Ep. 19: 505 Yards in Bear Country | A Wyoming Backcountry Hunt

On this episode of Keota Outdoors, Luke sits down with Max to talk about a recent Wyoming backcountry spring black bear hunt that turned into an unforgettable adventure. What began as a planned 10-day hunt quickly became a crash course in adapting to changing conditions, learning fresh country on the fly, and reacting to the sign they were seeing in real time.

Max explains how he and his hunting buddy encountered multiple bears throughout the trip, including several sows with cubs that they chose to pass. After covering miles of rugged Wyoming backcountry and hunting several different areas, Max’s buddy finally located a lone bear that gave them the opportunity they had been waiting for. The hunt came together with a successful stalk and an impressive 505 yard shot to seal the deal.

The guys dive into the lessons learned throughout the trip, including why staying open-minded and adaptable is critical during western hunts. While e-scouting can be incredibly valuable before a hunt, Max discusses how reality in the mountains can look completely different once boots hit the ground. Fresh sign, food sources, and current bear activity ultimately dictated where they focused their time.

If you’re interested in DIY western hunting, backcountry adventures, spot-and-stalk bear hunting, and authentic hunting stories from the mountains, this is an episode you’ll enjoy. Great hunting podcasts thrive on authentic storytelling and real lessons learned in the field.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey everybody, welcome to Kyoto Outdoors. Got with me today my good friend Max Grogan. Um he just got back from an awesome bear hunt up in Wyoming. So um I really I'm really anxious to hear the story. Um I've always we've talked about doing a bear hunt before and just I don't know, I've thought a lot about doing like a backcountry mountain bear hunt. And it's like a lot different than people around here think of bear hunting. Like we're used to like bait. Not that we have bears here, but if people around here go bear hunting, they go north and hunt bait like in Canada or Michigan or Minnesota or wherever they're at, I don't know. So like uh backcountry bear hunt is kind of foreign to me. So like you and your buddy went, right? How many days did you plan that trip for?

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Plan ten days, which you know, a day and a half is probably travel, so eight and a half, nine days of hunting.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Right, and you guys both had tags, right?

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Yep, both picked up just general over-the-counter tags and uh which it's right. You can take a sow or a boar, sow just has to have uh no cubs, or it's actually pretty interesting. Rule they can have they can have cubs, they just have to be a year year older.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Which is that easy to tell?

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Uh yeah, yeah. Once they're a year old, they're pretty much just full-grown bears hanging out with their mom.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Like gotcha. Okay. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

They're still small, but they're they're not little little bitty cubs. Right, yeah. Like they could go fend for themselves at that point.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Right. And are most states that way, or is that just a Wyoming thing?

SPEAKER_01 1:39

I'm actually not sure. Um, I've hunted Idaho and Montana. I think the rules are pretty similar, or it's just no cubs at all. Right. No, no sows with cubs.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Which is hard, man, because sales have cubs. Like, yeah, if it's a that's most yeah, right, especially ones of any size, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Like the big one that you're looking for is gonna have cubs, probably.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Exactly. Yeah. So it's kind of tough. Tough to find a lone salw and a mature mature boar.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Right.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

And so yeah, we're good.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

And you guys kind of treated that like uh like you treat an elk hunt, right? Like you guys packed in, packed food in, packed camp in. Is that kind of how work?

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Um yeah, we full backpack hunt. So, you know, we were trying to decide did we want to bomb into this area and spend nine days in there, or did we want to do like a shorter loop to see if we could find bears and then get out and relocate. Um, we ended up kind of middle ground, packed our bags for five days of food, and then went into this roadess area. A lot of areas are roll this this time of year because of snow pack. You just can't get to spots you could in the summer and the fall. Um, so yeah, we packed in uh May 3rd. Yeah, we drove up real early May 3rd, packed in and made it to a glassing knob by dark that first day. I think we put on seven miles that first day, and I don't know, probably thousand feet of gain. And um it's not really bad on paper, but what sucked was the snow.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Oh, we were most most of that was in snow?

SPEAKER_01 3:27

No, well, most of it was just the trail, but then our kind of final kick up this mountain was uh was like post-holing.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Yeah. Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Three, four feet of snow.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Oh gosh, that would be rough.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Can't imagine it like you're already out of shape this time of year, at least I am, because I haven't done anything all winter.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Right.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

And then you put 60 pounds on your back, and you know, it's it's worse than walking through sand. You're falling through every other step, like falling through the the crunchy snow. And man, it sucked. Like that night we were so beat. We didn't even really even make it to where we wanted to. We were just like, let's just stop here. Like we can see a little bit of country, let's just put up the teepee and and get ready for camp.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

But so you guys use a TP?

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Yeah, so he has a tape, so it's like a four-man tepee. Okay, pretty spacious, and then it's got a stove, uh titanium stove in it. Really?

SPEAKER_00 4:28

It's uh like that doesn't sound light sweet. That doesn't sound light to pack up a mountain in flow.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Well, and that's why we only packed one tent, is to just split that weight, because sure, yeah. One stove, one tent, like he carried the stove, I carried the tent, and that kind of equals out um, I don't know, probably three or four pounds each one of those. Like it's a really light setup.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

No, that's that's not bad at all. It's that's what it's made for.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Right, exactly. It's the food that gets you. Like, I have to eat a lot. I have to eat a lot on these trips to keep my energy up.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

You burn burn a lot of calories.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Oh yeah. Doing anything, like you're just burning calories, and so that's really what kills me, it's just all the food I bring.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

And then for that, like I've always wondered, so that stove, like you just go grab some wood from wherever you set up camp and have just a little fire. Like, how big is it?

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Like, yeah, um, it's probably 20 inches long, you know, 10 by 10 wide. Um, and it's it's basically just sheet metal, like titanium sheet metal, and so you have to assemble it. That part kind of sucks. It takes you 10-15 minutes to assemble it.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

Okay, sure.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

But then yeah, you just take your little slick saw and go cut some small little branches off a deadfall and then burn that, and it dries everything up quick. Like you get a little wet from the snow and stuff, and and you'll be roasting in there.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

So good wood heat. I bet that feels good too. If it because it was obviously cold, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Yeah, the nights were getting down, 30s. Um, I think you got under 30 one day, but uh it's suit it's super homey. Like it makes the end of the day just nice, you know.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Enjoyable, yeah. I I can imagine.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

And water, because a lot of these spots, like we had to drop a thousand feet to get to a creek. Oh but you want to be high to glass, so we were just melting snow. We'd just scoop up some snow in a little titanium pot and just set it on there.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

And you know, ten minutes go by, you got half a liter of water. Yeah, but because I never thought I've never done that before. It was kind of fun. You get a lot of nasty stuff in there, like little pineas and stuff, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

It gets kind of gross sometimes, but we always make ice cream out of snow here. Yeah, like milk and sugar. Yeah, they're good. Um well that one are you eating like MREs, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

Yeah, just freeze-dried. Um, my favorites, the peak refuel. They're pretty affordable and seem to have better calorie count, about a thousand calories, each one of those, and they taste good. Like right. I mean, nothing's great. Nothing freeze-dried is great, but right, it's good enough. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

So uh so you get up there to where you want to be, and then you just go to different like high points in glass, like across valleys and stuff, looking for these bears.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Yeah, we're basically just you know, when you e-scout, it's like, because this is an area we've never been, either of us. Sure. You just kind of pick spawn a map, said, I think this looks good. You know, we're both new bear hunters, so picked what we thought was good and basically just put a ton of waypoints where we thought we'd see bears this time of year, you know, south slopes, green up, um, certain elevation bands. And so we were kind of trying to zone in and find you want to find a glassing point where you can see the most of that as possible. And it's pretty hard to find that when you're e-scouting. Like you can find these little knobs and ridges and stuff, but you get there and it always looks different. Like there might be trees blocking you, or there's a mountain you didn't, you know, notice, or certain angles you just really can't get a view to. Um, so e-scouting, you know, we knew we wanted this area, so then it's just a game of getting to these little glassing knobs, and that's all it is, just glass all day long. Right until you see a bear, and then you go after it. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

How many batteries did you bring for your glass?

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Well, I was worried about those, the SIG stabilized. Yeah, because I'm like, we're gonna be glassing non-stop. I don't know if I've ever glassed as much hunting. And uh Dom's like, oh, don't worry about it. Like you won't even get through one. I never even went through one.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Really?

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Double A in nine days, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Yeah. It's pretty efficient, it's kind of nuts.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

But uh what that what he uses too?

SPEAKER_01 9:02

Yeah, he's got the same ones. Yep. Yeah, I gotta get me.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

Game changers. I just haven't done it yet. I've got to, though. So how long was it before you found a bear?

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Um, so we got up there that first night, glassed, didn't see anything, couldn't see a ton though. First thing that morning we got up and kind of hiked up. We were pretty high. Like you had to walk out on these, and it was better in the mornings because you could walk on top of the snow because it was frozen over.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

So we walked up kind of on this like glacier thing, and where it really opened up and there were no trees, and we could really see the valley then that we wanted to look into. And uh, you know, took a while before the sun hit our back, so it kind of sucked for a while sitting in the snow. But once the sun hits you, you're good, and and then the whole valley starts to light up, so you can really see stuff. And dude, the amount of elk and deer we were seeing is just unbelievable. Yeah, just everywhere you look, there's mostly elk. There's some good deer in there too, but um, just tons and tons of elk, and and then you know you start to see like stumps and stuff, like black stumps that you're like, oh, is that a bear?

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

It takes a while to like get your eyes to figure out what's going on and scale. Um, but yeah, that first I guess the second day, the first real morning is when we spotted the first one. Um we started glassing at like 7 a.m. and I think I spotted him at 10 two miles away. So it was like the furthest spot you could see. There's like this little knife ridge with some cliffs below it and uh fully south facing. And yeah, I just see this, you know, takes a minute to process it, but I just see this chocolate, just big bear walking down this knife ridge, and I'm like, oh, got one. And like that was probably the most exciting bear of the trip because it was like the first one, and you're like, all right, you know, we're in him, we found him. Um, but we think it was a nice boar, and he was moving pretty good. Um, but yeah, we just really got one quick look at him, and then he kind of dove off the backside of that ridge out of view, and there's some dark timber in there, and we're like maybe bedded down, but it seemed like he was moving, you know. Um so we're like, well, two miles away, let's just work over there, and so it's basically took four or five hours, especially after packing up camp and finding our way through that valley. It took four or five hours to get over there. What sucked though, and so you packed up your own camp. Yep. Yeah, we just want to take it and move like further into the valley, basically.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Because he was pretty far below us, so we we want to get closer to where we thought there'd be more bears than the spot we were camped. Um and that's kind of how we run elk too, is just follow the elk, you know. Um keep camp on your back all the time. But right, it sucks, like it's not fun, but the end of the day, you're pretty happy you did that because you don't have to hike all the way back to camp.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

Yeah, I guess that's true. You have it with you and you can just stop and set up.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Right. Yep, and when you're splitting camp like this, it's easier to right.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

And so you uh never turn that bear up again.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

No, so we got over there, and and the problem was like even if we rushed to where we saw him initially to cut the distance, we couldn't have got a cross-canyon shot. This value is too big, and like we were trying to stick to 500 yards and under, which sounds far, but like there are not a lot of spots where you can get 500 yards across across these slopes, right? Yeah, because yeah, so we're like eh, you know, he's on this big mountain basically, and there's all these sub ridges coming off of it, and we're like, maybe if we get on his side of the mountain, get on one of those sub ridges, maybe we can shoot across to like the dark timber he went in. So that's what we did. We went down all the way to the bottom valley floor and then all the way up this mountain. Crappy hike through all this shale, and it's all windy and hot that day. Um we finally got above him, and it was probably like 4 p.m. at that point, and uh got above him, and like I said, you get somewhere and it looks nothing like it does on a map. Like we got over there, couldn't see anything. The little sub ridges we thought we were seeing on a map, and you know, across the valley were not really enough. There was just no vantage. Everything would have been like a hundred-yard shot. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Yeah, that's not what you want.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

No. What was cool is I turned this corner and some bowls were standing at like 30 yards, which was pretty cool. This really nice bowl, too. Like already's got brow tines and part of his main beans grown out. Um so we spooked them off. I'm like, alright, well, you know, maybe this bear's down in this dark timber still. So we try to get advantage, kind of went around the other side, just couldn't get a good view at it. So we're like, yeah, let's just still on it. Like, let's get a thermal thermals in our face and just really slowly go through that timber. And sure. I mean, it's all we could do at that point. So we kind of snuck through there. We talked about trying some predator calls, but we didn't.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

Yeah. Um did you guys carry one at least?

SPEAKER_01 14:52

We carried some. Never pulled it out. I wish we would have, but we should have tried that.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

I've seen videos of people trying as like a last ditch effort, just to like you never know kind of deal. Might work, might not, but oh yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

I I've seen guys do it archery, like they'll bet a bear in some timber and then go purposely do that, like call them into like archery range and shoot them. Really? But yeah, what makes us nervous is if you're calling a bear in like that and they've got cubs stashed down there, like you don't have a ton of time to make that decision. That's true. Yeah, and so that was nervous. Yeah, yeah, that that too. They're in hunt mode. Um, but no, never did turn them up again. Um, made it all the way over there, and but we were starting to get some context clues of what they were liking and what they were eating and stuff, and uh, but yeah, we sat down right where we last saw him, right on that knife ridge, and Dom like pulls his glass up and looks across the valley to where we couldn't see before, and he's like, Oh, I gotta sound cubs. So, like right away, we're on bears again. Hey, this is pretty good, you know. It's like 5 p.m.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

You guys are pros.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Was feeling like it for a second there. Um, but yeah, the super nice chocolate uh sow with two blonde blonde cubs. They were definitely older than a year, like they were half her size, you know. Um, but at this point of trip, we're like one, I I don't feel fully great about Shunam with older cubs, even though it's legal. And two, it's day one. Like, we just didn't have a purpose to go after her. Um but yeah, saw her, watched her a little bit, got some footage off to send to you. But um yeah, after that, we're like, alright, let's you know, the ridge we came down to get over here wasn't a bad glassing spot, like we found a pretty good spot. So we're like, let's just drop down, get water, and then we'll go up to that ridge and spend the night there. And so we're getting down there and kind of not really in hunt mode anymore, just kind of get to where we need to go and set up camp. Um, and we're almost to camp, or almost to where we want to camp. And I throw up my vinos, and I'm like, big chocolate. I'm like, another bear. And this one's like we walked past it that morning to get to where we were trying to go, and we're just like, what is going on? What is this canyon we found? So we're pretty excited. Um, and I just saw a glimpse of it, and I'm like, that's a shooter, let's go. So we just start running, and we actually dropped our camp, like dropped all our heavy stuff, and then basically side hilled this ridge to get to her spot. Um and that bear was like, I don't know, on this pretty steep, like west-facing slope, and we were on the other side, and these were kind of smaller ridges that you could get a shot across, but they were steep enough to get a shot across. So we were basically like, all right, let's get to this spot that we see on the map to be in range and try and set up so we get get to this little clearing, and you know, you're on a super steep slope, so you can't lay down, and you're trying to figure out like how you're gonna shoot. I ended up finding this dead good.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

You can't get prone at all, like to get comfortable.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Like, there's some spots you might get lucky and find a little like tree that makes it flat, but we're looking around like there's no place to get prone. Um, so I found this like dead stump out in the open. I'm like, well, I could set my shooting bag on that and then kind of put my bipod legs out and get stable. So I get set up, get it in my scope. I'm like, all right, like Dom, I want to look closer at this bear. I want to make sure it's a shooter, I want to make sure it doesn't have cubs. He's like, Yeah, come look at it. He's got his phone scope. And so I go up there and we're looking at it. We're like, oh yeah, that's pretty nice, bear. I think it's a shooter. And as we're saying this, dude, two of the smallest cubs you've ever seen walk into the frame. We're both like, oh, we're idiots. Like, what are we doing? But they just dude, they were so small. I mean, they were newborn, they were like this big chihuahuas. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Isn't that crazy that it can happen that easily? Like, had they not walked into frame, you might have been shooting that bear a minute later.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

That's why I'm like, just take a second, let's look at her, let's make sure you really can't rush that stuff because you gotta take your time and look. Exactly. Which is weird. It's a weird mindset to be in.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Um, yeah. Because like, what if you know, what if that bear's getting ready to walk into some dark timber and you've got 10 seconds to decide, you know?

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Like that's or if you're like eye-level with them and they're in some grass and you can't see the like can get pretty sketchy. Yeah. So you you definitely want to take your time. Um, but yeah, I mean, we weren't too bummed. We're like, all right, another bear, they're in here, like just a matter of time. So we watch her for a little bit, and um, yeah, she's got two little cubs, and they're just feeding along, and those things can barely keep up with her, like they're tripping over rocks and just like you know, little puppies that have no balance.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

I bet that was cool to watch, though.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

It is yeah, it's really cool, it's awesome. Um, but yeah, and then like if the day couldn't get better at this point, Dom just like glasses up above her, and he's like, dude, I got another bear. Like, are you kidding me? And this one's a loam. Like, we're looking at it, we're like, okay, it's definitely a loam. So, boar, is it a sow? We're trying to figure it out. I'm like, hey, you spotted it. If you want it, let's go. And so we kind of side hill some more, get to another vantage, uh, take another look, and it's just a pretty small, we think, boar, like just immature, just young.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Um what do you what are you looking for to determine boar, Sal? Like if it doesn't have cubs, like what is it just in the head?

SPEAKER_01 21:20

The head, definitely more boxy on a boar, you know, like a big like male lab.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

Like a wider head, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Wider head. Um their back legs are kind of more pronounced, I guess. A female will kind of have that pear shape, it kind of rolls off and just has a really distinct shape, and a a boar will be a little more muscular back there.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

And and then boars have bigger like forearms, like they'll be bigger up front in the chest.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Styles will be kind of skinny in the front.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

Right. So good glass really is super necessary doing this.

unknown 21:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

To pick out those kind of details.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Well yeah, because like through our binos, that first one with the Cubs, you know, we could see her clear as day, but you couldn't see the Cubs so you got like a spotter on it, and then you're like, oh, okay, I can really tell now. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

Did you guys both pack a spotter in, or did you just take one?

SPEAKER_01 22:16

We did, and I regretted it. I I was actually, I'm like, let's both pack one just in case we like split up or something and both need it. Um retrospect, you don't really split up, like you're glassing all day, the same stuff. So and it's it's a lot of weight, like those things are heavy. So I was regretting it.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Um I was surprised. I'm surprised you even took one. Like I know your your image stabilizing binos are great, but I guess at that far distance, like you still need still need some spotters.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

That's what it is, like making sure it's the bear you want, and then also calling shots. Because some of these shots you can have your phone, you know, start recording and put it on high frames, put it on 4K, and you can see your bullet travel all the way over there and really get a good idea of where you hit them. Gotcha. Versus, you know, you could do that with your binos, but it'd be really hard to actually see, versus like a s tripod that's on the ground, you know, you can just feel real stable. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Yeah, that's a good point. I never thought about like making your video quality better on your phone and like really getting a good look at your shot, or like if one guy's watching the shot as the other shooter takes a shot, you know, like you can really see what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Yeah, no, Dom had a uh app. I for I think it's called like Mag. Mag not MagView, that's the Digiscope company, but there's this new app out there, it's really good for fun for digiscoping because you can set all that stuff right then and there, like say, hey, I want super high frames, I want 4K, so it's really good quality. And then you can skip through videos really easily. So you like take a video, it's got a little skip button where you can go like you know, frame by frame and really see impacts. It's pretty sweet.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

I need that. That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Yeah, I'll I'll have to skip the name of it. Um, but that's you know, when we're practicing and stuff, we do that, like slow the shot down, and you can just really see where the bullet hits.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

Um, but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

That's why we do that. But yeah, I mean, so how many bears? That was I guess four so Dama just spotted.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

Yeah, Dhamma just spotted this other one. You said it, you decided it was small.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

Yeah, I got up on him. We're like, it's day one. We just saw four bears. Like, we don't need to shoot this one. If it's younger, let's let's wait. And yeah, so we made that choice day one, passed on him. So it was a freaking stellar full day.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

Yeah, it sounds like it like probably exceeded your expectations, really.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

Oh yeah, 100%. And what was weird then? All these bears were chocolate color face, not a single one was black. Yeah. Those two cubs were blonde, but they were all chocolate, which is pretty cool, I think.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

Yeah, so as a not a bear guy, like in my mind, a large majority of black bears are black. But it seems like out west, like, they vary a lot more than maybe like in the south where there's black bears. I don't know if that that's more like a clay nuke new eater question.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

But yeah, and like Alaskan bears.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

It seems like there's a lot of color phase one.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

Yeah, it seems you're totally right. Like you watch a lot of those like baiting videos in the south, it just seems like a lot of black colors, and even like Alaska, you go up coastal bear, it seems like they're all black too. But yeah, some I guess something about this region of the west, you know, kind of the lower 48 black bear western region is yeah, a lot of color phase.

SPEAKER_00 26:09

Yeah, right. Just seem to throw a lot of different color phase, which is cool. I think it's awesome. Like, yeah, it'd be so cool to shoot a color phase one rather than just a black one to me.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

But I I'm colorblind, so maybe that's why, but I just like the color phase one more. They stick out more to me.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

That's funny.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

But so day two, going into day two, what day two looked like?

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Yeah, um trying to remember all the days mixed up. So day two would have been what May 5th. Um basically just got up to that glassing point where we camped, and you know, you roll out of the tent and start glassing. Um, we weren't getting up super early because from what we hear, bear hunting is best in the evenings. They're they just don't really move a lot in the mornings. You know, I don't know if they're sleeping or just hanging out, but they they don't seem to really move a lot, and that's what we were seeing on this trip. Um, so yeah, we we try to get out of our tent and start glassing before the sun really hits the slopes, because then you know for sure stuff's probably going away. But um yeah, rolled out that morning, um, glass till you know 10 a.m. again, didn't see anything, and then uh basically just did the same thing. We did just jumped another ridge over and try to get another vantage up this canyon, try to see some different country. Um we were kind of zoning in on a you know altitude at this point that they were all in, like all those bears we saw day one were at the same plus or minus 200 feet, like they were all on this line. Yep. Um, and they were seem to all be on the same like kind of rocky mix, red dirt slope that looks pretty barren, but you get up there and there's a lot of good stuff growing in it. So we're kind of zoning in on what they were liking. Um it's really not like the greenest stuff you see. It's it's more like those little pockets where the freshest stuff is coming up.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

Um okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

Yeah, so you're learning on the go, you know. Like all our e-scout away points, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

Those are out the window.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

They were out the window after first day. Like we're like, oh, this isn't this isn't right. This is what we thought. We're way too high in those e-scouting points, you know. Um but yeah, just jumped another ridge over, glass the whole day. I can't remember, I don't think we saw any bears that day. We saw a bunch of elk. Um it wasn't a great spot in retrospect. We thought it'd be pretty good to see up this next drainage to the east of us, but you just couldn't, it was just blocked. Um, but yeah, kind of a bummer of a day. Uh May 6th. Um, so it was a Wednesday at that point. I think we chose to relocate at that point. So we saw what we saw. We checked all the spots where we saw the bears day one, and uh we're like, all right, let's give it a half day again, class some more. If we don't see any bears, let's get out of here. And that's what happened. We didn't see any more bears that morning. So we're packed now. I like in reach Jackson, satellite message him, my brother. Okay, they were relocating. He's like, what? He's like, you guys were in the bears. Why are you leaving? I'm like, well, they're all sows of cubs, and we can't find the boars, so we're just gonna try other things. Um, he thought we were crazy for leaving. Uh maybe we were, but um, I don't know if the weather was stubpar and they were nocturnal. It was pretty warm those three first three days. So maybe we got lucky that first night, and then they were just nocturnal after that. Um, but yeah, we decided to pack out. So we're getting close to the end of our food, anyways. You know, we had a day and a half left. So packed all the way out. It was like 10 miles back to the truck. Oh, that day too. I don't know how he spotted this thing, but he spotted a big either side-by-side set of moose antlers or a deadhead moose from like I forget, two and a half miles away.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

And you didn't go get him?

SPEAKER_01 30:30

We did not. Because it was so hard to get there, and in Wyoming, you need a salvage permit to pick up deadheads.

SPEAKER_00 30:39

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 30:40

Which sucks. So we would have had it drive back into town, buy the salvage permit, pack 12 miles back in to get it, and 12 miles out, we're like, and it's not far from a road that's open in the summer. So we're like, maybe one day if we want to come back, you know, we can hit it in the summer. But I can't believe he spotted that thing, and that shows how long we're sitting up there glassing, because you get bored, right? And like with your vinyls, it literally looked like two specks of snow on this hill. And you put your spotter on it, and you're like, Oh, I see a brow time. Like, that's a moose.

SPEAKER_00 31:17

No kidding.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

So that's awesome. Spotlight. We got a waypoint, just bar in there.

SPEAKER_00 31:29

Huh. So cool, dude.

SPEAKER_01 31:31

Packed out of there. We were pretty sore. Um after the city.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

Yeah, 10 miles. 10 miles and they'd be rough.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

It was rough, like I said. I was out of shape going on this trip, and post-holding with weight is not the best thing for that. Right. Um, and rifles are heavy too, man. I take bowling for granted. Like your little bow in your hand, you don't even know it's there. You put a 13-pound rifle on your back with ammo and stuff, it's like it sucks.

SPEAKER_00 32:01

Like you want to bring extra ammo, but you also don't want to bring very much extra ammo.

SPEAKER_01 32:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

Like you sure don't want to bring a whole box.

SPEAKER_01 32:11

No. I forget how many I brought. Um I think I brought a full mag of five and then ten additional. It's probably overkill.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

Probably, yeah. But considering you never shot.

SPEAKER_01 32:26

Yeah. Didn't even shoot a single one in that trip. Um, but yeah, spent the rest of the year. Anyway, so you guys relocated. Yep. So we moved to just basically the same range, just different area of it. Um, weren't seeing anyone. Like we're pretty thrilled to not see other hunters. Uh, there's a lot of bait sites, so Wyoming allows bait, and that's why a lot of guys that don't like Wyoming. Yeah, so in Wyoming, you can resident, non-resident, you can go and basically first come, first serve, reserve a section, you know, square mile, um for for your bait. So I think per person you get two bait sites, or you can apply for two. Um, and then if you get it, you're basically the only one that can put pay bait in that section for that season. And that includes spring and fall. So, but what's cool about it is you can go online and see where everyone's bait sites are. You have to legally put a pin where your bait is because they'll go and check it and make sure you're not doing anything illegal. Um so you can go on there and be like, okay, this place has a hundred baits around it, it's probably not worth doing spawn stock versus you still there.

SPEAKER_00 33:46

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

Lost her for a sec.

SPEAKER_00 33:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:49

So you can kind of find these areas with baits or without baits. Um, we knew where we were going back through, had some baits. Um, but yeah, like I said, that's a lot of guys don't like that because that pulls bears out of the high country and off of stuff you can hunt. Um, and it's just a lot of work, man. Like we talked about baiting. I think it'd be more energy to run bait all spring than it would be to go backpack hunt, as crazy as that sounds. Like, it is a lot of work.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

Like it wouldn't, to me, that wouldn't make sense for like a non-resident. Like if you live 20 minutes from there, like I could see that, you know, as a resident. If you could go put bait out every couple of times a week or however often they do it, like that that seems like a pretty cool deal for a resident, but as a non-resident, that just wouldn't make sense to me. Like, I don't think you could bait and have a successful hunt in the first week of your bait site.

SPEAKER_01 34:47

No, you gotta from what I hear. So Dom knows some guys that do it, and they're pretty successful with it, but they're running bait every every week from like beginning of March till May. And you know, you gotta have all sorts of equipment to get into some of those places. Um, whether it's like snowmobiles or or tank track, UTVs, like you gotta have all this stuff. And they're yeah, that seems like a lot of work. It is a ton of work and money, right? Because I think I've heard of guys using all sorts of stuff, bread, expired food, candy, donuts, dog food, like whatever. It gets expensive, you know. Right. Um but no, like like I said, that you build a bait site up, and it seems like from what I hear, it takes a while to get implemented. You can't just like show up, you know, out of state or put some bait out and expect we're gonna be there. Maybe get lucky, but um, but yeah, anyways, so we relocated. Um we had to go all the way back into town, drive all the way around, and uh this new spot we went into um wasn't as far in, but it was pretty pretty rugged, like it was kind of a difficult entry, but once you're in there it was pretty nice. Um, but yeah, we hiked in and set up, so that would have been May 7th. Yeah. That's like what six days in. Um we set up and glass all day, like we've been doing, and I was really not having good feelings about this place. I was like, it just feels like we're too high, feels more like elk country than bear country. I was kind of being negative about it, but Dom's like, let's just stick it out. We're all already in here, let's just wait till dark. And so that's what we did. We just glassed and glassed, and you're really like at this point, you're like, all right, that hillside looks good, this hillside looks good, everything else. Yeah, there's a lot of country, but it just doesn't seem like bears. So you find yourself kind of checking these two hillsides constantly, and so that's what you're doing, just glassing, glassing, and uh I'm like, you know, it's getting close to dinner time and stuff. I'm like, hey, do you want to like heat up your food and I'll keep glassing while you're doing that? It's like, yeah. So he's like making his food, I'm glassing, and then we swap. I'm like, all right, I'll make mine now. So we're like taking shifts, you know, because it's prime time. And uh as soon as I put all my shit out on the ground, stove, food, all this stuff, he's like, Gotta bear. Like, no way. So I look up there and we're looking at it. We're like, is it alone? Is it alone? Yep, it's alone, it's chocolate again. And it's like, all right, let's go. You get into this like zone. You're like, kill mode, how do we get there? Because it was probably a mile away. Um, and so packing our stuff up, throwing stuff in a bag.

SPEAKER_00 37:49

This is like late afternoon, right?

SPEAKER_01 37:52

This is like 6 p.m. So it's like you're running up against a clock potentially, right? And I'm looking down at this north face slope we're gonna have to go down, and I'm just like, this is gonna suck. Like we're gonna be in so much snow. But uh threw all our shit together, bombed it down this hill, ended up not being that bad. We went through some deadfall and stuff, but it really wasn't horrible. Got to the bottom of this creek and basically dropped all our heavy stuff again, and then and then just booked it up this trail along this creek. And uh, you know, you're just like adrenaline rush hiking up. It's kind of nice too because you get that all out as you're as you're hiking. So then for the shot, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

Yeah, it doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_01 38:38

Stone cold. Um but yeah, we're we're following this trail up. We spooked some elk in front of us. We're pretty worried about it because we didn't know if they were gonna go busting up the hill that bear was on. Um spook some elk and then turn a corner. We're like, crap, that hillside's like right there. Like it's 700 yards. So we ease up and we end up getting to 505. And we could have got a lot closer, but there was a perfect little side hill, like where the trail met the side hill was a perfect little flat spot to go prone. We're like, we could go closer and have a really awkward uphill shot, or we can just layer on this flat spot and have a nice prone 500-yard shot, and so it opted.

SPEAKER_00 39:25

And could you see the bear from this point? Yeah, you can already laid eyes on him.

SPEAKER_01 39:30

Yep, and I'm just like it's perfectly calm now. Like, sun's already gone down, just you know, 30 minutes of light left. I'm like, this perfect. So Dom lays down, he spotted the bear, it's his bear, he lays down and um takes a while to get settled. Like he's got a kestrel, so he's reading the air pressure, wind, all that stuff, humidity.

SPEAKER_00 39:54

Real fancy then, huh?

SPEAKER_01 39:55

He's he's uh he goes down some rabbit holes. Like we're mostly bow hunters, we just gotten a rifle this year, but he's like all in, like all this stuff.

SPEAKER_00 40:05

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 40:06

But I'll tell you what, dude, he can shoot. Like he's shooting a 6'5 PRC um Tika, and he can shoot. Like, it's pretty impressive. Um that's where I've enjoyed this process of setting up a rifle this year, is archery, like there's only so much you can do with your equipment in archery. Most of it comes down to the shooter. Feels like with rifle setups, a lot of it is the back, like all the work going into your setup. Like, yeah, you gotta be a good shot, but there's a difference between a mile thousand-yard gun and a you know, 270 that you shoot 200 yards.

SPEAKER_00 40:48

So it's like that's my speed right there. Yeah, the 200-yard gun.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

There you go. But yeah, it's fun been fun to nerd out on it. But yeah, he's getting set up, getting all stuffed dialed in, and he's like, I think he took his range with his with his rangefinder, and then he's matching the ballistics that his rangefinder's giving him to his dope on his phone that his Kestrel has. And he's like, I don't know, man. They're I forget what he said. He's like, they're 0.1 mil apart. And I'm like, pick one. We're running out of time here. He's like, all right, I'll pick, I'll pick the higher one, because there could be some downdraft on that slope that bears on, even though if we don't feel it, it could be some downdraft over there. So he's like, pick the higher one, aim a little higher. Um, and that's what he did. He dialed it in and got my um digiscope set up, and I'll send the video. But he shoots and muzzle break, you know, his whole canyon lights up. Um, but he hits and you just see dirt fly, like classic sign of a miss. And I'm like, I'm just glassing. I watch the bear run, and it kind of side hills into this timber, just like this little bit, like 10 trees, and it doesn't come out. And I'm like, I don't know, man. I think you miss, like, it's not feeling good. I'm reviewing the footage, you see the the vapor trail of the bullet, it looks like it goes right over its back, and then you just see dirt fly. I'm like, I think you missed, man. Sorry, and he's like, I don't what did I do wrong? Like, it felt so good, like surprise shot, everything was dialed in. Um you back? You're good. Yep. But yeah, he's like, I don't know what happened, like we're thinking he missed, and um, I go back to review, I'm using that app, so I'm like going frame by frame. I'm like, hold on. When the bear's basically out of the way before it steps into the frame, you can kind of see the hillside where he hit, and there's no bullet mark. And after the shot, the bear runs off, there's a bullet mark right behind its vitals in the dirt. And I'm like, this is an archery.

SPEAKER_00 43:05

You can see that detail at 500 yards through your phone scope.

SPEAKER_01 43:11

Yes, like you're zooming in.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

See where the bullet hit behind the bear.

SPEAKER_01 43:16

You can see the scuff mark in the dirt behind the bear. Like you can you can go back and forth, move the bear out of the way, and you can see that spot where he hit. And I'm like, that spot's right behind its vitals, like money.

SPEAKER_00 43:29

Like money. Perfectly in line. So perfect. Telling you it's a like a pass through and hit the door.

SPEAKER_01 43:34

I'm like, dude, I think that bullet ripped right through it, and it looked like it missed because it was just didn't even have time to expand. It just ripped right through it and hit that dirt. And we're like, crap, like, maybe you did get her. So we're going back and forth. He's like, let's just go up. We just gotta find out. We gotta see if there's blood. I'm like, yeah. So we hike up there. And dude, this slope, like from a distance, you're like, Yeah, it's deep. You get on this thing. And you're like hands and knees like rock climbing this. It was gnarly. You're using trees to climb. Dude, they love that steep stuff. Um really.

SPEAKER_00 44:11

You want to see track places they're more comfortable.

SPEAKER_01 44:16

I know. And I think it's just the whatever they're eating. Like if it's on that stuff, that's where they're gonna be. Um but yeah, we're climbing this hill, and I'm like, hold on, I just thought of something. Let's listen to the impact on the video, because we didn't really didn't do that. Go back, replay it right there, and no sound of impact. It's just the muzzle break and then nothing. And you're like, I'm like, dude, I think you missed. I'm sorry. And like, we just gotta look. I'm like, yeah, yeah, we gotta look. Go up there, dude. Turn the corner. We're like, where are the tracks? Like, it was standing here, there's some scuff marks, but then there's no tracks. Like, it ain't go up the hill. And we look left, dude, and it's piled up right there ten yards away.

SPEAKER_00 45:02

It was piled up how close?

SPEAKER_01 45:04

10 yards. It went into those trees.

SPEAKER_00 45:07

From where he shot it?

SPEAKER_01 45:08

10 yards from where he shot it. He went into those trees and just rolled and somehow did not fall off that cliff. It stopped right on a tree. And we just missed all of it. We just didn't see that.

SPEAKER_02 45:20

Huh.

SPEAKER_01 45:21

So we're on cloud nine, super pumped. Um turned out to be a sow, just a lone salw, super, super pretty coat, big claws, um, just just a younger sow, but like gorgeous coat, just a great bear for your first bear. Um, but yeah, just got her skinned out, got got her quartered out, and uh it always surprises you how small they are when you get the hideous. Like they're you can fit all the quarters in one game bag. It's just nuts. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:56

Yeah. That's what I wondered when you were talking about your pack weighing 60 pounds. I'm like, man, what about packing one out? But I guess they really just aren't weighing that much.

SPEAKER_01 46:06

That's what's nice about bear hunting. Like, you can go deep and not have to worry about it. You're like, if we kill a bear like 12 miles in. No, yeah. Not like an elk. So, but yeah, got her out, packed out that night, got back to the truck at like 1 a.m. And uh, so that was days what I say, six or seven. Um, so I'm like, all right, man, we got like three days left. Let's just keep going. Let's do it again.

SPEAKER_00 46:32

So was Don pretty stoked with that? Like he's super happy with that bear.

SPEAKER_01 46:37

Yep. Yeah, and in Wyoming you have to get your bear checked, so you have to take it to like a game order, and they make sure it's dry and doesn't have milk, and they take a tooth and do some sampling and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 46:52

Um really.

SPEAKER_01 46:54

Yeah, it's a pretty good system. Like they'll age your bear for free. Um, but you you have to check it. So we drove all the way into the closest town, checked it, and then had the best burger we've ever had because you're starving at this point.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

Some some real food, huh?

SPEAKER_01 47:11

Real real food, real beer, and uh yeah, then we're booked it back up into the hills and um kind of looked at an area, and at this point, we're scouting new stuff because we're like all the stuff we planned earlier this year, like is out the window. We're gone where we've been finding them. So we scouted some new stuff and um just kind of turned into a bus. So we packed into one area, crossed some tracks. Like this bear must have crossed in front of us hours before because in the snow it was just so fresh, yeah. Because the snow is melting like crazy this time of year, right? Even your own tracks, you'll walk in in the morning, walk out in the evening, and they'll be almost gone because the snow's melted so much. These tracks were like, you could see the claw marks, you could see the dirt kicked up. So we're like, oh, there's bears in here, let's go. So we got up in there and nothing. Glassed so much country, man, and just could not find one. Saw some moose, saw a bunch of elk again, saw some antelope, made no sense. It was the weirdest thing I've ever like high country antelope. You're like, what are you doing? This is not planes.

SPEAKER_00 48:26

Yeah, that's weird.

SPEAKER_01 48:27

Yeah, but couldn't find any bears, went to another spot, packed in again. It's just running, you know, you're running lines at this point. We're doing like four miles in, four miles out, and uh second spot, no bears again. So then last day we packed in his pretty far spot and um got to a slope, and it was like deja vu. If you remember, I talked about that sal with blonde cubs that were pretty old. It's like deja vu, man. I throw up my vinos. This hillside looks exactly the same, but we're hours away. And I'm like, salon cubs? It's like a chocolate with two little blonde cubs. I'm like, are these the same bears? Um's like, no, they're not the same bears. They're it was weird, man. Like same hillside, same brush, same country, same looking bears. It was kind of weird.

SPEAKER_00 49:23

But again, man, and again, were those were those like those cubs old enough that you could have shot the sow and you just decided not to, or it they were, and man, it was getting tempting.

SPEAKER_01 49:38

It was like the last day, and you're just like, this is probably it, you know. I'm eating a tag, right? And so I was trying to talk myself into it, and then you see him like playing in a tree, and you're like, I can't, I can't do it. Right. Because what's gonna happen is you're gonna shoot this mom, walk up there, and those two cubs are gonna be sitting right there, just staring at you. Like, yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 50:02

That'd make it even worse.

SPEAKER_01 50:04

Might not bother some guys. I was just like, I've killed a bear, I don't need to, you know. I don't need to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_00 50:10

You don't need to kill one that bad.

SPEAKER_01 50:12

Yep. So past her and it sucked because it was the biggest bear of the trip. Like she was a big old sow. Great face, like, yeah, long, big forearms, like, oh watched her all day long.

SPEAKER_00 50:26

Aren't those cubs like at risk too after that? Like, from won't male bears get like won't boars get after cubs sometimes?

SPEAKER_01 50:34

Yeah, um for sure in the rut, I hear the the boars will run off the cubs, um, the older cubs, you know, to try and breed with the south, and so they'll run off and and kill them if they have to. Um but yeah, that definitely happens. So, like you said, you kill the mom, they're kinda out of that protection, potentially. Um but yeah, passed on her, and but it was fine.

SPEAKER_00 51:02

Still a cool encounter though.

SPEAKER_01 51:04

Yeah, it was awesome. Maybe one day one of those cubs will be a shooter bore.

SPEAKER_00 51:09

So there you go.

SPEAKER_01 51:11

Oh, and then our I forgot to mention we passed a bait to this spot and uh found the guy's bait, and he had like popcorn and sour patch kids in this barrel. And it looked good. You're like, I would eat that. Um but uh didn't check his camera or anything. I I I don't know, I felt weird touching his, you know, I could have legally it's public land, but I was like walking past them like uh we saw a big old track man, like a big old board track. Oh yeah, I'm like, oh, they're in here, but he's pulling them to his bait. Um but yeah, that was it for that. What's that? Scratch kids. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 51:55

I can imagine that that would not be my go-to bear bait.

SPEAKER_01 51:59

Looked like he took his kids' Halloween candy and just threw it in there, you know.

SPEAKER_00 52:03

Probably did. Huh. But well, it sounds like he had a pretty good trip though, overall. Like I know it sucks to eat eat a tag, but you did see quite a few bears, seems like.

SPEAKER_01 52:15

Oh yeah, you're totally right. Like, it's the experience on these hunts. That's what we're after. And yeah, eat a tag. That would have been the cherry on top, but um came home.

SPEAKER_00 52:31

Make sure you cook it good enough.

SPEAKER_01 52:33

That is right. We uh Dom had to try it. Dom's never had bear. He's like, I I gotta try some. So we cut some back strap off and uh cooked it on my little grill at the truck and you know, cooked it for 20-30 minutes, get well done.

unknown 52:49

Right.

SPEAKER_01 52:49

And I'm like, here you go. Like you could try it, and it was not good. I mean, you can cook the best steak in the world, and if you cook it that much, it's not gonna taste good.

SPEAKER_00 52:59

So you can't you just can't eat that stuff like rare or medium rare. You can't risk it, right?

SPEAKER_01 53:06

No, you I mean, you could risk it, but you'll get trichinosis, which is what is it? It's like a parasite that goes in your muscles. Yes, I think so. Yeah, it's with you forever, like you always have it.

SPEAKER_00 53:21

I I don't think it's something that you'd want, so no.

SPEAKER_01 53:25

So but yeah, no, you can make some good stuff with bear like sausage and roast turn out really good.

SPEAKER_00 53:31

Right.

SPEAKER_01 53:31

What sucks about spring bear is they don't have any fat, which is like the best part of bear. Uh surrendering down that fat. Um they just don't have it. So but it's still good. It was awesome, man. Good experience.

SPEAKER_00 53:44

Um, what'd you what'd you learn? Any takeaways? Like something you do different next time?

SPEAKER_01 53:48

Yeah, I would say when you're scouting, when you're e-scouting, you gotta keep in mind um shot distances. Like a lot of these spots were like, oh, this looks so good, but it's a mile from the closest ridge.

SPEAKER_00 54:04

Like you're just not getting from where you're planning the glass to where you think the bears are gonna be. It's just way too far. That's what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 54:12

Or even any even if you spot a bear and can get set up, any position that you can try and get like across canyon from them, you just gotta find those spots where it's like 500 yards, 600, 700 yard range.

SPEAKER_00 54:26

Tighter canyons, basically.

SPEAKER_01 54:28

Yep. So we learned that you need to be in really tight canyons, and then uh what else do we learn? Stove's really nice for melting snow because you don't have to drop a thousand feet.

SPEAKER_00 54:39

Um yeah, that'd be a lifesaver, man. Yeah. Like all the all the fresh water you need.

SPEAKER_01 54:48

Yeah. It's uh it's work. Like you gotta go scrape up the snow and get it in there, but well, it's better than dropping a thousand feet. A lot better, yeah. Um trying to think what else. Just making sure all your gears like you gotta have everything perfect. If if you're missing one thing out of your gear kit, you're it's gonna suck. Like you gotta have it all.

SPEAKER_00 55:11

Yeah. I I'm afraid my problem would be I'd have way too much. That's like I'm an overpacker. I'm an overpacker, so I'm just afraid I like wouldn't be able to be smart and be light. Like I'd be like, well, I might need this and bring right.

SPEAKER_01 55:26

Yeah. No, and I do that every trip. I bring way too much, and then at the end of the trip, um cutting stuff out. I'm like, I'm not bringing this next time. This I never even looked at it. Right. So but yeah, and then yeah, I would say just zoning in on those spots too. Like learn it on the fly. Don't get stubborn because you think something looks good. Like move and find what they like, and then zone in on what they like and and keep finding that. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 55:56

Well, that sounds awesome, man. I'm glad I finally got to hear it. I've been kind of anxious waiting to hear about it. So uh for sure. Yeah, man. I appreciate you being on. Glad you had a good hunt.

SPEAKER_01 56:07

Appreciate it. Yeah, we'll have to get you out west, do a spring bear hunt one day.

SPEAKER_00 56:11

Yeah, one of these days. It's on the to-do list, of course.

SPEAKER_01 56:15

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 56:15

Big to-do list.

SPEAKER_01 56:16

You're you're too busy turkey hunting this time of year, anyways.

SPEAKER_00 56:19

Yeah, man, I like them gobblers. I can't believe they're not. You should be coming to Missouri every year to kill some of them Longbeards.

SPEAKER_01 56:27

There's some good spots in the West.

SPEAKER_00 56:29

Dude, there's been one like basically tied up behind my house the last whole last week of turkey season here. Like I was tagged out and I was seeing this bird every day. Hearing him like days after season, like I'd just be out around my house like in the afternoon and he'd gobble. Like just the best. A couple hundred yards from my house. And I I when I have seen him, he's got a big ol' rope too, like big, thick paintbrush. Nice man.

SPEAKER_01 56:57

You killed what, a triple beard this year?

SPEAKER_00 56:59

Yeah, I killed a triple beard and then a and then a it was a single beard, but it was real thick. Like had a big paintbrush. It was a good turkey season. We'll talk about that on the next episode.

SPEAKER_01 57:09

Yeah, heck yeah. I'm excited to hear it because you came out west for Marion.

SPEAKER_00 57:14

Yep, we can talk about that. Killed my first Marion.

SPEAKER_01 57:17

So I knew you'd do it too, because I suck at turkey inning, and I'm like, if Luke came out here, you'd kill one right away.

SPEAKER_00 57:24

Dude, I don't know. It was tough. We'll talk we'll talk about that later though.

SPEAKER_01 57:28

Okay. Sounds good. On the next show.

SPEAKER_00 57:30

All right, thanks, buddy. All right, man. See you later. See you later. Thanks, everybody.