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Dylan Dowson - OnX
305 Plays1 year ago
This week Drew has Dylan Dowson from OnX on the Tricer Podcast. Dylan covers a lot of information about using OnX in the field and touches on a few of the newer features to help hunters navigate while they are hunting. He also talks about some features to help with escouting prior to getting to your destination to be more prepared for the hunt. OnX is doing a lot of great things from OnX Hunt, Offroad, and Backcountry and there is even an OnX Fish being tested now. We look forward to all things OnX.
DYLAN DOWSON - OnX
Instagram - @dylan.hunter.dowson
OnX Instagram - @onxhunt
OnX Website - https://www.onxmaps.com
TRICER USA
Website – https://tricerusa.com/
Instagram - @tricerusa
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/tricerusa/
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Transcript
Introduction to the Tricer Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
You are listening to the Tricer Podcast, where we talk all things hunting, gear, and the great outdoors. Before we begin, let's start things out right and put God first. Lord Jesus, I thank you for Tricer, and I ask that you can use this podcast as a way to bring joy to all of our listeners. We lay Tricer and this podcast at your feet. Amen.
Guest Introduction: Dylan Dowson
00:00:22
Speaker
All right. I am excited today because I get to have Dylan Dowson on the marketing manager for all the Western hunting at on X maps. Dylan, how are you doing? Good. Yeah. It's been a long time. We've exchanged emails and I don't believe, did we meet in person this year? Western might've been the only only time, but I've been looking forward to jumping on here and catching up and putting a face to the name.
00:00:51
Speaker
Yeah, I wasn't at Western. My partner was mine. I met him. But we're going to be at all the trade shows this year.
Tricer's Full-Time Journey
00:00:57
Speaker
So I went full-time Tricer like the beginning of May. So I'm putting my phone on the gas, and I'm going to be everywhere. People are going to be sick of me by this time next year because I'm going to be everywhere at one time. It's going to be awesome. Awesome.
Impact of OnX Maps on Hunting
00:01:13
Speaker
Yeah, dude. OnX has changed my life. There's a few apps I use, and OnX is the one that really just puts me over the top. I'm on a bunch of hunting forums, and I have a lot of friends, and if you come to me and you're like, hey, I'm looking at hunting, the first thing I tell them is get OnX. And if you don't get OnX, I don't even want to talk to you, because then I know you're serious. Literally, if you can't figure out where to hunt with OnX, you probably shouldn't be on the woods.
00:01:45
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's funny. Um, same with me, honestly, man.
History of OnX Maps
00:01:49
Speaker
I've, uh, we were talking a little bit beforehand, but I've been with on X for coming up on nine years. This fall will be nine years. And, um, I, I used it for probably, let's see, that was 2015. Probably since 2012 or so I had used the product and I mean I grew up hunting I fish if there's no hunting seasons going on to pass the time but like I believe it was 20 2011 actually it might have been 2011 2012 got a chip and a GPS and back back then like, you know, the big Montana GPS weighed about three pounds and Whatever and plug the chip in and it was it was pretty like crazy
OnX Beyond Hunting: Off-Road and More
00:02:30
Speaker
Groundbreaking like you want to show all your buddies right because you kept I know for me my daddy ways We kept hunting the same areas because we knew it was public we knew how to access it we knew we weren't gonna get messed with or you know, whatever and so we just kind of kept hunting like the same areas over and over and over and I remember once I got that chip and you're poking around on the GPS which just seems Wasn't that long ago, but it seems ancient compared to the phone app now um You know you just find a new stuff be like No kidding, that whole section over there is public and we can access it if we go around to the backside or whatever. I remember my first aha moment with it was, again, my dad and I driving out to kind of the same area we typically hunted and there was a mule deer off the road. I remember this like it was yesterday and just beautiful buck, probably 180s, just great. like
00:03:25
Speaker
what we're trying to go find, right? And it's like, man, I wish that was public. And we kept going down the road. It just, we thought for sure it was private. We looked, we tried to figure it out. Like that's definitely private. There's egg, egg lands around it, et cetera. And I remember when I got the chip and we were cruising out to that spot again, I think it was the following year and it showed up as a little section of a BLM. And so that buck where he was standing and I could take you to it today, was actually standing on public land and we could have accessed it and went you know hopefully shot that buck. But ah before that, you just didn't know, right? like And a lot of times like people just didn't even really care. like My dad tells me stories from when he grew up hunting and they kind of just hunted wherever they wanted and nobody really seemed to care, but that's definitely different today. Yeah, I got a few comments on that. One, the chip, if you guys don't know what the chip is,
00:04:19
Speaker
You used
Diversification in Outdoor Activities
00:04:20
Speaker
to have to order a chip for your state, and you'd order a chip for like 150 bucks, and then you put it in your garment or whatever you had, and that's how you add your maps. So you couldn't like, you couldn't put it on your computer, you couldn't put it on your computer, right? It was just on the GPS only. GPS only, you could get it on the computer through Basecamp, Garmin Basecamp it was called, but it was, ah I worked customer service at the time. I started out in customer service and back when there was, I was like the single customer service person. Now we've got a team of like 50 plus, um but anyways,
00:04:51
Speaker
It was a pain anytime somebody would call me and they would be like, Hey, I'm trying to get this on my computer or update the chip. It was just like, here's going to be an hour, hour and a half phone conversation. So it wasn't the best experience at the time. Yeah. And then my other point with that is like, not only did you find places to hunt, but once you got like, once I got on X, I started realizing how much I was poaching. as ah as a 20 year old, you know what I mean? Because like you said, like, you know, it's like, you were just running these big old giant paper maps, like in San Diego, we get these CNF maps. And like, you start to realize like, you know, oh crap, I probably wasn't hunting somewhere legally there, or I was hunting in the state park there, or I was hunting in
00:05:34
Speaker
But it also opened up a bunch of stuff where it caused a lot trouble of trouble landowners because landowners assume they own everything. The ones on X came out, you know, you're making, I have the fuse watch in San Diego and people get pissed. And it's like, you don't own this. This is public land. And the great thing is with on X is like, I don't know a fishing game guy who doesn't use it. Like I'll take a pin and I'll send him a pin, but cake can I hunt this? You know what I mean? Like it's a little bit gray area. Like, can I hunt it? And like, Oh yeah, it's public. You know, so it opened up a lot of stuff where people kind of like, it wasn't even, not necessarily landlocked stuff, but stuff that people just kind of like, like you said, that part of the road where it's next to the chicken ranch, I guarantee you wouldn't shot a buck on there. You might get some slack from somebody like, hey, what are you hunting my property? It's like, well, I didn't get property. This is public land. This is a whatever, you know, 40 acre portion that's public.
00:06:27
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. And, you know, I understand to too from a land perspective and like, you know, they've, they've ran cattle on it all their life and it's third generation and their grandpa and dad told them that was part of their pasture and whatever. And like, it just. OnX did a really good job, I think, at keeping everybody accountable. And there's no reason anymore to just play the, well, I don't know, like, you know, guessing game, right? it The tool exists. It's pretty easy to use. It's in the palm of your hands. Everybody has a smartphone. Like, it just keeps everybody accountable. Yeah. And it has saved my butt, especially, like I said in the beginning, like being able to use the tracker.
00:07:07
Speaker
And like, cause you start getting like, like I'm like, especially San Diego, it's hard to hunt here publicly. I'm like, I will, if there's a way to get into some public, I'm going to do it, but with tracker, I can do it legally. and show you how I got there, right? Yep. Because a lot of, so you'll come out and a ranger, you can't be here. I'm just like, no, I went through. Here's where I went through. Here's my tracker. I sit on public land. I am legal. It didn't say my butt a few times because a lot of times the rangers, like I said, now it's changed a little bit. I mean, this is a kind of an early days. The rangers don't know it's public or private. They don't know the rules, you know, they don't know every square inch of this County. So having on X, you're able to really kind of, I love using tracker for that reason when I'm kind of doing some stuff where I'm like, here's a property line.
00:07:49
Speaker
Here's a property line. Here's some public. Let's squeeze through and make it, make it over to this, you know, whatever this meadow behind it or something, you know. Yeah, totally. And it deescalates what could be, you know, an hour long frustrated conversation with a landowner too, right? I've had that happen too, where It might be a little sliver of public that gets you into some other stuff that borders private and I will intentionally turn my tracker on and leave it on for the very same reason. um And you know, somebody comes up and starts questioning, it's like, hey, like,
00:08:20
Speaker
you know I don't want to be confrontational here. i I have a track like this blue dot. Explain to them how it works. like This blue track is exactly where where I've been, and here's how I used to access. And now all of a sudden, you know what could have been a Game Warden phone call or a screen with a landowner is just like, oh, OK, sounds good. like Good luck. Yeah. Yeah, for sure, man. I have so many things I want to talk about, because like not only do you have like the tracker now, you also have, like where you can actually map out ways into places now in your app.
Enhanced Features of OnX Maps
00:08:50
Speaker
So like you can map out, um, what do you guys call that? Are you map out trails? Like I can like route, route builder route. Yeah. You can map out your route. So that really has been like a game changer for me too. I can actually map my route into an area and it's actually like, when you really get into it, you can really save your butt with like, especially going into the dark and you can stay pretty darn and close to it sometimes. And it, you know, don't get clipped out, don't end up in some rim rock. Like by using that, are you can even kind of map in like.
00:09:16
Speaker
How are you getting into a property or behind a property by doing that and using that for a neat little tool? That's new this year? Yeah, last last year it's new. um So relatively new still, but last season the cool thing about that too is seeing the elevation profile. So you do that, you can you can build your route. So a new part of that that you may or may not have used is like a snap to tool. you can use that route builder and say like, hey, I want to start here and here's where I want to camp or glass or whatever, start here and here, whatever that be. And it will automatically snap to any roads to get you there the most effective way. So it doesn't have to be like that. Yeah, it's super, super helpful for, you know, do I need to take it right here or left here, et cetera. So you do that and paired with like in Dash. So if you have a vehicle that has like Apple CarPlay or now
00:10:09
Speaker
Yeah or not android auto just finally came out and a lot of folks were waiting on that but so if you have that too like now i can say here's where my campus where i wanna get up and park and go glasses not from and it will automatically just snap your out to the correct path. Plug my phone and apple car play and this is all my dash so. but I'm cruising there at four in the morning before the sun's up. like I can just watch that for, yeah, at this Y, I need to take a left. um So that's super helpful. But the the original piece I was going to talk through is like for hiking especially, you can build that route and then you can see an elevation profile. And so you can just drag along that route and it'll show you on the map where you're roughly going to be. And then you can see an elevation profile too to where it's like,
00:10:59
Speaker
Man, right out of the gate, I got to climb 2,000 feet vert. I'm going to want to start cold and not be bundled up and whatever. Just mentally prepare for it, et cetera. Or you can do a route and look at it and be like, that's a little bit more than I want to get off right now. It's going to tell you the gain. Yeah. It'll tell you, oh, that's a good tool. Yeah, elevation gain. And so it's the full profile. So think of it like an elevation profile, but sideways. as you're starting and ending the track, when you slide it over, it'll just, you'll see like a elevation profile where it's like, oh, you dropped down 2000 feet, come up a thousand, then it benches out. And so you can really look at it and be like, okay, this is realistic. Or look at it and be like, I don't necessarily want to do that. I'm going to look for a different route to see if there's a better one.
00:11:49
Speaker
That's really cool because like I've like totally screwed myself a few times now where on X and Google Maps, like no I don't care how much you look at your computer. It does not do justice to the Frank Church or to Hell's Canyon, Oregon or some of these crazy spots I find myself and you get there and you're like, what have I got myself into? um I used that that track or the, what do you call it, route tool this year? so i actually miller yeah yeah I actually made routes into a spot to hunt.
00:12:20
Speaker
for elk cal getting we ended up killing five elcons three days it was freaking pitching hot in utah I was able to find like two different routes and without that I would never would have found it or I wouldn't have it just been a nightmare and like I did that here in San Diego. I did those routes drove over And then it was able to get on this route and it took me all the way up. It like matched, like the road perfectly like S turned here, switched back here, like gnarly back roads. And they got me all the way to these two camps and I was able to, you know, kill out. And that was, that was something that was like, wow, that's really cool. Um, having to do that for you rather than do it yourself. Yeah, no, that is cool. Another thing too, that's a relatively new and really helpful cause I'm in the same boat as you. It doesn't matter what you're looking on. If you're looking at 3d,
00:13:07
Speaker
you're like, oh yeah, I should be able to just bomb up this ridge real quick. And then you get there and it gets laid out and you're looking up, you're like, oh no, like that's five times bigger than I thought it was. But ah so we have this tool now called 3D exaggeration. So this is really helpful, especially if you've been in the country. So like, I'll use the example for me, I hunt central Eastern Montana a little bit. I live in Western Montana, um looking at pretty mountainous mountains out out my window right now. you know You've got two, 3,000 foot mountain inclines, but then you get to central, eastern Montana and there's not big mountains. It's a lot more, it's not flat land. There's a lot of depressions, but it's like maybe 75 foot super steep canyon, right? um So anyways, I know what that country looks like. I've been there, I've seen it in person and now I can go to 3D
00:14:03
Speaker
and go to the 3D exaggeration and there's a slider bar. So you can just slide that up and exaggerate the 3D as much or as little as you want. And so what it does, it just like extrapolates everything up and just exaggerates the 3D. It was actually a tool that was designed and created for white tail hunters looking for like a five foot Kirk depression to get into a tree stand, right? um Really, really flat land to where you can really exaggerate that and it will show the little creek drainages, et cetera. But, uh, you know, I go to Eastern Montana. I can exaggerate that up to where it looks like, okay, I've seen that country. I know what it looks like in person. And now my map matches that and looks just like it because I exaggerated that up. So I've found for me anywhere from like a third to a quarter, if I go more than like a quarter of the way up that slider for the exaggeration, it can get like a little bit cartoonish, just really just too much. Um,
00:14:59
Speaker
But yeah, it's a super helpful tool. And anytime I'm planning routes or whatever, I've got that 3D exaggeration on, even if it's just a little bit to help paint that like more accurate representation of what it looks like. That's like, I haven't even used it yet. Are you doing that? I guess we'll go now in a minute, but are you doing that on your phone or only on the computer for that? You can do both. Either one. Yep. Yeah. So when you just go to 3D, it'll have like an exaggeration bar and you can just slide it up and down. Okay. Yeah. Cause I, I mean, I do spend a lot of time on on X on my phone, but like the majority of my like East counting is done on a computer. I feel like that's yeah something people were missing, missing when it comes to that. Um, I guess I kind of wanted to hear the origin
Origins of OnX as a Hunting Company
00:15:44
Speaker
story of on X. I don't know it. And then we'll go back into kind of mapping and stuff and and doing that stuff. But, uh, did on it on X started as a hunting company, correct? Yep. Yep. So we do have a couple other avenues right now through on X, but like,
00:15:58
Speaker
it is It started as a hunting company and still is primarily a hunting company. We've got some other cool stuff in the works and and we'll continue to expand. But yeah, Onyx was founded um at the time. It was Montana Mapping and then Hunting GPS Maps. You're probably familiar with that one if you had used the chips a long time ago. Huntinggpsmaps.com is what it was called. And so Eric Siegfried, the founder, he and I actually grew up about an hour apart from each other in Eastern Montana. um And he moved from Eastern Montana out to Western Montana here. And when he did, so he had some background and experience with guiding and hunting himself quite a bit. And then when he moved out West, Western Montana, like he just didn't know where he couldn't couldn't hunt. It was like, you know, at home, he knew his spots. He he had everything.
00:16:48
Speaker
mapped out in his mind and then he moved to Western Montana and he was like, I don't know where I can go, right? Like it the barrier of entry to a new spot was just a lot. And so he started to build this product strictly for himself. um he He went down to like the local plot maps and got all the private and public land, you know, plot maps and then somehow digitized them, made them work with a chip that programmed into his Garmin. So essentially he built the product for himself just so he could look at it and and take that learning curve, like that really steep learning curve and cut it in half. So he built it for himself and then he was like, man, this is,
00:17:29
Speaker
Wildly helpful. ah So he started making a few chips here or there. He started out with just Montana I think that expanded then to like Wyoming and you know when I one or two other states and For quite a while a couple years even he was selling these little chips out of like his garage like him and a buddy would make them in their garage and sell them and and me people at like a sportsman's warehouse parking lot and exchange a chip for 100 bucks, you know, at 8 p.m. before the opener, that type of thing. So, um started off just as a ah real, real small company. And then, you know, even when I first got hired, I think I was number employee number like 30 or 32.
00:18:10
Speaker
So low 30 people in 2015 and then fast forward to today. I mean, we've got hundreds and hundreds of employees and just it's really taken off and expanded. um So yeah, it is it's a cool story because he just like built the product for himself. He saw a need and solved it and then was like, yeah, other people are definitely going to want to use this. So let's start it. How much is he still hunting? Uh, he still hunts a ton. He, so Eric is he's, let's see, I don't know if he's 40. He's relatively young. Um, and, uh, so he hunts a ton now. I mean, he still ah is heavily involved in on X he's on the board. Um, but he, he isn't like actively.
00:18:56
Speaker
Working day-to-day like I go hunting handful of times every year with Eric or go shooting and super just great guys super humble you would you would never know um that he was the founder of such a successful company, but yeah, he's he's living the good life hunting a bunch and um Yeah, he gets after it
00:19:17
Speaker
That's awesome. Yeah. and it's ah He really set the bar for what this could be. And you're seeing a lot of people trying to do the same thing now and and make stuff, but you guys really are kind of like the the original, the OG is to do it. And I like some of the places you're going. um I don't have the off-road version, but I've always, for years, I've been using my OnX for off-roading. Can I go to the desert? And so I'll use my tracker so I can remember how to get back because we we do like, um open desert like by, you know, hair scrambled style riding where he's going out into open desert flying, you know, fifth gear, sixth gear. And it's easy to get lost. You know, but if you want on X turn it on, like you can find your way back, especially a new on at night, it gets real hard. And then now you get to have a full off road version as well, right?
00:20:05
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, we do and kind of the same like I, I grew up like riding dirt bikes a lot and snowmobiling and that was kind of my secondary, you know, passion to hunting. And so for a long time, I used on x hunt for snowmobiling for example, snowmobiling is like it's the same as what you just said that you can get you can put yourself in a bad situation in a big hurry like you can be 50 miles from 40 to 50 miles from the pickup and it's dark and then all of a sudden you're like ah what's going on here so I used it a lot for that off road is is a really cool product so
00:20:40
Speaker
it's kind of It's built off the same platform. It looks very similar to Hunt. It just has off-road focus data in it. So for snowmobiling, for snowmo billing it has like avalanche forecasts, right more just off-road data and less Hunt-specific data. So um i can with off-road, I can tap on a trail, and there'll be a lot of user-generated content there. Obviously, we're not going to put user-generated content in the Hunt side of things. If I find a good honey hole, I'm not going to let the world know about it. um But off-road, it's cool because if I find a really cool trail or if I go do this trail, I might want to write a review and be like, hey, at mile marker, 8.2, pull over and hike up the the drainage. There's a cool waterfall there and like submit a photo. right So it's a lot more user-generated content. And um just content that's geared more toward
00:21:32
Speaker
you know, you tap on a trail and it'll say open to 50 inch or smaller from these dates. And then here's like a date range that it's only open to dirt bikes or whatever. So it's, uh, it's pretty cool. I'll get you set up with off-road as well. You can play around with it, but it just has a lot of off-roading trails, um, and like Moab and all those places are all mapped out. Really? Is that a separate app? So it's the off-road app. Yeah. So that is separate. So right now we've got the hunt on X hunt. We've got off-road and back country. Uh, we do have a fish product that we are working on. That's going to be released here real soon. Um, they are all separate apps. So do you still have a dirt bike? I don't, I haven't had a bike in,
00:22:23
Speaker
I've been five years unfortunately I still have all my gear I didn't let that go too because eventually I've got a one and a three-year-old son and um they're showing a lot of interest we watch you know motocross supercross attend together and they're super into it so oh nice i'm gonna go to paul sarah either because it's yeah we love mo keep gone Yeah, that's awesome. We went to CIA Supercross this year and he just, he had a blast um after he got over being afraid of the fireworks, but that's a whole separate deal. um get a mess we Get him the 12 inch day six. he He has one actually the KTM on.
00:23:03
Speaker
Dude, yeah, because my four-year-old now is on a PW, and he's just flying. He was racing Stasics by, like, by the time he got to three, he was fully racing the BMX track on his, like, doing motos on his Stasics, and it is, like, the coolest way to transition a kid into a dirt bike for sure. Yeah, that's awesome. He has ah the KTM version, which is basically the same thing KTM branded. And yeah he's a little timid on it so far, but he he's still is excited. But he's got like a full you know kit as far as gear goes and everything. So it's just a matter of time before I get a bike. um Yeah, I grew up riding and raced for several years until I got hurt one too many times. And the parents said no more. But yeah, I've got a four-wheeler. We use that quite a bit and stuff too. so
00:23:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's uh, it's it's cool, but I will probably get back into it here soon I'll be coming up there for for big sky tack. and I'm bringing my dirt bike I'm gonna go i'm staying with cody rich up there for like a week. We're gonna go riding. You've access to a bike. You should go riding with us Try and get a blast right I talk with cody all the time about um, you know, whether it be moto or just I think I think it's access to an extra bike dude, you should you should uh They get access to an extra bike. I'm bringing my bike, so I won't need the extra one. So you should go ride with us. That'll be fun.
00:24:21
Speaker
sweet i yeah to be a block and It's been a few years since I've been on a bike, but I like to think I would pick up. ah Yeah. Well, I know what's the worst that can happen. i' then You'll buy a bike. a few times but i'llbi You'll buy a bike is what will happen. You'll buy a bike is what's going to happen. So ah I ride again, I told him we gave this podcast and we're
Motorcycles and Dirt Biking Adventures
00:24:42
Speaker
going to go over. We want to go with this. He said, you don't want to make it like and so. I bought a KTM 300 last year, like the 2023. It is the most bitchin' bike I've ever ridden in my life. like I'll never go back to a four-stroke again. Really? Even though a California banned them, so i had to up I had to play it in like South Dakota, but whatever. um It is the funnest bike I've ever ridden. It's a constant power band the entire time.
00:25:09
Speaker
it is just I love that bike. Everything about it, you can go slow, you can go fast. yeah I'm doing like fifth gear wheelies up hills. Like it's just like, it just screams. It's such a rad bike. And it's yeah so. cool my Sorry, go ahead. No, go ahead. I was gonna say my my bike that I got rid of when I moved up here was a Suzuki 450F, so kind of like a race bike, right? And so now, like it's spring bear season and I've been hunting a bunch lately and about to to get out in the next week and and really spend some more time. And like, there are some really cool dirt bike accessible trails around here. So if I were to get into it, I think I would really look into like something like you just got, I don't know if that one has
00:25:53
Speaker
like doesn't have bad light It doesn't have It's not the XCW. It's the XC. Gotcha. And I kind of wish I got the XCW, but differences like it's just not as, the XCW doesn't have as much balls. So the XC is basically the Supercross version, but with six gears, right? Where the XCW is is a little more like trail orientated, which is probably perfect for what you're doing. um But I do, like I said, open desert stuff. So, um Yeah, that and then you'll appreciate this. I just bought, I bought a 1995 CR 500 Christmas time. And I just redid the entire bike dude. It is.
00:26:34
Speaker
like the the the the flow red like pink looking plastics purple whacked out i mean it is i've been riding it and that one is not a constant power band that one is like more it's the like it is the coolest death trap i've ever been on and it just looks bitch and and there's something about a big bore two stroke that just sounds just wicked dude that bike is rad that's That's so cool. You have to send me pictures of that. And I know exactly what you're talking about. My first, uh, I started racing when I think I started on a 65 and then went to an 85. And obviously that was quite a while ago. And that's, that's how those power bands were.
00:27:15
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So you're you're probably younger than us because like when me and Cody were kids, we were on 80s. There was no 85. It was like you went 65, 80, 125. And now it's like 85s and, you know, one time I have big wheels, 150 big wheels, and then it was two 50s. So yeah. Yeah. No, I'm 31. I'll be 32 this year. Yeah. You're not much younger than us, but we're 38, 39. So. Yeah, dude. I love the bike. So let's, I'm going to bug code even got this tech office. Maybe I'll text both of you like, Hey, we got to find a bike for Dylan and you can go riding with us when I'm up there. So get you on a bike. I know that I didn't ride a bike for like freaking almost 20 years. And I bought a quad for my son and then another car for another son and then a bigger quad.
00:28:06
Speaker
for for my babysitter to ride around with them. And I hate quads. Like, I'm just like, this is the worst. I got on my nephew's 250, like Thanksgiving, like a year or two ago, and I went home and bought bikes. So we have like, did all my kids run? We have quads. We don't like, I think we have like 10 bikes now in the garage or in the in the trailer. um i Five kids, right? um Yeah. We got like a plethora of pit bikes and we got like two, three fifties and then a 110 and just this constant chaos of the teenagers on the pit bikes and that stuff. But yeah, the bikes are just so fun. I feel like it transcends into, like people listening to this podcast probably appreciate this, I hope, because I feel like it's the same guy, right? That's why you guys, when you say we're going to make a hunting, we're going to make a hunting app, but now we're going to make an off-road app and then we're going to make a trails app, which is kind of the same guy, make a fishing app. Like you're kind of hitting like everything I do.
00:28:58
Speaker
Like I hear that and I'm like, oh, I would kind of want to try that fishing app because I like to go fishing. And there's some local ponds around here that I would love to kind of know where the high spots are and stuff. Yeah. And what's really cool about it too is like, I do have the background in off-road and bike and stummabilling and et cetera, et cetera. But what's really cool is the way that OnX has been set up is I have only ever, for example, worked on the hunt. like hunt is one hundred percent my focus that's really my expertise yeah i know a little bit and i know enough to be dangerous on the off-road side but the trails one like i have. I don't backcountry ski i don't know anything about it like not my expertise right but what what's really cool is as we do these things.
00:29:43
Speaker
Like fish, for example, I'm not working on fish. Yeah, we'll take what what has worked for marketing or for our ambassadors or relationships and like share that knowledge with the folks working on fish. But when we start something new like that, like we hire folks that are passionate about fishing or we hire folks that are experts on fishing and what like the consumers will need for that product. Like it's not, and in doing so, it's not taking time away from hunt, right? So a lot of folks, you know, might think like, well, the more that they do, the less they're going to focus on hunt. Like that's not the case at all. We're also hiring. Yeah. So it's a whole new company. We have an umbrella on X maps. Um, but underneath it, like as we do these new avenues and new apps, like it's a whole new set of hires, like whether it be engineers or marketing folks or anything like that. So that's been really cool to see. And I think it's just because,
00:30:41
Speaker
Like the success of the companies let us do that instead of like, Hey, Dylan, I know you're on hunt and our trio is coming up here in a few months, but like we really need this off-road campaign to be dialed right now. Like you got to pull over here. Like, um, that does not happen. So that's been pretty cool to see. Yeah. And how much does it like transcend into each other? Like, like if I use all next time, I've never used off-road. I'm probably going to pick up Off-Road and be able to do it pretty simply, right? It's probably very similar in how it works and the functions and the tools, correct?
00:31:14
Speaker
Yeah, I would say it's probably 80% UI the same. like It's going to look, feel the same. You're going to understand it. Off-road, for example, like in the bottom left-hand corner, it's like ride modes. So you tap that, and you would just select like Snow or Trail. And then you can put in you can filter, like I've got a dirt bike, so you want to filter by just dirt bike trails, et cetera. So um yeah, it's I would say 80% is all kind of the same. so it's you're not going to open it up for the first time and be like, man, I don't know how to use it. Some, there's a huge learning curve. If you're fluent in one, it will transfer over, but there's definitely differences. Yeah. I'm curious to see it. I'm curious to check out the trails one too. Cause and I use like all trails right now a little bit, right? To find stuff, find local spots. And I actually have like some books I have to like old school books and you know, to find spots, hike and stuff. But the way you guys do it, I feel like you just simplify that whole process for me, you know,
00:32:09
Speaker
So, yeah. So Fish, real quick, Fish is gonna start with just Minnesota right now. So it's kind of our proof of concept um starting point, and then we're gonna expand from there. So it's ah it's not gonna be available for every state everywhere, but it's gonna be pretty cool. i've I've been able to play around with it a little bit, and I'm excited for for it to move into Montana and just some other stuff, so.
OnX's Fishing Expansion Plans
00:32:37
Speaker
How much are you guys looking to go into like ocean fishing? Because that's our that's our jam down here. We have like fish dope and stuff like that right now. I don't know exactly. I'm sure, like again, back to being segmented to some degree, I'm sure the fish folks would have would know on that. um I'm sure like as the data is, it's kind of like Hunt. We have our focus on like what we want the product to be.
00:33:03
Speaker
But if there's other data that we can easily, you you know, it's already in the digitized format we need, et cetera, and we can easily drop in, even though it might only benefit 1% of our customers, like if it's valuable valuable enough and it's easy enough to get that data, like we're gonna add it. So that could be something with like the ocean fishing where it's like, if that data exists, we'll pull it in, um even though it might not be our core market like right away, but who knows it might turn in to be. Oh man, because I know I've been using Onyx for years to pin lobster pots, lobsters where I find a lobster and stuff. But man, if I could e-scout with Onyx for rises, right? Because in the ocean, you're looking for, it could be a mile or two deep, and then you're looking, then all of a sudden, oh, it's only 300 foot deep right here. That's a spot I want to pin. And you could go and do that.
00:33:57
Speaker
finds find those spots, that would be slick. I mean, there might be a way to do that already. I'm sure there is. I don't really fish as much as I used to, but like I just think about that. like Man, that would be you know really cool to be able to use and do that stuff. Yeah. Yeah, know that would be cool. I know in Minnesota, like we do have pretty much all the lakes. It's what is it called? Lithometry. So like basically top under the water. Yeah, good call to Minnesota. it's like all The whole thing is a lake. Yeah. So yeah, for sure. And it's like, you know, bass, walleye, pike, et cetera. We do have some stuff we're working on where it's like more geared toward um fly fishing and streams and flow rates and all that. That's definitely not my area of expertise. So I could, I could fake it, but everybody, anybody who fish would definitely call me out right away. um So we are working on some cool stuff with that too, but um yeah, it's, it's exciting. It's cool to to see it grow. Cause again, when I first started, which was only nine years ago,
00:34:56
Speaker
Obviously we were only hunt focused and even at that time it was taken ah all the way back to the chips. It was like little SD chips that you're pretty limited. We had a phone app, but it wasn't like it. we were just waiting for technology to get better and for our product to improve. And then it just over the last even three to four years, technology on the phones has improved and like our product has improved in such a way that it's just reliable, right? Like I sold my GPS, I think probably four or five years probably four years ago and kept it around for a couple of years just because it's like, you know, I knew it worked, right? But now like the phones and the apps and everything are so reliable, you just don't need it anymore.
00:35:40
Speaker
Yeah, i have I have GPS with me still, but it's because I have like the InReach Explorer Plus, not the Spot. So like, i if I had to, I could still get myself out with that, you know what I mean? And look at that map, but I don't ever use it. I i kind of want to hear how they used it for finding my way out of something, the phone dies or something, right? But Onyx use all the time and like the offline maps has gotten so rad. And I am like such a big fan of like what Elon Musk is doing with Starlink and stuff. I can't wait for that to go through because you're pretty much going to have service everywhere for maps and like just have these like high definition maps wherever you are. It's going to be really cool. It's only going to benefit you guys. I'm excited for that. it you know has been I'm sure our engineers in those conversations have happened a lot more outside of me being involved, but every time we go to like make improvements with Save Maps, that's always a ah topic of discussion. right like
00:36:37
Speaker
We could, but how much longer is everybody going to have service everywhere? You know, so it's like, do we invest a lot or like put instead of building this other really cool feature, do we like reinvent the wheel with save maps when hopefully in the near future, everybody's going to just have service, right? So, and that's going to be cool too for like sharing, you know, right now you need some, some cell connectivity to like, if I was going to share you a waypoint where I, Hey, I shot a bull. If you can meet me here, et cetera. Like I gotta have service or we got to be really close to each other to share that. Like that's going to be really nice for when there's, eliminate the need for that Explorer plus that I have. That's the thing. It's going to eliminate the need for having a spot or a Garmin.
00:37:21
Speaker
because now I can just call you or I can hit 911. You know what I mean? Like it's right there. I won't have to like, you know, or even like, like I use, we all have garments. So we're always messaging through Garmin on these hunts. You know what I mean? It's like two minutes. Is it going to get there? Hold it outside the tent. You know what I mean? Like, hold it. Hopefully it makes it or hold it, you know, shouts back your backpack because it nose goes goes through. Now it's going to be like, I'll have my maps. I'll be able to be like, here's a waypoint right over to you. This is where I am. You know, so what we've been doing is actually taking with the Garmins. We'll send our location, which is like a longitude latitude.
00:37:59
Speaker
And you take that and punch it into on X and that gives you a darn close pin and we'll get back that way. So we we do that right now when we don't have service. Yeah, same. And I have one too. it I've got the little mini one somewhere around here. and it pretty, you know, it's a safety net for sure. um But I remember I was spring bear hunting, this was probably like six or seven years ago um when I moved to Western Montana. And it it stays late or stays light super late here. And I remember I got on this bear and my wife now girlfriend at the time, you know, it was one of those nights like I saw a bear last night, I went for it was like two miles away from my pickup at last light situation. And I didn't get end up getting home to like,
00:38:44
Speaker
1 30 a.m or something like that and as soon as my phone had serviced man, like you would have thought I was missing for like weeks. Yeah, so um That I remember and I was like, okay, I definitely need something to communicate. So now it's like Hey, hon, it's gonna be a super light night, you know, just shot an elk and don't expect me until you know 3 in the morning type situation so that's mostly what I use use that device for now, but Yeah, here, here before too long, hopefully you just have coverage. Yeah. Well, the trick is, I mean, you're still a young married guy. The trick is never give him a time, dude. You got to be like, when you be home? I don't know. How long you be going? Late. Late. I don't know. If you tell them 11 o'clock, like you're freaking like my wife, that's why I got a Garmin.
00:39:33
Speaker
And I was with the boys and she's like freaking called like the, I don't know who she called national guard. She called everybody thinking when we were dead, we were supposed to be back by like 11. We didn't get back at like two or three. And she was like, she called every park rangers and forest service. I mean, it was, they were all coming and I'm like, stop giving them my spots. We're fine. You know, but we had no service, no way to get back. So I actually went home and bought a freaking in reach. Explore Plus, which is what I've been using forever. I think it was before the little ones were out or something. So that's why I have to pick one, but it does the trick. It works with my phone and I like using it. Yeah. No, for sure. And I remember, uh, so the last bear I shot in spring, a couple of years ago in Montana, um, I didn't get home until it was like four in the morning type situation. Um, and I just sent her a message. I was like, Hey, it's going to be, I don't think I gave her an exact time. Cause I was like, I am like six miles from my pickup.
00:40:28
Speaker
This bear is heavy and there's a lot of snow and this just sucks. Like this is not a good situation. So I was like, it's going to be super late. I'll see you in the morning. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. All right, dude. So I'd got, I think somewhere between eight and 10 out of state tag this year, eight, at least eight out of state tag as you're between me and the kids. I've got an elk hunt in Colorado. um a really good hunt, burning seven points on it. Archery I'll come. Where am I starting? Tell me about the new features you got. I hope we find this bull right now. I'm not going to see what unit it is because I don't trust any of you guys listening to not going to take my spot next year. Yeah, especially when you shoot that 380 bull this year or something. That's the goal. Yeah, so one of the cool things, ah it's relatively new. Have you used terrain X much? No.
00:41:23
Speaker
Let's train it. So for anybody who like really doesn't know at all, if you have a membership, you can log into the computer and view the same maps, right? It's just a lot better for e-scouting. Sometimes I'll even connect my computer. This is kind of like a a geek thing, but like I'll connect my computer to my 50-inch TV screen to really look at things bigger bigger picture. Yeah, because it's easy. That's a good idea. I should do that. Yeah. And so one of the things like not to go off on too much of a side tangent here is like, instead of e-scouting, sometimes I'll mark a bunch of like waypoints and just data in the field and not really be able to like put it together in the moment. And then you come home or if you've got downtime in the winter, you like look at it on like a big screen and it's like, okay, like I've caught these bulls bedded here, this herd bedded here several times. I know there's a wall over here and like,
00:42:20
Speaker
especially if you're looking at topo and 3D, like sometimes I've had some places, some spots like really just like make sense to me. It's like, Oh, there's a ah really good saddle in between like their bedding area on this bench here. And there's a wallow and like, you know, you can just like look at things from a bigger picture. So if I ever go back into that, it's like, I kind of have a better understanding now of how these elk are moving. Cause when you're in the field, sometimes, you know, you're chasing a bugle, whatever you come across, wallow you market real quick on a way point or whatever, your caught you're preoccupied with like killing the elk. You don't understand the orientation of that wall or why it's situated where it is.
00:42:59
Speaker
or what like where it might be helpful, exactly. So like now if I go in there the next year after really looking at things from a bigger perspective and picture, like if I hear Bull Bugle, I'm like, ah, I know where that bull is and I know where he's probably going, because I just understand how the elk move in that country, right? So anyways, ah the the TV and the really big screen is is cool for that, but um back to the computer and
TerrainX: Advanced Topographical Analysis
00:43:23
Speaker
terrain act. So you can log in, view the same maps, all the same data. So if I mark waypoints on my, phone, etc. It's automatically on my computer. vice versa So if I'm e-scouting, dropping routes on the computer automatically is on my phone for the field. But TerrainX, so in the upper right hand corner for this is only for elite members. um But if you click on TerrainX, it will open up a new a tab and it will show the same map that you're seeing on
00:43:52
Speaker
to your other screen. but ah So it'll show the same map. You can use 3D. You can drop waypoints. But you can sort and filter based on like elevation profiles. So if you want to only see whatever, between 65 and 7,300 feet of elevation, you just put those two things in. And then everything on the map that doesn't fall into that category is grayed out. So you can still kind of see it, but you can just tell it's not active. Um, you could do it by slope angle. So degree of slope incline and then I only want to see eastern face slopes or southeast whatever so you can Really put all that ah to really like and hone in and highlight areas on the map and on degree angle I heard something the other day and it's like what is it like 21 to 25 degrees? That's slope you're looking for for an elk Is that correct? is like yeah i'm sure Yeah Yeah, I think that's really close. I'm sure it different, you know
00:44:46
Speaker
It's something like that. I never thought of it until recently. I'm like, really? Degree angle? And it was something like that. 25 degrees with the slope you're looking for for an outcast. I was like, wow. I never even thought of that. And you can do just north-facing slopes. Yep, so you can do like north facing slopes between, you know, whatever, 7,000, 7,500 feet, and then like look for benches there to find that's really yeah bedding potential bedding, whatever. But the another really cool aspect to that is, is we call it view shed. And so this, to my knowledge, doesn't exist anywhere else. I've never seen this before anywhere else. um And so view shed is if you click that button,
00:45:25
Speaker
and you move your mouse around on the map, wherever your mouse is, it's going to show you, it's going to highlight the areas that you can physically see based on topography. So if you're looking for like glassing knobs or shooting areas, like I know a really big mule deer lives in the head end of this drainage. If I get up to this knob, can I shoot into it? So you can like measure that obviously to see if it's within your effective range. But with viewshed, you can just highlight that knob and it will show you if you can or can't see it to the head end of that basin. So it's not going to take into effect vegetation. So if you are if it's super heavily wooded, you know you're obviously not going to be able to glass to the next ridge. But if there's like an open park or you can see like rock outcroppings, whatever, you you can
00:46:15
Speaker
pretty much figure out areas where you can see through or like in a logging road, et cetera. um But based on topography, it shows you what you can and can't see. So as you play around with that, it's it's pretty next level technology. It's pretty cool. So on Terrainax, can I put in like um certain trees or plants? like hey are there Where are the aspens? no so that would be you can actually do that on like the normal maps within layers you can um you can look for you know coniferous whatever like you can sort that out there that's not in train x right now i'm sure it will be train x is still kind of in the
00:46:55
Speaker
I wouldn't even call it beta just because it is such like a usable, cool product, but we're constantly adding to it. um So not all the functionality that like map layers aren't in there, for example, it's really to highlight those key areas and you can mark a waypoint and then jump back into, you know. Okay, tap in and out of bit okay yeah yeah I want to use it because yeah, that sounds like something I would definitely be into. I'm so i'm taking Mark Livisay's tree line pursuit course right now, his whole el course right now. which I can't believe how thorough Mark the Missy is. Like I'm like 20% through this thing and I'm like, dude, I've been going for like six hours already. This is a crazy course. And he's talking about like looking at this, looking at slopes, looking at a snowpack, looking at um trees. And a lot of this is a couple of years old. So I feel like you guys are kind of adding all this up into it already into Onyx. You have to go bounce back and forth between some of these other softwares.
00:47:50
Speaker
So yeah yeah, so that what he's talking about, like you pick, you know, put the conifers and put whatever, you know, this kind of tree and this kind of grass type. Um, I don't know if you guys, do do you guys do any kind of grass type or anything like that or no? We don't have grass type right now. Uh, we do have egg land. So if there's egg in that, like I've used this for, for my outcomes or whatever, if, if I happen to be close to private with egg, so like I can select alfalfa just because I know it's like pretty prevalent over where I hunt. If there's. If I'm close to private property that looks like it has a field, I'll just hit alfalfa and it'll show you anywhere. It'll highlight on the ground anywhere that was planted with alfalfa last year or corn. I mean, it does anything. Soybeans, like we you name it, but you can filter in specific things if you want, or you can turn them all on and then just click on it to see what it was. um Typically, it's just hay or alfalfa is you know what's going to be beneficial to me. but um
00:48:47
Speaker
Yes, we do with egglands. We don't do just like natural grass types right now, but something interesting for sure. Yeah, that's really cool, man. that um What's it called? Terrain X? That was worth its price for admission. If listen to this podcast and you didn't know about Terrain X, like me, like that's that's worth its price for admission. so Yeah, dude, that's freaking i'm I'm like, I want to get off this podcast now and go do a go next. I'm like, I got, I'm trying to figure out the that's one of the hard things people don't understand with like being successful on hunts. Like for one, it's a ton of front end working, getting the techs, researching tags, getting the tech. Once you get the tags, mapping out these hunts and where you're going to go, right? Like I'm going to have to spend a lot of time this summer, I mean,
00:49:34
Speaker
countless I mean, 100 hours? I don't know. Between all my hunts to like figure out where I'm going to be hunting. like I won't go do that that on X. I'm not going to show up there and spend a month in this unit. I'm going to show up there and two days before, a day before. and I'm going to be hunting. So I'll be able to do some on the ground, but most of it's going to be done through on X, on that. And that terrain X really helps me because I get kind of like, I'm not the best at top of maps. I get kind of spun around, especially when I start spinning the map around, I get kind of spun around, like to find a Northeast facing slopes, cause a little bit, like sometimes it's not the easiest, but like if you'll turn them on like that, that's going to be slick. Cause like, if you don't know, like Northeast facing slopes just are money, especially for me, the Southwest.
00:50:12
Speaker
because it's just hot. So it's like you could drop in it you dropp into a northeast facing slope, and it is 15 degrees cooler than it is on the south side of that slope in the afternoon. Yeah, for sure. And I know Cody cody Rich has done some really cool e-scouting stuff with us that's you know available online somewhere. But ah to your point there, Cody, a lot of times, Cody kind of turned me on to this, where it's like you spin the map in the opposite direction sometimes just to look at things from a different perspective. We're all used to looking at maps north up. Sometimes if you just like disorient yourself and look at an area, you'll gleam certain insights that you probably wouldn't have just if you were looking at it North up all the time. So especially if you're looking, you know, if you're in terrain X and you highlight Northeastern facing slopes, and then you rotate it like, you know, it's going to highlight stuff that it's
00:51:02
Speaker
You're looking at from such a different perspective, you're able to see things from a different light. And that's one thing that really gleamed from Cody's e-scouting is, um, you know, just think about things sideways a little bit and it's going to separate you from all the other tag holders. Um, sometimes if you do that, which is cool. Yeah. Cody is a pretty incredible dude. I attribute a lot of my success to Cody and like being someone who was like, now I don't want to be conceited, but like when I first started out, like people just blew me off. didn't want to talk to me. Now everyone wants to be my friend. Now people want to hang out with me. They want to freaking, they want my stuff or trade for me, whatever. But Cody was a dude who even when I was making my first stuff would talk to me, have my phone number, and just wanted to help me as an entrepreneur, like figure this out. And like I'll forever be a fan of Cody Rich because of that. Like it's easy to be friends with somebody when they make it, but when somebody is just like in the trenches and like to give them the time of day, which odds are I probably wasn't going to make it. I tell small businesses are.
00:52:01
Speaker
He was that guy and he was willing to support me and be there and I will forever be, you know, committed to loyal to Cody because of that. Just an awesome dude. And he's killed a couple elk in his life. So it's good to hear some of that stuff. He's killed a few. yeah I love the videos, like the selfie videos. but Not just small five points, but you know, decent five points, good five points. Um, you know, bulls that most, a lot of people would just like be salivating. And he's like, you know, taking selfie videos and they're at like 15 yards. Like those are the best. This walking away from dude, he wants to kill. He's never cracked three 50, which I thought was shocking.
00:52:39
Speaker
And he's like, I want to kill a giant bull. I want to kill a 370 bull, a 380 bull. And he's like, I am just going to walk away from some of these bulls that nobody would else walked away from. So you have to do it. You can't shoot the big ones if you shoot small ones. So last year, the bull I killed um did break that mark. And i so it's funny because I killed him. And it was the last day of my hunt. It was my home state hunt. It was Montana archery hunt. Bull is bugling. It all happened so quick. It was the last day and like he was bugling. I knew he was the herd bull, but I had no idea like that. He could have been a 280 class herd bull, right? He was getting shot.
00:53:18
Speaker
He was getting shot. It honestly did not matter to me. he shot you was pick an arrow And so I come come over their eyes and he's standing there and he chuckled or something. I don't think he full beagle, but he chuckled. So I knew it was him. I could see like the diaphragm. I could tell that that's that elk made that noise and it was a chuckle or whatever. And there was a perfect opening through the trees right behind his shoulder. So I could see the crease. It was like, I'm either going to hit a tree limb or I'm going to center punch this elk in the 10 ring. And anyways, I shot him and he ended up ah being, I think he was 358 or something, like just under 360. And yeah, I had not seen that bull. He could have been, he could have been, you know, 280 or 420. And I had no idea. You know what it was until you got to him? No, no, because he was in so much trees. All I could see, like all I could see is
00:54:12
Speaker
literally like a 12 inch circle right behind his shoulder through the trees, that's it. um So yeah, that was a ah very pleasant surprise on um my biggest bowl. I could tell, so he he crashed in sight. And so I could tell he was a nice bowl, but even then i I was like, man, that's at least a 320 bowl, you know, like that's a ah really nice bowl. And then I got out there, it was just like, oh boy, ah it was a pleasant surprise. Seven by or six by? Six. Yeah, he he had a little seven on one side. I mean, he was his seventh on one side was like an inch and a half, two inches. So just mass and just a giant six.
00:54:51
Speaker
Yeah, just length. um I mean, he is mass, right? But I've shot, I have a 340 bull that has a lot more mass than this one. He just, he has 55 inch beams. And like, even until i I didn't realize even how big he was, I was like, he's probably my best bull, but you know, he's probably close to my other one. And then I put a tape to one of his beams and it was like 55 and a half. And it's like, oh, like, nevermind. That puts everything to perspective that it's, it's hard for, it's hard for me to judge, big bulls or bigger bulls. you know Anything like 320 and under, I feel like I can get pretty close, but um bigger than 330, big is big at that point to me. You're just getting shot. Hopefully I get to a point where where I can start picking them apart, but I don't think, I don't ever care to. Yeah, I've been involved. I've killed a rifle and I've been involved in which rifle kills. I've never killed with my bow. This is my first year actually bow hunting them. I've never had the time. Like I said, it's always been I've had a full-time job up until last month.
00:55:51
Speaker
but I'm committing like at least two weeks to archery over in Colorado this year in a really good unit. And I'm hoping, I hope I get it done, man. It's a really good unit. Um, not a lot of tags and, uh, I've got a lot of good insight from some people. So I'm excited to go over there and do that. Well, we normally end with a hunting story. We just told the hunting story. Um, did you hear that story? It talked about big bulls. It's kind of off topic, but we're talking about Cody rich and bulls and elks and all of a sudden he had this dude on like a rock climber. Do you hear this on the elk podcast?
00:56:21
Speaker
so I don't think I even heard it. yet No. It was like this dirt bag. rock i hate I say dirt bag because they call themselves dirt bags. He just lived in his van and like moved around like he'd become a chef somewhere. Like he was like a chef in like Sedona and like he was out hiking like in the middle of the rut. Never knew he'd seen an elk before in Sedona, Arizona as soon as like his freaking bulls just like going on a big old bull battle. He got intrigued and he went and bought a bow.
Unexpected Elk Hunt Success
00:56:46
Speaker
And he freaking started like he he has always happened in the world because he's like literally just a dirtbag rock climber. So he spent like, I don't know, like three or four months in the Gila in New Mexico. He drew a Gila tag. His first year applying, he draws a Gila tag. And then he's from New Mexico. So he had a little more better odds. But he draws a Gila tag, like 16A or something. And he says like three months scouting. Dude, this guy on his first hunt ever kills like a 384.
00:57:17
Speaker
first It's a rad story. It's a you got this it's good it's a trip. Yeah. Was that a recent podcast? I'll have to check that out. Yeah. It was a recent one, like probably like probably like a month or two ago, but it was, it's on the Elcom podcast, on the Rich Outdoors podcast. And, uh, it's good. He's the guy's a trip. You're just like, what the heck? This guy's a trip. And he freaking goes out there and just smashes this bowl and just gets it done. And he's like, yeah, I would have shot a small one. And he's like, bro, I killed this one three. I was like, might've been three. I think it was in the eighties. I think it was 384, but maybe it was 378. I know it was giant. It was just a giant bowl on his first freaking elk hunt. First of having a tag in the Gila.
00:57:59
Speaker
It kills a monster. but yeah your content are that's metal that was ah That was a fun podcast, dude. You got anything else you want to throw in there? Yeah. No, I appreciate it. Good conversation ah as always. And yeah, i'm I'm excited for the year too. I don't have near as many tags as you do, um but I've got some cool hunts coming up. I head to Alaska for Archer Caribou in August and then um Might draw a December out tag. That one still is pending. We'll see. And then I think headed to Mexico in January, February for Coosier. So, got some cool stuff coming up, but yeah, you've got a lot of tags. You're going to have to use it. Coosier are my favorite. We can do a whole other podcast on Coosier. If you want to know about Coosier, call me. On the Alaska thing, I'm planning on moving to Alaska for a month next year, I think in August for the family.
00:58:50
Speaker
like so I want to go hunt. There's much stuff I want to hunt up there. I'm like, we'll just move up there for a month or two and just go go hunt. A good time. That's awesome. It'll be my second time in Alaska. I did Kodiak, I think three or four years ago for Blacktail. That was super fun to hunt. This is a much different part of Alaska with Bo and August. So yeah, it's always cool. like I really enjoy going into hunts, like not having a clue what to expect. right like I've never seen a caribou in my life. um Are you doing is like the whole truck road thing or whatever? is that what you i mean are you Do you know what to say? or are you doing that
00:59:27
Speaker
No, you're, uh, so I'm going to go up with Casey from Hush. Um, he's been up there quite a few times. They've rifle hunted a few years in a row. Um, but this year we're going to archery hunt them. So kind of the same, same hunt. It's, uh, up in that general area, but using a transporter. So ah you are flying okay yeah. Uh, fan boat is what it is. So transporter boat with like a fan boat up the river. So, Oh, camebo really? that's joke Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've never been on one of those either. So it's going to be a lot of firsts. Yeah. Well, you have to come back on and tell us that story. That sounds like a good story. I want to hear all about that because I want to go, man. I had booked Alaska a couple of years ago and then they shut down part of Alaska where I was supposed to hunt and the Outfitter took all of our money and said, sorry. And we have not got to go back. So.
01:00:14
Speaker
We're all out. We're out like six, two grand each. So like six grand or something. So we're going to go, I'm going to go to Alaska and do it, dude. But ah man, what a cool podcast on X is awesome. On X is the reason why I'm able to kill things every year. I mean, without on X on a high would do it. If you don't have on X, get on X. Um, I don't, not sponsored by you guys at all. I just, it's a bitch and tool. And I tell people all the time, like first thing you need to do for hunting, get on X maps. That's the best 100 bucks you'll spend. I love it. Well, uh, yeah, your endorsement and just everybody's word of mouth like that makes my job a heck of a lot easier. So, uh, I appreciate it. And, uh, yeah, man, good luck on all of your hunts this year. We'll definitely stay in touch and maybe jump on another podcast after the fall and, uh, share some notes. I'm going to get you on a dirt bike in a couple of weeks, dude. You go riding with us. We'll stay in touch. I got to make sure all my gear still fits. It's been a while. Should, it should fit.
01:01:13
Speaker
it was We'll figure it out. It'll be all right. Put some boots on me. All right. Later, bro. 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. Until next time, shoot straight, have fun, and always put God first.