of people get excited, right? It's like you it's like you you draw a bull tag and you go buy $12,000 gear. You don't need to do that. The rifle you have in your no your case does it.
00:51:15
Speaker
you can go out and shoot these matches with a Ruger American with a Vortex Viper on it and go out and have a great time. Hit a lot of targets. That was the most accurate gun. No, but you could do it all day long. Like I've, you know, you can develop a load for it. Have me pretty accurate, but I'm shooting factory ammo right now to my six, five crew mark. I'm going to reload.
00:51:32
Speaker
Right. And dude there's like, to your point, there was a gentleman in Wisconsin, a match I just came back from, shooting a Woodstock. I think he was shooting a.30-06. I think it was.
00:51:43
Speaker
But it was a Woodstock, no bipod, leather sling, and had, I don't even know what scope it was, but it was an old scope, like tiny old scope. And he was hitting, engaging targets at 900 yards with it.
00:51:59
Speaker
It's red. And I was like, You don't need, you know, and our sponsors, you know, they they all make great rifles, right? But you don't need to go out and buy something for this until you've done it and you understand what you need, right?
00:52:14
Speaker
If you use this as an excuse to to go buy something and you have that cash flow, great. You know, um go for it, but it's not necessary. You can do it with pretty much whatever you've got in safe. The modern hunter...
00:52:29
Speaker
The modern hunter has everything he needs to do this. I can tell you right now. If you are going to go on a backpack, you're going on a backpack hunt, you've got everything you need. If you're one of those guys, like you have a range finder, you have binal harness, you probably probably'll pay a tripod already, right? You're probably glassing.
00:52:44
Speaker
um Like my buddy I shot with, he used my tricer AD in an LP. He did fine. that No, he was fine. He could shoot off it. Like it doesn't matter. Yeah. And these scores don't matter, man. And it's going to teach you, like, sometimes you're like, oh, maybe I can't shoot standing up off an AD with a center column fully extended at 700 yards. i Maybe that's a little bit unstable.
00:53:02
Speaker
Like, you'll learn that before you get out there, right? And it's just, it's such a cool way to do it. And the community, Travis, like, I really love the NRL community. and the guys that are out there. And it's just like, it's just such a neat thing you're doing for the sport and for, for hunting.
00:53:16
Speaker
Right. It's really is like opening my eyes to different positions, which is nice. Like I'm like bringing a ladder to the range. Now when i go to the range, and you have a ladder. I mean, I'm doing things. I go to, go show off a bench at power weapons and gear. I buy a bus between us.
00:53:29
Speaker
I shoot off of the bench. in a, in a leaning position, not off of a chair. Like I'm sitting like, I'm taking the chair, I'm sitting on the chair and I'm kneeling on the chair, sitting off the back of the chair, like with a bag, like it's just, it really opens your eyes, like real world shooting. And you guys have just crushed it in that space.
00:53:45
Speaker
Well, I appreciate that. Thank you. and We still, we're still growing. We're still learning and and changing
Future of NRL Hunter
00:53:50
Speaker
things. And, you know, it's,
00:53:54
Speaker
if If we can make people better ethical hunters, more successful in the field, and are most importantly, our kids can learn that skill set yeah and we can continue to pass that on, then ah late nights and early mornings and hundreds of thousands of miles I've put on my body in the past couple of years, well worth it.
00:54:14
Speaker
That's awesome, dude. Hey, so we always like to kind of wrap up with a hunting story. So, uh, since you are the NRL hunter guy, doesn't have to be the biggest story. It could be a freaking gopher. I don't care what it is. Uh, it gives us a hunting story, dude.
00:54:29
Speaker
Campfire story. Uh,
Memorable Hunting Experiences
00:54:31
Speaker
campfire story. Okay. Um,
00:54:37
Speaker
so I'll give you one that this is the first one that, that just now popped in the head of in my mind. Okay. Um, We have a ah division of NRO Hunter in South Africa. And we went over there the first year. They put a prize on the table and ah for a safari hunt. And our buddy, Rusty Omer, won that hunt and took his boy out there with our friend Paul Dallin.
00:55:01
Speaker
And he took his boys out there. I went out there to film. um And it was one of the most magic. And I'm telling the story too. It's perfect because you're going to South Africa here pretty soon. Like in a month. Yeah.
00:55:12
Speaker
With my son. and i'm Perfect. yeah Yeah. Perfect. Right. In South Africa, you know, a lot of people are are afraid of South Africa because you hear horror stories of it. Limpopo is not that safe.
00:55:23
Speaker
um But I'm sorry. Limpopo is great, but Johannesburg is not that safe. So on and so forth. But if you're smart and you're careful, you're great. So we went out there and the ah the owner basically it had convinced me that he wanted me to hunt. right And my whole theory is is I don't like to hunt things unless I'm going to eat them.
00:55:45
Speaker
And he had explained to me that whatever we shot that day, his his mom was going to cook for us the following couple of nights. And I was like, okay, well, if we're going to eat it, then yeah, you know, I'll let Rusty and Paul and them who are spending, you know, a ton of money on getting their kids out there, let them do their thing. and when there's an opportunity for me to do something, I will.
00:56:06
Speaker
So everybody is having a great time. Everybody talks about their longest shot with a rifle. Okay. Yeah. So in this particular instance, we're going out and we're hunting for Impala.
00:56:20
Speaker
And this is at Red Sand Safaris. And I'm with one of their guys. I think his name was Neil. I don't want to say it correctly. Are using his rifle? I'm using... Whose rifle was I using?
00:56:32
Speaker
i was using somebody's rifle. It wasn't mine. I didn't bring a you bring a gun. Yeah, you bring a gun. I brought camera gear. I'm doing the same thing. I'm using somebody else's gun when I go over there because everyone's guns over his pan the butt. So...
00:56:44
Speaker
we're We're in this thicket and we hear what we believe is Impala on the opposite side. We're on this side on the road and we're literally pacing them down this pathway. there And we keep getting glimpses of animals moving through the brush.
00:56:57
Speaker
And we're just, there's three of us or four of us and we're just walking. He knows this area like the back of his hand. He's like, we're coming up to a road that's going to cross. So when we get out there, and I was on my tripod and a rear bag that he made. They made a game changer rear bag out of a warthog, warthog skin.
00:57:17
Speaker
that's And i was like, and I got to keep it, and which was freaking awesome. Dude, just freaking threw away a a sheep hide yesterday. If I kill another sheep, I'm going to keep the hide and make a rear bag. That's a freaking rad idea, dude.
00:57:30
Speaker
Yeah. right so It's so, but I mean, it's like one of my favorite things, right? yeah So he's like, okay, when we get out, you're just going to come to the the edge of where the bush is and that road, and you're going set up and you're going stay on that rifle until I tell you.
00:57:45
Speaker
So we had probably followed these antelope or these Impala rather for a good mile, right? We get to the road.
00:57:55
Speaker
I get set up. And I'm behind my rifle. and I'm looking through my scope. And I'm just waiting. He's like, they're coming, right? Because he can hear them. He knows what's going on. He's like, they're coming. They're going to break this this line here pretty quick. when you When I tell you to shoot, you shoot.
00:58:13
Speaker
I'm like, okay, I just have complete faith in this guy, right? I have no idea what the hell I'm doing. I'm set up. I'm looking through my scope. All of a sudden, he yells, shoot. All I saw was brown in my optics.
00:58:26
Speaker
That's all I saw, right? I shot, shot this Impala. Perfect. Right through, straight through the heart, the pinwheel this Impala at 25 yards. That's awesome, dude.
00:58:37
Speaker
I could not see anything else just because ah he was so close to me and I was like on a a three power or whatever optic, right? And that in my optic was probably set somewhere closer to like eight or 10 because I was not expecting him to come out that close to us. Mm-hmm.
00:58:56
Speaker
And so literally he's like, shoot. And I shot and I had no idea, like probably not the smartest thing to do, but you trust your guide when you're there. And I saw Brown. So he's like, shoot. So I shot and dropped that Impala just basically at my feet.
00:59:12
Speaker
That's right. And you know, everybody's like, what's the farthest you've ever shot? Well, I know what it is, but my best story is I shot something at 25 yards. Dude. I, uh, so I similarly shot a mule deer at 20 yards this year.
00:59:27
Speaker
um I was from a stock on with 500 yards away. I looked down. He's right below me. I shot him. It's on film. I can see the film and all I can see, I shot off hand because I was like ready to shut up my knees. and I was like, Oh my gosh, he's right below me.
00:59:38
Speaker
And all I could see was deer. like and I was like, at three I was like, pick one and I was like, Oh crap. And I shot him. Like all I could see is this like shoulder. And like, they kind of, and I just pulled trigger shot of, and ah that's way cooler to me, dude. Then like,
00:59:51
Speaker
laying down on ah a flat rock and over a Savannah and waiting for the scenes to step out 800 yards and then getting wind calls and, you know, doing it like that's a cool story. And that's rad, dude. And I'm excited to go to Africa. i was, I'm similar to you. I've never wanted to go just to kill stuff. Um, we're going down there to film a series with like mountain ops and peaks, peaks and a bunch of other brands. Um,
01:00:15
Speaker
just to bring awareness to what hunting does for the community. We're going to do some outreach work as well in the community and all the meat's going to get eaten. So I'm going down there doing it. Like I'm not the biggest guy that likes to post these things like, Oh, we're doing this to give food to the community. Like we're doing, cause we love to hunt stuff. Right. But, right um,
01:00:33
Speaker
But if you can do good while you're down there, why not? Oh, yeah. The mission stuff is great. Yeah. I'm just saying like lot of guys go on there, shoot a giraffe and they're posting these videos about how much pet people it's going to feed. and It's like, you just want to kill a giraffe, whatever. I'm not mocking you. Kill a giraffe. I'm all about it. You know what i mean? But don't pretend you did it just so you can go feed some frigging starving Africans.
01:00:48
Speaker
You know what mean? We're doing like to go hunting. But, uh, I'm excited to go over there and do it. excited You've got me excited about it. And now I tried to get you to go, but you couldn't make it on the strip, man. It was really sucks. Cause I want to go back. Cause it was, I mean, such an awesome adventure, but it's in the middle of my, of art match. Oh, you're serious, dude. I know. Yeah. It's just tough.
01:01:08
Speaker
I know, bro. But ah dude, Travis, man, I'm so happy to have you all
Fishing Trip Planning and Social Media
01:01:13
Speaker
on the podcast. So happy to become friends with you and get to know you. i then we're going to do some fishing together here in a couple of months. We're going to Mexico together and just go slay some tuna and some ahi stuff. But bro, man, if you are not following InterlHunter on Instagram, go follow him. I think that YouTube is about InterlHunter as well.
01:01:28
Speaker
ah ah the YouTube is National Rifle League. So we just kept it the same from when we first started, but it's National Rifle League. Okay. And then also InterlHunter.com? .org..com, but it's.org, yeah.
01:01:41
Speaker
NRL100.org. Go find them. Go follow them. And go shoot a match. If you guys interested in doing a match, message message Travis on Instagram. I'm sure they'll get back to you. theyre you know i think Him and his wife are running this thing still, do just like Tracer.
01:01:53
Speaker
They'll get back to you. Go find a local – the best thing I can is message them, and they'll probably tell you a local club you can go start shooting at beforehand and go do stuff with them. and doing like you know like My local club is doing NRL100 trainings all the time. um Just out there and do it and get to know it and learn the sport, and you'll be better at 100 behinds of it.
01:02:10
Speaker
um Travis, what you're doing is foundational for our sport and I'm proud of what you're doing and I'm stoked to be your friend, man. Absolutely, man. I really appreciate i'm glad that we hooked up this year and and, that we're becoming better friends and, and I really appreciate all the ingenuity and, and everything that you bring to the sport and the opportunities that you're providing for everybody to, to have awesome gear and affordable price.
Betting on Baja Fishing
01:02:34
Speaker
um And it's just, I mean, it's just, Fantastic. I mean, it just makes sense, right? so Thanks, bro. I appreciate it We should put on the air right now, Travis. rig it off.
01:02:47
Speaker
Who's catching the bigger Yelotel and Baja in July? Me or Yelotel? shit. yeah ah Oh, I'm going with Travis. I'm going with Travis. I'll put it on right now. If I win, we got to do something. don't know. We'll figure some kind of bet out for that. We'll have to figure out a wager for sure. But last time I made that bet, my wife kicked my ass and she she landed a bigger yellowtail than I did. And your wife's tiny, bro.
01:03:12
Speaker
Yeah, she's like I mean 5'10". She's like five foot one and 110 pounds. Oh, dude, she's dying. I met your wife. I'm like, you are small. So she's like going to the side of the boat, dude, just freaking raking these big old slob tunas. She did like three or four laps around the boat with that fish on on her line. it was It was fun to watch. But every time I make a bet about fishing, I always lose.
01:03:32
Speaker
So that that's why I've got a little PTSD about it. But let's do it. yeah I'm tony i now, we're going have a good time. I'm bringing down, we're bringing Bodosciples guys, the Grady guys. Like we're going to have a hoot of a time in Mexico for like four or five days in
Podcast Conclusion and Sign-off
01:03:45
Speaker
July. So Travis, man, appreciate you.
01:03:47
Speaker
Let's do another pod sometime soon, bro. Absolutely. Let's do it again, buddy. Sounds good. I appreciate it. You guys enjoy Hawaii. Send my ah hellos and loves to the family. And i can't wait to hear stories when you get back.
01:03:58
Speaker
I will. Thank you for listening to the Tricer podcast. Do us a favor and like and subscribe on whatever platform you're listening on. Give us a follow on Instagram and Facebook at TricerUSA and go and check out all of our innovative gear at www.tricerusa.com.
01:04:15
Speaker
Until next time, shoot straight, have fun, and always put God first.