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Backcountry Bulls & Barbary Sheep: Wild Hunts with Gaven Swinson
110 Plays1 day ago
In this episode of the Tricer Podcast, Drew Miles welcomes back two-time guest Gaven Swinson of Gila Monster Outdoors for a deep dive into their latest adventures across New Mexico. From hiking 10 miles into rugged country in pursuit of big bulls to youth mule deer hunts and unforgettable barbary sheep experiences, this conversation is loaded with real DIY public-land stories.
Drew and Gaven break down the highs and lows of going deep into the wilderness, how their strategies have evolved, and the gear and calling tactics that made a difference this season. They also talk about the challenges of filming hunts in tough terrain, the humorous frustrations of social media, and the camaraderie that makes time in the field so meaningful.
Whether you’re a seasoned hunter or just love a good adventure, this episode captures the grit, passion, and joy of chasing big game in the West. Be sure to subscribe to Gila Monster Outdoors to follow along with all their upcoming hunts and films.
GAVEN SWINSON – GILA MONSTER OUTDOORS
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TRICER USA
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YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@tricer6985
#tricer #tricerpodcast #gilamonsteroutdoors #westernhunting #newmexicohunting #elkhunting #muledeerhunting #barbarysheep #outofstatehunter #publiclandhunting #backcountryhunting #diyhunter #huntingstories #huntfilm #huntinglife #huntinggear #opticsgear #onfootadventures #gohunt #gilariver #huntingcommunity #madeforthemountain
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Transcript
Tricer's Black Friday Sale Announcement
00:00:00
Speaker
well What's up everyone? I want to encourage you to head over to tricer.com November 21st to December 1st for our massive Black Friday sale where the entire site will be discounted. Our ip RP bipod is 10% off.
00:00:11
Speaker
All Tricer BC and BC glassy kits with the BC in it are 30% off. The biggest discount we've ever given. And everything else on the site is 20% off, including but not limited to our 80 tripods, all of our glassing tripods, shooting tripods like our X-Series and HK kits. This is by far our biggest sale of the year.
00:00:29
Speaker
Don't wait and load up on it while supplies last. This Black Friday is sale lasts from November 21st to December 1st at tricer.com. All right.
Gavin Swinson on Recent Hunting Experiences
00:00:38
Speaker
I think Gavin might be one of my first two-time guests. might have a couple of you guys have done it twice, but Gavin's been on here before. he is a friend of the show. He also...
00:00:50
Speaker
So Gavin how you doing?
00:00:59
Speaker
but mued your last month in new mexico but ah gavin film that as well and that would be on the spring um so gavin swinson with ah heathen wall outdoors dude how you doing Doing great. Getting towards the end of our season. Had a lot of hunts this year. Got a couple more left and starting to run out of gas in the tank, to be honest with you. I'm getting a little tired at this point in the year, but it's been good. We've had a lot of success this year, so I'm super excited about it.
00:01:26
Speaker
Oh, dude, we got to go. I mean, like me and you text a lot. Like we're definitely friends and like, like you, you're definitely like outpacing me on killing cool stuff. And yeah I mean, like you got like a stud freaking antelope. That was this year, right?
Successful Hunts and Upcoming Content
00:01:40
Speaker
That was last year. Yeah. We did kill an antelope with the bow hitch this year. So ah yeah you got an antelope, you got a bomber bull. That is a bomber bull. You did get a odd ad sheep, a really good odd ad. I think the bases are like touching. ah You've got, you just killed another bull with a bow hitch. I mean, you've been ah going good, man. it's it's It's been a run for sure this year.
00:02:03
Speaker
Yeah, trying to. It's been one of the better years that we've had. We have a lot of content to push out this year. So I think we'll have some great videos to put out once we slow down, have some time to work on them. So I'm excited.
Creating Authentic Hunting Content
00:02:14
Speaker
Yeah. I love watching guys' this stuff. I always tell my team because we're filming all of our hunts now, right? And like we're even filming like, like we feel just feel like Luke Dusenberry's bull honey killed a bull. Right. And like,
00:02:26
Speaker
What I like about you guys, and don't take this wrong way, it's very similar to Tracer, is it's just like normal dudes that love hunting. right like You're not trying to be you know receiver Steven You're not trying to overdo like how badass you are. You're just like out there doing it. and That's what I tell my team all the time. and like I want my hunt films just to be normal people who love hunting just as much as Rinella does, or maybe not as good.
00:02:55
Speaker
Oh yeah. I
Deep Wilderness Elk Hunting Strategy
00:02:56
Speaker
mean, it's just the truth. If I had as much time as that guy to hunt, I mean, we'd probably have some really cool content and and kill some hammer animals, but we're just like everybody else out there having fun, enjoying it and capturing memories. That's what I like to say.
00:03:10
Speaker
You're killing some hammers, dude. you're kill You got to stop with this whole like, Oh, I don't know what I'm doing thing. Cause you're getting, you're getting up there on the elk, uh, The elk killing list, dude, being a New Mexico resident, you really, I don't want, what we're not going to say where you're hunting in New Mexico.
00:03:25
Speaker
Okay. I don't want to blow this foot because I'm trying to draw this tag, dude, every year. and the odds are only like 2%. I don't want to talk about where you're hunting. Um, cause I've been trying to draw it for 10 years and I haven't drawn it yet. But, um, let's get into that bull hunt. Cause like you guys are doing something unique, meaning you guys are really dumb.
00:03:43
Speaker
And you're willing to just go far. And you guys are killing bomber bulls, dude. Every year you're going past the horse camps and you're going in on foot and you're killing elk, dude.
00:03:56
Speaker
Talk about your strategy. Cause originally when you first started hunting elk and you're kind of sitting water, I know that like, and now you guys have kind of got this figured out where you guys are going into some wilderness and going in deep in New Mexico and killing some bombers.
00:04:08
Speaker
I mean, you look at the country on the map or even driving by it, it's ugly. No one wants to be in there. And when you see that, you're like, yeah, they're not getting horses back there either. And so like being as dumb as I am, I'm like, well, I want to go back there and go check it out and see. And lo and behold, this, I think three or four years ago now, we actually glassed up some nice bulls back there.
00:04:30
Speaker
And so we went in for the first time last year, drew the tag and pulled out a phenomenal bull. And so kind of figured out where they were at last year. And this year we decided we were going to do it again, but probably go in even deeper this year. And so now what is, what is deeper? okay which i want i want people to hear the, how many miles are you hiking in on foot?
00:04:49
Speaker
He, the monster outdoors. 10 miles from the trailhead is about how far we get in on foot. 10 miles, 20 miles round trip to get a bull out. Okay. Okay.
00:05:00
Speaker
just me and one other guy off trail. Like we're on trail probably 50% of the time. And then after that, it's just, we're trying to find the easiest way to get around at that point. But it's working.
00:05:11
Speaker
It is. I mean, we're seeing tons of elk. um It's not even just that. I think my favorite part about it is we're all alone. Once you get in that deep, or in that kind of country, you have no one else out there that can mess up your hunt. So you can enjoy it.
00:05:26
Speaker
It's great. If you pull a bull up, go a Canyon over and there's going to be more in there. I mean, you can enjoy it and have a fun. You just have to get back there. That's the,
Using Donkeys for Hunting Trips
00:05:34
Speaker
that's the worst part of it all. Yeah. And well, the worst part of it all is when you actually kill one, you got to bring them out of there. I would, I would argue, would argue that cause I've done my worst elk pack was like eight and a half miles out of the Frank. And it was, my body is still not the same.
00:05:49
Speaker
Yeah. um I know what it's like to come out of a mountain to the pack like that. um So yes, you guys decided like we're going start going really deep and you're not like, I still don't know why you don't, mean, you guys have farmland and stuff. I don't know why you don't have, why don't you have pack animals yet? Why are you guys not getting donkeys?
00:06:04
Speaker
We use them. i think the first time we really went in deep was three years ago. My dad and uncle drew that hunt. And when we went back there, we had two mules and they worked great for packing our gear and it was awesome.
00:06:17
Speaker
But um the hunt wasn't going so great. We weren't seeing a lot of elk. It was the first archery hunt. So it was really slow. And my dad wanted to come out midway through the hunt and just go back in later on the last couple of days when they should have started bugling.
00:06:32
Speaker
And on the way out, he got bucked off of the mule, got impaled by a tree branch. And it was just a train wreck of stuff that could happen. And then last year when we went back in there, someone got trampled by a horse on the trail and had to get airlifted out. So after hearing some of those stories and experiencing them, it's just something that I didn't want to deal with. I didn't want to spend all this time getting ready, hiking in there, you know, doing what I love and then have an animal ruin that hunt for me.
00:06:58
Speaker
So that's kind of why we're doing it on foot right now. And it saves you a bunch of money. Horses are expensive. Mules are expensive. And it's a lot of upkeep. Dude, they're not. Let me tell you why. Donkeys.
00:07:09
Speaker
Have you listened to the podcast today with the donkey guy from New Mexico who races donkeys? Yeah. You did this to that one? Yeah. You could get, so the government pays, and I want someone to do this. Like I'm, I'm going to at some point, like if I ever slow down, the problem is just gone too much. I travel the world too much. It's hard for me to have, like if I went got donkeys, my wife would probably shoot me. Like she's pretty awesome. But if I like stuck her with some stock, I'm like, Hey, raise this stock for me. So i can take it out a couple of years. Like I'll probably have rent them. So anyways, the government will pay.
00:07:39
Speaker
one thousand They pay this agency $1,000 to like trailer train, pannier train, and like rope train these donkeys, whatever that is. I don't know. And then they sell those donkeys for 200 bucks a piece or two for 300. Dude.
00:07:57
Speaker
dude That might be a way to get into it. you Dude, $300, you have two donkeys. mean, I probably shouldn't say this on here because they're right here, but like, dude, if you don't like them, shoot the in the head and leave it out there. know I mean? Like, I know not to that. You're supposed to bring them out. But whatever, drag them back out with you. Like, $300, dude. And guy swears them.
00:08:14
Speaker
and this guy swears by um ah He's like, dude, three – because I know like Livesey is big on like llamas. They're like $16,000. You're from $8,000 to $16,000 a piece now to go buy one from Bobadey or from Mark Livesey to buy these llamas. Dude, you can go get two donkeys, like bur wild burrow donkeys that see all over New Mexico and Arizona and Nevada. It's California.
00:08:35
Speaker
For $300, dude, put some panniers on those things. You're in donkeys for like less than $1,000 and you're out there. yeah I mean, the most expensive part is going panniers. I think you can get them for like not that much, $500, something like that. You can find them used anywhere, honestly.
00:08:48
Speaker
Yeah. And then now you've two donkeys. And that's the crazy thing like – Those, that's the same price as like those bread pack goats and it's going to carry more weight than those bread pack goats will carry. Dude, they carry so much weight, dude. And they're like, they're really hard to kill. I mean, those things live in 120 degree Arizona heat all year long and they live and they're very healthy too. Cause they just, they've just been, you know, living there forever. So like, it's a phenomenal, it's like the best kept secret and in stock right now.
00:09:14
Speaker
And like for someone like you're not going to write them, you're going to bring them in. So it's just like bringing, it's just like having a llama or a pack goat. So you're not going be riding this burrow in there. You're just going to it on, you know, you put on a lead. You're going to lead two donkeys in, but dude, you now can go anywhere and like, you don't to worry about it. Right. Especially cause there's water back there too, right? Where going.
00:09:33
Speaker
Oh yeah. Plenty of water. They just freaking tie those things. out I don't know the rules. Like I, I had, I used lawn was one time this year and I lost one of them, but I found it. Like you just stake those suckers down next to the water and some grass and like, just go hunting, dude. Like it's pretty freaking easy.
00:09:47
Speaker
but i like My dad too, you know, he's, he always wants to go back there, but just kind of relax. So if we're out there hunting, just have him hang back, take care
Spike Camping and Hunting Techniques
00:09:55
Speaker
of the donkeys while we're gone all day. I mean, it it'd work out pretty good.
00:09:58
Speaker
dude i'm actually a text My taxidermist, he, uh, he doesn't run like your full size donkey. He runs those mini donkeys and that's what he goes and backpack hunts with.
00:10:10
Speaker
I'm sending it to you right now, Gavin. Like, I want you to do it so bad because I want to use your donkeys. I don't want to do it myself in order to put them. So look, it's called Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue BLM sale boroughs.
00:10:22
Speaker
And dude, like they do say they own them for life. So like you bring them, but they like, like you can't like, you got to give it back to something that's wrong, right? Like you're taking, they somehow they still own it. BLM sale boroughs, blah, blah, blah, dude. Yeah. Check that thing I just sent you. I can't remember where the pricing is, but it was like,
00:10:39
Speaker
it was stupid how cheap it was to get a donkey. And, uh, you basically, you're basically foster, you basically foster them, but yeah you can get two donkeys, dude, for like 300 bucks and go out there and do And is your dad, I mean, you guys have farms, right? i mean, you guys have, really oh yeah. donkes Oh, most of my clients and and my regular job, they all grow alfalfa. So I could probably work a deal with them and get some feed. I mean, it'd be great.
00:11:03
Speaker
Dude, Gavin, please get some donkeys. I will i will hunt in New Mexico with you next year. We'll go donkey hunting, dude. I can't wait to bring these donkeys. I want someone to do it so bad. you're the dude. i cant believe but I can't believe we didn't talk about this when we were together in New Mexico.
00:11:17
Speaker
We had deer on our mind. We were we were busy trying to find big deer. Try to fight, dude, there's freaking deer everywhere. And I had elk on my mind. That hunt was wild. There's elk everywhere. Anyways, I freaking, I just totally screwed up this whole thing. So anyways, you're going back 10, 10 miles to base camp.
00:11:30
Speaker
So you're out in anywhere 10 to 15 miles from the truck to try and kill these elk. Yeah. So this year I did a little bit different. Um, we hunt, it's not really the the highest point of that country. We hunt around, I would say eight to 9,000 feet, which is still pretty high in New Mexico.
00:11:46
Speaker
But the highest point is, I think, around 10,000 feet. And so this year, instead hiking in with the guys, I said, I'm going to go up higher and just spend two days up there before the hunt, glass, and then I'll find where all the elk are, meet you guys, and then we'll just get after it.
00:12:00
Speaker
That first morning, I think we glassed up like six or seven bulls from up high. And so pinned them all down, went up and linked up at camp. And we already had a game plan. We knew we were going to get into elk.
00:12:11
Speaker
Most the bulls we saw were 300 plus, which is
Spot-and-Stalk vs. Calling Strategies
00:12:14
Speaker
all we were looking for. And so at that point, we just had to find water, a good place to camp and and start hunting. And so that's pretty much exactly how we've been doing it. Getting to a high spot, a high spot glassing up elk, finding water, setting up camp.
00:12:27
Speaker
and then just keep moving with the elk. And it's been it's been great for us. I mean, it's it's hard. It's throw 70 pounds on your back if an area doesn't work out. But moving with the elk has brought a lot of success our way.
00:12:39
Speaker
So you're spike camping? You're not just base camping? No, just bike camping. Throwing up a tent. Really? So you're whole but you're carrying the whole camp on your back the whole time? My pack weight with camera gear and my bow this year, I think my pack weighed like 80 pounds for, I think I had 12 days worth of stuff in there Camera gear sucks.
00:12:58
Speaker
I realize that like camera gear really suck. You saw that big lens I'm carrying around now. I'm just like, Oh, camera. You're talking just camera gears, 15 pounds. When you get your batteries, chargers, everything in there, lenses, whole nine, 10, 10 to 15 pounds. That's serious weights, your pack.
00:13:13
Speaker
And then you have like an 80 pound pack and a camera mounted to your, to your backpack harness. And it's just lugging on you all day. It, it sucks. It's the worst. But as soon as you're back there, you're set, you know, where the elk are and you just go hunting from there.
00:13:27
Speaker
I haven't got to show you the new Tricer LD Luke Duesenberry camera clip is ah done. We've been running the prototypes for now. i'm I'm liking it a lot. It's really small. So it's almost the size of an Arca plate. So that's going to come out in the spring. We're still tweaking a few things on it, but we're here making our own camera clip. that doesn't You know how the camera comes right now? They slide everywhere on you.
00:13:46
Speaker
Yeah. These new ones are locked in place. I think you might have my first prototype, which is pretty sketchy, but the new, the final prototype is pretty nice. and A couple more tweaks on it and I'll get you on. As long they're better than this one. This one, I have a hard time. When it gets real cold, it freezes up and you can't get your camera out of that. Are you using the Peak Design or what are you using? Peak Design.
00:14:06
Speaker
Yeah, I'll send you, um I'll send you one. the only issue of mine now doesn't clamp perfectly, I'll have to tell you, there's a little trick right now, and we're having to put a little rope in there to get it to clamp right. But whatever, it's a prototype. Prototyping, dude, like we always, you're always rigging things a little bit to make it work, but it's, yeah the design is there. It's it's getting there.
00:14:22
Speaker
um So you got back to this year, you guys are, are you guys having, because since you're in New Mexico, the cool thing is residents, you can draw some of these tags. And on res, like, New Mexico is a no-brainer, you must apply, but the odds are just not in your favor. I mean, like, The best odds are, you know, two or three percent on some of these units. One percent is more typical. Are
Challenges of New Mexico Mule Deer Hunt
00:14:41
Speaker
you guys hunting the the first or second season?
00:14:45
Speaker
You know, in the past, it was mainly first season because of draw odds. But after doing that for a couple of years, it's just tough. It's a tough hunt. And the odds are still pretty good on the second hunt. And so the past, I think, three years, that's all we've been doing is second archery hunts.
00:15:01
Speaker
So what that means is, people are listening, so in New Mexico, I think it goes like from the 7th through 14th and like the 14th through 21st or something like that. And so obviously, if you don't think about elk hunting, they really turn on around like the 20th, 21st. They really start going crazy.
00:15:17
Speaker
um So it's a good good tag to get. Does it go longer than the 21st? It's 14th to... The 15th through the 24th. So it's 10 days for the second time. Okay. 15th to 24th. Yeah. So you get that real peak, you know, 20th through 22nd, you know, peak prime rut. So especially down south in New Mexico, it's when they're really going crazy every year. As you go back there this year, you're finding bulls.
00:15:38
Speaker
How many bulls did you guys kill? just what Just the one you shot or more than one? So we had two tags. My buddy Nick was hunting with me and last year he let me shoot one. And so this year the plan was to kind of get him his bull and then either spend the whole hunt doing that. Or if we had some days left, I was going stay out there by myself and try to fill my tag.
00:15:58
Speaker
And he's got a baby on the way, has a lot of stuff going on back home. And so think we were at day six or seven of the hunt and he decided he was going to head out of there. And so I had me and another buddy left. We kind of hunted back towards the truck to help him get out of there and decided, well, we're going to go back in and see what we can turn up. We didn't get all the way back in 10 miles deep this time. We were a little tired after chasing bulls around with Nick and think we ended up being three to four miles in deep. So it's not terrible. And happened to turn up a bull in a meadow that we'd been watching. They'd been wallowing in that meadow every day for the past three or four days and stuck a bull in there. So it was it was awesome. We only pulled one out of there out of two tags, but it was still worth it in the end.
00:16:44
Speaker
But this is no average bull. i mean, this is like ah like a 340 super heavy big bull, right? you put tape on it Yeah. I taped him out. I didn't really spend a lot of time on it, but he's like 315 to 320. He looks a lot bigger than he is. Dude, he looks so much bigger than that. that but you He looks so – maybe he just wasn't that wide. Maybe he's just super heavy. I'm going to see this bowl and be like, this is a really good bowl.
00:17:07
Speaker
His beams were, his beams were long. He was super heavy, he had a lot of mass, but like his, his fifths and his fourths were just weak, which this year it was really dry in New Mexico.
00:17:18
Speaker
That was kind of the thing across the board, really good fronts and G3s. And then everything past that just kind of went downhill. So I just don't think they had the feed that they needed. If it was a regular year, that
Son's First Mule Deer Hunt
00:17:28
Speaker
bull probably would have been 350, 360. That's awesome. Now, are you, what is your calling tactic on elk now?
00:17:35
Speaker
I don't call at all. Zero calling. I mean, you' recall they're so quiet. I don't think they're call shy because of hunting pressure per se, but we have a lot of predators. I mean, there's bears everywhere back there, mountain lions, there's Mexican gray wolves.
00:17:50
Speaker
And so I just don't think they like talking much. They'll talk super early in the morning and late into the evening. And other than that, they are not responding at all. They could come in quietly, but I just don't want to waste my time waiting to see if a bull comes in. I'd rather go chase them. And so Back there, what we've been doing is either spot and stock from glassing or finding wallows or meadows where they're taking their cows into feed and just ambushing them.
00:18:14
Speaker
Because with that place, is ah there's a good burn with a lot of fallen timber. And so if a bull does work its way into a meadow, you can sneak on sneak in on them pretty easily. And we've done that the past two years. It's honestly worked great for us.
00:18:30
Speaker
That's awesome. A lot of the most successful guys are doing it like that. I mean, Brian Barney, same way, not calling a lot. I know we hunted bulls this year. We got a bull killed with Brad and we just exclusively calf called. We didn't do any cow calling. We did a little bit of bugling like in the morning. That was it. But just basically just went to a calf call and that was it.
00:18:48
Speaker
And real light, not a lot just because there's just too many guys out there doing it and it seemed to work. That's awesome. I just don't them to know I'm there. I mean, it's why have the elk know that there's something else around them when you can just be silent and they'll never know that you're there until you let an arrow fly and you're done by then.
00:19:04
Speaker
Yeah. Hopefully. Hopefully. hopeful Hopefully. Yeah. That seems like a tactic. A lot of guys are going to, it's a spot and stock. Um, during the rut, you if you hear a bugle, you can find, you find cows, you're goingnna find bulls, right? They're moving a lot during the day. ah when you killed that bull, do you kill in the afternoon in the morning?
00:19:22
Speaker
It was in the afternoon. we probably should have had them in the morning. Actually. um There was a 360 bull back there that we did have eyes on. And that morning we snuck in on him and I had him at 120 yards. was moving in for the final shot.
00:19:37
Speaker
And I had a five by six walk in front of me. He's probably 280 bull 60 yards. and would not get out of my way and I didn't want to spook him and spook the other bull out so by the time he cleared that bull had taken off and bedded in some we call it locust brush it's like rose thorn nasty brush about six to eight feet tall those bulls go bed in there and you're just you're not going to chase after them so we waited in that meadow they were bedded right there probably 100 yards into that brush and he came out in the evening and I think we shot him at like 6 30 in the afternoon so fairly early into the afternoon Yeah, I feel like a ah lot of elk get killed in the afternoons.
00:20:11
Speaker
It's kind of a time you them with their feet and get them right there. So you guys got done. That's pretty cool. You pack them out. um Are you guys packing out the bull and camp? Are you packing out campers coming back and doing? like i'm ah I'm a four-trip elk guy. like We did my kids' bull with three. with When I say three, I mean three guys did one bull this year.
00:20:32
Speaker
it wasn't terrible. It's just heavy. I mean, you're talking 140 pound pack. It's heavy. I like doing an elk in four trips, meaning four, four guys or four times or two guys, two trips. That makes sense. Yeah.
00:20:46
Speaker
Yeah. We, we deboned him. I think, I think we got hands on him about seven o'clock. And by the time we finished deboning him, I think it was 10 o'clock at night. And Camp was a mile and a half away at that point. And we kind of looked at each other like, we don't want to make another trip in here.
00:21:04
Speaker
Let's just load up everything and go. And so that's what we did. I carried the two hinds, the head and my bow and then my gear. My buddy carried the two fronts and the extra meat. And we got back to camp at two in the morning.
00:21:15
Speaker
But then it was worth it. We only had a couple miles to get out of there. And then we did the, you know, four trips and it was a lot easier then. But we just decided to kill ourselves and get it over with since it was cooler in the afternoon. I always love a bad idea. Gavin is, what are you, 27, 27. 27. Gavin also has like these Brady Miller eight-foot-long legs. like I hike with Gavin,
Choosing Hunting Knives
00:21:38
Speaker
and I'm like, gosh, he's so fast.
00:21:40
Speaker
So he used Bill for packing out bowls, but man, that my body hurts just thinking about doing half a bowl. it was It was terrible. My back hurt for three to four days after doing that. why. But getting to sleep in the next morning a little bit made it all worth it.
00:21:54
Speaker
Dude, it's not even just the packing. Like, what people don't understand. Like, when you kill an elk, your body just hurts from cleaning it. Like, bending over and cleaning it. And, like, like your hands hurt. Like, everything on you just, like, even just cleaning a deer sucks. But, like, you do a bull, and it's like you're bending over that thing for, you know, a couple hours getting it all done. And it's just rolling them and doing stuff. Like, you're just sore from that, let alone packing the dang thing out.
00:22:17
Speaker
Like gripping that hide and and skinning that hide. By the time you get done, your your forearms are so tired you can't even close your hands. i mean, it's just, it's tiring. One second. my tv just Yeah, so like gripping that hide and, I mean, doing a whole elk, just two people. By the time you get done, your forearms are cramping.
00:22:34
Speaker
You can't even close your hands. and You're just wiped out. Yeah, man are you um What are you using for knives? Are you a replaceable blade guy? Are you doing both? I do both. I kind of do like a hybrid, like thin blade, fixed blade knife now.
00:22:48
Speaker
um i really like the Taito. I like the Kestrel. And then I do, I really love the Taito replaceable blades. They're bigger replaceable It's like a bigger one. it's not It's not quite a rugged ridge or whatever it is, but like it's a little bit ah bigger replaceable. yeah what What are you doing?
00:23:06
Speaker
I'm running, I have an outdoor edge for replaceable. Outdoor, like that's what I meant, outdoor edge. The thing with my knives is like every knife I have was gifted to me. So like my dad got me that outdoor edge. So I always take it with me.
00:23:17
Speaker
And this year, my buddy got me a bench made as a wedding gift. And I went through that whole elk with that one bench made, didn't even touch my outdoor edge knife. And I was just blown away.
00:23:28
Speaker
I mean, it's... yeah A knife like that, that's that's exactly what you need for an elk. You need a fixed blade that's going to do all the dirty work, and then you need a replaceable blade to you know get you through all the light cuts and make sure you don't throw that blade out.
00:23:40
Speaker
Yeah, I love the replaceable blade for honestly like cutting the hide, going down like that. um on ah On a deer, pretty much replaceable blade, I do the whole thing, honestly. Yeah. But um even like back straps on deer, like it's nice to have a fixed blade for that. And it's great having a fixed blade for like that rear joint socket, especially on an elk. Because you're going to like, you are going to snap ah ah like a number 60 replaceable blade, like a Havalon blade. You are going to snap multiple blades on elk if you try and do without replacement. And then like, I don't like to carry a saw when I'm backpacking. I mean, ah maybe a small saw to cut limbs, but I'm not going to carry a big pack saw to try and and cut those legs off. So having a nice heavy duty fixed blade to do that and the head, which is a pain in the butt, having a heavy duty fixed blade for elk is a must.
00:24:24
Speaker
Yeah. I like it a lot more for doing the joints. Uh, I do want to bring like, I have, I bought one of those like sharpener, like whatever those things are. I don't know. Like it's like has the, you know, the chopsticks on it. It does the little thing. They saw them at like sports and warehouse. was like 150 bucks.
00:24:38
Speaker
And, uh, I feel like I just can't get it as sharp as bring it to the knife shop. There's a knife shop in my town. They'll charge me like six bucks to read, to do them. I'm probably going to bring, I have like four or five of them here.
00:24:49
Speaker
Like all my knives are so gross right now. Like should do my folding ones. Like there's this like deer inside of them and just like, there's gotta to be like parasites and worms. Like I'm convinced in my nice right now. They're so gross. I need to go through them all before I leave next week and get them done. It's all my things to do. Let's be able to do that tomorrow.
00:25:03
Speaker
That's the best thing I've learned like with those knives is
Barbary Sheep Hunt Success
00:25:06
Speaker
just keeping an edge. So even if it's a cheap $15 to $20 sharpener you pick up at Sportsman's or Cabela's, just taking a moment every now and then when you take a break and keep that edge honed. That way you don't lose it. Because when you lose that edge, that knife is done. You're not going to sharpen it.
00:25:21
Speaker
There is nothing better than like when you put a new blade on, like on a replaceable and it's just like so sharp. It's like, Oh, yeah so much better. So much better or a sharp knife. But do the nice knives do work, man. Like I'm telling you what I got this half face blades knife that Beto gave me and it's freaking scary. Sharp.
00:25:38
Speaker
It's scary. Sharp. But I feel like I'm just not great at sharpening. I had like one of those like plastic V things. I sharpened in that, you know? like just get Just get me through the hunt and then I'll bring it in to get it done to the knife shuffering place. or i I need to pull the knife shuffering around and try to do it myself when before I leave next week.
00:25:53
Speaker
I bought the thing to do it. I'm sure I can figure it out. So anyways, that's awesome. You killed a bull, stud bull, got that up. um Did you go straight from that to my hunt? Yeah, pretty much.
00:26:04
Speaker
Okay. We can talk about my kids. Yeah. I think you were sure from that. Cause I was on my hunt too. Cause I text Gavin, we're hunting the same time. And I'm like, Gavin, like I'm going to be late. There's no way I'm making it to my, making it to New Mexico, like two days after I get back from Utah. So we killed a bull in Utah. um I don't think I've done a pot on that yet. I should. And then we had, my kids drew this really good New Mexico mule deer tack that they get to hunt like a, it's not a preserve. i don't want to give it too much influence on people to take my kids tack. It's a good time. Just a special management area. Yeah. Special management area where only kids can hunt. It's a management area that only kids can hunt.
00:26:38
Speaker
And dude, it was just loaded with coos deer and mule deer apparently and elk. There's this elk everywhere. I mean there was this club bull that was just going bananas. That was just on seven by seven. i mean, these bulls are, it's only youth can hunt the bulls too. And it's like impossible to draw. Actually, non-resident can't even draw that tag. But anyways, we're, we're took my kids It was my son's first mule deer hunt, my 12 year old. He, he's only hunted at lot ah Africa. He never hunted. um He's never hunted mule deer.
00:27:09
Speaker
And, uh, we got it over there and man, we were just finding deer out the bat. It was kind of, it was a really nice song. Cause like a base camp, slip in the truck, little tent side-by-side style. Like, you know, you got to hike in, you know, a mile, you know, and we found that if we hiked a mile from the road, we were really on the deer and everyone was staying on the road. And, Um, we were on deer the first morning, didn't shoot one and ended up actually when we ended up killing Simon's buck, uh, we were probably three or four miles back. We were pretty far back further than we thought. Um, we did 10 miles that day, Drew. We did 10 miles that day.
00:27:44
Speaker
got to take out for the lawyer but the point I was looking behind me. i was like, these guys are a little tired. Yeah. Yeah. We had bringing my dragon, my 12 year old around, but he did good dude for 12 years old. We did 10 miles. I don't know how we did 10 miles. was Just like hunting with drew miles, right? You just frigging, just always hiking and moving around trying to figure it out, but it works. Right. So we got on some deer, didn't get it done. And then we ended up finding, um, some mule deer and, um,
00:28:09
Speaker
Decent bucks. I mean, nothing we saw was really giant, but like for him, I was like, if we can shoot a good three by, like I'm stoked. Right. And we ended up shooting probably a one 50 plus three by, yeah he actually gave it a warning shot about two foot over his back. used He was behind the new X2 tripod. got a little excited and just freaking set one. and And that shot's still going to this day. It's probably in Mexico now, but, um, just, a you it went into the bank behind it. Everybody didn't shoot a skyline. here don't Don't email me, but anyways, misses them. And this deer takes off. And the cool thing is about this area is they're not getting hunted a lot. So they're kind of dumb.
00:28:47
Speaker
Yeah. and They were in velvet, which is a kind of a bummer, but, um, we ended up moving probably three or 400 yards. And I'm like, we'll just wait here. The buck ends up coming out broadside. And I think it was like two 80 in front of us. And we set Simon up and Simon just freaking double long heart shot. This deer perfect with my, he's using my NRL six, five Creedmoor, which is like 15 pounds.
00:29:10
Speaker
I bought a super heavy gun. And he was shooting the 140 ELD or 140 ELDM like they're match bullets. And it just smoked this buck. This buck was done. um And he had his first buck. It ended up being a good, you know, solid three by with, I think like a six inch eye guard on one side. And it was pretty cool. He was stoked. He was bumped on it.
00:29:31
Speaker
Yeah, huge eye guards. I'm still not convinced. And I have talked to Jay Scott. a you guys know this, they'll think I'm crazy. at These deer aren't hybrid deer because there's coos deer everywhere. and like, I just don't see mule deer with giant eye guards like this. And both deer we shot had these like weird, like,
00:29:47
Speaker
coos deer looking eye guards on them so i don't know maybe i'm crazy but there's coos you're anywhere i see mule deer with eye guards that big there's coos deer in the same area there's coos deer around and it's like and i don't know people are going to be like oh you're an idiot but i'm like dude like i've just seen way too many mule deer without eye guards to see all of a sudden to see like the we'll get into the buck my son shot it just had these like non-typical freaky eye guards on it like you know like double eye guards on one side one of them was all like cactused out and just Yeah.
00:30:15
Speaker
So he shoots that buck, smokes it. I can say, guess this is a little parenting tip for everybody on here. When I first heard home with kids, I was like, ultralight, 243, you know, light gun.
00:30:28
Speaker
And I've learned like first year, bring the heaviest gun you have. Heaviest gun you have, most stable gun you have, get him as stable as possible and you'll much better hunt. And um so we just put him in my, I brought my 14 pound NRL gun and just tiled him in. And I was able to zoom into like 25 power. He just smoked his buck. I mean, just perfect shot. Pretty hard to miss, even though he did miss the first time.
00:30:53
Speaker
So that was pretty cool. Got that one done. The next day, I'm pretty sure at this point, my 17 year old is kind of over hunting. um He had just spent 12 days in Utah and he finally got a bull killed and he just wanted to kill a deer, which is kind of bummer because I kind of want him to shoot a bigger deer, but whatever, we got it done. and We got onto to some deer. We're probably about a mile from the side by side, got onto some deer And all a sudden I'm like, oh, there's a buck right in front of us. Like there's a buck 400 yards away.
00:31:21
Speaker
And like, where? I'm like, no, like literally right in front of us, there's deer. And so we squeeze over there and we got, and think it was like 250 yards from these deer. And there's a deer standing broadside and he shoots the other deer that wasn't the deer wanted him to shoot. And i don't even think me and Gavin saw us, he watched a video, um, the deer we wanted him to shoot.
00:31:41
Speaker
you stand there and the deer is on the right, just falls down and we didn't even see it until afterwards. So, but the deering shot was pretty cool. It was, it was maybe, don't know, 120 inch mule deer, but it has some really cool eye guards, sweet buck.
00:31:54
Speaker
And just like that, within like two days, we showed up on day, I think the third day the season was open or second day the season was open. Just like that, man, we were done in New Mexico and we shot two deer and my kid got his first buck and it was just an epic time.
00:32:08
Speaker
It was like the perfect youth hunt. I mean, base camping from the road, not walking too much, you know, really easy country. We were all hanging out, having a good time. Like, honestly, it couldn't have gone any better than it did, to be honest. Yeah.
00:32:20
Speaker
Yeah. Versus the hunt I did with you last year when we, we found like one mule deer buck in five, five days or seven days, whatever it was. And we just freaking sweated to 90 degree heat glossing for hours on end and found one deer, you know, mean like we just could not find a deer for the life of us. This sounds, it's nice to have a gimme hunt. It's nice sometimes to not have like your dick kicked in. Right. Like my kids all come before we sold two bulls the whole week and maybe two cows in 10 days. Right. And we ended up killing one of the bulls, but like, that's,
00:32:49
Speaker
that's hard. It's hard on a kid. It's been really hard on a 12 year old you know, his first time, yeah you know, we're going next week to Arizona and it's a big desert unit. So it's going to be a little tougher. It's going be way more like that borderlands hunt we did. yeah um so he'll have a little more of reality check versus Africa and the the management unit. But um I'm excited. I think now you've got have those ones though. You got to kind of get a reset to see what hunting is really like sometimes and and everything, every aspect of it. You really get to see it on those hunts as a youth hunter.
00:33:19
Speaker
I'm actually going to pick him up a rifle since we're done with this. Seekins just sent him a new 6.5 Creedmoor, like a folding chassis gun. I'm left-handed, so they don't make a rifle that fits me. So was like, let's get Simon dialed in. So we did some trading, and they've got Simon dialed into a really sick – it's a counterintuitive what I said. It's a lightweight. I think it's like seven-pound rifle or something. But it'll be pretty cool. need to get the scope mounted on. throw it on that X2, that thing's rock solid. Honestly, when you – When you pull that thing out and we're like, this thing's so steady. I was like, yeah, you're probably going to have a little shake like you do with anything else, you know? And I got on that gun and I was like, this is ridiculous. Like this gun is not moving. It is insane.
00:33:56
Speaker
Yeah. I'm going to carry the X2 with me on this hunt. Um, I'll have the X2 and then my AD or probably, oh man, I'll probably have my JC. So I'll probably be micro panning BTX. So I can have a lot of weight on my pack between carrying his gun and optics and cameras and gear and stuff. But, um,
00:34:12
Speaker
Man, for youth, you just can't beat that X2, man. It's just so stable. And like my father-in-law, he's 77 years old. We go straight from our mule deer hunt in Arizona straight into, they actually overlap mondays we're going to lose a day on the boys hunt. Hopefully we get done early. um Straight to his bull hunt.
00:34:30
Speaker
He can't really get prone anymore, so he's bringing his 300 to his 30 Nosler, and we're going put him on that X2 and just have him sit down and freaking crank one. That'll be perfect. I told him anything within like, you know, six, 800 yards getting cranked. Cause he, the problem with him is he's just not mobile. Right. Like we're not like I could find a bull. Like I could with with but my kids or with you or anyone, I could find an elk a thousand yards away and beyond that elk within an hour. Right. With him. Mm-hmm.
00:34:55
Speaker
it's over. Like da it's not, you know what i mean? So I really got it. We're really going just kind of just hunt to his abilities, which is more sitting water. um You know, I'm hoping we're we a few spots so we can sit, you know, 500 yards above some water and stuff. Hope we can all come in 300 yards below us. We can get us, get them smoked and just, we're going to play the numbers game, which I think honestly, if most people did it, they'd be more successful where you just sit in one spot.
00:35:19
Speaker
Just know you have to sometimes on these hunts, and I think it's just beautiful years of hunting. You just learn that like, if you sit here long enough, an elk's going to show up or deer's to show up. Like you just know it. They might not be here today or tomorrow, but they might be here on third day. They're going to come through at some point. And I think a lot of people be way more successful. The problem is it's just so freaking boring.
00:35:38
Speaker
Yeah. Especially for If not seeing anything, I mean, you're losing your mind at that point, but it's like, I think Randy Newberg says that you don't leave elk to find elk. You don't leave deer to find deer. Just if you're in countries that they're in, they're going to be there. You're going to find it.
00:35:52
Speaker
Yeah, eventually they're going to step out and you're going to kill one. And I think a lot of times we kind of shoot ourselves in the foot by moving around too much. It's just so much more fun sometimes moving around or class or, you know, make moves and have that, you know experience, you know, it's just all about it, you know. But with him, it's just not a possibility anymore.
00:36:07
Speaker
know mean? We're bringing, you know, I'll probably bring a blind and we'll probably get a blind set up. Probably bring a little buddy heater or just make it as enjoyable as I can for a 77-year-old dude trying to hunt a public land bull. And he did get it done on this hunt when he was 72 years or 71 years old. or seventy one years old And the same tag. So public land, we're going to 77 years old, out there and kill a bull this week. That would be awesome.
00:36:28
Speaker
We'll get it done. I'm filming that one. It's a pretty special hunt. It's actually the hunt that I created Tricer on um in 2018. He drew the tag and i was carrying around like his heavy outdoorsman's tripod, his rifle, his spotting scope, everything. And I ended up sitting on a rock and like, I can do something better than this. i can make something lighter. That's what started the whole journey. So we're kind of like full circle of going back, you know, seven years later and we're going to film the hunt and help him get his first or second public land bull.
00:36:57
Speaker
That's awesome stuff. So, um, where we go from there, man? So you got that. Now you go and do odd ad, which is probably my favorite hunt in New Mexico, but I can't draw it anymore. Um, so you do an odd ad tech.
00:37:11
Speaker
Yeah, that's crazy. I didn't think I was going to draw it. To be honest, I, uh, after hunting them for a couple of years, I kind of got tired of these January, February hunts. I mean, it's just, they're so pressured. They're hard to find.
00:37:22
Speaker
And so I kind of just said, I'm going to put in for the better hunt. And if I draw, I draw. If not, we'll have other stuff to go chase. And lo and behold, this year I drew it and had absolutely no time to scout at all. I mean, between the elk hunt, the deer hunt, I had a wedding to go to.
00:37:35
Speaker
I had no time to go look for sheep. I had a good idea where I was going to go, but just didn't have time. And luckily one of my buddies, he's a sheep nerd, sheep guru, whatever you want to say. That guy lives and breathes sheep, those Barbary sheep to be specific.
00:37:49
Speaker
And He said he was going to be out there looking for sheep for me, which was nice. And
Aspirations for Oryx Hunt
00:37:54
Speaker
the entire time I was at that wedding, he was just sending me pictures of this 31 to 32 inch ram.
00:38:00
Speaker
And it's a measure that's a good ram. it's anything twenty eight Anything over 28 is a stud ram in New Mexico. And so I was getting excited just trying to get home from this wedding. And we get out there, try to find him the first day. Don't see nothing.
00:38:15
Speaker
Next day, go out there looking for him. And we hear a gunshot. And we're just like, wait a minute. Come to find out one of his used to be buddies went in there knowing that we were on the sheep because they were having a hard time in their area and went and shot the sheep out from under us or in there trying to glass them up.
00:38:32
Speaker
No way. Parked next to us, drove in there or weighed in there and killed that sheep. I mean, it was, in my opinion, I wasn't as upset because I wanted to kill anything 26 inch plus, but for him to be out there for three or four days watching the sheep and have your buddy go and shoot it.
00:38:48
Speaker
it's It's a little frustrating. And so he was he was upset. He was mad. He picked up his backpack and started walking back to the truck. And me and his brother sat there glassing and his brother found another rep and looked at him through my binos. was like, oh, he's pretty good. I'll shoot him.
00:39:04
Speaker
So we take off running down this mountain, cross this canyon up the other side. We're out of breath, absolutely dying. It's like 90 degrees outside. And we look back behind us and we can see my buddy Cody running down the mountain after us. He saw us running in and knew that we were on a sheep and got set up, had plenty of time. He was by himself during the rut, which is crazy in my opinion.
00:39:26
Speaker
And through the tricer bipod that you'd given me down on the ground, put my backpack under the stock, got set up and he was at 445 yards. And I'd never shot an animal that far in my life. I think my furthest shot was like 400.
00:39:41
Speaker
And so like kind of uncomfortable taking a shot that far, but they kind of talked me through it, got me comfortable and confident and squeezed off the trigger. it's That's not uncommon at all for those Barberies. No.
00:39:53
Speaker
They have eyeballs the size of baseballs and they typically run in groups of 20. Like anything under 300 yards is a miracle on those Barberies sheep. I'm just throwing that out there. Yeah. how it works. oh I mean, they see any movement and they're gone. I mean, they're going to go up a cliff face and you're never see them. A thousand yards away, dude. I've never hunted animal. And the problem with them, like you said, that was by themselves. That's why they're so fun because there's just so many of them. And like, there's such a fun animal to hunt, but there's typically, there's 20 of them.
00:40:19
Speaker
and they have yeah eyeballs the size of freaking baseballs, dude. They can just see from so far. It's so frustrating. But yeah, they, I remember coming down. And when I went down, it was like 20, 17 and long range stuff is still not where it is today. And was like, you know, I think I shot mine at 430 yards yeah and I was doing holdovers and stuff. I didn't have a dial or anything back then. I was doing like the whole. like You know I had like the Boone and Crockett reticle where you just knew like, okay, the second one's here. um yeah so like it was, it was different back then, you know?
00:40:50
Speaker
Yeah. I couldn't have done it without a turret scope. There's no way. Like this was the first year I've got to hunt with one. And after having that, it's like, oh, this is a no brainer. Like you have to have this scope, you know? Yeah. And then getting comfortable on the, on the floor like that. I've never shot off of a bipod until that hunt. No way. it was rock steady. I didn't move at all. And you had the bipod in the world.
00:41:08
Speaker
Yeah, I honestly, it was perfect. I, it didn't take me about five seconds to set it up. And I mean, I was rock solid. I didn't think I was going to be that steady, but I mean, it was, it was perfect to take a shot like that. yeah i brought out wide so I'm to toot my own horn here, but when you spread that RP out with a long legs, you spread it out wide like that.
00:41:26
Speaker
I put my battle harness behind it. I just shot a deer off it on Friday. It's just 340 yards, dude. Bam flop. Like it's just, it's not even fair. That bipod just does every position. You're going themselves in cool situation, especially where you guys hunting down there and like some of that mountain and stuff where you're like, you're sitting down and the bipod is extended, but you're still level, right? Like it's just like, it just does some cool stuff. It makes it, it's my favorite part about that bipod is just how much stuff is dying because of it.
00:41:52
Speaker
Like how many dudes, I don't know how much truth there is to, but you don't know how dudes text me. Like if it wasn't for your bipod, I wouldn't have killed this bull, which like, I'm sure you would have found a way, right? I mean you probably would have found a way to kill it. They were killing it before, but it's really cool to hear. Like the reason I made it was for hunting situations.
00:42:07
Speaker
And it's just dude, like time after time for time for time, people are killing animals off this thing. Just like, this is awesome. That kind of terrain, like what you're hunting those sheep in that bipod is like built specifically for that kind of stuff. I mean, it is perfect for that scenario.
00:42:22
Speaker
hundred So yeah, squeeze off the trigger. I didn't know how big he was. We guessed him up to 27, 28 inches and he measured it out to 28 and a half. I mean, he was a stellar ram. i They were upset that we didn't get the 31 inch ram, but after shooting that one, I was, I was happy as could be.
00:42:37
Speaker
Yeah, dude. i mean, anything over like, that's just what I remember them talking to them is like anything over 28 is a trophy in in yeah New Mexico. Public lamb. It's a trophy ram. There are a lot of guys hunting them. um That's awesome, dude. So you got him done, got him cleaned up, got him out of there.
00:42:53
Speaker
um You guys, did you guys hunt oryx as well this year? No. No, we don't have an Oryx hunt this year, sadly. I was trying to draw that tag pick someone up. I'm going to draw that tag. I want to do it so bad you guys. I put in for that one every year.
00:43:07
Speaker
again i was i hate talking so much like on the pod. I feel like I'm getting like giving spots up. so like I want to draw that Oryx tag so bad. We were in Africa this year. And I could have shot one and i was like, no I don't want shoot one. Like, why? I'm like, I want shoot one in New Mexico. Like, I don't want to shoot an Oryx in Africa. i shoot in Oryx in New Mexico. Like, it wouldn't mean anything to me shooting Africa. Shooting New Mexico it would be just top of my list. It's the best hunt we have by far. I mean, it's it's really fun. It's a lot of glassing, which you love.
00:43:35
Speaker
You know, you're moving around covering country, watching some of the coolest animals you can ever see. I mean, it's it's awesome. Yeah, that's what I love about the even the Barbary in that desert terrain. It's not
Public Land Hunting and Online Community
00:43:46
Speaker
so much like, and you can maybe correct me if you do it differently. We moved a lot. We did a lot of hiking and a lot of glassing. So you're moving a lot by glassing lot. you're kind of like glassing fingers and moving. You could do like the day I killed my sheep, we did 18 miles. yeah You're just moving and glassing because like,
00:44:01
Speaker
it's it's not like you get up on a, like a mule deer, you know, you're looking for one of them, you get up high and you sit there all day long. Like you can sit there, you glass them before. you No joke. I glass 10 hours a day. Like it's stupid. But like with these Barbary, you're kind of moving around. Gavin's laughing because he's the truth. um You would, the Barbary, you're really kind of like,
00:44:18
Speaker
the the terrain is so, so much so that like you could walk a quarter mile and see something totally different. If that makes any sense, right? Like it's just really like, and you do a lot of glassing sometimes from the top to a lot it's from the bottoms and you're kind of walking these valleys and like glassing up into these fingers. It's really, it was a super fun hunt. A lot of standing and glassing. I really enjoyed it. And on my hunt down there, I did run into some over the counter or some off range oryx and it was like, Oh, I want to kill you so bad. And that's kind of what got me the bug of like, I want, I mean, I know there's a white sand time. don't put in for that anymore. I want to hunt the off range or X. I want to get it done on those things. And I'm going to draw the tag at some point. It's not that bad. I mean, I just, I just said the tag, but it's like a 10% success rate to draw it. So You know, it's not terrible to be honest with you. That's pretty decent draw. 10% is not bad. Like I hear 10% and I'm like, you're saying there's a chance. I can draw that tag, right? Like anything over, you know, over five, I'm like, I can draw that tag. So
00:45:18
Speaker
That's what I like. Like Audad, Oryx, I'm not even going to talk about bighorn. I've never been. But the like even the Ibex hunts that we have here, it's not hard to find them. Like, you know, they're either going to be there or they're not. Cover country, get behind the glass, keep moving. And then when you find them, they're there. And that they just, these animals move so much.
00:45:37
Speaker
It's just a game of trying to find where they're going to be. And that's what makes it so much fun, I think. Yeah. And I just love, like everyone knows, like I hunt Southern California, I hunt Arizona, I hunt New Mexico. Like I, those are the States I really love. Like I, you know, I know people love like the big mountains of Idaho and stuff, which is cool, you know, but I love that desert terrain. I love that open. Like I'm so excited for my kids' mule deer hunt this year where it's just like, you would never think their deer lives we're hunting. Like you, people drive by this all day long it's like literally just like, rocks, some mountains and pucker bushes. And we're going to find a deer in there. We're going to kill some deer in in the desert. It's just something about those desert deer that really just gets me excited. And same thing that the, that's, I think it's why I love the Barbary so much. And then I really want to do the RX at some point. don't even put it for Ibex. It's like a 1% success rate. I'd rather keep my 3,500 bucks in bank account. I don't put it for Bighorn or Ibex down there. It's just like the odds are so bad for non-res. I should,
00:46:31
Speaker
i don't know. I just don't. The Ibex hunt is the worst thing I think you can do in North America. Hunting wise, that hunt is terrible. And not even to mention that, I mean, that the herd population is going down so much. We all think that they're getting rid of them. I think there's going to be big orange sheep on that mountain eventually.
00:46:47
Speaker
The management's been terrible. There's not very many left. We have a hunt this year to go film, thankfully. But I guarantee you within five to 10 years, they're going be gone. Because they're set they're all on like one on the Floridas, right? That's it? one area Yeah.
00:47:00
Speaker
yeah And it's it's managed by BLM. They only want so many. They tried to cut down the herd, and they did too good of a job doing that. And so I want to say there's only like 150 to 200 Ibex left on that mountain and not very many Billies.
00:47:15
Speaker
As a non-res, like it's almost impossible now to draw that tag. It's all like, I don' we put in for it anymore. ah there used to be a pretty good odds for kids, but even then, i think the owner of Kuyu's kid drew it years ago, but now it's like, you just can't draw the odds. I put in for archery just to go. i just want to, even if, even if I don't shoot one, at least try to get into bow range just to say I did it. You know, I mean, it's, it's just a cool hunt.
00:47:37
Speaker
Yeah, it'd be fun to do. I just don't put it for that It's just the odds are the odds are not in my favor. um Sick. So you got that done. What else are you hunting over there this year? Did you say your wife killed something?
00:47:50
Speaker
My wife didn't kill something. um We had an interesting turn of events on our hunt. So she drew her first bull elk hunt this year in a unit that we have some decent experience in, know that there's pretty good bulls.
00:48:02
Speaker
And we're going to take it pretty serious. She took time off work as a teacher, which is pretty hard to do. And went up there, I think, two days early, found a camp spot, hiked in. It's a wilderness unit again, not the same as mine, but another one.
00:48:16
Speaker
And bedded down a ah beautiful, probably 315 bull. Hiked back out and decided, you know, we're going hard in the next morning, get up super early. Rifle tag, correct? Muzzle loader.
00:48:28
Speaker
Oh, muzzle loader. Okay. And open site muzzle loader. Keep in mind, everyone now, it is open site muzzle loader now in New Mexico. And then like with her, the muzzleloader too, you know, she's, my wife's five feet tall. i'm not going to let her shoot 150 grains of powder and kick the heck out of her when she's shooting it. So we were doing about a hundred grains. So really we're limited to like a hundred yard shot.
00:48:48
Speaker
That's all I do. A hundred grains. i mean, hundred gras you should I shoot that CVA, a hundred grains. I mean, you've seen me miss. I'm great. You've seen me miss that muzzleloader. You've seen me miss. Well, wife wears glasses, so it's like, I don't even know if she can shoot an animal at 200 yards anyways. I mean, it's, even with a buzzword at 200 yards. It's hard, dude. Like, I do, like, arrowhead, I do want to buy one of these arrowhead rifles from Luke over there, because he's making a sick gun now with, like, a turret-style open sight, and, like, Brady's just smoking stuff with it, like, 300, 400 yards. But, dude, like,
00:49:19
Speaker
I do work when i read now wear glasses, but like, dude, like anything over 150 yards with those open sites. Yeah. It's hard. Like I did open site lever action this year on deer. And like, I told myself like hundred yards, that's it.
00:49:31
Speaker
Like, you know, it's, it's tough. I mean, trying to place that bullet right where you want it to go. It's really hard to do with open sites. I mean, Ben got it done like 150 yards, but he shot four times with his open sight lever action. That's only thing about lever action. You can keep going with a muzzleloader. You get one shot. Like, I mean, I missed that deer last year.
00:49:51
Speaker
thought he was a hundred. He was like 150 right underneath them. And I thought I hit him, but it's just like, it's, he doesn't, you don't have that forgiveness. Like with the, you know, with like a centerfire rifle where you can like 50 Yeah. it might as well be a mile. Like it's just like that bull at those 50 in those traditional, you know, so cheap $500 CVM. It was like, I'm shooting.
00:50:10
Speaker
It drops like an extra 18 inches at, yeah you know, 150 yards versus first hundred yards. So anyway, she's got the tag. You guys are trying to get her a bull killed. Oh, he bedded down a beautiful bull. He's in a kill spot. As I like to say, like a place, you know, going to sneak in and shoot this animal. I mean, it was, it was working out perfectly. Watch him till sundown, hike back out to the truck, which I think was like two miles back to the truck.
00:50:32
Speaker
So that morning we woke up early started hiking up the mountain. I think it was like four in the morning super early dark trying to get your wife to hike in the dark in the woods for the first time is is tough, but she did it and we heard a side by side driving into some private down below us and so was thinking in my head. This is perfect. They're going to push elk into the wilderness. We're going to get on some elk today. It's going to be great get to the top of the mountain where we were at the day before And see the bull we're within thousand yards at this point, which, you know, you're getting close to killing that animal.
00:51:03
Speaker
And, um, we're about to start sneaking in. And all of a sudden I look over to the left and I see a side-by-side driving on the top of this. ri oh You called me and told me this story. i remember now. yeah Yeah. I'm like, this is, this is wilderness. There shouldn't be anyone driving in here. Like,
00:51:18
Speaker
Hey, if there was a road, I get it, but there's no roads. I've walked all of this stuff. They're driving their side by side through the wilderness. I'm like, this isn't right. So I called Game and Fish just to let them know, hey, there's someone driving through the wilderness up here. And we watched them drive around and park in this meadow.
00:51:34
Speaker
And we've had a bad run in with this this outfit before. um But all of a sudden they started... walking after that bull that we were glassing up.
00:51:44
Speaker
And I'm thinking in my head, like these guys don't give access. All they do is hunt their private. I don't think they have a public land tag and they're chasing this bull on public land with a private tag. So I started filming with my camera, getting evidence in case we needed it.
00:51:59
Speaker
Cause I was frustrated. I mean, it's, I got my wife on a bull. this, these people drove in and started pushing these elk, eventually bumped them six miles deep, which I'm not going to take my wife that far into the wilderness on her first bull elk I mean, it'll ruin it for And seeing those people do that, I was afraid that she would never want to do this again.
00:52:18
Speaker
And so we kind of went a different route. um We're trying to find more elk to get on and just them driving in there and taking their side by side on the top of that ridge. They just pushed everything in deep.
00:52:29
Speaker
And so we're like, well, that sucks. And On the way out, we ran into a game warden and he went in and took pictures. Then they were they went to go talk to the guys and see what they had to say. Come to find out they didn't have public land tags, had private land tags. And so I brought up the fact that I have video evidence of them walking over and throwing a stalk on this bull on public land.
00:52:48
Speaker
They just said, well, there's nothing we can do about it because they didn't shoot it. And I was like, oh what do you mean there's nothing you can do about it? I mean, they were trying to stalk this animal. come Come on, you know? And so was this it was frustrating to have that happen. And they got a slap on the wrist for driving their side by side on on public land. We have a point system here for guide licenses. And I mean, like ah our driver's license, it's like 10 points. A guide license is 20.
00:53:11
Speaker
And that driving on wilderness land and their side by side was like five points on the guide license. and So it's like getting a 10 mile an hour over the speed limit traffic ticket. I mean, it's just like ridiculous. And so we hiked out, tried to find more elk and in some different country and just weren't able to turn anything up. And so it was just, it was super frustrating on that hunt.
00:53:31
Speaker
That's hard, man. Yeah. It's a, it's public land. i mean, I know they weren't, we deal with it, right. Every time we get out, you know, it's hard and it's kind of like, i we've talked about this before. Like I'd prefer going on a hunt with not a lot of animals, with not a lot of people over a hunt with a lot of animals, and a lot of people like I have. Like I've changed my mind. Like, like last year I drew a 70% success rate hunt in Colorado and I, we killed three deer in like two days. I was, I just wanted to go home.
00:53:57
Speaker
It was just so many people. I hated it. I did what it was like, I don't, I can care less about killing a deer. Like this is not fun. Utah was a little bit different this year because there wasn't many people, but it man, it's when people are out there, they just suck. Sometimes they just, I took it ill take a video and and posted it. I was so frustrated, you know, and we posted on Facebook and Instagram.
00:54:18
Speaker
And oh my gosh, the amount of backlash we got. And I clearly said these guys are driving them on wilderness, which is a big no-no. And, you know, of course, in the description, I say what happened and this and this. And I get flooded with all these comments. I think that video got like 50,000 likes or views or something like that. And it was just nothing but negativity. Talking smack, saying that we don't hunt hard enough. And I'm just like, this hunting community is just so freaking toxic. I cannot believe this, you know? Yeah, the internet's awesome, dude. Keeper Warriors are awesome.
00:54:52
Speaker
I love everything about it. I love, a we don't post. some of our hunts don't get posted as for like certain things. We're like, we can't post that people are going to flip out. Right. Like, and it's like just real life hunting things that they're doing way more than I am. And we're like, eh, we probably shouldn't post that. It might, people might get upset. Cause you know, you shot three times or something, or you hit in the gut, you know, whatever, you know, it's just part of it. You know, we cut things out because it's just like reality. But people on the internet are just experts, right? yeah Like I'm the first to admit I am not perfect. I make mistakes. i get excited and I turn my kids loose sometimes or I shouldn't turn them loose.
00:55:27
Speaker
And um we're very ethical. we he You find it with me, right? Like we kill the vast majority animals we shoot at, but sometimes things go wrong. And then you would people you would think people walk on water on the internet.
00:55:40
Speaker
yeah And the truth of the matter is we all make mistakes. We all get in situations where we pull the trigger and we shouldn't pull it we get excited or things happen, you know, and we rush things. And, you know, my buddy Brandon just texts me, um, oh listen to this podcast or not. And he just texted me a picture of shooting his stud goose year in Arizona. And he's like three foot to the left of it. And he's like, dude, i just got excited and
Impact of Internet Criticism on Hunters
00:55:59
Speaker
pulled the trigger. I'm like, it like, it's going haunt my dream. He's a great shot. I mean, he's a great show. wasn't that far of a shot, dude. And he just freaking touched one off and just totally whiffed. I mean, like you're like, how do you miss by,
00:56:11
Speaker
three feet, you know, but yeah things happen, man. and people on the internet suck. Dude, that's one thing. Like that's like one thing I hate though, to be honest, is like, Even like I'm an average Joe Hunter, like you and I have this conversation. we We talked about it earlier. And it's like, even though now that I post videos and make videos for people, it's like, I'm held to this different standard now. And it's like, I'm just like the rest of you guys. You know, I'm not trying to be not trying to say I'm better. I don't think I'm better.
00:56:37
Speaker
I'm average at what I do. I'm okay at best. And it's just, that's the one part about this that sucks. I think. Yeah, man, but screw them.
Praising Heela Monster Outdoors
00:56:46
Speaker
yeah no but he's bad what you guys hunt is so cool and i love everything he the monster outdoors does i watch you guys videos i'm a fan of you guys if you guys are watching like gritty and all these other guys who are incredible um you should watch gavin's stuff because he's just some normal dude out there he's just getting it done on some big animals and just having a blast doing it gavin this was a fun pod dude um
00:57:12
Speaker
Where we follow you guys? Heela Monster Outdoors on on social? Where are you guys at? Yeah, social, Facebook and and Instagram, Heela Monster Outdoors.
Heela Monster Outdoors' Social Media Presence
00:57:19
Speaker
We're starting to get back into TikTok now because they're not taking down our videos. And then YouTube, just Heela Monster Outdoors. If you guys have questions or anything like that, want us to film your hunt, just shoot us a message on one of our social media platforms and we'll get in contact with you.
00:57:32
Speaker
Yeah, go subscribe. I'm still shocked. Like, I'm still waiting for you guys just to blow up because, like, you guys have some epic cons, dude. And I'm like, some of your videos are just, like, primed to just go mega viral. I think you guys are going have some great content. I'm stoked to being your friend.
00:57:45
Speaker
Anything you need from me, you know I'm here for you guys. I'm a fan of Healer Monster Outdoors, and I will... try
Future Hunting and Filming Plans
00:57:51
Speaker
and hunt with you every year if i can hopefully we get together and you can actually hunt for once we can do something you know it'd be fun to do that if we can pull her up problem is you get all the good tags i got to get like the trash out of that non-resident tags over there you get all the good stuff so you're gonna have to come film my backcountry elk hunt for me next year i think yeah i'd be sick i'll go film for you yeah i'm actually filming i'm i'm bringing dusenberry to mexico i'm bringing dusenberry um
00:58:17
Speaker
Ben Denimani and a guy won a hunt with us. And I'm just going to film. don't even have a tag. So we have three tags. I don't have a tag. I'm just going to film, go down and guide and and record. And it'll be fun to record Luke because Luke's always recording everybody else. I'm just going to be buying the camera and just having a good time. And so I'm excited for that. But dude, let's do it again, huh?
00:58:38
Speaker
Sounds like a plan, Drew. Thanks, bro. Thanks for having me.
Podcast Closing Remarks
00:58:43
Speaker
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 Tricer USA 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.