Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Stories! As hunters and outdoors people that seems to be a common thing we all have lots of. Join your amateur guide and host on this channel Ken as he gets tales from guys and gals. Chasing that trophy buck for years to an entertaining morning on the duck pond, comedian ones, to interesting that's what you are going to hear. Also along with some general hunting discussions from time to time but making sure to leave political talks out of it. Don't take this too serious as we sure don't! If you enjoy this at all or find it fun to listen to, we really appreciate if you would subscribe and leave a review. Thanks for. checking us out! We are also on fb as Hunts on outfitting, and instagram. We are on YouTube as Hunts on outfitting podcast.
Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
A Caribou Quest Years In The Making
A childhood memory—“caribou make a C”—set Cody on a path that didn’t let go until he stood in the Mackenzie Mountains with a bull on the ground and snow creeping down the ridges. This story begins years before the shot, in 2016, when he started messaging outfitters across the North to understand species, terrain, costs, and what truly makes a hunt worth the wait. We walk through the tradeoffs between barren-ground tundra and the mixed country of the McKenzie range, why Ravensthroat’s reputation and responsiveness sealed the deal, and how booking early with a top-tier guide can change everything.
We get practical and precise—gear that matters when helicopters, rain, and drafty teepee tents are your reality. From a 280 Ackley Improved with 145-grain all-copper Hammers to mid-flex boots, bombproof rain shells, and a zero-degree bag that saves sleep, Cody explains what worked and why. Then the hunt unfolds: float plane to camp, prime rib at the lodge, wolves echoing across the lake, and a guide who understood exactly what this dream meant. We spend time on the hard part—knowing when to pass, when to commit, and how to balance a once-in-a-lifetime budget with the desire to let the story breathe. When the right bull appears—great tops, strong bez—Cody takes a calm quartering-away shot at 180 yards and feels the North settle into him for good.
The days after are rich with what makes mountain hunts unforgettable: packing meat in cold rain, fresh snow on black rock, a grizzly feeding down a meadow, grayling flashing in clear water, and a helicopter scouting run that reveals just how alive this country is. We also break down logistics most hunters overlook—donating meat to northern communities, freezing and flying capes and antlers, and the small-town ingenuity that turns a tarp into checkable luggage. If you’re dreaming of a caribou hunt—or any remote big-game adventure—this conversation offers field-tested insight on outfitters, gear, weather, travel, and mindset. Subscribe, share with a hunting buddy, and tell us: would you have taken the shot or waited one more day?
Check us out on Facebook Hunts On Outfitting, or myself Ken Marr. Reach out and Tell your hunting buddies about the podcast if you like it, Thanks!
It's Canadian access fire. It's going to be failed right to your heads. It's going to be newspaper styles. It's going to have closing scales all kinds of stuff from all kinds of sorts of companies. All over Canada. It's right now. So it's 15 access to fire. Actually, puppy tests. There's still under years, but yes. For all flight stages for dog development. For regular activity dogs, ideal for puppies, adult dogs, developing others and dogs. Yes, they do have a rerecorded twice. If you want to get a hold of me, you can email me at hunt on outfit at gmails.com. Or you can find me on Facebook at Mayer or follow the podcast and hunt the page at the update with everything. Hunt on outfit. That's also on Facebook. All right, let's talk, Cody. So Cody Hunter the Hunter, welcome to the podcast. You know, I I got in contact with you through mutual friend Dave McKillop. And uh what I do know about you going into this and talking about your your dream hunt is that you live in Saskatchewan, you went on a true once-in-a-lifetime dream hunt, and you s booked it and started the process uh some time ago.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, I did, yeah. It was uh quite a while ago. I started actually messaging uh outfitters um northern Manitoba, uh Nunavut, uh Northwest Territories, and Yukon at about 2016. I started like, you know, reaching out just inquiring on what it costs and you know, uh kind of feeling them out.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so you I mean you definitely didn't book this uh this hunt on a whim.
SPEAKER_02:No, it's yeah. It's been a really long time coming.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So uh I gotta ask, I mean, caribou, I think they're a super unique animal. Uh there's m different species of them, different areas to hunt them. I mean, what got in your head to pursue caribou?
SPEAKER_02:You know what? It's kind of funny, actually. Um you know how uh you take your hunter safety here in Saskatchewan when you're 12 or 11, depending, right? You can take it at 11 too, so you're you're set to go the when you turn 12 in the following season, right? Right. And um the guy at the time, uh he's an old boy in town here, he's a great guy, actually. And his brother is was one of my mentors for hunting and reloading, and you know, you name it, just any question. He's he's kind of been the guru for for lots of stuff. And uh his brother taught hunter safety, his name is Jerry Hilgers, uh better known around here as Fritz. And uh so I'm 12 years old, and you're learning about uh hunter safety and uh animal identification, and I remember uh you know, this elk and caribou can kind of look almost similar, right, in the in the headgear kind of end. And his explanation for it was elk make an E with their antlers and caribou make a C with their antlers, you know, so they start with a C, and I kind of thought, oh, that's cool, my name's Cody, you know. I start with a C too. They're caribou, they got a C for antlers, and they start with a C. And you know, that was honestly, if I can go way back, that was really the the start of it. And then I've honestly always been infatuated with the North. Um something just you know, it's always piqued my interest. I trap. Uh I I just I like that. You know, I like being in Canada and the cold and the harshness of it, and I love reading books on like the fur trade and stuff like that. And nothing represents the north for an animal better than like a caribou or you know, maybe a polar bear, but I thought caribou really stood out and really represented what the north was.
SPEAKER_00:Well, yeah, a hundred percent. I mean, I I feel the same way when you think of up north. I the caribou immediately comes to mind, and they're just a really cool animal. So I mean, that's neat that your fascination for them uh started at such a young age. So, I mean, that's why you decided to book the caribou. Walk me through, I mean, how do you go about where am I gonna hunt them? What species am I gonna hunt, what outfitter am I gonna use? Because I mean, these are not cheap hunts, you want to have a very reputable outfitter.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, absolutely. And that was a huge part of it for me too, was um I'm not I wasn't just going for a caribou, right? It was like it was everything. Um so I started looking into it and I started reaching out, and you know, like the ones in um northern Manitoba and none of it, they're they're barren ground caribou, they're migratory. Um they are a little cheaper hunt. But the more I dug into it, it would just for me personally, it wasn't something that really got me going because uh it was just flat tundra, right? Yeah, just rocks and flat, and it wasn't so much that the they're not as big, but they also aren't as big. And then I got looking at like the Yukon and Northwest Territories, like like along like the territories right along the border in the McKenzie's. And uh Alexander McKenzie's actually like a guy, you know, I've always read about him, and you know, so oh cool, the McKenzie Mountains like awesome, right? Like kind of got my interest going there and got reading about those caribou, and yeah, they're a little bigger, which was cool, but the hunts were way more expensive, right? So I was like, oh frick. But I wasn't going for just just to go say I shot a caribou, right? It was about being up in this big, vast country. Um, it was cool up there because like it's not a treeless area, right? There's there's trees, there's there's poplars up there, there's evergreens, there's shrubs, there's berries, there's you know, grizzly bears, you name it. There was sheep, stuff like that. So being there was more than just the caribou, like I already said, there, but it's it was just like being immersed in in that kind of uh area, and that so that's kind of where I went into that region, and then uh, you know, honestly, I felt like who I went with, uh it was Ravenstroat Outfitters. Okay. Um they were kind of the guys that almost were just willing to, you know, work with me and talk with me and really even engage with me, you know. They they responded right away to my messages, um, my emails in 2016, and then when I went to go book in 2020, um they were like, you know, we're not open quite yet for 2025 bookings, but you contact us first thing, you know, in January, and we'll get you uh we'll get you down on the docket here. And I was like, okay, cool. Like, you know, these guys actually want to engage with me. They really want to make this happen. And then I started doing some more research on like outfitters themselves, right? And I actually had a buddy who uh he guides in BC. He doesn't anymore, but he did for a while. So I ran it past him because he's honestly these guides all kind of know each other too. That was a that was a thing. They all are kind of in the industry and they all kind of know each other, whether it's from Sheep Show or the Bighorn Banquet in Alberto or just through the guiding in general. It's kind of a small world, really. But he said uh, you know, I brought up Raven's throat and he was like, Yeah, man, that that's a really like super reputable uh company. Like that is where a lot of guys dream of going to Outfit for, and they're known for you know being top notch. So I was like, okay, perfect. Like that kind of you know solidified it for me. So then yeah, they just said like we'll just need a deposit down and uh it's refundable minus 20%, and I was like, K, you know, if something bad happens or I just can't make it work, at least I don't I'm not out everything, right? Yeah. So yeah, I sent him a deposit in 2020 and the rest is history or 2021, sorry. And yeah, the rest is history. That's uh I just and I didn't have to like pay it all up front either. It was something that I got to work towards. Um paying with them whenever we, you know, got a bonus at work or whatever it was, I was able just to keep hammering down that that total bill.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. I mean, so is that nor I mean is that normal booking? Did this outfitter deal with people booking that far in advance? And also, I mean, just for you talking with them from 2016 on and not being a tire kicker, but uh, you know, they weren't 100% sure if you'd even book with them and all that, but for them to keep in contact with you and be answering, I mean, I think that says a lot about the outfitter.
SPEAKER_02:It does, and it you know, and I even thanked him when I was up there. I just said thanks for, you know, like even giving me the time of day, like you know, and they said, and they're really good people, like they were Grizz and Ginger were amazing. They were just they're from Wyoming originally, they live in uh Whitehorse now.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Uh once since he's since he's bought the place in actually 2016, he bought it. So um, you know, he I just thanked them and they said, you know, Cody, anybody who shows us interest, we gotta give them interest back. Like that's just a good human thing to do, right? It's like maybe they can't do it, maybe they can, but they still deserve the time of day to get a response and to at least know what it is, right? So they were it, you know, that was just a big part of it. And I was super happy that I did go with them just now that I know them too, right? It was awesome. But yeah, that's kind of you know, even when I booked them, they were filling up fast. Like I I know they're full in 2025, uh, in 2022, they were rateful, and they're booked all the way to 2028 now.
SPEAKER_00:Really?
SPEAKER_02:Wow. Yeah, they're booked solid till 2028.
SPEAKER_00:So uh just quickly, we're not gonna get too much into that, but um what do they primarily outfit for? Raven's throat.
SPEAKER_02:I think their big one is like uh doll sheep, right? That's kind of what a lot of guys really go for, is like the sheep there. Um a lot of the guys will do a sheep caribou combo or a sheep uh moose combo uh or a grand slam, which is like a sheep, moose, and caribou. Oh wow. Um sheep only guys will go like earlier in the year, right? Um just uh just because they that that's when the season opens and there's a little more decent hunting, I think, like temperature-wise. But yeah, the moose, uh moose sheep hunters, uh they're kind of later because they want to get the moose like uh where they're moving and they're ruting and stuff like that. So yeah, um they did that, like the hunt before ours. They did the sheep moose combos. But yeah, they kind of mainly focus on sheep, I think, but they they do a 30 caribou a year uh on average. Yeah um eight moo eight moose a year, and I'm not even sure on how many sheep. I think it's something similar to that though.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so they're uh they're busy.
SPEAKER_02:They're busy, yep. Yeah, and they're on a good they're on a great outfit for sure.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's a lot of work. Um all right, so so you you know what species you want to hunt. You got the outfitter booked. Uh before we get into the whole adventure itself, and I want to kind of get like a day by day, uh, let's do uh a rundown of the gear. I mean, what are you looking at for gun? Your bullet I know bullets you said you got special from uh Montana.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I I reload uh my own bullets actually. Um I kind of got into that when I got uh a caliber that really piqued my interest. I shoot a 280 Ackley, improved.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Uh so it's yeah, it's a special caliber. They it's kind of getting more popular now. You can actually buy factory loads for them. Um but when you hand load, you're kind of really able to like really dabble into it and put what you want through it. So yeah, I was shooting uh 145 grain hammer bullets, they're handmade in Montana, um and phenomenal. That was the first animal I've taken with them. Uh they're all copper bullets and then before that I was shooting Barnes, they're an all-copper bullet too, and they're really good. But yeah, I just I thought I'd try these hammers out, and I was super happy with them. But uh yeah, I've I've been on a elk hunt with my uh cousin in northern BC before. Uh he's able to do like a sponsor hunt. So he's able to be like quote unquote your guide. So then you're able to buy over-the-counter tags and hunt with him, um, which is awesome. I can hunt uh moose, elk, goats with him.
SPEAKER_01:Oh wow.
SPEAKER_02:Um yeah, yeah, it's pretty pretty phenomenal. So if you got a buddy in BC, uh you can you can do that too. He's gotta apply to it in advance. So I did that with him. So I kinda had like a lot of like the mountain gear uh before. Um I didn't really have to stack too much on top of it to make this happen. I I did upgrade my sleeping bag. Uh I found my other one was really brutal out there in northern BC with that. I had a 15 degree down bag, and just at night it would just, you know, you were borderline uncomfortably cold at night. So I upgraded to a zero degree bag, and that was the best thing I think I could have done because it it was dialed.
SPEAKER_00:That was that was the ticket.
SPEAKER_02:That was it was a ticket for being comfortable at night, and and uh, you know, it did snow the one night or sorry, the one day on us, and uh, you know, it didn't matter. This thing I didn't zip up all the way. I was still nice and warm, and and you know, you that's a big thing. You want to have good sleep out there, you you don't know how long you're going for. So yeah. Uh yeah, and then it was just like a lot of you know other stuff. They provided uh the meals for you out in the field, uh, most of the other equipment like that. They had camp chairs, stuff like that. They had the tent. Um they actually uh it was a helicopter hunt, so you got dropped off with a helicopter. Um, so we had a teepee tent with a wood stove and some wood out there with us, so it it made it good. But those I mean, those stoves aren't like you know, your typical house stove where they're they're nice and coasty all night. This thing's like maybe an hour and she's kind of done, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. And it it's probably a little uh drafty in those tents, is it?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it was a little drafty, but you know, like I said, it wasn't bad at all. It was it was actually kinda some good living out there, I won't lie.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. Um so I mean what kind of what do you have for I mean, I'm curious about the footwear. Uh what were you wearing for boots and stuff?
SPEAKER_02:Did you wear like gators with hiking boots or yeah, I rocked uh snays bear tooths. I've owned owned them now for like four or five years. Uh actually probably yeah, this would be five years, full years now, because I had them when I went hunting in BC. And they're kind of like a mid-flex, um, so they're not like a true mountain like uh boot where you need like that stiffer flex. Yep. Um I bought the mid-flex because I knew I'd get dual purpose out of them with like hunting around here, hunting pheasants, hunting moose and elk around Saskatchewan, and then still kind of they're still uh good enough to take to the mountains with you. So that's why I wanted those ones. Um yeah, I wore gators for sure. Uh rain gear was super important, like good quality uh Puyu Yukon or IROC the the first light uh stuff. Oh yeah. Um that that was super important. It rained a lot out there, and they even said that like probably three quarters of their days were you know they did get some rain, and we got rain when we were out there every day in the field.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, you did? Is that just the time of year down there, the fall? It is a lot rainier. I mean, what was the general weather like, I guess, for the week?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it was pretty it looked pretty good actually, and then uh you know, it we had two days of good hunting weather, and then it turned into rained all night and then turned to snow actually the next day in the morning. Oh, okay. And then the next day it was uh back to being pretty decent, and then it did get really windy the day I uh flew out, it got really windy. Yeah, like 70k wind, so the float plane had a heck of a time uh taking off the lake. I felt like it did anyway, but uh it was it was this sketchy ride out for me, you know. Um but yeah, the weather was pretty decent. It was uh single digits, I'd say, in the plus side there. Yep. Uh during the days. The the one day I think it was maybe maybe 10 degrees the first day that we flew in there. So it was comfortable, it was nice, and and really other than the one windy day, the rest were nice and calm and it was beautiful.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Uh what were you wearing too for uh for jacket?
SPEAKER_02:Did you have like a down jacket on or I used to have a down jacket and I actually uh got rid of it. It was the two uh they're just not tough enough, right? Like any anything poked through them, right? Yeah. Yeah. They kind of poke through them. So I s I got like a it's called like a hybrid jacket. It's kind of like a fleece and then cotton filled with like a nice outer shell. And then I was rocking uh Couyu proximity. It's uh it's a nice fleece jacket and it's really warm. Um yeah, and then I had uh similar pants, like the gear list was pretty big. I was you're like, you know, with your gun and everything, you're 70 pounds.
SPEAKER_00:Wow, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's that's all well because you just don't know what kind of weather you're gonna get. Some days are good where you're kind of on a thinner pant, and then it turns to rain. Well, now you need your rain gear, and the next day's cold and miserable, and now you need like your heavier stuff, right? So you kind of want to be prepared for all that. Um, and I felt like I wasn't. They they had a really good gear list, like they were dialed on it, right? They had a list of all the stuff that you should bring, and uh like right down to the socks and how many pairs kind of thing. So that made it that made it nice and easy.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, that's really good because uh not a lot of outfitters say that. You know, they'd be like, uh, you know, dress warm or uh it might rain a bit, dress for that. So they actually had a gear list.
SPEAKER_02:They had a gear list, yeah, and it was perfect. And honestly, I I had 90% of the stuff. I really did, um, prior to going. So I didn't I I didn't need much. I I bought I brought some extra like battery banks um for my GoPro and for my phone to keep charge, my sat phone, um, just because I knew you know we could be out there for five, six days, seven days. Um so I just wanted to make sure I had enough stuff that you know if you got in some trouble you're able to still reach out, or even in the good times when you want to take pictures, you're you got the ability to charge your phone or take a GoPro video or whatever it was, right?
SPEAKER_00:So Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Um all right, so I mean we've got the out species outfitter, the gear. I mean, Cody, walk us through it. You're getting what you going to Regina to fly out the uh the airport there?
SPEAKER_02:I actually drove to Edmonton. Um most guys were probably gonna fly from Regina if they would have, but just looking at it, um you know, Regina's a two-hour drive for me. Edmonton's a 10-hour drive for me. Edmonton, Alberta. Same plane. Yep. Yep. Edmonton, Alberta, 10-hour drive. So for me, it was like, you know, it's the same plane that I'm on the whole way to Norman Wells. That's nice. Uh the town where you kind of get off and get on the flow plane, and then the flow plane takes you to camp. So for me, it was like it's not like you're going to Mexico where if your bags don't arrive, they'll bring into the resort a couple days later, right? Or whenever they show up. Like, I don't have that option. If I show up there and my gun's not there or my gear's not there, like you know, that's gonna be really crappy. Yeah. Um, yeah. So they do actually recommend you wear, like in your in your carry-on, you know, bring your you have any medicine or anything like that, you need to bring, you bring that. You wear your hunting boots on the plane. You you you you basically gear up uh just in case you can get there, and you know, if they need to lend you a gun or whatever, at least you can still get out there and hunt, right? Um, so I was like, uh, you know what, I should have drived to Edmonton. Same plane, don't have to risk any of that stuff, really, right? And then even flying home too, like that was a big thing too, was flying home. I flew home with everything, uh, fifty pounds of meat, the cape, and my horns. So that's a lot more money to you know check everything again. Um yeah, I just drove to Ad and Tim and then uh yeah, you hop on the plane there. We flew out at 8 a.m. and uh we flew to Yellowknife, uh stopped there for a bit, like 45 minutes, and then we flew to Anuvik, which is like way far north, like uh almost on the Arctic Ocean coast there.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Um and then we stopped there for a bit and it was pretty cold there, I won't lie, it was uh like 30 degrees, high 20s in Edmonton. She was eight degrees in Anuvik. And uh then we flew back down south, kind of basically the same uh latitude as what Yellowknife would be, but more towards uh the McKenzie Mountains there. You're just basically in the foothills of the McKenzie's and uh landed there, got all of our gear, and everyone's arrived actually, all the hunters that were uh going to Norman Well or going to Ravenstroat, and there was another group of guys going to a different outfit, and all their gear came to or got there. And then we got picked up uh by a little bus there, and it took us about uh five minutes uh south of town, where there's a small lake, and that's where your uh float plane is. That's first time. So we met the guys there, you take your gun out of your hard case, like your locked case, you take your ammo. Um, you can either just carry your gun on the plane with you on your lap or put it in a soft case, whichever. Um then you load up in the flow plane and they fly you. It's about a 45-50 minute flight. And then we flew into camp and uh everyone met us at the at the dock there, and all the guides and and uh outfitter owners there, and and uh the the helicopter pilot went up and they had uh supper ready for us. It was freaking awesome, and it was uh prime rib.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, yeah. That's a good welcome to camp deal.
SPEAKER_02:Welcome to camp deal, yeah. And it was it was great, and then you know it got rolling right away. Like uh they got the everyone going right away. Uh the four guys that were there doing um moose caribou combo, they went out first and uh they all got out that evening. And then uh it was getting too dark up there, and it actually gets dark there way later than here. It was like nine o'clock.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:It was dark. Yeah, so the sun was still pretty good up there. I was surprised. I didn't know what to think, right? You're you're getting pretty far north, and I know they got endless daylight in the summer, but eternal darkness in the winter, so I didn't know where we were gonna land in the middle of that. But yeah, it's actually still brighter there. So then uh yeah, the next day, um one of the moose hunters actually tagged out right away, first thing in the morning. It's because you have a 12-hour delay too, right, when you're when you get up there. Um you can't hunt for 12 hours after flying.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, because it's considered scouting, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, scouting. It's a little you know on ESCO, you can't see something and just march off for it. So yeah. Uh the next morning there, uh I got a big moose, and yeah, there it's Alaska Yukon moose, and so they flew that back in with the chopper in the net, and it was crazy. I could not believe how big those are. Like just insane. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So imagine the one was pretty happy. What how big of a spread was it? I thought you put on Facebook.
SPEAKER_02:Like six sixty inches, and uh wow. Yeah, and the biggest one that it got out of there ever is 74-inch spread.
SPEAKER_00:Wow, that's crazy. That's a huge one.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they got a replica of it on the wall there in the main lodge, and it is like insane. I could not believe it. I actually come home and looked at the biggest moose shed I have, and it you know, it is not even comparable. No. I actually couldn't believe, like, you know, I'm looking at this thing like that's the biggest moose shed I've ever found, and this thing was like a fraction of what they're shooting up there. Just insane.
SPEAKER_00:Just doesn't even look real.
SPEAKER_02:No, it doesn't, yeah. And then the bodies are massive too. So yeah, then we uh me and my guide ended up getting out there at like two o'clock in the afternoon. Um, and my guide was a beauty, like uh he came and met me the first day and we got kind of shooting the breeze, and he's like, So you're from Saskatchewan too, eh? And I said, Yeah, man. And he's like, Me too. And I said, No way. He's like, Yeah, I said, Wow. Came all the way up here to hunt with a guy from Saskatchewan, eh? And he's like, Where are you from? I said, uh, Rocanville. He said, Shut up. I said, Yeah, why? Where are you from? He's like, I'm from Melville, dude. I'm like, Are you serious? So, like, our towns are only maybe an hour apart, eh?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, small world, and you guys are up there on a hunt.
SPEAKER_02:We're up there on a hunt, and then he's like, Where do you work? I said, uh, at the potash mine in Rocanville. He's like, dude, I work at the potash mine in Esterhazy. So yeah, takes all his holidays uh this time of year and goes up there hunting. He hunted for an outfitter there in UConn for a few years, and now he's been here for a couple too. So yeah, he was a great guy. It was so awesome, too. Just because, you know, talking with him, he knew what this hunt meant to me. He he really, like truly on a personal level, he knew exactly because he was he's basically the same kind of guy, right? He's just a small town guy from Saskatchewan, too. So he really knew what this meant and what this was. And uh I'll get into it when we get on the hunt, but yeah, he really helped with that part of it too. Um so yeah, we get out at two o'clock in the afternoon and set up camp, and uh it's a nice little spot. Uh there's a couple drainages all around us, and uh there's some trees around us, but some really good glass and knobs. So we get there, and when we're flying over, we kind of seen some caribou on the way, but we were like, ah, what's set up? We got lots of daylight left and we'll have a supper like later. Neither of us were super hungry, so we'll we'll eat later when we come in. We'll just have a mountain house or uh peaks, whatever. So yeah, we went for a scout and seen probably 15, 20 caribou. That was awesome, right? Got gets pretty gets the guy pretty excited that he's actually seeing stuff, you know. Yeah. Um we seen a pretty good one like right behind camp. They were kind of flown out of this draw just east of camp into the the range that we were kind of in. So again, that was exciting, but we couldn't do anything about it because twelve hours.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So are they in herds?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they're kind of in herds, but they're not really migratory.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Yep. That's what I was gonna say.
SPEAKER_02:So they don't uh Yeah, they don't migrate. They don't like bunch up into thousands. They just got you know, they'll get into herds of a couple hundred, I think he was saying.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. That's a good thing.
SPEAKER_02:Uh for the rut that's about to take up here. So they're just getting into like their rutting phase when we were there. You know, we I got a couple cool videos of them fighting and stuff. But yeah. So they were in herds of I don't know, we seen a couple of eight to well, by the end we seen uh three herds merge uh just down from the glassy knob we were at, and they merged into a herd of sixty.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, it was it was cool. So yeah, we we went back to camp and you know, I wish I could tell you some really big story about uh how we were out there for six, seven, eight days grinding, but uh it's not gonna be that kind of story. But uh so the next day we wake up and uh we head off and we can see them coming out of this draw again, and they're coming out of these pine trees actually right east of camp again, and we're like, Gail, this is kind of where they're heading. It seems like they're heading out of them and they're uh funneling down into the flat here. And uh so we go to this glassy knob, and he was pumped too, because I brought I got a good spotter and stuff like that. So I brought all that, and he was like, Yeah, we're gonna need that, and it's good to have another guy that actually has it because otherwise it's just the mean kind of looking. Yeah. So yeah, we washed some porn out of there, and then around noon we found a good herd, and he kind of came out of the creek and they come right around us, and I seen him uh in the pine trees. That my guide spotted him first, actually, but I went and had a good look at him. He had a double shovel, which is kind of rare. Like less than 10% of them have a double. Oh really?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So the double shovel, those listening, uh I know what it looks like, but could how would you describe it?
SPEAKER_02:Kind of like an eye guard almost.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you know two two eye guards straight above their forehead, basically, right?
SPEAKER_02:R right above their forehead kind of comes out and looks like they're just like, you know, like an eye guard almost. And yeah, most of them just got like one big one and then usually like a little knob or a tip of one on the other side. But yeah, the one that we seen there had like a true good, like decent sized double shovel. So I was like, I was pretty excited about him, and he's like, ah, you know, like I don't know, man. And I'm like, no, I get it. I'm just like, he's pretty cool though. He's like, yeah, he is for sure. But you know, first morning, first day, like we'll probably pass. I'm like, yeah, for sure. Like, you're the guy, and I'm looking at the first caribou I've ever seen in my life, man. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I mean, what was that like dreaming about these and everything, and then seeing one in front of you for the first time?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, it's it was awesome. I was just I was pumped that we were actually seeing them too. Like, I had no doubts we were getting it right. These guys are super reputable and they run pretty much 100% success rates on them too. So you know, I had no doubts we were gonna get them, but I also didn't, you know, I didn't want to settle, but I didn't want to pass, if you know what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Oh yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I d you know, it's it's so hard for me, and we know you you waited all this time and uh invested a lot of time and and money and literal blood, sweat, and tears to make this all happen. And the last thing you can do is come home with nothing, but the last thing you want to do too is just shoot the first one that you see, right? Right. So that was definitely playing like playing in my heart and my head the whole time. And uh I said to my guide there, he I said, uh, like, well, I'll tell you what, if he comes up around this knob that we're on, you're gonna have to take this gun from my hand, because you know, he looks pretty okay to me. He's like, no, he is pretty good, but just probably on like the fifth or sixth day we'd take that. I'm like, okay, sure as craft, he comes like a hundred yards from us. Uh I got a great video of him coming around too. He's like 150 yards kind of thing. And yeah, it was it was awesome. But I was like, okay, whatever, we'll pass on. So we ended up doing like a big hike. We end up going back into this draw where they were kind of coming out of him. We couldn't see much, but then we went to this top glassy knob and we could kind of see the whole valley, and we could see that herd that we had just seen kind of come out around us, merge with another herd right behind camp, actually. And then they continued on down south and they merged with another herd of about 30. So we were now looking at 60 caribou. So it was pretty cool because we were looking at, you know, probably a dozen bulls, uh, like decent ones, and probably five, like, you know, that looked pretty good.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So that was nice. We were, you know, really laying our eyes on them. And they they were flown into and the good bull that we'd seen the night before, we couldn't see him. Um, and he did say if we did see him, we'd probably take him, right? He was that good. Uh we couldn't see him. So that was also a good sign, though, too. You're getting new caribou, you're getting new flow all the time, right? And that's kind of what you want.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, we ended up uh going up on this knob and it started raining, so we we set up a nice little uh tarp above us and sat there in glass, and it was just the same uh herd that was out there, so we ended up both falling asleep under the tarp and woke up and the sun was shining in our eyes, so it was perfect. Yeah. Had a quick bite, uh, found a creek and filled up our water bottles. And then we went back down to the knob that we were first at, uh, where we'd seen this this double shovel bowl kind of come around. And uh my guide's like, you know, I just have a feeling, man, that we're gonna keep seeing him pour out of that that drainage there to the east. And it wasn't 20 minutes later I looked and I could see these horns sticking up over this hill. And then I was like, oh man, there they are right there. And he's like, Frick, I told you, buddy, told you they'd be coming. I'm like, yeah. So that was awesome. And then yeah, there was one good bull there, and he uh he's like, Yeah, we'll pass on him too. And then uh we could see the tops of another one kind of coming around this pine tree. And he's like, Yeah, we got a good one here, dude. And I was looking at him and we had the spotters both on him, and he's like, Holy cow, dude, he's got like great tops. So we kind of you know waited and could be they were both uh with a herd of cows too. There's about 10 or 15 of them and they're pushing right towards us. So my guide's like, okay, he's got really good tops, good Bezes, which is like the horn above the shovels that kind of sticks out. Yeah. And he's got really good tops. He's like, uh, you you should get your gun ready, and you know, we might this something might happen here. And I was like, K. And then yeah, we just had like a really good talk about it because like I was alluding there before, my guide really knew what this meant to me, right? Mm-hmm. So he had a really good, like, you know, this is our first actual day of hunting. Um, we don't have to go back. If we take them, we can hang out here. And we don't have to take them, like there's gonna be other carrier that we're gonna be able to shoot, but I can't promise you, right? It's hunting her man, like it's just you never know what's coming over that next hill or what's gonna be flown into the valley the next day, right? Like exactly. Um and so I was really just like it was definitely playing in my heart a lot, right? Like, I didn't want this to be done. But I also like you know, I'm not this guy who's got all this money in the world where if you didn't see the one that was like boon and crock at tipping the scales at 400 inch plus, no problem, we'll just do it again next year. Yeah. Uh it's not an option for me. And guys do do that, right? Like there was a guy there that you know, he just uh didn't see a moose that he really wanted, you know, or couldn't get to it actually. He was just too far away and he just wasn't able to do it. And he's like, ah, that's fine, let's go hunt caribou now. Right. So he just cast in his tag. Yeah. And uh just this just wasn't an option for me. So my guide was just that was awesome just having him there and being like, you know, knew and what knew what this meant. And he said uh he understood right from the like right to the core, right? And I I I said, dude, I'm really happy with him, but I don't want to like, you know, go in if we take him. He's like, no, no, not a problem at all. We'll hang out here for a few days and have fun and shoot the shit in the tent. And so he ended up coming like quite close to us. He dropped down below us and he was maybe like ten yards, like we could hear him, you know, eating, feeding right below us, but we couldn't see him. And uh he kind of came around towards that creek where the where the other ones is kind of come up and around. And he got a really good look at him then too, from like 50 yards, and so did I. And he said, Yeah, dude, he's he's a good caribou for sure. Um so I was just like, that's all I needed to hear, right? Um I didn't want to settle for nothing, but I also I needed to be like right in the mix of like this is what's this is what we kind of came here for, right? Mm-hmm. So he kind of came around and uh he ranged him at 180 yards and then he took a few steps back and was quartered away and uh just take your time and then yeah, squeezed off a shot and dropped him uh right then and there. Uh so that was awesome. It was like the first first night like of uh like legal hunting, so we were only out there for 24 hours and we got one down. Wow. And uh yeah, it was it was perfect. Like, you know, I wish there was some cool story where I was out there for four days or grinding, but I just couldn't pass as an opportunity.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, I mean I don't blame you at all. Yeah, I mean I get that you were saying you're almost in uh a bit of a conundrum. You you know, how you're worried about like, well, if I take this, we're just gonna head right back. But that's nice that your guide's like, no, no, like it's not simple. You want to take it, we'll take it. And uh we're gonna hang out here and you know, take in the scenery that you came for.
SPEAKER_02:So that we came for, yeah. Because the caribou, yeah, that was like obviously what got me there, but it was it's still everything about it, too. Pretty much, and uh it's the adventure, right? And I wanted to be out there and see grizzly bears and sheep and stuff like that. So you know, I messaged my wife on my inreach after we got it. He he died basically like instantly. He he fell right over right after the shot, and he did one lift of his head, and that was head for him. So uh we went back, you know, 30 yards for our packs and uh repacked our tripods and everything like that. And I messaged my wife on my inreach, and yeah, she actually told me when I got back, she's like, not that I couldn't believe you got one on the first day, but like knowing you as a hunter, like you know, I haven't tagged out on a deer in three years because I just like I'm going for the one. Yeah. Right? So she's like, you know, every every deer season you're out day in and day out, and you come back and you're just like, nope, seen a good one, but wasn't the one kind of thing. So she was just super like blown away that I I shot one on the first day because I'm like, yeah, but it was a nice one. You know. It was a nice one, and it was it was it's a great, it's a great bowl. And but failure just wasn't an option, right? There's no like no problem buy a general tag again next year and try her again. Yeah. Right? Like it is with deer. I just it's I'm not doing it again. So so yeah, we we went down there and we uh we field dressed them and skinned them and quartered them up. Uh prior to that we took some awesome pictures, like some, you know, that was cool too. My guy took some time to get some really great pictures and and we cleaned them up nice so he look he looked really good. And then yeah, we packed the it was by that time it was pretty dark. Um so we moved the quarters off the off of them and uh hauled them back to camp. And uh yeah, it started raining. We're walking back and then in the dark there and in the rain and just shooting the shit, uh, me and a good buddy now at this point, right? Yeah. So yeah, we got back to camp and uh we had uh some ground doll sheep that we'd brought to camp and uh we made uh wrap doll sheep smash burgers and uh hung out all night in the tent and just played games and shot the breeze, and then uh the next day that rain turned to snow and we hung out in the snow all day and went for a hike and went and got uh the rest of the meat and stuff like that. Um and then with every tag you buy up there too, it kind of comes with like uh whenever you buy a big game tag, it comes with uh two wolf tags and a wolverine tag.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, cool, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So and you know, we don't really target them, they're kind of more opportunity-based. Um, but they just come they come with your tag. So yeah, we we uh sat over the carcass there for a bit and checked on it uh every morning and every night, but nothing was on it uh either of the day, so we never really sat up on it much because like nothing had even been there. We could see the tracks and the snows and and snow and there was nothing, so there's no point really uh sitting there all day if nothing's even been there yet. Um but yeah, we checked in on it and then uh yeah, we hung out all day there, and then the next day um a couple guys were getting moved around and picked up, and uh the day after that there was another weather storm coming in, so uh we thought it'd be a good time to to pack up and and beat that weather. So then we uh called in for the helicopter. We got a helicopter ride out. They uh came, picked up the meat and the horns and everything, and then uh came back for me and my guide and the rest of the gear. And uh yeah, we flew back to camp there. And I guess I should go back that day that snowstorm happened, uh no, the day that we were flying out, sorry. There was uh a grizzly bear that was in the meadow, kind of probably almost a mile away, and uh it was feeding right towards camp, and the wind was blowing actually towards us, like in our face, so it wasn't coming for the carcass, and we knew that, but it was heading for us. And yeah, it dipped down right into the redstone river, uh kind of right close to camp, and then it would never popped back up, so we never seen it again. But uh, you know, just beautiful, beautiful scenery. The the snow had kind of melted back off to the top half, one third of the mountains there, so there were beautiful white tops and feeding in the sun in the morning was uh band or uh sheep there. There's 14 sheep, 13 sheep feeding there, so it was it was just everything a guide went for and seen it. And then we get back to camp and you know at camp it's it's good life there, you know, from uh from the field. Shower and uh hide a nice little place to stay in, like a little sh uh shed kind of cabin thing, and it had two small beds and a wood stove in it for a night, and then they have a chef on on uh on site there and he makes some phenomenal meals and cooks a lot of the f uh the meat up that hunters harvest while they're there. And uh yeah, went fishing for Arctic grailing and lake trout, uh caught an Arctic tro uh Arctic grailing. And that was kind of a bucket list of mine too.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So then yeah, did that, and then uh there was a grizzly bear, huge boar came right across from the lake where the where the main camps posted that, so got to watch him. Um wolves were howling in the morning. Uh, my first morning there. Um they were right across the lake, just giving her at 6 a.m. And then yeah, the outfitter actually invited me for like a scouting mission in the helicopter. He was going out and we were dropping off some wood for the next uh next hunters, and there was a sow and two grizzlies and probably a hundred caribou we seen and stuff like that. So it was just everything a guy dreamed of being there, and yeah, it was it was a great time. I I couldn't I can't say enough about the guides up there and uh the camp owners or the owners of the outfit. They just they run a great job, and the guides really they make the whole operation just what it is. Those guys spend a lot of time, you know, in the bush and in the field, so they're some tough dudes.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean it sounds like it was amazing. So you actually saw uh a fair amount of wildlife, really.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you know, and that's the thing, right? You get up to the north and it's I don't know, it's kind of not as game rich as a guy usually thinks, right? Like they're you know, moose density is usually pretty sparse and stuff like that. But this place here, it was game rich, right? It was it was unbelievable. Yeah, when I was there, four the uh three moose were taken while I was there, um, out of the four moose hunters, and they were just stud moose. Like I mean, massive. And you know, there's another guy in camp there, uh, he's a guide in Alaska, and he used to work for the outfitter that I was at there when they were in Wyoming, and he was a really cool dude. He just he'd hunted everywhere and everything, and guides for grizzlies in Alaska, and he's a really tough dude too, and you know, puts on a lot of miles and a lot of time in the bush, and still guides for sheep in Wyoming, uh big horn. And then his cousin who he was with, she is a you know, phenomenal hunter too, and and uh hunted almost everything you can name. And uh that was a really cool part too about being there, right? And that was you know, the other part about going up there for me too is uh the hunt and everything like that and the game. And then I was I did want to enjoy the camp life too, right? I wanted uh I wanted to do some fishing. I don't know if I'll ever catch an arctic car grailing, sorry, again.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um and meeting so many people that are really like-minded and hearing their stories, and everyone I met was just you know phenomenal, really good people.
SPEAKER_00:So it was it lived up to your expectations, is what you're saying.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I l yeah, it lived up to me. It was it was worth every penny and every, you know, every holiday he used and everything like that needed to go up there. It was so worth it for me. And you know, um something that I've always been able to lay my head on at night is uh you know, it's all about what you want to spend your money on, right? Like uh some guys got side by sides and snowmobiles and boats and you name it, and go to Mexico. Some guys go to Mexico every year, twice a year, whatever it is, right? It's all about what you want to do with your life, and not one of them is right or wrong. Um this is just m my passion, you know, that's what gets me up in the morning and you know, outside of my family, obviously, but uh this is what I want to do, and so that's why I spot these head nights, you know. Because it was it was a big commitment for sure, but you know, this is what I live for.
SPEAKER_00:So Yeah, absolutely. I mean, um that sounds amazing. So Cody, I gotta ask, like, what what's the size of them? You said you got what was it, sixty pounds a meter so that you brought back, but I mean what what's the size of an average caribou bull?
SPEAKER_02:I think they're like three hundred pounds. Like, you know what? Okay. I have to look that up. Yeah, they're not huge, they're not bigger than an elk.
SPEAKER_00:Like a real big white tail.
SPEAKER_02:No, no, no, I would say like probably the size of a cow elk, kind of okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's where I would kind of rank them in as like a cow elk. Um I should have looked it up before, to be honest. But uh yeah, that's where I'd rank them as a cow elk. You know, and most guys up there, because it's such a logistically, it is a pain in the butt to get up there, kind of thing, and and getting home, and you know, I'll get into that getting home in a minute, but most guys just uh donate the meat back to the communities up there, and it and it's a big deal for the communities up there. I mean uh talking to the DNR when I was leaving, uh he said that this year alone, just from the the camps around uh Norman Wells there, they're gonna get 60 to 80,000 pounds of meat from the outfitters.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm sure that's much needed for you know a lot of the locals there.
SPEAKER_02:It is, yeah. It falls into like their sustenance, like, you know, traditional meats kind of thing, right? Lots of like when uh when I got off the plane there, there was a guy and uh and his wife and two kids uh unloading the plane, the float plane, that had three moose on it and uh two caribou, and they were unloading all the meat off it to take it to the the community storage area where it all gets frozen and stuff like that and then distributed at the end of the season. So you know it's a big deal to them too. And it's so remote too that you know no one's really going out there to hunt, like honestly. It it it's a 50-minute float plane ride out there, so yeah. So yeah, uh I I came home with 40 pounds of meat, is what I ended up coming home with. Um and that that was strictly due to like cost and stuff like that, trying to make make that make sense to come home with it. So I took uh one hind quarter and then choice cuts after that. So then three quarters will be like three of the quarters will be donated um for to the communities. But um, yeah, coming home, it was uh you know, you're allowed three pieces of baggage on these planes, right? And after that, it has to get checked as cargo. Once it's checked as cargo, there's no guarantee it's on the plane with you. Oh and it's and it's expensive to check this cargo. Like if you want it guaranteed on the plane with you, checked his cargo, it's five hundred bucks. So I just uh I actually came when we flew back into Norman Wells, we had to spend the night at a at a hotel in Norman Wells. It was like a B. Yep. And uh this guy that runs a B there at New North, you know, what a good guy he is. Uh Al is his name. He uh he's like, well, you know what we should do is we should try uh I got a dry bag, he said. I'll see if it's big enough, and if it is, we'll put your horns in there. And I was like, Yeah, that'd be awesome. And then he's like, Yeah, and then you know, honestly just mail the dry bag back, dry bag back or whatever, right? We'll figure it out. And I'm like, wow, like thanks, man, that's awesome. No dry bag big enough, but he's like, hey, I got an idea. Why don't we use a tarp? We'll wrap the hide and uh antlers in the tarp, we'll tape it up really nice so it looks good, and we'll put some rope handles on, and then we can check it as luggage. I'm like, you think they'll take that? He's like, oh yeah, they've flown with weirder stuff for sure. So yeah, I got all that uh put away and it looked pretty legit. And then I had a cooler of meat, and then so that's my fourth bag, right? You got your I actually packed a hockey bag with my uh I got a 6,000 cubic inch backpack with all my stuff in it, and uh slings and ammo and stuff like that, and I threw it all in a big hockey bag. Well now I got this cooler that's technically the fourth bag because your gun, uh your antlers, and then this this uh hockey bag. So I was like, okay, frick, like now what are we gonna do? So I took the he let me freeze all the meat the night before in his freezer, like refreeze it. So I put it in a garbage bag and then threw it in my hockey bag. So now I had my hockey bag, my horn and cape, and my gun. So it's three bags, but now my hockey bag weighs 85 pounds, but whatever, you know. Get to the airport, uh check it all in. You gotta pay overage fees on uh the hockey bag, and you gotta pay one extra bag on the the antlers and cape, but yeah, they took them, so it was it was 250 bucks to get all that, so it was quite a bit cheaper than checking it as luggage, but at least I was able to get it all and get it on the same plane as me. So when I got to Edmonton, yeah, it would all come off the plane with me. So that was awesome.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that helps a lot.
SPEAKER_02:It does, yeah. And it was great small town uh hospitality up there. That uh, you know, every you know, buddy, I said it once there, and I'll say it again. Everybody you meet along the way there was just really, really, you know, like-minded people. You know, the the hunting community is so big, but yet so small, I felt like. Yep. You know, and everyone, yeah, I get to this, you know, this DB here in Norman Wells and talking about these guys from Wyoming that I hunted with, and sure as crap, the girl and her husband that were uh also staying there, they knew them. She's on the wild sheep board in Wyoming and just phenomenal people. Um a guy there is wearing, I don't know if you've heard of the brand All In. They make like a digi scope. Okay. Or like uh spotting scope so they and I run their stuff. He's wearing uh a couple of things, and I'm like, You like your uh all in stuff, eh? And he starts laughing. He says, Yeah, man, I do. And uh he's like, Do you got any of it? And I said, Yeah, I got some stuff from them too. And yeah, they're phenomenal. He's like, Good, I'm glad to hear that. I was the guy that actually made that. Oh, that's cool. You know, just yeah, it is cool, and it's just a small world, right? And funny getting up there and just talking to just really good people and like-minded, and yeah, I got nothing but great things to say about everyone that I met, and especially the outfitters, those guys really or the guides, those guys really grind it out, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, they they do they know what you're committing to the hunt, you know, financially and time-wise and all that, and they're gonna make sure that they can do what they can, get your money, money's worth out of it. Yeah, and experience.
SPEAKER_02:They want to see nothing but your success, right? Because their success is their success. And they were really happy to have a guy like me too, you know, like knowing what this meant, and they were really pumped on it too. They're like all the guides, not just mine. You know, they're they were really just happy that a guy, you know, stepped up and did that, because it's not their typical clientele, you know, but um everyone that still all the rest of the clients that were there when I was there were just really, really good people too. So yeah, it was three the guys that did the moose caribou actually, they were uh three brothers and a brother-in-law, and so I thought that was just awesome for them, you know. They were a little older, but great guys, and they had actually been to that uh same camp 30 years ago hunting together with their old man back in the day. They were hunting sheep.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yep. Wow. So they're kind of doing full circle now, you know, they're getting up there in age and they wanted to come back uh all together and do it again and do moose caribou instead. And I just thought that was awesome, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah, that's really cool. Um, I mean, after doing the hunt and knowing what you know now, is there anything would you pack differently? Did you think you packed sufficiently enough? Uh gear was good.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, gear was good. Uh honestly, the only thing I would bring uh different is I didn't bring uh any water purification stuff. They said not to worry about it. And they were right, you didn't have to worry about it, nothing happened, uh, it was all good. Uh, but it was definitely still like on my mind. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Um lots of these horror stories, right, where someone's on this big hunt and they're drinking this what seems like clear moving water, but you know, all of a sudden their guts just start going on them, and now that you know they're kind of wrapped up in a tent in a sleeping bag for a full day. Well, there's a you know, day wasted to so nothing happened like a you know, like bat on that end, but they make that stere pen. I don't know if you've seen that as a UV light. I have, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I wish I would have, you know, went out and bought something like that, just because the water was so clear, you didn't need no like filter or nothing like that. Um but to have that just for real peace of mind, just so you could really sit there and just chug some water, that would have been nice. But uh yeah, other than that, honestly, the gear thing, there was not one thing that I went up there without or that I was sitting there thinking, man, I forgot this or I forgot that because my wife helped me pack prior. Um, you know, I was worried about the guns and the bags and that kind of stuff, and she's the one that's thinking, well, what about your get? How many gets do you got, or how many pairs of socks, or what about your toiletry bag, or your overnight bag at the hotel, like stuff like that. So she was thinking more on that. And then the gear list that the guides or the outfitter sent, you know, that just really, you know, like you were saying, most places probably don't do that. No. But that just puts a peace of mind at a, you know, at another level. Yeah. Yeah, that's it. So I went through that list three times before I left and re-checked and checked and checked, and you know, the final one was scratching it right off of the permanent marker just to really hammer it down, make sure, and yeah, I had everything and brought everything they said to bring, and it worked out flawlessly.
SPEAKER_00:That's yeah, that's great. That's I was I'm wondering about that. You know, I'm always curious people after they do these hunts that they're not sure about and having done before, if there's any gear they you know, bring or not bring next time. So that's that's good. So I mean uh Cody, I I guess you it's your once-in-a-lifetime dream hunt. Uh what's next? Is there another big one playing? Your light's probably not listening.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, uh I bet you she will, but you know what? She's she already caught me on uh you know, messaging my cousin there last night. Um, he was congratulating me and uh I I messaged him back and said, Yeah, buddy, uh looking forward to moose with you next in BC. So yeah, I think that's probably gonna be next on the list is uh uh moose and mountain goats in BC. Um just because uh yeah, it's it's just on the list and uh it's not like a super expensive hunt because uh you know he's able to do the the hunter sponsor there, um, you know, where he's able to act as the guide. So without having to go through an outletter, I mean, right there you're just saving a lot of money, and um, you just gotta buy a non resident tag. Which my elk tag when I went there in twenty twenty was like uh what the hell was it? Like three hundred bucks. Oh yeah. So yeah. So I don't know. We'll probably plan something pretty big there. Uh I'd like to I'd like to for him to bring a buddy and then I could bring one of my brothers with me and do a four man hunt kind of thing. Each buy moose tag, each buy go tag, and if you get the opportunity on one, take her. And if not, well whatever. Yeah. Um so yeah, hopefully do like a float plane uh, you know, kind of along that Yukon border up there and go for an Alaska Yukon moose.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that sounds uh that sounds good. Uh no, I was just uh just curious because I mean this is a huge hunt, but I know after listening to you talk about this hunt here, I mean I knew that you'd have uh, you know, if you've got the yearning for another big adventure, you can't just one.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, the fever, sorry, yeah. That's exactly what my wife said, you know, when we were down here uh the other day. I'm I'm sitting in my hunting room right now, and uh there's not much in here just a reloading bench and and my safe and stuff like that. But uh she says, so is that actually a once in a lifetime or what's going on in the old brain right now? And I said, Yeah, we'll we'll see. I'm not gonna lie, that uh that itch is still gonna be there for sure. So, you know, we'll see what the future brings. Uh I win the lottery or something, you can bet I'll be doing a lot more. But it was so worth it, you know, those and it, you know, those guys are really dialed there. And it is a lot, like um logistically, to get make it all happen, like where where I was, like logistically, that is it is crazy to to be out there and to be that remote. It was it's something, man.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it it sounds amazing. I mean, I appreciate you telling the story. I was excited to hear it, and then just looking at your pictures too. Uh it it yeah, amazing, beautiful scenery.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and and honestly, it's a really good bowl to go with it. You know, he was you know first first aid bowl. Uh I wish it was you know a little cooler story or whatever, but uh, you know, I could not pass on that. And you know, he he fit right in with like, you know, you know, they they probably finished the season off with like I was saying 30 caribou, and he'll finish, you know, right up there with the top ten or top ten to fifteen somewhere in there. Um, you know. So not the bottom, not the top ten, but you know, right in the middle, and that's kind of where I wanted to be. You know, I was happy just being there. I didn't I didn't need to go shoot the world record, but you know, it definitely played my heart the first day. But uh don't pass on what you'd shoot on the last day on the first day.
SPEAKER_00:So exactly. Yeah, I mean it's still a cool story. You went to, you know, another province and shot a caribou, so it's pretty it's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and it was it was totally worth it. But uh yeah, definitely got the bug, man. I'm not gonna lie.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I can tell. Uh no, that's awesome. And uh yeah, Cody, I can't thank you enough for coming on the podcast and telling about your adventure. And uh I want to hear about the next one too.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, for sure, Ken. Uh thanks for having me and thanks for listening. Appreciate it. Anytime.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks, Cody.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, good night.