He called it loon shit.

It's just that frickin greasy top layer on those northern.

Roads I've been running from the lawn.

Hope they won't shoot me down.

But I froze my bag off like I had every piece of cloth on inside myself.

Try to catch me.

Welcome back to episode 73 of Come Out Heavy.

And we are on the road north.

And we thought it'd be no better time than to record the show while driving on the Alaska Highway.

Hey, Kurt, what do you think about that?

Shouldn't have told anywhere on the Alaska Highway though.

Re record.

Yeah, it's all good.

Yeah.

Cruising.

We've been in the truck for seven hours and 17 minutes.

We're just over halfway.

So that's put in perspective for some people.

It's a fucking long way when you're going north and I live halfway up the province.

Dev, you, not so much.

Hey.

Yeah, it's something at the two days of travel to get out of the truck and travel for another day and and get out of the boat and travel for another day.

But I don't know, these travels are, well, I, I think everyone we talked is a guy like to fucking drive because you're bullshit and then you're excited about the hunt.

And I don't know, like it's a lot of nice country, like fuck beautiful to drive through and I, I, I enjoy it.

We we talk about everything under the sun on these trips.

I wouldn't say Chetwin and on your way to FSJS would call it beautiful, but I'd call it driving.

It was, it was kind of scenery, I guess.

I like the farmland, like seeing the bales and everything.

I don't know.

Yeah, it's good.

Like that's not, I guess Cornell's got lots of that, but I'm not, I'm not around that as much as it used to be.

That's true, yeah.

You're used to the the mountains.

But, yeah, cutting through the braid and you go through those farms there.

I like that.

Yeah.

You know, thinking about mule deer hunting when I drive through there you always looks like good a good spot but probably get shot the second you step off the fucking highway up here from all the hillbilly farmers.

Yeah, we just had a little stay over, well, little break in FSJ and got some food and got to bullshit with a couple friends.

So that was fun.

Like it's hearing them about their plans and kind of talking about sheep hunting and different things.

I mean, it's, it's, it's here.

Like we're we're on the edge here.

Yeah, no, it was good.

Ran into told a few buddies that were rolling through town soon they met us for a bite and a beer and yeah, it was good.

One guy, he's heading out tomorrow and they're going in on a sheep hunt, kind of probably mixed bag with more sheep as well.

And another buddy we talked to, he's heading up at the end of the month.

Yeah, it's, it's awesome.

You know, just to swap stories and the one guy's been in where we're headed.

So I got some inside knowledge from him and things to watch for.

You know, tips like that go a long way for a guy.

We've we've never been up there.

So it's it's just nice to, you know, just little tricks, you know, watch out for this spot.

It it could get hairy there and do this, do that.

And then just, you know, we've seen Rams in this spot, we've seen goats in this spot, we've seen elk in this spot.

So, you know, I'm, I'm taking mental pictures of everything and, you know, just, you know, it's a, it's a long way to go.

So any little bit of tips definitely helps.

That's good.

Yeah.

Well, the last episode we did for our Hunt series here, we talked about basically finite gear details.

And then on this one, we're thinking more of like the final preps that we've been doing.

Then we'll we'll dive into a little bit more of like, I don't know, Hunt strategy, I guess you'd call it like how we're thinking about approaching our time in the mountains and, and kind of go from there.

So kind of just start with that man.

I get I go through and I think a lot of people go through these emotions, especially when you have family, like young families that you're leaving and these types of things.

But the last two weeks I second guess like every packing I do, like I'm in and out.

I repack my backpack this year.

Making my list really helped me like settle my mind.

Like I literally crossed it off and put it in on my excel sheet and like for like I was like fuck.

And then going up leading up to like leaving as much as like this is it like I love this.

Like I'm pumped to be here and and moving on with this.

There's like these doubts of like what should I be doing this like with the family like and stuff.

And like, oh, why am I going so far away to like be away from my family?

But then when I get up here I'm like, so there's like these little weird like 5 minute blips and I don't know if you ever feel like that.

Oh absolutely.

It's the last few weeks, as you know, like we're one day out or sorry, two weeks out to a week out to the last fucking 5-6 days.

And like you're you're at work, but I'm mentally not at work.

I'm mentally thinking about everything I put in my backpack.

I'm thinking about make sure I have everything fucking, you know, no loose ends at home, get all my yard work, everything that I can do to like, you know, you leave the wife at home with fucking 2 little ones, like 3 and one like that's, that's a lot of work dropping on her lap right?

While she also works too.

So, you know, I've everything I can do to make her life easier while I'm gone.

I'm trying to do it.

And you're also kind of kissing ass a little bit too.

Because, you know, it's funny because you talk about this hunt for a year and then as it gets closer, she's like, so how long are you going for?

You're going for two weeks.

Really, really.

And I was like, yeah, we talked about this for the last fucking year.

You know what I think it is when you tell your wife in January that you're going to do 2 weeks of hunting in September, they just go, OK, yeah, they don't, they don't, they don't process like what that's going to feel like when it comes to August.

Yeah, which is like, So what day are you coming home?

I'm like, well, I got to be back to work on the 15th.

So like, I mean at the latest the 14th, she's like the fucking 14th.

I was like, you're gone for fucking over half a month.

I'm like, well, worst case scenario, right?

Like.

Or best case, that's not.

Going to happen most likely, but you know, so yeah, that was a little bit of I opened her for her.

But then, like you said, like the emotions.

And this is my first time doing a hunt like this with two little ones at home.

I mean, you've done it for years with the shit that we've done and I've drugged you north and me South, but going South just doesn't doesn't hit the same as when you're going so remote, like where we are, where I can't just jump in my truck and be home in a day.

Like it's I can't go to the airport and fly home in an emergency.

It's like via via in reach, you know, like how's things going?

Very short conversations.

And it's tough, man.

Like it hit me hard this morning when we were leaving, like Devin

was at my house at 7:00 in the morning and I kind of wanted to wait till my girls got up so I could say goodbye to them and had no coffee with the wife.

Then the, you know, 3 year old woke up and the baby woke up and sitting on the couch with both of them and I just kind of get started getting choked up.

And it was just, I don't know, it was really, it was tough, tough kissing him goodbye and leaving.

And like the last 10 minutes before I left was just like, I was tearing up.

And yeah, I don't know, it just hits you different.

I remember that feeling those first, I think you came down and we elk hunted and I we had Georgia and she was a baby.

And I remember the first nights sleeping in Griz country and being like, I'm an I'm an idiot.

What if something happens to me?

Like I have AI have this baby and like something like so you just yeah, it's it's raw and I don't know it's until you do stuff.

And and we talked about that a bit.

Like we were talking about her this morning.

I think kind of saying men need like a challenge in a year or like a struggle, or at least men in the bar type where we want to go and do something that pushes you.

And it is our like holidays and we know there's a bitter risk to some of these things.

I I feel it's like a primal instinct.

I would call it where you're like why do you do this?

It like that sounds not enjoyable but it's like never been scared of working hard even though the people at work probably would disagree with that.

Working harder is something you like.

Exactly.

But the challenge, it's the challenge of doing something difficult that probably 99% of the people in the world won't do or can't do.

You know, that's kind of where that has a badge of honor, I'd say, like, you know, being successful and killing a sheep is an awesome man or doing anything that's challenging is an achievement.

So and it's the adventure for me is doing it like disconnecting from society, disconnecting from your phone, from the Internet, from literally fucking anybody at anything other than the two people I'm going to in reach while I'm in there.

Like that's what we do it for.

You need people need that disconnect from today's society.

It's just toxic everywhere you look and when you're in the mountains, nothing else matters other than, for one, your own survival and safety and then your hunting partners and then nature like it's you can't beat it.

Yeah, and talking like leaving your girls, my girls, it's kind of been a tradition now and they're a little bit older.

So it's a it's a little bit easier to leave because I've done it for a few years and they're not like the little ones they once were.

And, and they're also mature enough like I can have a conversation to fully explain to them things.

And but one of the traditions that I think Georgia started years ago when I'd go on these trips was she'd, she'd make something for me.

Like, so she made me a bracelet.

And that's always been my thing.

So like I'm wearing like a pretty hippie, like green.

It's supposed to be camouflage, right?

Like so this year they both made me one and I just need to tie Abbys on too, but they they make me something.

When Matt and I came up in our last sheep on, we both had this actually hit, but not knowing his daughters made him bracelet.

My daughters made me bracelet and we wear them when we're up here just to, you know, kind of have them with us.

And so I have that and, and that's special to me.

And when I came home before starting my trip yesterday, I just had to run home, get some of the frozen food and throw it in the truck.

And they left me a note, you know, and I did share it on Instagram, like my wife and my 2 girls, you know, just good luck, daddy, kill something, love you like, you know, it's, it means a lot.

I bring it with me, like I bring that shit on the hunts and and I want to read it on Day 7 when I want to quit, you know?

Yeah, stuff like that.

So that's cool, man.

Like, obviously my girls are a little bit too young for that, but oh, what the fuck is that?

That is a cow and calf moose dead on the side of the road.

That sucks.

Is it?

Yeah.

Moose or is it regular cow?

No, that was a moose.

No.

Yeah, well, that's shitty anyways.

Yeah, like my girls, like they, they don't like we have to fucking, I don't know, some fucking Netflix show my daughter's obsessed with.

And I'm like, Daddy's going to be gone for a couple weeks.

He'd be good.

She's like, Yep, yeah, Dad, OK, bye.

Give me a kiss.

Yep.

OK, bye.

Like, can you look at me?

At least we're going to say bye, Right.

And the little one, she just smiles like she's the cutest little thing, you know, give her like 10 fucking kisses and she's just giggling.

And then you tell the wife's a little bit choked up a bit too, and then kissing her goodbye.

It makes it definitely hard to leave.

And I, I feel like, like I'm we'll see.

This is my first trip doing it with kids.

But I feel like once I'm up there, like, I know they're what taken care of, they're in good hands and like my focus is getting the fucking job done.

And but yeah, it's just, it definitely pulls on the fucking heartstrings.

But you, you do that for the first time or not even for the first time, for the 10th time for you.

Right.

Like, yeah.

It's it, like I said, it gets a little bit easier, but it's in the like leading up to it.

It's kind of the bigger thing is like, you know, you, you question it a bit, but in the end it's not questioning like I'm going to not do it.

It's just there.

I think that's just human nature to question the this kind of stuff and and is it the right call for the family?

But IA 100% think it is because I'm trying to teach them about, you know, hunting and I don't know, adventure and respecting some food and the shit like that.

So I like that they they see what we do And, and when they're older, they're gonna be like, you guys are fucking crazy.

Like I guarantee it.

Like, unless they get into it and they can understand it, but I think they'll they'll see a video or hear a podcast about it and be like, holy shit, like that's pretty wild.

So which is cool.

Yeah, it's, it's neat.

Like like I said, I can't wait till my girls.

I mean, I'm enjoying my girls right now.

Yeah, 3 is not exactly the best age right now, but you know, when they get to your girls age, like for them to understand what Daddy does and what he enjoys and if they want to be involved in that, that's amazing.

If they don't, I respect that too.

But yeah, to get them to fully understand like what your girls do, that's that's pretty cool.

Yeah, yeah, that's good.

So leading up prep wise, we had nothing to out of the ordinary like that we missed or needed.

But you did take your boat and after a trip you were like, well, I want to get it checked out like.

Yeah, I I felt like my boat was revving too high.

Like, yeah, we had a fucked on a weight in there.

Like I don't doubt that.

And I knew we were going to burn a lot of fuel, but I felt like it should have been slightly better.

So then I did take it up to exact welding.

Claude LaRue and Prince George.

He's fucking old jet boat guru guy and builds boats.

Lots of guys I know take their boats up there.

They get them fucking run through before they go on trips every year.

So like instead of just being like naive to it, I'm like, fuck it, I'm going to.

I called up.

He's like, yeah, bring it up soon as you can.

So I fucking took half the day off work, drove up there, dumped it off.

He was done on that Friday.

So I blew up there on Saturday and picked it up.

Like he's quick and he's like all the invoice.

You don't worry about it.

Like we got to get you in the mountains.

Like that's a fucking, that's a hunter, that's a jump water.

Like, you know, like he's he needs to get guys in and out and on their way, which is awesome.

Doesn't fuck around.

And yeah, so he ended up pulling the pulling the impeller and kind of what I thought my wear wing was pretty worn and there was I got it.

I had it at home there, but had some pretty good fucking grooves in it.

I haven't touched it since I bought it, so it was probably due to at least be fucking shimped, but he changed out the wearing chimmed up the impeller welded pump card that I broke off a couple years ago just and I got some bill go over steering, replace some bushings on the nozzle go over everything right.

So he did he's like no boats good.

You should be good to go and I've done enough maintenance to it myself with rehosing everything.

So I'm I'm very confident in my boat and what it's going to be able to do now and just not being stupid.

So I took I haven't taken it for a run until we did the Fraser that day.

So I threw it in the lake.

And I mean, the lake is a lake.

It ain't going to be anything remotely close.

But I fucking dumped it in the lake and did a couple hot laps and big difference on just pop out of the hole, you know, staying on step at a fucking crazy low RPM so.

Yeah, like a lower RPM than you traditionally have seen in a lake.

Oh yeah.

Like, you know, usually like 32 hundreds of good cruising in that boat.

And when I was on the lake the other day, it was down to like 2600 and it was actually like pulled the seats out too.

So it was super light.

So it was like you need a little bit of weight to keep the nose down because I don't have no trim tabs or nothing.

I mean, with what we have in the boat, like we're still going to load it to the tips like that's not an issue, but I'm my confidence in my boat went way up after getting it back from exact.

So yeah, pretty, pretty pumped that way.

I know that was something that's been wearing on my mind all summer long.

Was will my boat perform?

Are we going all this way and have some kind of a failure or something I forgot to check or change?

So and then when it comes to spare parts, like I guarantee I have way too much fucking shit packed.

I know for a fact like, but like I got spare parts, spare hoses, tools to fix, tools to fucking rebuild the boat 10 times over on the riverbank.

So I feel like we're kind of kind of dialed in on that aspect.

Other than that, fuel.

Fuel is something that you know, you don't want to pack too much, but you don't want to pack not enough.

And doing this be the first time that we're doing this way.

We really didn't know.

And then doing that, fuck this fucking truck in front of me.

The cunt keeps driving on the fucking shoulder and pepper me of the rocks.

He's going to be in for a surprise when I pass his ass because I'm going to do the same fucking thing.

You like your windshield now?

Anyways?

Yeah, I think we're good to go.

I don't know.

Where was I going there?

Yeah, that's right.

It was just road rage.

Yeah, you're finna, you got the.

Oh yeah?

Fuck, there's a rock.

Rock.

Well, you got your bearings done too, so.

Yes, that was good.

I got new tires put on the boat trailer and I I priced one wheel bearing a couple years ago, another knot.

They were all original.

So I was like original from when I bought it.

I'm like, I just feel more confident.

Well, you, you've always been like this leading up to these.

I mean, we haven't gone on like 15 of these hunts together, but we've done 3 where it requires like an extensive equipment trip in like a boat or quads or stuff like that.

And you're, you're very meticulous.

And if you're, you are always like, if something's going to be like a question mark, then fix the fucking thing.

Like we did that with the quads.

You're like just change the fucking belts.

Like just do.

And I did that and we never had issues.

Right?

Like it's, it's that pre prep that, yeah, it might be another $500, it might be another $1000.

But if you get all the way up where we're going, is it really worth?

Not doing it.

You're really going to regret it on the other end.

Well, that's, that's how I mean, fuck, I live my life by Murphy's Law.

And that's not from, that's from just having bad shit happen.

Yeah, if it's going to break, I'm going to be the fucker to break it.

And that's just everything I've done my entire life.

I'm going to borrow something from my dad's guarantee.

I'm going to fucking break it.

You know, I'm going to jump at buddy's truck.

That's when it's going to break down.

So I'm like, fuck it.

And I get mad at, you know, my dad's.

I think it's that generation where they're like, you know, oh, I can just get by with what's due and I'm like, no, I'm like, fuck it, I'm going this far.

I'm not having my trip ruined by being cheap in this one aspect and have it fucking cost me one the trip of a lifetime or two fucking two weeks of my fucking life.

Right.

So it it sucks to have to pay some of those bills upfront, but in the long run it's better than being stuck on the side of the fucking highway for two days waiting for a tow truck or you're not going to leave your fucking boat on the side of the highway.

That's for fucking chair.

So I'm like fuck it pre emptive maintenance man and let's hope I've thought of everything.

Well, I think you did a really good job.

Everything we talked about it, I honestly think we crossed our TS and dotted our IS as much as we could with the experience.

And then you know what, like a lot of guys, you reached out to guys and you talked to a lot of guys and you also knew like you, you do understand the jet boating and, and the pumps and everything like you're not, you didn't go in to do it green, green like you're not just throwing it in the waters well.

I, I mean, I'm not, I'm not a fucking well-rounded jet boater.

I'm not an experienced guy.

I don't have years under my fucking belt, but I've talked to people that I respect and guys that have been boating for fucking generations.

And I'm like, and I hammered them with questions, probably to the point where like, they're annoying, but.

Or do they think they're annoyed?

Yeah, they're annoyed.

Yeah, I doubt it.

But I.

Think those guys like it too though.

Like this is part of it.

You know what?

It refreshes their shit because you know, you get stale with some of it.

And guys ask us questions about things and I'm like, I don't know.

I don't even remember why I do that.

Well, it's like, you know, you talk to a guy and it's like, well yeah, I had a oil line fucking break and it's like fucked up, but fuck your day off, right?

Or Oh yeah, my steering cable broke or my wearing was shitty and my we couldn't get through the white water like or simple as like I, I didn't grease my quad wheel bearings or my trailer wheel bearings or something fucking.

We get in a passing lane finally.

I don't know but I'm digging this fucking piece of shit.

Fuck both time.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, it's, it's good there, yeah.

Fucking guy's got earmuffs on and it's a fucking truck.

OK, Probably wears A COVID mask in there by himself too.

I hope you like rocks you cut.

I'm going to eat a few.

So I want to touch a little bit on just training and prep.

I know we didn't, we don't go like hard O on this stuff, but it's just nice to touch on like, you know, I know your your life got really busy with your host move and everything and the jobs this summer and whatnot, but.

This was the the busiest summer I've ever had in my life.

Yeah, which oh, fuck, I mean, everything kind of just fell on my lap at once and I was like, jeez, I was like extremely overwhelmed.

Like stressed out on the hunt was like the easiest thing because it's like I can pack to go and hunt in one night, right?

Like that's not a big deal.

The logistics of this one is slightly different with the boat maintenance, the truck fucking up, putting a transmission, shit like that in because they're just multiple kicks in the Dick over and over and over again.

But like the work wise was just it, you know, and for reference, like I used to just do my tractor business in the summers and that was, you know, the bulk of my work and that dried up.

So I took a job at the Vault mill and life was good.

And then pulp mill kind of curtailed for a little bit.

Tractor business for some reason decided to fire up full tilt this summer.

So timing was great.

What happened was that the mill decided to fire up too.

And so then I'm working 2 full time jobs with two employees and maintenance and it was like 7 days a week for 2 1/2 months.

So it was just been crazy.

And then you throw a three-year old and a one year old in there with a wife that's also working full time like.

Yeah.

So your your training came in stress management.

Oh fuck yeah.

Like I'll handle anything right now.

I don't have a jammer before but yeah, it's, it's been insane.

Like I don't know where June and July and August went honestly.

Like it's fucking flown by so fast.

Yeah and I, I stayed pretty consistent with it.

Like I just packed my backpack as much as I could.

I got some last like heavy backpack trains in, uh, I had time to do it and I got quite a bit of cardio in.

You know, I didn't nothing crazy, just something to not be like a fat piece of shit out there.

Like it's really all I was shooting for was like I just, I was doing it because I, when I train for hunting, my my mentality is like, I want to enjoy the hunt a little more.

That's literally what I think about.

I don't think about being a fucking hard O.

Like I'm not, I don't give a fuck about being fast.

I'm literally want to enjoy hunting with my backpack and the only way I can like I do enjoy, but you know what I mean?

Like I want to enjoy it more.

So I'm like, if I'm in better shape I probably will enjoy myself more.

Yeah, you're not going to be as sore.

You're going to have better stamina.

Like I started a fucking super strong, like neck and neck with you.

And then it just came down to like, I'm up at fucking 4:30.

So I can't go to the gym then.

And I get home at 6:37 and then I'd get to see my kids for 20 minutes and then they'd go to bed.

And then I'm doing house chores

and then I go to bed at 10:00 and then I'm up at fucking four.

And I'm just, you know, there's not enough hours in the day.

And then my sleep schedule just got blocked like jumping from night shift back in the day shift.

And yeah, so it was there was 0 routine this summer.

It was just absolute chaos of every aspect of everything.

And and it it dwindled down to like my girls too, like selling our house, living in a fifth wheel for 21 days with a three-year old and a one year old.

It's just fucking not enjoyable, I'll tell you that for.

Fucking free right?

Camping in your parents side yard.

Yard like it, it was good, don't get me wrong, but it was like it just everybody's routine was out just out to lunch, right.

So now that we've been in the house for well, I had eight days to unpack.

I moved in in one day.

Hey, it looked pretty good.

I thought we did a damn good job like I was first time.

She did a lot of it.

I did the heavy lifting.

No credits at all.

No, no, she did a shit ton.

I did all the heavy lifting with my dad, my one buddy and my nephew and my auntie and Al.

And then I'm like, we unpacked the best we could and then I'd turn around and repack to leave, right?

So it's just I'd be sitting into

the shop till 11:00 at night organizing stuff and packing my backpack.

Like even just finding stuff, it was a day's worth just to find where all my shit is.

Yeah.

So this is the least prepped I've done for actually backpack hunting wise, other than the fact that I had my list.

I know what I need.

I threw it in a fucking pile.

I bombed it all into my hunting backpack and then I pulled my backpack apart last night and repacked everything in there.

Like kind of proper packed.

Proper packed.

Yeah.

Like, I still like my bladder's not even in my backpack and it's empty.

So like I'm going to have to do that strap my gun.

I probably got to move some things around for weight wise to balance it.

But like in my essentials, everything is in my.

Backpack packed.

I that's kind of like the thing with I like doing always with my backpack is like the final three weeks.

Like if I'm rocking and training with a weighted pack all summer, I take the weight out and I load it with my gear.

Yeah.

And then I play and I carry my gun.

Like, I don't know if everyone like you, I've done this before, hunts like this and man, it's so much better.

Like you're just not fucking around.

Like carry the bag, like change things like, and I did, I didn't.

It felt like I had a lot of like, you know, you always kind of put your weight higher.

Yeah, like you want to, But I went too high because it felt very like tippy and tippy and like I had that every time I moved.

It leaned.

I'm OK.

I'm a little bit, I'm too high.

And I like to know that at home, an hour away from home, not in the mountains.

I hate stripping my bag off and repacking.

So adjusting your straps, yeah.

And like this new bag, I haven't had it full of actual gear.

So like the Kuyu I kind of had figured out and I think like I was my last rock, I went in and I had about £60 in it and I felt like I only went for like 2 hours.

I just felt pressure on my hips and my shoulders and I'm like, well that's not right.

It's got to be one or the other.

Yeah.

And I said to you, I got to readjust a bit, like I'm just a bit off.

Something's just my sizing now that I have £60 in it with full gear, it's just sitting funny.

So I did fully readjust and then I changed just slightly.

And one of the big things I changed is I really think I'm going to test it on this hunt.

I think I've been carrying my backpack lower on my hips than I should have ever.

I think I'm riding my strap on the wrong part of my hips and like watching videos about the like the Crest, the iliac Crest they call it.

I don't think I've maybe been positioning the middle of my pad in the right spot.

Oh, yeah.

So I tried that on my last thing and I put it up a little higher and made sure I was centered across what I thought that is.

Yeah, instead of being on like my outer hips kind of felt pretty good.

Yeah.

We'll see.

It might just be full of shit and just, I don't know, you know what I mean?

But I was like little tweak like that and can make a huge difference.

So we'll kind of see.

I I try to do that but I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but it always seems to like slide down over the ass.

Maybe a guy got a fucking, I don't know, a flat ass or what at least I have a nice bubble butt.

But now she must be a fat flat ass.

And my backpack is always sagging.

So then I constantly hiking it up or tightening my shoulder straps.

But then when you do that you, you get the shoulder pinch too, right?

So I mean, if the fucking day one is your heaviest day, unless you're packing fucking medo, so you're constantly adjusting everything, your your hip straps, your shoulder straps, your load lifters, you just go back and forth and tweak it.

Shoulders get sore, tighten your hip belt up, loosen your shoulders and vice versa.

Like I've always just done that, just dealt with it.

If I probably actually took my back back in and got it fitted to me, it's probably way the fuck out like.

Yeah.

So yeah, possibly.

But I just I think down to like grandpa would call you a pussy if you're complaining of your backpack right now.

So just gotta lean.

I'll do it.

Fucking lean into it.

Yeah, stop being a bitch.

Yeah, you know, it was hard with the some of the final gear prep right now is watching the weather and like I wouldn't take it out, but I we have gear prepped for negatives temperatures.

Yeah.

And we're also could potentially see positive temperatures in the high 20s, like we're going to hit the cycle of weather and it's, it's, it's tough to pack for that stuff.

And you got it packed to the warm side.

The last time I'd say I'd packed to the cold side, Sorry.

Warmer, yes, packed to the colder weather.

I meant warmer gear side.

So sorry, yeah, I said that wrong.

Last time I was up this way later in the year, we were getting a 30° temperature swing from night time to daytime, which is fucking impossible to pack for, right?

Like -15 at night.

And then you're getting a + 15 during the day and we're clotting around and like, you leave in the morning and you're just like, oh, fucking go anywhere you want.

And then you stop, have lunch, and then you start making your way back and next thing you know you're stuck in muskegal fucking night long, right?

And then you're soaking fucking wet.

Muddier than fuck, get back to camp, fucking have some drinks, go to bed, wake up in your fucking quad won't even move because it's a block of fucking muddy weedy ice.

All your gear is fucking frozen.

So like, we're definitely going to see some of that.

Not not the quad in mud aspect of it, but 1000% I would mindful 100% guarantee we're going to hit some fucking negative temperatures.

That I just hear that are make the word mindless 1000% guarantee.

1000% guarantee.

Wow.

I mean, that would be the only thing I think going on a hunting trip, I would guarantee that you're going to get adverse weather conditions and some shit that sucks.

Yeah, like I would come on a show and say that, but those are about the only things I can guarantee.

Yeah, absolutely fuck fucking greener than green.

OK, let's move on to a little bit of like food prep.

We didn't really talk much on the last one and holy fuck what the fuck is going on here?

A dump truck passed the fucking low bed and then another truck went to pass and then chickened out and started back in around like A2 fucking mile straight stretch with a truck coming 2 miles away.

Yeah.

So let's talk food a little bit.

So this I went through and kind of did the same thing, like a little bit of weight wise, little bit of calorie tracking, that kind of stuff.

And I think both of us kind of landed slightly lighter than we normally have, but the calories are still there.

So I don't, I haven't fully locked in why that happened this year.

Like I did add a few different things and and I don't feel like I added a lot of junk food.

So my, my food kind of as on a rough average was like each day is somewhere between 1.5 lbs and the Max is like 1.8 lbs.

I haven't gone over 2 lbs at all.

And in the past I have and my calories with coffee and some like maybe some energy chews and stuff like that are averaging in that 3000, which is like exactly where you want to be.

So I'm like, that's about where where I got to.

And I think you kind of saw the same thing.

I.

Was right there too, like I didn't.

I was waiting for single serve protein powders to come in and then like my fucking coffee's, like I got some vias and stuff.

They don't weigh nothing, right.

So they don't even register on a scale and you throw them in.

Yeah, you got a really fine scale.

But yeah, I was down.

Like my heaviest were like 1.5, probably 1.6 lbs by the time the protein powder was in there.

And then like my BCAA powder stuff.

So like, I've never been, I don't think I've ever been under 2 ever.

Yeah, and then I look at my calories like and I, I layered my my meals different this year where lots of times it's exactly the same, but like this one's this one and it's got the same shit in it.

And it, it, it does.

But I threw in some side stuff this year, like I threw in some Mr.

Noodles stuff like that.

Doesn't weigh fuck all.

Has a little bit of calories, but it's like I'm expecting cooler weather and, you know, like nothing's better than a hot cup of coffee or a bowl of hot soup.

I have glassing then, but so.

Yeah, a hot cup of coffee.

Like I have two sweetened creamies in every punch.

Yeah.

Every 14 days worth, so I got and then I got some at the boat.

So I just want an extra yeah.

So, yeah, so like something like that.

And then, you know, there's some days like your first few days sucking, you're going to burn a shit ton of calories.

Your body's not kind of really used to it anyways.

So like I've got a couple heavy meals for those days where I've got like the peak refuel breakfast.

Is like day one and two big, big days day 123 or like like I or I have 123 labeled and those are like over like those are everything's higher.

Yeah, so like the peak refuel biscuits and gravy 1100 cows.

Jesus.

Yeah, I didn't know that until I was like I, I weighed everything.

I don't have my favorite driving, but like I weighed everything and then wrote the calories and then wrote like the protein content.

I'm like, there's more than just protein in a lot of food, right?

Which is important, but I was a night shift.

I'm like, this is all I give a fuck about right now.

So I did all that and like when that one is 1100 calories, that's more than the meals for dinner.

I was like, God damn, that thing's packing a punch.

So I'm like, well then I don't need some extra shit in my lunch bag on those days because you're getting that calorie intake right off the hop.

Yeah.

So then and then you look at like the granola 1 that's like 400 calories.

So like that's substantially lighter.

And then you, you look at 2 like oatmeal as my other ones.

So you do 2 fucking oatmeals in the morning.

Well, they're still like, I think that works out to like 3 1/2 or 350 calories or something like that.

Yeah.

Mine are 390, I think 300, yeah.

So there you go.

So you're getting your 400?

I found one this year which would be interesting to see.

There's this Kodiak brand that I don't know if it's out of the states, but just Kodiak brand that was in the states when I found it and they have a protein specific one where it's 20 grams of protein.

Yeah.

So it has like extra in it so the calories are actually higher.

Well, the Quaker has a high protein.

They have those ones too.

But this one, like I really like the looks of it, so I just tried it.

Like, I don't know, it just looked hearty and like a little bit more to it.

So I'm trying that this year instead of just the basic Quaker or whatever.

Yeah, so I tried to layer it for like lighter days where you're like, OK, we're going to be just glassing, and we spend all day glassing in here, not putting on a lot of fucking miles.

We're just going to hang out.

I don't need a lot of calories in those days, right?

And like those are kind of recovery days too, because like I said, day one, it's help.

You're most likely, unless you're fucking with your phone in a lake and you stay in the valley bottom, you're going to be hiking uphill, right?

So pounding it out, everything's going to fucking hurt the next day.

Eat a shit ton of calories, get your protein, give supplements.

But that's something I did this year too with supplements.

And the first cheap bunt I ever did, I had a packed protein powder and that was probably it.

And I was super light.

Ever since then I was like junk food, junk food, junk food.

Now I'm like, yeah, I got protein powder.

I got my greens with me.

I got some the amino BCA or amino ZS like sleep at BCA.

As for recovery.

So I'm like looking at the making sure I get the nutrients that I need that you don't normally get when you're eating freeze dried food and 00 really vegetables or fresh vegetables for sure.

So I'm doing and that stuff's light and you're still packing some calories, you're still getting a little bit of protein out of it, but it's the muscle recovery and fatigue, mental fatigue recovery is huge when you get dehydrated.

So I kind of hit it from a different angle than normally and then my weight came way down.

Like I said, I've never been under £2 a day and I'm.

Landing on 3000 calories, Yeah, so.

I think I had some that were like Jesus.

That was a hole, yeah.

You know, I'm like 1.5 and a couple of my meals were like 1.3 lbs.

Jeez, yeah, that's late.

So I've a value.

I don't think it's gonna be hungry.

No, it's good.

You got a shit ton of food.

So, so like couple things for me, like when I was going through it, like I would put in all like I had basically, you know, yes, a freeze dried meal, my breakfast.

I had the same like I always like a pack of trail mix, so I just put it in like the Olympic mix, Kirkland singles.

It's in everyday.

I just have one, at least two if I needed extra.

I just that's just I have staples.

I like the fruit bars.

I take those sunrise fruit bars, two of them on every backpack hunt I go on, whether it's day or not.

You've always seen me eat them.

I like them.

They're like a sweet.

You get a little bit of vitamins and a little bit of fruit and veggies and that's something I do.

They're not crazy high in calories, but they're just, you know, just good.

So those are my staples.

And then I did my bags and then I weighed I'm going to check the calories and I did this in my excel sheet.

So now I have it forever and I'm going to have it for future and, and it's really nice to go back to.

And then I'd look, OK, this calories is at, you know, 2600 or this one's at 24 and see.

And when the other staple I change this year is the Hawkins like Hawkins cheeses close.

The Hawkins cheeses is a crazy high calorie to weight ratio.

I know, like it's insane.

That's one.

Thing I didn't put in my bag and I used to always bring.

Yeah, and it's just a tiny little bag, but man, the calorie to weight, it's crazy on it.

And then so and the other one was I always take those for peanut butter filled pretzel bites.

Yeah.

Those are crazy high in calories for like.

I don't remember exactly, but I think it's for like 50 grams, it's 480 calories or something like 1 little baggie, it's like 480.

So when I needed the calorie bump in my meals, that was a big one for me.

And I know personally from doing like all these backpack trips, I start to crave salt.

And it's not because I don't take electrolytes.

Something about me or the way I sweat or maybe it's my food is I I want a salty treat over sweet like in an afternoon.

I often want just like I would take like corn chips or something super salty.

So the Hawkins and then these like salt covered pretzels or kind of my insert that for this trip.

Yeah.

So that's kind of what I did to, you know, bump my calories up and keep keep the weight down also.

I did the cheese.

Cheese filled Ritz.

Oh yeah.

Minis.

Yeah, the Ritz minis.

Yeah, yeah, they're they're fuck.

That pack is like 400 calories, Yeah.

That's why people get fat.

Eating that shit, you know?

Yeah.

So that's kind of the the hacks in the food.

I want to talk supplements a little bit too.

I have a couple things and a couple things you wouldn't even know of that I was.

Holy fuck.

Cock cock sucker.

Fuck.

These fucking truckers on Alaska highway need to be fucking drug tested because.

They don't stay on the fucking.

Plane fucking cock suckers.

I'm over there again.

They just keep leaving outside the fucking white line.

You can't.

Catch a break?

And I got the boat on so it's not like I could pass them doing 100 and fucking 60 like normal.

Fucking guys.

Cocks.

Yeah, fucking cocks.

So yeah, supplements on my end.

I've been taking essential amino acid pills for protein and well, I've been working out for like probably a year now.

So it's kind of like BCA's, but it's your EA's.

So it's like 9 essential and it can, it's equal to about 25 grams of whey protein per five capsules.

So I just have pills for my protein so I don't need to mix like a bunch of water.

I can take them when I'm drinking coffee or electrolytes or whatever.

So I brought that this year for my protein instead of protein powder.

So I'll see it.

And I've used them for a year.

So I know they're I react to them good.

It's not like experimental.

Yeah.

So that's what my protein is this year.

So I don't have protein powder.

I have been taking creatine for the last year just in general.

So, so I've brought in for the backpacking point for every day I've brought in 10 gram serving so of creatine.

So I have a little bit of creatine powder that way.

So I'll be taking that this year for the first time.

Sorry, was it creatine?

Yeah.

So I got creatine this year, so I think that that's should be good.

I mean, I'm used to taking it.

I take it all every day anyways.

Yeah.

I have been playing with an oral peptide so I brought that.

So I got BPC 157 for recovery.

It's supposed to be really good for.

So we'll see.

And then magnesium is the other pill that I have.

So those are kind of the supplement side of like in the past I've just taken like protein powder.

Yeah.

So we'll see.

Then it's all small simple like pill stuff, like really easy to pack and and compact and light.

And then every second day, I put a bag of energy blocks in.

Yeah.

You know, I was listening to a podcast.

I think Remy Warren put it out and they had like a nutrition kind of specialist guy.

And Remy talked about learning about taking those, like on those hard days in the mornings.

Like when do you use that shit and use the sugar and like, like carbohydrate, like, don't use it when you need it.

Use it before you need it.

So like popping a few of those right away throughout your big pushes, yeah, is more beneficial.

So I wanted more of them than just one for like the pack out.

Yeah.

So I'm, I'm kind of looking at that kind of thing too with the with those energy or those electrolyte blocks.

Yeah, yeah, Blocks.

Like I wouldn't touch them until probably halfway through the hunt most times or if you're packing out.

Yeah.

All right, it's going to be a bitch of a day.

I need a little hump are same as those ju gels too.

Yeah, the JU gel is different because that's pure like just yeah.

Energy, caffeine and sugar.

Yeah, that's cool.

But the the electrolyte ones more of like just replica constant replenishment, like feeding your what you know you're you're not really paying attention to losing.

I like doing the noons just because, you know, like you're bad for that or you fucking run out of water.

Yeah.

So you like always hydrate as much as I can.

So like probably pack too much fucking water when I do go home, but I watch you run out a few times and it's it's a shit feeling when you got fucking the water.

So like that's nice thing with nudes.

If you even elk hunting at first stop, K, we're going to have a water break fill up.

I'll have a nude tablet and like at least 3/4 of a litre of water and you drink that and you get your fucking electrolytes back in you.

I feel like that that does wonders for me.

Everyone's body's different.

Like some people have hammer supplements and they can't function without supplements.

Some people live off of Tylenol and Advil, and some people just eat sugar all day.

So it's I don't know.

My electrolyte packs are like those extra strengths like element and Organica makes like an extra strength electrolyte powder and it's higher like it's 1000 milligrams of salt.

I think it's, I don't know exactly, but I think it's like 80 milligrams of magnesium or maybe it's 200 and the potassium's the other one, but it's like high and it's made for like proper replenishment.

So we'll see if that's a a difference maker as well.

In that case.

I actually have 'cause when we were hiking in the summer, Matt had hard candies like Jolly Rancher.

Yeah, he's just sucking on when you want a candy.

I'm like, I don't know.

Not really.

He's like, well I just suck on him while I'm hiking.

That likes to suck on things.

Yeah, so I was like, OK, so I had one, I was like, it was kind of nice, like having this something that you're just like while you're hiking.

So I kind of looked into it and I found like a instead of just Jolly Rancher, I found like a, a candy that's like an electrolyte thing, a replenisher.

So I have that on this trip.

So I was I'm interested to see if I noticed any.

You should give me one I'd like.

To turn.

Yeah, for sure.

I have enough.

Yeah.

Like I got like little packs of these electrolytes, so you just suck on them and they're like lemony kind of lozenge things.

And they're supposed to have like, they're not just pure sugar.

So something just different to try.

I should just pack a fucking pack a fisherman's friends say.

Just suck it on fisherman's friends.

Make you fucking gay.

Did you like the fucking?

The extra strength floods.

Oh how to put hair on your.

Chest.

Yeah, they're not.

They're like originals.

Yeah.

So yeah, that that's kind of like food wise, camp wise.

We, you know, we got it cooler and ice.

So we're going to have some frozen meat.

We got eggs in there.

We got a pack of steaks, some smokies, you know, the basics of that kind of stuff.

Just so when we're back at the boat, we can have like a proper meal, like a real food for at night or whatever in the morning.

So I think that'll be nice to come back to.

Well.

I mean, we had some cheap steaks.

We'll be eating those over the fire over.

Well, the other.

Steaks.

But yeah, that's it's nice having some real food, like especially if you get back from a hard, fucking hard push or like you come out fucking heavy, you know, you get back, we go back to the fucking bikes.

Last time we went back to sheep over just like you just dump your fucking backpack like you cracked beers.

And I was like, I don't even fucking fucking smell a beer right now and I'm choking one down.

But you're just like so exhausted.

But then that first meal you have when you're back, you're like, yes, they're like, you get back in civilization to go get the biggest, greasiest burger.

Why is it always that?

I don't know if that it's like comfort food or something man.

It's the big burger and fries.

It's like I'm already thinking about it.

It's fucking.

Well, that was like going back to to Toga Lodge back in the day, like you'd get off the fucking mountain and like, I think it was the called to Toga Burger and it was like 2 patties.

Fuck, it might have been 3 patties, but it was Garrett kept talking about this thing.

He's like, well, just wait.

He's like, we get back.

The first thing you get is the Tatoga burger.

So I'm like, all right, this thing must be pretty sweet.

Like you get it.

It's it's like fucking two half pound fucking slabs of fucking meat, probably a quarter pound of fucking cheese on it slammed in a bun.

And he's just like, that's the best fucking meal I've ever had in my life.

Yeah, I mean, you pay for it the next day you blow it all out of your ass.

But no, it was like something to look forward to.

It was like a big, greasy, hot meal that I'll take fucking steaks over the campfire all day.

Yeah, Yeah.

So that's probably all we need to touch on with like food and camp prep.

I mean, let's let's kind of start going into I would call it, you know, hunt plan E scouting, like what we finalized, like how we're approaching this a little bit.

So, you know, in the last few weeks, like Kurt and I probably talked on the phone almost every day, but like a few times a week for sure, we chat or at least be what we definitely be texting, but like full on calls about things.

And a lot of it was like start, you know, start laying out some roots, like looking for gradient, landing some filters, which still it's not Fapmaps quality, but we're making do with this fucking peasant ship that we're dealing with.

But it's, yeah, I mean, we, it's just not the same.

It sucks.

And we're all, I see the post like everyone's still scrambling and this one's close and we keep getting these things where it's like this one's as close to Fapmaps as like we've found so far and stuff like that, right?

It's funny.

So I picked up.

I went to like the local fucking outdoor store.

They had like backpacking, fucking like whatever start they got all this good shit, picked up a fucking packed pillow.

And then I was talking to the guy, not a hunter at all.

Like he's kind of a little bit of a hippie.

I'd say like mountain biker likes to just go climb mounts for fun, travels around the world.

That's cool.

Shit like that, but different realm.

Like not a hunter.

And then I'm telling him where we're going, what we're doing.

He's like, oh, like that's pretty crazy.

And then, you know, talking about, you know, the mapping and stuff, and I'm like, you know, like, we used to use fat maps.

And he's like, fuck, he's like, that pissed me off.

And I'm like, yeah, but Strava bought it.

And he's like, he's like, yeah, he's like, and I'm a Strava member and I was like, sweet, like, they're going to have fat maps now, and they just discontinued it and gone.

So they don't even have it on Strava.

No, hey, that's so.

Fucking why would they, Strava?

Has mapping, but it's not like fat man.

Fuck, that's frustrating.

And like, why wouldn't they just leave it on Strava then?

And like, it's funny coming from a non hunter that loved and used fat maps.

I mean, we've got some people reached out and they're trying to recreate something very similar.

So I'm very looking forward to that because I've I've got fucking probably $500 in subscriptions to mapping UPS and I don't fucking love a single one of.

Them, no, they don't all have it.

And it's funny, Kurt mentioned it like there's guys, I think they're actually they're from BC.

We've been talking with them and they've been questioning us on what we like about fab maps and what what we would expect and these guys are like adamant to develop this mapping software to be better or at least replace what FAP maps was.

So like stay tuned for that.

I guess I would say, because I fucking hope that they've been talking to us probably every month about where they're at.

And I just got a message actually today that they're like a.

Couple weeks out, yeah.

When we get back from our hunt, we may have a like a beta version that they want us to to play with and test.

So we won't release too many details until this is like a little more real.

But yeah, I hope so.

Fuck me.

Like their goal is to make it like FAP maps are better and I'm really hoping that's the thing.

So anyways, back to like a bit of east scouting.

Like we so typical like OK, well, here's a mountain range, here's a mountain range, here's a mountain range.

Like, you know, from a little bit of Intel slash just like what do we like and what we're looking at?

We've narrowed it down to probably I would say we have our three spots that we would go.

Yeah, we got three spots and then a back up forth and like all of those spots can easily do a week of hunting easy.

So I got in like 5 getting up top in a day and five to six days of like either Ridge running, going up and over mountains, dropping into valleys.

Like it's kind of like you can hunt this whole area in a week.

So, and like I, I feel like I spent more time just 'cause like I did a lot of night shifts this summer, so I had a lot of time to just like scour maps when I couldn't obviously do anything else.

So I really picked it apart and I did it on.

I used Onyx, I used Gaia, I used Open Snow and then used Google Earth and just tried different mapping apps and on the computer to see what I could see the best.

Different routes, different gradients, options of which which way do we want to get up into this mountain range?

There's multiple ways which one's going to be the path less travelled, but also which one's not going to be a fucking killer and fucking get in there, right?

If you burn 2 days trying to get in, that's not a fucking very good path I'd say.

Yeah, I would say if you're going to do something like that, it's probably because you know, that's the best spot to kill something big or you like you already have that experience with a spot where you're like it's worth doing.

Yeah, we don't.

And like it's different when you've had boots on the ground and you're like, we did it with the first time we killed my RAM.

We didn't know where the fuck we're going.

We we had a plan.

We executed it to AT we found Rams instantly and capitalized.

So we went in there for your RAM.

It was just like Bing bang boom, let's go.

Straight up fuck.

Off for water.

Let's just go.

We know there's water here, walk in there.

Got the job done and got the fuck out.

Like it was just like boom, boom, boom.

So this one's going to be back to like square one where you're like, well, yeah, we don't know what we're getting into.

And I've talked to fucking 50 people that have been in there, you know, like in phenomenal details from everybody.

You can expect to see this.

You expect to see that, like avoid, avoid this.

Make sure you go right around that right.

So stuff like that, that's definitely fucking helps.

And I'm, I'm pinning shit and people are telling me like I'm paying attention.

Then you know, I I just hope it it pays off.

Yeah, I hope so too.

Talking about Hunt plan and we joked about it earlier.

It actually came up.

It's funny that you said it, that the 1000% guarantee, because I actually had that wrote down because as I was, because we've been having this thing and we're not going to if you know, or you know, like what we're talking about, but it's like a certain someone in the in the podcasting space, let's say, and I can let you guys leave it up to your imagination who we're talking about.

She gave an old 1000% guarantee that he would kill something on a hunt, on a mountain hunt.

And that just sat with me like poorly as far as like, I don't know why, like it's all it is.

It's so matter of fact and almost disrespectful to the whole like I, I don't know, I just, I didn't like you.

Maybe it's not disrespectful, maybe that's the wrong word, but it's just not respecting the whole process.

That either is the hunting.

Because when I heard that, the first reaction I had to Kurt was like, man, I'm not even 1000% guaranteed we're going to make it to the fucking river.

Yeah, it for me, it's, that's something that you would hear from somebody that doesn't have a fucking clue and that is greener than fucking green.

Or it's like an old boy that's been in there and done it 100 times fucking year after year after year after year.

And he's like, and, and even you'll never hear those guys say I 1000% guarantee I'm going to fucking kill a goat.

Not a fucking chance.

They're going to be like, well, we're going to see some goats or we're going to see some sheep.

And I mean, it's called hunting, not killing.

And I fucking know you, and you sure as fucking ain't a fucking consistent killer in air quotations, so do better.

Yeah, I just, and you know what they did?

They went in and they killed something.

But it it taints the like for me.

I was like, well, I would have preferred you being a little more humble going into the fucking hunt.

Then I would have been like, hey, good fucking job.

Like you guys whack whatever, right.

But like just to be that arrogant over it, I was like, what the fuck?

Like where do you get off Even calling some and then you have a platform is even worse.

Yeah, different if you didn't have a platform and and did that.

It's green.

People lap that up.

People that don't fucking have a clue either, They're like, oh man, that guy's a fucking killer.

It's like, all right, well you killed a couple 4 year old goats.

I mean, good for you.

Like I've killed a four year old goat and it was awesome.

I could care to really kill another one unless it's a monster.

But I would never say 1000% ever.

Ever.

So either you're just that fucking arrogant.

And I don't know, I just killed a lot of shit and I still would never say 1000 fucking percent.

Man, I don't even fucking like I I hunt elk every year.

I hunt elk more than most people in the province because I they're in my backyard and I don't have 1000% guarantee I'm going to hear a bugle in 30 fucking days of elk hunting because that's how like fickle an elk hunt can be, especially where I hunt them.

Yeah, like I just.

It bugged me.

It literally did.

And like I've said it to all of my like hunting buddies and they like said the same thing.

Yeah, that's bullshit, whatever.

But for me it like literally sat really wrong when because, you know, a listener said that you guys got to hear this.

And so I obviously went on and listened and it didn't just sits wrong and we're here.

We're not going to fucking back down from this shit.

Like when we hear shit like that, we're going to call it out like that.

That is what it is.

Yeah, it's.

We're not looking for it.

No, it's just it's annoying to hear someone that really doesn't have much of A clue say something so fucking outrageous and ridiculous.

And it can be further from the fucking truth.

For anyone that's a real hunter.

You just know like anything can happen at any moment that can end the hunt or make it unsuccessful.

And it's a matter of like the wind swirling in the wrong moment to like yourself.

Confidence is so altered like like what do you, what do you have on the wall that fucking makes you be able to fucking make a comment like that?

Because I know guys, that's some fucking mega shit on the wall that would never make a comment like that.

All I'm thinking about heading into a hunt like this where it's somewhat in our wheelhouse, but quite a ways out of our wheelhouse is I want to just be focused and safe and fucking hunt hard.

And like, that's what I'm trying to guarantee is that I, I'm here to have a good time, but do everything I can while I'm back there.

That's literally all I think about.

I don't even think about like, I don't even know if we're going to see anything.

I go into every hunt with such a lack of confidence that I'm even going to see animals.

Like always, 100% honest.

Like every time I leave, I'm like, I'm probably not going to see it.

I got almost set myself up.

So I have like, if I see an animal, I'm like, oh sweet, we saw an animal.

Yeah.

Like I put myself, like I knocked my ego down because I'm like, I don't even think we're going to see animals.

Yeah, while you're making comments like what he said is like you're setting yourself up for failure.

And when you do fail, when after you said like, I'd rather be like, we're not going to see shit.

And then you kill something like, yeah, fuck, I guess we got lucky, right?

But when you make bold comments like I'm 100% this, 100% that guarantee, it's like you're setting yourself up for failure where if you don't kill that animal or whatever you're chasing, then the hunt was a failure.

But it's it's still not a failure if you had a great trip, but I don't know like put.

Yourself out there to be judged as a failure.

Exact, that's for sure, right?

Yeah.

But anyways, I don't want to fucking linger on that.

No, neither do I.

So our kind of hum plan in our heads is we're going in and we've both packed 7 days of food in our backpacks, like our backpacks are full ready to rock besides water, and we'll top that up at the boat before we leave.

And then I think we're kind of playing it by ear as far as where other boats are, where it looks like there's other hunting activities.

We probably will have AAB and C picked and we're going to go for sheep for a potentially 7 days away from the boat.

Likely not, but that's just dependent on what we get ourselves into.

So, you know, sheep's the first focus, and that's how we're looking at it, right?

Yeah, yeah, like 5-6, we should be able to hunt that area in 5-6 days, I feel like.

So pound it, get on Rams.

Like we should be able to see everything in that area that's there in five days.

I mean, if we see a fucking a slob and Oh yeah, he's fucking 2 mountain ranges away, let's go.

Like, I got no problem huffing it and taking off.

And then, you know, you can leave your camp, you can leave shit on the trail.

Like we're on the way back, like on downs for that.

And then even after that, like we're the focus of probably shift towards elk.

But at the same time, like we're still in cheap.

We're in cheap country.

Yeah.

So like if we're, if we're like in on elk, we're hunting.

Fucking with the side of sheep exactly.

Later in the hunt and it's the class and keep looking.

Yeah, we're still going to be hunting high.

We're still going to be in the Alpine, sell the Alpine timber and like fucking like there's a sheep over there that's fucking looks like a good round.

Guess what?

Fucking tea hunting again.

Yeah, put some fucking food in the backpacks and go.

Yeah, so we're going to be opportunist, but we do have a rough plan and it's I'd say sheep for fucking 6-7 days and then help for 5-6 days.

Whatever, we got time.

Depending on how the transition is, yeah for.

Sure.

And if we go from option A to option B to option C, like it is what it is.

And you know, it's going to depend on other hunters where they're at, Outfitters, if they're in that area, where they're at.

You know, if you get in a valley and it's fucking dry, there's no tracks, there's no sign to fuck all, then then we're obviously not in the right spots and then we're going to fucking change gears and go to a different spot.

Yeah, I'm kind of touching on sheep.

Everyone usually asks the question, well, how do you decide who's on the trigger?

And on this trip, it was an easy decision.

Kurt's on the trigger.

It wasn't even a conversation.

It was the way my mind was.

I don't know where he was at originally.

I don't think he cares.

Kurt's pretty good either way.

But my, I've killed 2 Rams.

I killed the last sheep on our sheep on.

And I I had like it was 100% I want to get Kurt a different caliber RAM and he's already got so it's like not even like a he's first up.

For me, it didn't care.

I was like whatever, like we always kind of went you swat it, you get first crack at it, you know, you offering up the the first sheep.

Like I obviously appreciate that, but at the same time, like I've got a caliber ram that I do want to kill.

And you know, like in coming, I'm not going to kill something that just breaks a nose into 7.

Like if I do, it's probably a mistake or I miss the one I'm shooting at.

I'd rather not kill one if that's the case, so.

Yeah, we talked about being fully prepared like we what our expectation is for around and it goes back to, you know, taking something with some age or some size, you know, and being respectful that we don't have to kill a sheep if it's not in that class.

Yeah, like I I know what I want to see on my wall and I'm not just going to kill the RAM for the sake of killing the RAM.

So you know when when it comes to elk fucking.

66 point.

6 on the crown.

Put her down baby.

Same goes for Moose.

Legal Moose is a fucking dead moose if we get the opportunity.

So yeah, sheep is just something a little bit different.

I feel like where it's it is a nostalgic animal and they deserve the respect that leave the young ones on the mountain and take the old ones.

Holy fuck we've been driving for how many?

It's 5:30.

8 hours and 23 minutes.

And now we're finally staying in the mountains.

And seeing the mountains.

Yeah, we've been, you know, that Peace Country cruise for a long time, but we're starting to see the mountains appear.

So that's always the a fun, exciting sight heading up the highway.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, they're way off in the distance, but.

They're a long fucking.

Regular and still those are mountains yeah always good you know hunt gear for this trip kind of specifically is right now because we could be in valleys that could overlap with our elk opportunities.

We're right now I got my bugle tube strapped on and I'm going to I'm planning on bringing them and I got my reeds on my pouch like I have my elk calls because if it you know you're coming out here in the lower valleys where we think the pack out could be reasonable with an elk and we stumble it you know upon elk when they open.

I want to be ready for that opportunity.

I don't want to be, you know, be like, fuck, I wish I would have my calls.

Yeah, so.

You know, other like it's not like a bugle weighs much.

It's more the bulk than anything.

But yeah, like we're we're going to be in cheap country when elk open up.

So it's like be I mean, not that you need a fucking bugle to call and elk in, but it's nice to have that tool in the toolbox.

Like if you need to fucking go win the challenger, let them all or you know, you got to get things going.

It's nice to have to be a pull that out, like let's blow the fucking doors off this bitch, get them going.

Well, I and that's the guys who go, you don't need to call.

I'm like, I don't care if you need to.

I fucking want to.

Yeah, like that's what we do.

Like call the elk and get in there and create the fucking excitement.

So yeah, it's not as much of A need as like I just want it.

So that's exciting there.

I mean, talking elk calls, we haven't talked about this yet 'cause we really haven't done any elk crap or anything like that.

Episodes, but we got talking to Brogan there Haywire 24, I think is his Instagram handle.

And he I think I talked about on one podcast about, yeah, after the sheep show about making these calls that he he made his own elk call, a cow elk call out of a elk antler.

And we got our hands on a couple of these things and I'm excited to try them out.

And they're called the pine princesses.

They look like a little elk horn cut off.

And he makes them himself right out of Chetwin.

I'm excited to run like APC made Elkhall instead of always running like a Phelps or like a primos or like, you know what I mean?

Like it's cool.

Like take that in and hey, he tells me it works.

So if it doesn't, it's his fault.

No, it it sounds great.

Any alcohol can work if you use it in the right situation and and I'm excited to to put it to the test.

Yeah, I always Paco fucking like we like to use the mouth reads.

What in the fuck is this dumb cunt doing?

Fucking Alberta driver weird Sasquatch crossing Great one.

Yeah, I always throw one in regardless.

And sometimes it's just like they like a different fucking note.

You could be calling all day on your fucking thing and then you know, we've done that before where it's like taking a fucking dump behind a tree and just let it fuck it.

That orange fucking primos went out boom, bull bug goes within 100 yards.

I'm like, we've been calling all day.

Never heard a fucking thing, but that thing like whatever.

I had a certain tone it like.

And it fucking popped off.

Fucking vest full of primos.

Calls look like a duck hunter, yeah.

Yeah, like had like a Turkey hunting, yeah, duck hunting vest full of fucking calls.

But you're right.

Sometimes it's just a matter of the right call, the right sound.

And it was like that I could, I'd go through, I do a cow call.

I don't do this anymore because I just don't want to pack it and I feel like I it's not fully needed.

But yeah, you're not wrong.

Like I used to cow call with one no answer, cow call with the next one, no answer.

And then all of a sudden you'd be like 6 cow calls into it and you get a fucking response.

Yeah.

So it, it can happen like that.

I think, you know, we're thinking about like the, the kind of jet boat hunting and talking to guys who, you know, jet boat haunted elk in the, in the north and different things.

You know, they one thing that we heard was, you know, the elk won't call because the all the jet boaters run the rivers and call from their jet boats.

And I was like, OK, well, that's just like all the quad hunters and truck hunters calling from the roads.

So if you consider it the same, yeah, like if you put a road as a river and we apply similar strategies where you just leave the road like we do, that's what I want to do.

Absolutely.

I think and then call like not just the same 3 tone Doug Flutie bugle.

So yeah, exactly.

I think it's go in rake do the the plays.

Like I honestly, when he when I heard them say that I was like, OK, perfect.

Then the strategy is the same strategy.

It's just the river is the road.

Yeah.

Do you agree with that?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

The river is the transport route and if you're not willing to get out and walk a couple 100 yards then and like the animals know man don't get me wrong like there's animals get killed on riverbank every fucking.

Day animals get killed on roads every.

Day.

Exactly.

And it depends on that situation and that animal's temperament.

If he's fired up and you call and he fucking runs out of the river, you're like, that's fantastic.

But the chances of that happening are less than like going in a couple 100 yards and then fucking making some soft calls, some more realistic calls, right?

Animals aren't fucking dumb.

They get dumb when they get fucking horny.

That's other than that they're.

Just like us.

Kinda, Yeah.

You think with the right head, right?

Yeah, right.

No, it it's good.

I feel like this is, you know, it's going to be very similar to how me and you hunt in the cooties.

Yeah, I hope so.

That's what I'm want to try.

Yeah, we now hunt for Cootie or for Elkie down there, and it's, I don't know, like you.

It's not like you're going out to a farmer's field and fucking ripping a bugle and waiting for it to come out to the alfalfa field at night.

Yeah, it's this is legit backpack hunting that.

We're using and it's opportunist elk hunting.

It's like everything.

Like you say one thing, but you just hit the opportunity.

So if you hear a bugle off the river, just go out for the fucking bugle.

Yeah.

Like, it's not that I wouldn't hunt it from there.

I'm just saying like.

Yeah, are you?

You see a fucking set of bull tracks?

Fuck.

It's worth following, right?

Like, you got to hunt the sign, Yeah, unless you're going to fucking sit up at night and RIP locators down valleys and hope you get an answer back, which fucking works, you know, works like a fucking charm.

But you need to be able to hunt sign.

Like if you're not seeing any tracks or any shit, like there's a good chance there's nothing in that area for sure.

Like they're game trails.

It's not like they take 1 highway, they enter sacked and they fucking loop around and feed.

And if they're in the area, you're going to see the sign.

Would you say it's going to be too early to use any kind of calling for Moose?

No.

No.

The end of our hunt right now, I'd probably say, yeah, like you, you might be able to draw a little bull in or something like that, but I doubt it.

But the end of our hunt, like I called a bull in on the 16th up here and it came in on a fucking rope.

But he killed his first luck and Moose, like we just sat there and kind of be right there.

Yeah, it was a link.

No.

Well, I think it was something, yeah.

You know, that thing fucking was better down.

It got up, grunted and come straight and he shot it like 70 yards and he just looked at me.

He's like, I can't believe that happened.

I'm like, I can't.

That's usually what happens.

Yeah.

So you never know, right?

Like it's like the rut is earlier, I believe up this far north because, I mean, realistically it it'll be fucking winter and like fucking cold in a few months.

So, you know, that's yeah, I don't know.

We'll see.

That's right.

I'll definitely try.

But you know, you can fucking grant that or a fucking cow call at a bowl all day.

And if he's not into it, then yeah.

So you got to go to him.

You think maybe you might get some interest?

But hold on one second, I'm just fucked up by recording.

I think it paused because I clicked something.

OK, we're back.

I might have fucked up.

There might have been a small like 5 second miss, but yeah, so you never know.

Yeah, like we could try is what I was kind of asking.

What the moose calling?

Yeah, so you might get an answer back.

Are they going to come fucking prancing in?

Yeah, doubtful.

Yeah, but I mean, if you get up top and get glass one in a swamp somewhere, like you fucking sneak in there and fucking slip one in.

But they're all we I opportunist for moose wise, I'd say like for coming back in.

You see one in the swamp, Yeah, we'll pop in there and fuck it, let the air out of it.

But you know, probably Dick in the mud instead of Dick in the dirt.

Hopefully it's in the dirt, not in the middle of the swamp.

Well, we're not smart enough to not take that shot.

Yeah, that's why we got chest waders, right?

Chest waders and witches.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, we're, we definitely don't have those.

Kind of like we're not.

And I think anyone listening to this knows this, but like, we don't go like, oh, well, that's a tough spot to get the Ant.

You're like, I guess we'll deal with that after.

Yeah.

And then we go, That sucks.

That's the nice part of having like 12 days hunting.

It's like we can burn 2 days to fucking get a mousseau if we had to.

Yeah, and we will deal, but we can do it.

Yeah, we don't.

It's got to be pretty fucking big for me to just squeeze one off.

Always.

Yeah.

From the boat.

Yeah, but.

That's almost worse.

Well, it is, but I mean a.

Moose is a moose after the fucking fact, yeah.

I mean, like, the meat you're cutting off a moose is a fucking lot.

Yeah, and the moose up here are fucking big.

Like the racks might be slightly bigger but the bodies are ginormous.

Yeah.

So, you know, if you're thinking about meat wise, yeah, it's been a two days packing a moose out.

There's a lot more freezer rewarding than packing a sheepo.

Yeah, but you said opportunist for a moose.

OK, so for the first time, I went on Instagram and did a story where we asked for some listener questions and we got some responses and questions.

So what I'm going to do is I'm actually going to, this is a bit of an intro to that.

I want to pause currently and and then it's just going to go right to it.

But just because there'll be a little bit of a break here, I want to save what we've recorded because I don't want to lose an hour of recording in case this doesn't work out.

So I'm just going to save one file and then we're going to continue right afterwards.

OK, OK, All right, so we're going to talk about the listener questions that I asked about now.

So it's kind of fun.

And actually, even before we dive into that, I forgot I was going to talk about a post that circulated around about a month ago from Stone Glacier where they had a fucking 14 year old ram post with all these age rings.

And like everyone who's listened to this probably seen it or we shared it and like talked about it and it like initially when it came up, you were like, what the fuck?

Like, oh, first I was like, oh Fort, I read the caption like 14 year old ram.

I'm like, holy fuck.

But then you look at the picture and it instantly like, and I saw it early, like probably in like the first half hour of it being posted and it was like 55 BC sheep hunters in the comments, like all just lighting it up being like, that's not a real annual, that's false.

Like that looks funny.

Like I thought it was awesome to see.

Like obviously we have the highest population of people that can hunt sheep, right?

So it was wicked.

And that was hilarious to see.

Just ripping the comment section apart.

Yeah, I seen it cross posted on another fucking can't remember what it was too, but yeah, it was like Alaska sheep funding or something.

I was like, holy fuck, yeah, like that's I ain't no fucking expert.

But the way they had to analyze drawn, like you could tell that definitely was a couple fucking false ones in there because it was like grouped up in the middle and then a gap and then grouped up again.

You're like, geez, like.

One, it's also just like it was probably like an 11 year old ram, like it was a nice old ram, but it was like, come on 14 like you can easily tell that that wasn't the case.

So yeah, it's just I love that the BC sheep hunting crowd just came out of the foot.

It's.

Shitty that like on it was a nice RAM.

Yeah, like that it got kind of shunned because it was aged so poorly.

Like ridiculously aged that it took away from the caliber around that that actually was because that was a hammer.

Yeah, exactly.

So I thought it was just funny to touch on that.

I I just wanted to give props to everyone that just came out of the and it wasn't like they've ripped on them.

It was just all everyone was like, there's no way.

Even I commented on it being like, come on, there's some false aged rings in there.

Yeah, so.

Yeah, I thought that was funny.

OK, let's get to a few questions and and see where this takes us.

This could be fun.

So here's one How damn forged in the back country shorts fit up front.

Well, I couldn't wear them, but they definitely look a little small in the front package area.

I'd say built for a camel toe instead of a bulge.

All right, well, there's your answer to the forge in the back country.

Spelt CUNTRY.

OK, starting off with a bang.

This one is do you feel, how do you feel about the so-called dead zone around the jet boat hunt?

Is it real?

So that's interesting.

When it when it came through, I was like dead zone.

Like what?

What is this guy asking?

But I think we the question is like there's a thought, I guess.

And they were so new to jet boat hunting that.

But I guess the thought would be that the rivers get haunted so hard that there's probably a strip around it that maybe gets haunted out.

That's kind of what I took from the question.

We should.

I don't know.

We should get him to elaborate more.

Yeah, that's kind of what I got.

Clarify with it.

Was, you know, it's no different than a main FSR Rd.

where it's like, oh, there's nothing on that road.

Yeah, it's like, well, there probably is.

You just might have to get out of the truck or he might have to get out of the boat to find it.

Right.

So for us, that doesn't pertain to us because we're, we'll be backpacking.

So.

But fuck, I mean, shit gets killed on the road and shit gets killed on the river every year in every river.

So maybe the animals are smart enough they don't hang out on the main rivers, but they're still going to cross.

And like we talked about earlier, like they get pretty dumb when it comes to the rut.

Are they going to come running into the middle of the river to look for you?

Probably not, but I don't know.

We'll find out, I guess.

Yeah, we'll find out.

And I I bet you there's something to it.

I'm not saying there's probably there might be a little bit of a zone that maybe isn't as productive, but that's not how we're going to approach it.

I don't feel like it's, if it is a factor, we're going to be able to push past the factor.

Yeah, yeah, our, our goal isn't to just cruise the river and and hunt it, but like, you look for a sign.

I know like other places where you like, you look for tracks.

Yeah.

And then, you know, there's no moose on the river.

And then when they start riding, man, there's moose all over the river.

So we'll we'll just have to wait and see what we see on the riverbanks.

For sure.

Next question, have you guys tried any of the Onyx apps?

I find the Gaia satellite imagery to be dog shit.

I agree.

I agree fully.

Gaia's GPS works fairly well.

I haven't played with Onyx out of service.

I've been told that you don't have 3D mapping when you don't have service, which is stupid.

Yeah.

That's the whole point why everyone loves fat maps.

So we spoke up with us earlier too that there just isn't a replacement yet and hopefully we get one soon because it will blow up whoever does it and hit get it out soon.

But yeah, we'll see.

Open Snow is another one that I've got it, I've downloaded maps, I'll definitely give it a go and it's the closest mapping wise that I've found to fat maps, but I haven't used it in the Backcountry yet so I really can't say to that.

Yeah.

And I would say I walked her through Gaia a little bit when I was with you in the summer and showed you the imagery that I would use.

The best one I've found so far is the one they call Satellite with labels.

It's definitely not perfect.

Something on yours was turned off too.

Like there's some settings in Gaia that don't allow you to see all the layers correctly.

So I went in there and if you're hearing this, maybe reach out and I can send you some things.

I don't think Guy is superior in any way.

I'm just saying like maybe, and I haven't used Onyx yet, but no one's coming to us saying use Onyx because it's the replacement for Fapmaps.

I will say that, which is interesting.

Like you, if there was a replacement, I would almost guarantee one of our listeners would have told us by now.

Yeah, everyone's on the same hunt right now.

Yeah, so we're definitely still in the hunt and not just stay tuned and if something comes up, you guys are going to know about it.

OK, not a question, but just fucking send it boys have fun.

Hit me up if you have a fuck up.

So this is from a listener follower that reached out.

Thanks buddy we appreciate it.

OK, when you scout for elk, what sign are you looking for and how to find it?

OK, so I, when I read this one, I, I did see most of these questions before.

So we can touch on this a couple ways.

Like on this hunt, there's not going to be a lot of scouting, but we could be like scouting quick, like quick scouting.

Like we're looking for tracks.

Rubs is the big one, like key into rubs and activity around any kind of water holes and wallows.

So that's how I think we'd approach like this particular hunt.

Yeah, yeah, like, you know, just key on your surroundings, look for game trails, look for fresh tracks, look for shit rubs and like all fresh stuff.

Like if you're seeing last year's Robs or older Robs, it's like if you're not seeing anything fresh, then they're obviously not in that area.

So.

And if we're going into a completely new area, so it's not like we're like, well, you know, other places we hunt, we got pans where we know they're back every year.

So you know, everything that we find we'll be pinning for future reference if we do come back into here, if it's that good.

And you know, like this year is more of a shoot from the hip and hold for the best.

And I mean, I imagine we're going to find some sign and get on some animals, so.

And I think this question may be more broad, so I thought I'd answer it with what we're doing on this hunt.

But then also, OK, what do I look for in the Koonies?

And, and then you can kind of elaborate on what you look for back home.

So scouting for the Koonies nowadays, we already kind of have a lot of spots.

So it's most of our next scouting comes from hunts.

So getting out and hunting honestly like you get a lot of info from just boots on the ground and and cruising areas that you know that elk probably should be in.

But game trails is a big one.

I when I'm cruising roads.

I, I hope most people do this, but for me, I'm looking for the tracks of the banks.

Like in the Kootenes, they cross the road systems a lot.

So when you're seeing tracks at the banks, you can a lot of times be like, oh fuck, is there a game trail in there?

Is there something there?

And you can kind of key in on that activity.

A little bit of rubs when you're in the back countries, big and even on the sides of the road.

So you really got to just get out in the Bush and see it Like I always look for rubs right on the roads.

I like to date rubs.

Oh yeah.

Like when you see a fucking fresh rub where, you know, like this was last night or within the last, you know, 48 hours, like remember that.

Because you'll get kind of like they'll rub and the next bull will come and rub.

Or you see a bunch of fucking rubs in a row.

Like, you know, a bull's work in this area.

And then like most of the time they're rubbing.

It's either satellite showing off or it's a herd bull showing off.

So like there's not just going to be 1 fucking bull in there, whether it's legal or not, no one knows until you lay eyes on it.

But like then you say you keep hitting that spot again, you're like fuck, that's a brand new rub that's within a day.

Then you know that bull's in that fucking area, and then you start looking for tracks and then man, like it's not hard to see which direction they're walked off into.

Yeah.

And then you fucking and you'll find they like to fucking follow these fucking highways and like trail game trails, call them highways when they're pounded right out.

Just go walk one, like see where it goes.

It's a guarantee.

It's going to take you to a Creek or it's going to take you to a wall.

Betting zones, betting areas and find cows like guys don't say that enough like we're trying to hunt bulls in the rut.

The bulls aren't, I don't know if everyone knows this, but the like experienced elk hunters do like bulls aren't there in the summer.

We we hang a lot of trail cameras and they're more for education of legality and when bulls are coming in.

And it's fun to see big elk, but they don't paint much of a picture as far as, yeah, you can go in there and hunt that day like they cycle in so much.

So that's why I think rub rubbing zones.

So if you're scouting and you hiked into an area and you saw a lot of old rubs that you figured were from the year before, I would put that on the list to an area you hunt in the fall because that's where the bulls came into.

If you're not seeing rubs anywhere along the game trails or anywhere, like we always saw rubs in the areas that we had success in, I put rubs high on the list and wallows because that's what they're using during the rut.

So it's a calling card.

Yeah.

That's where they are during hunting season, which is more important.

Yeah.

So that that would be my advice there.

I don't have a foolproof elk scouting.

It all depends on where you're at too.

Like if you're we have 0 experience hunting elk in the peace country, but I would run the same process.

Yeah, game trails, shit water rubs.

Yeah, like I would just run that similar thought.

So that's that's kind of all head on Skoda.

Yeah.

OK.

Any tips for a first time elk hunter?

And then it's backpacker truck hunt.

So yeah, 100% I would say don't plan to backpack in somewhere because you're just going to limit finding elk.

I would say it's fine to have a backpack.

Like if you want to try that, be ready to do something like that, but don't use that as like first time going into the Elkwoods.

I'm just going to pick a spot on the map and backpack into it.

Yeah, I would.

I would do that like summer, if you're going to go hang some cameras, like find a game trailer and go walk it out.

Like you'll see like old activity.

Drop a camera on a fucking game trail.

If you want to see if there's anything in the area, like if you can run fucking salt in some spots, that's a great spot to see what's in the area.

They're going to stop and check it out.

I know Quinellis, what we do for sure.

Yeah, you just got a hit.

Drive around till you see sign and then walk around and try to see where they go.

Yeah, that would find the routines.

And also don't be afraid to call.

That's always seems like, I mean get good at calling because locating elk is the biggest part of hunting elk is finding bulls.

So travel roads, get away from the truck a little bit and call from in the timber and do that until you find out.

Like I I would suggest more of a truck style not truck hunt.

I wouldn't drive roads and hoping elk walks across.

I would just use vehicles to cover more ground and find more sign and maybe out the activity.

I probably wouldn't hesitate away from backpacking until you found a spot.

Like if you found a spot where you're like, oh, this is awesome.

It's like half a kilometer off the road or a kilometer in and then there's a little bit more I can hunt.

That's what we've done in the past where that's how we basically did it.

We pounded roads until we started hiking and following bugles, and then we started backpacking into places.

Yeah, a dog.

Your preseason is where you're going to do your for fun scouting.

You want to go for a fucking walk with your dog or a hike, throw a backpack on, go drop some cameras, walk around like maybe it's shed hunting, right?

I mean, if you're finding sheds, most likely they're not going to be there in the fall.

I wouldn't say 1000% guarantee, but I would say good chance.

I'd probably bet they're not there.

But you know, it's it's an idea that there's elk in that valley somewheres or on a mountaintop somewhere and start from there.

Yeah, and I would say the only other is like wind.

Like really watch the wind.

If you get a bull bugling and the wind's the wrong way, you won't beat the wind.

So for a first time hunter, you got to have a wind checker and don't be afraid to call and and make some mistakes.

Don't.

Call from the road.

Yeah, don't call from the road, but don't be afraid to call.

Like a lot of guys get hesitant because they think they're scaring Alka Way, and I think that's a misconception.

So yeah, OK.

What's the main benefit of Gators for Backcountry hunts in BC?

That's a pretty good question.

Because sometimes I don't like running Gators because they're just too hot.

Like they're just, they're hot.

So one main benefit obviously is just to keep water out of the top edge of your boots.

So like mountain boots are somewhat waterproof, especially down low, but then it can keep water from getting in and absorbing through your sock and making your foot wet.

So that's like a huge on the bottom of your pants stay dry.

If you're walking through brush, you're keeping the water off of your boot.

Durability of a pant, like all the pants that I've shredded are in the the knee down shredded a lot of hiking pants.

So if you spent, you know, $200 on a pair of hunting pants and you're going to come into the BC Backcountry that's not open, which is most of it, you could put them on just for keeping durability there.

Yeah, I first sheep hunt.

I brought Gators.

My feet.

I run hot so my feet sweat like crazy.

I got to wear special socks.

Like I wear shit like that.

So like after day three, I fucking axed the fucking Gators out.

Went fucking commando.

Like maybe you call it.

I don't know what you call it, but.

So wearing Gators, I don't know if that's commando, but yeah, we can call it commando.

No dolman raw raw dog in it.

But then yeah, at the sacrifice of your boots and your pants.

Lots of times I'll throw them on in the morning when you're going through that Alpine grass or buck brush.

Like your boots will get soaked pretty fucking fast if you're doing Creek crossings.

You throw some Gators on and Creek crossings saves your boots.

For sure you can step through a foot of water with Gators and good boots on quickly.

Yeah, yeah, if you're not sitting there taking a piss, but you got to be.

If you're high stepping through there, your boots won't get wet.

Yeah, I'm a, I'm a 5050 Gator guy.

Depending on the weather, if you're in snow, it's nice for sure.

I would say it's very hunt and terrains specific.

So terrain if you're going to be in brush Creek crossings just bring them and if it's later season snow, anything like that.

Just I would recommend them if it's Alpine summer trails.

You know Okanogan like not brushy.

I don't think you need them.

Unless you got to do it for the gram.

Yeah.

And you throw those bitches that's.

True.

They look like a real backpacker.

Yeah, I would say you got it.

Should take them on a long hunt like a 10 day backpack hunt no matter what.

Yeah, I always you.

Have to have them, I would say, like, I wouldn't say like, they're a 5050 when it comes to that.

That's what like, type of hunt.

If it's a day trips into the Backcountry, it's like, OK, if you're going to shred your pants, you might want to wear them.

Yeah.

I don't always wear them either.

Like, like Kurt said, Yeah, it's kind of talking Gators.

We are both running a different Gator this year, not that I have like a strong Gator opinion.

I've always ran Kuyu and outdoor research ones and this year we're running the apes out of salmon arms.

So they're BC made Gator and they're super light.

So I do like, I want to see how they're going to perform.

Like they, they feel durable, but they're a very light structure, so.

My biggest I hate first set of Gators I had were O Rs and the fucking things just fell down to my ankles non-stop.

And then when I went to the Kuyu ones, they were better and then I ripped those and then I got the new I think the Cortana ones ripped those bought a patch get patched them.

I still have them and they were better like for stability wise, like they don't didn't just fold down.

So that's where these apes, they're super light and they feel like they're fairly rigid that they would stay up.

So it's not like I got massive caps to keep the fucking things up.

So you got to, we're going to put up a test.

We don't know, I haven't tried them yet.

So I hope they're fantastic.

Yeah, I hope so too.

I like rocking a Canadian and BC brand product like that's that's nice that we can buy something in our backyard.

Yeah.

For sure, that's always nice, especially now with tariffs and all the shit that's going on, the more local stuff.

It's just nice for that, for it can be shipped quickly.

It's in, you know, there's a lot of benefits to it.

So it's nice.

Hopefully they hopefully they're really good.

I don't think they're not going to be.

There's nothing telling me they won't.

A lot of guys are running them.

I like like, like Alec, you follow them on that's Alex's.

Yeah, yeah, follow them on Instagram.

Like the guys, he's trying to innovate something, right?

So he's, he's doing everything he can to change materials and like make it lighter, make it more durable.

He's playing around with dry bags.

He's playing around with tents, shelters.

I like the shelters.

I'd like to see some shit that I need my ones.

Yeah, like he's just, he's getting materials and he's trying to build shit with it.

So it's super cool to to to be able to do that and you try to make a business out of it, right?

So you didn't hear it earlier, That's ape equipment.

You can check him out on Instagram and follow along.

Based out of salmon or BC.

So why not support a guy like that, right?

Yep.

OK.

Next question, what's your final preparation trigger pull process before shooting was the one.

So this was a question we had to come up.

For me it's like, so like obviously my pot out or whatever, however I'm shooting it on a tree branch, it doesn't matter.

It's like, OK, this is 100% legal.

There's no doubt in my mind.

My shot process, people do a lot of different fucking things for me.

Like I, I don't get overly excited unless it's like truck hunting and it's about to step off the road.

You have to jump out and fucking send one right away.

Like that's you got to act fast.

But it seems like mountain hunting.

You do have a little bit of time to get in and set up.

You know, you make sure your rest is steady.

And then I just kind of slow, try to slow my breathing down, take a couple deep breaths, you know, watch it through the scope, make sure my I'm leaning into my tripod or the bipod of it.

And then just take some deep breaths.

And then I take one good one and kind of hold it for 1/2 a second and then don't really think much after that.

Just hold the trigger and immediately follow up.

And then it's hard.

Like if you're by yourself, you don't know exactly where your shot placement was.

That's where you're like your hunting partner is key.

Like he has to see.

Where that shot placement was.

And like I did it for you, you did it for me.

Videoing.

It's nice.

Videoing.

It's nice.

But that's only going to help maybe later.

Yeah, you know, like it's, but you got to be ready to make that first shot count because that's everything.

If you scare it and you're taking cracks out of wounded or a wounded or a missed animal that's running, like that's really fucking hard to do.

So, and it's not necessarily overly ethical as well.

Like maybe you really chance on wounding it, you know, terminally and then it dies somewhere and you don't retrieve it.

So making that first shot count is everything.

So get your breathing under control.

And then just some people that shoot lots, they have a shot sequence where they, I don't know what the fuck they do.

They scratch their balls, tap their head three times and then pull the trigger.

I don't know, I just fucking do it as fast as I fucking can and be as steady as I can.

Yeah, I I definitely don't have a full.

This is what I do every time and no matter what, like that type of thing.

I know we were chatting about this question.

I have dry fired with the sheep, like my first sheep.

But we sat and watched him in a cave for 2 1/2 hours.

Yeah, I got up on the the hill.

We must not have got a video because I would have tripped you.

Well, I just pulled the trigger.

I mean, sure, I was really like I was on him and I just like because he was laying in that cave.

So I like, that's the only thing.

Like, I wouldn't do it, you know, I like the last sheep I shot through my bipod and dropped down, rammed A jetboil underneath my your.

Butt.

My butt on my stalk, checked my dope chart, dialed the gun and leaned into one.

Right.

In those moments, I know I was telling Kurt that I like chirp myself a little bit in my head.

And this is like comes back from like, I don't know, being a hockey player.

Just the way our family raised us to not be like soft was like, if I'm getting jacked up before a shot, I literally be like, don't be a fucking pussy.

It's not that big of a deal.

And it's just my process of like, knocking myself down a peg to like, calm my nerves.

Yeah.

And I don't really, like you said, like buck fever, like, yeah, I get excited.

But in those moments, I've been able to maybe because I've gone through enough of them that I can, like, consciously talk to myself behind the gun right before.

Is it?

I it's weird because I feel like I don't get like I've seen buck fever like extreme levels.

I've never guys are fucking shaking and they can't, they can't fucking pull the trigger.

They can't follow up shot and they're just like they're fucked, like they are stunned right, But I've never been like that and like I've got bug when I see something fucking big, I'm like we got to fucking go right now.

I kill up done like it's done.

I'm not even thinking I am sending fucking bullets.

And you know, like in a perfect world, elk hunting called bullet and comes into your window and you fucking shoot.

It bumps your uncle, you know, sheep hunting.

You see it at a kilometer away.

You get in beside whatever you're comfortable shooting ranges 500 yards, 200 yards.

You lay down best opportunity or scenario doesn't know you're there, which you've done something right, and then you fucking sit down.

You got all the time in the world.

You get comfy and then you squeeze the trigger.

That's easy.

Like when I killed my first sheep, I wasn't like no shaky.

I wasn't 4.

Hours to prep.

It's a little bit different, like you're already thinking that through.

Like, OK, when I'm when this is happening, I'm ready.

Like I'm just going to be confident behind my gun.

But yeah, the breathing makes sense.

Everyone has like that, but there's no like techniques, you know, thinking about this process, I think one thing that helps with maybe not needing a shot process is like just being confident before on the hunt.

And for me, what I worked on this year and shooting prep for this hunt was follow through.

Yeah.

Staying behind my fucking gun like that's been a thing over the last few years of like don't look or like try to look at things, just shoot.

Wait a second.

That same with archery, like you do it in archery more and it really came up.

I don't know if I told you about it, but Matt and I were shooting together this year.

You know, we leading up to the hunts, we probably shot once a month and then once every two weeks for like the last month.

And the first time we went out, I was shooting and I was doing a good job of following through.

And I was grouping OK.

And he shot and he was standing behind him because of the fucking muzzle brakes.

And I was just watching.

And I'd watch him shoot and then pop up like quick, like his head would pop up very quick.

And I watched him do it about three times.

And I said, hey, can I give you like, a bit of advice?

And he's like, yeah, for sure.

I'm like, I'm just watching you and try to follow through.

Like just wait a second before you move it all.

Yeah, finish that shot.

It will make a difference.

So I think that's something that I think about too.

And it helps you be confident.

And by that you mean follow up like in your skull?

Yeah, it's more just like, yeah, try to follow up in your scope.

I don't care about seeing it hit.

I'm not saying that I just like shoot and I wait like right in my position.

Like I, I don't move my arms like I'm, I'm there and I wait a second, I almost take a breath.

I almost let my breath out like it's like boom.

And then and it really just makes a difference on that like downrange.

For me, I'm like boom Jack another.

That's a process.

Yeah, like.

But don't worry, when I need to fling more, we know that I throw.

Bullets, it's different.

I mean, if you if you're watching in your scope and you watch it fucking drop, you're just like, Oh yeah, baby right.

And that's I mean it's having your spotter with you.

If you have one great, like be like good shot.

Where'd you hit a fucking center mask?

You hit him in the ass, you hit him in the horn, you hit him in the hoof.

Like follow up, like that's where your, your spotter, your hunting partner is like watching your shot and he relays it to you.

Like that's where some guys like you got 1-2 guys on the fucking gun and no one's fucking watching the shot placement.

Like, you know, when Devin killed his, I was like, oh, you fucking smoked and put another one in his shoulder.

Like he's dead.

He's just dead on his feet right now.

But like, give him a second, give him another.

You know, same with me.

Devin's like you hit him, you hit him way back.

So then I had to just.

For being cold.

Well, yeah, wrong.

Wendy gave me, but it's OK.

I I let him go.

Yeah.

You've forgiven me on that one, now I have.

OK, good to bring it up every now and then.

Fuck me, look stupid, but that's OK.

That makes a big difference because it's like nothing's worse and you have two guys shooting at the same animal and it's all turns into a bit of a race or it turns into World War fucking 3 where everybody's fucking shooting and this fucking animal don't know what the fuck is going on.

So it's it's better.

One shot, 1 shooter, 11 spotter.

Call the guy shot dope the win for him and let him know where he hit.

If he misses, let him know where he misses and tell him, oh, it's down Jack another fucking shell.

Get another one in him.

Because then it's like you don't have to think and look, you just fucking know.

OK, I got to get another one downrange.

So before we jump to another question, like still on the shooting thing, I wanted to mention like I went out for my final range session, I guess I'd call it.

I just wanted that like final, like confidence.

I mean, it is a new gun again this year shooting the seven mil Backcountry.

And if a student got out of the gate, I had my session before I dialed it in a little bit, got my dope chart pretty much perfect.

Like I felt like it was right, like everything was good, but I wanted that.

And then we talked about, you know, solid copper bullets being a little dirty or foul in your barrel.

So I pulled a bore snake through just a bore, like 1 clean swipe, pulled a bit of grit out of it.

And then I like to tape my barrel and then shoot it once cold bore taped barrel at something like I've always liked doing that because it especially distance like elk hunting at 100 yards doesn't fucking matter.

But when we're doing hunts like this where there's a good chance our first shot is a 500 yard shot of the sheep.

So I went out with, I needed to foul my barrel because I pulled one swipe through.

So I had a taped muzzle and I had a clean barrel.

So I decided I'll go 300 yard plate and then I'll do 500.

So that's what I did.

I just like dialed, dialed turret to 300 centre punched like an 8 by 8 plate at 300.

I'm like, sweet, the foul shot didn't even matter.

Like that felt good.

It was like punched.

Yeah.

Then I said, OK, fuck it, 500 yards.

Dialed it to 500 yards, hit the 8 by 8 and then I just shot my clip like four shots, hit the 8 by 8 two more times and just like, OK, tape the barrel, put it in the backpack and that made me feel like, great right now, like heading in.

So yeah.

Yeah, that's my final.

I had a couple of frustrating range days prior to the hunt and it ended up being like a ring issue.

So then if we got that all figured out, Omar come out to the range with me.

Wednesday.

No, Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday's like not under the fucking wire.

But I was, he could tell us a little bit and I'm like, we're leaving in 2 days, man.

I'm not 100% confident yet.

Like I haven't had time to go to the range today as we went out there, man.

We got it dialed in, got the dope chart dialed in and like my last two shots we're shooting the.

He called it something.

It's like that body torso shaped target.

Yeah, at 780 yards and it was just like center punch, center punch.

He's like, put that fucking gun in the fucking case, but don't touch a fucking thing.

I was like, done.

I got to go home now.

Yeah, but so like, I, I didn't take a ton of shots, but I mean, that's that's all I need.

I need to know that I can reach out and poke something and it's bang on.

And I mean, we were shooting out at 100 yards and it put fucking four shots in the fucking pretty much the same hole, like in the like point fucking 18 MOA spot.

Like it was, it wasn't even a cloverleaf.

It was literally like 1 hole with a couple little slivers on the other side of it.

Like it was fucking tighter than I've ever seen so.

So instead of being 1000% confident that my gun's perfect, now we have no excuse when we miss.

That's the difference.

No, no, that's me.

No, that's me now.

Like you're saying that.

No, no.

That's what most people would say when you'd say something like that.

Like it's grouping good and I hit 780 yards.

There might be like a oh, my gun's so fucking perfect now it's on me.

I'm not going to be perfect enough.

If I miss something, it's 100%.

Yeah, that's what I'm like too.

I claim my.

Gun's on.

Yeah, yeah, like you know, or.

Or something happened, like it's not the gun's fault.

I might have dropped it out of the boat or something.

Or anything.

Yeah, it's great.

You want your your equipment to be perfect.

Now I know when I fuck up it's just me being a fucking idiot.

Yeah, exactly.

My my process was fucked up, Yeah.

So, yeah, it's good to get out and and get that confidence before.

So a little bit long winded on that, but that's a good question.

It it ties into a lot of different, different things that we think about with our shooting.

This question next, I don't know if we'll really talk much on it, but it's thoughts on a 300 weather bee.

So I don't know much about a 300 weather bee.

It's definitely a question we can table and maybe get Garrick or Omer to, to lend some thoughts in.

I mean, nowadays, you know, 300 Win Mag is close to a weather bee.

I don't know a lot about them.

Do you have any comments on that?

I don't know, I just but weather bees used to be fucking super expensive and hard to find, like to find ammo or to handle it or whatever.

You know, I like they were kind of like the juice stuff, kind of like what the rum was of the 300 wig class.

I guess so the other kids were a little bit.

More, Yeah, it was a little bit bigger, right, than everything, right.

Than a 300 win Meg.

Yeah.

I mean, I if I was thinking this is the question on like what are your thoughts?

Like maybe someone's thinking about buying one.

I would say maybe look at a 300 PRC, Maybe look at a 300 win Meg like if you're wanting to go into 3 caliber.

Well, it just seems like that's that's the route that the rifle builders are making.

That's the route that the ugly whether whether be makes their own shit, right.

So it's like, I don't know, like you want to go down that road.

I imagine they're not fucking price of bullets right now is insane.

You go and take a special fucking caliber like that, tack on minimum 25% more.

Yeah.

So I probably wouldn't venture down that road.

Just unavailability of ammo or hand loads.

Like seems like 300 PRC, 7 PRC like and then like your classics like the 300 wisdom, 300 Win Meg, even the rum seems like it's kind of like it's fade.

There's not a ton of people shooting rums anymore.

We both shot rums like it's just seems like it's kind of outdated a little bit.

Another fucking coyote right there.

People still have them, but it just the new technology seems to be the way the industry is going.

We've kind of shot them all like this 7 Backcountry.

Like I said, this is our first year shooting it.

We'll we'll see if the juice is worth the squeeze on them.

And so far right now, it's pretty hard to to disagree with it on what we've been able to do and what it like.

The speeds of what you're getting, shit like that, the longevity of them.

We don't really know.

It's that new.

Yeah, we'll definitely put her to the fucking test, that's for sure.

But I probably would venture to something more it.

It depends.

If you're a hand loader, do whatever the fuck you want.

If you can find cases, bullets and powder, do it.

Play with it at least.

Right.

But the more conventional way, I'd probably stick to the mainstream calibers.

That seems like the manufacturers are kind of running towards them.

Yeah.

OK, this question we're definitely going to table, but it's it's always a fun topic.

So this one's go all in about elk hunting.

So that's a whole episode in itself.

And 100% we will, we always do some kind of elk wrap up and we might even be able to get, you know, a couple of elk killers on we got a couple of BC ones that we want to get on and and wrangle in.

I know that Mike Bridger's been avoiding us for a little while.

So Bridger, figure out your HR, get on and tell him like, we'll just put you under a different alias.

You can.

You can be blocked by the government.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

So he he's someone that I'd like to get on and chat out.

Cutting with Brogan would be another one haywire there.

He's seems like he's fucking right into it.

So definitely we'll get we'll get an outcome.

So if we start that right now, we'll be here for two more hours.

So, yeah, thanks for that question.

OK.

Ever talk about light and its power over animals and seasons?

So I'm thinking this is like daylight.

Moon phases.

Moon phases and daylight yeah, we've definitely touched on it a bit when our elk strategy type conversations.

I would say like that's the time where I I've looked at it and we've planned some of our hunt times around the moon phase where Kurt will be like when you want me to come down and I'll be like, well, if it doesn't matter to you, let's pick this week because it's a darker moon.

Have I seen it been perfectly lined up?

No.

Have I seen elk bugle when it's a full moon?

Yes.

But when we're talking elk is the only time I've used light and maybe moonlight slash daylight, whatever you want to call it is like if it's dark.

It does seem like if it's dark at night and the moon's not pounding, either the clouds blocking it or it's not a full moon.

I do think they bugle later in the mornings, so you might have a better chance of seeing them.

They're not as active as at night, but I wouldn't say like, Oh yeah, hunt by the moon.

Like it'll work.

No, I would like.

We don't hunt that like first light, last light, like we look for betting areas and we hunt betting areas.

We're hunting them usually in the timber being fucked at first light, you walk up.

I shot mine at first light across an old block, which is great.

When that happens, that's pretty awesome.

But we're not banking on that.

We're banking to maybe get a bugle in the dark and they're usually heading to where they're going with it's just the bedding area.

So they're out feeding like so we've done it in fucking absolute crystal clear skies, bright fucking moon like usually they're they're super active.

They're feeding all night.

They're heading into the timber before the sun comes up because they got the moonlight to travel around dark skies.

I feel like they're just out a little bit longer, but they're still heading to the bedding area at first light.

Kind of just go from that.

Yeah, moon phases.

It's some people swear by it.

To me, it's just like, man, I feel like in that hot zone, like it all depends on the cows cycles and some cycle early, some cycle later.

If you can hunt a spot, you know that the bulls are fired up early in that spot and it means you got a cow that's getting in heat early.

You know, I've seen it with doze and deer and you know, there's a doe on spot eye hunt.

There's box fully rotted in October that you wouldn't normally expect.

And every year that doe's got fucking bucks around here all the time.

So try to follow that, I guess.

Follow the cows.

I don't know.

Yeah, I don't think we use it too much.

So if you're new to a strategy, like maybe you're thinking like maybe a chance to like optimize on the light.

I, I don't know.

The only thing I know it's like cows, cow elk, they say their estrus cycle and they go into their estrus when the daylight and darkness equal the same.

That's how the equinox, it's 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness.

And when that happens, it triggers a chemical in their eye.

But we don't go off that.

That's just how the rut kicks on.

So when a cow goes into her cycle, the bulls get active.

So yeah, there's not a lot that we follow with light This questions.

What pieces of gear are you most excited to test out and use this hunting season?

The Bush.

Fucker, you're going to have to elaborate on that.

Is that what you call that little thing?

Fernal Bush, but no fucking Dev and the family got me a Bush fucker for my 40th birthday from Mike Jones and I got it my my birthday was on Sunday last week.

So for my 40th birthday I got that.

And yeah, I'm excited to lob some fucking hopefully not limbs, but tree limbs off with that bad ass bitch.

So you still don't know what Kurt's talking about.

A Bush fucker is like a hybrid between an.

Axe.

And a machete.

And a meat cleaver there.

What you can go on our Instagram and there's a reel with it on there.

It's basically designed to exactly what it says.

Fuck Bush, which is like break trail and cut big logs out quickly.

And it's just something that can be used and utilizing it.

It's it's really just a bad ass fucking almost a weapon.

But yeah, so that's cool for me.

I got a couple.

I have a couple.

So I'll go next on this, but seven mil Backcountry and the new fierces.

I'm super excited to I want to see it hit something.

So that's what I'm excited about.

I want to see this caliber hit something.

I want I'm I am confident behind this gun, so I'm excited to use it.

You know, 20 inch barrel shorter.

So backpacking with it, it's going to be nice little bit shorter barrel underneath the arm, that kind of stuff.

So that that would be my first one.

Yeah, I'm definitely excited with those to see what the impact is going to be.

It fucking it's hard.

It's got some speed behind it.

So #2 for me is the fucking 50 or sorry, the fucking 12 by 50 SFLS I say.

That's my #2 too, so we'll just.

I do.

And you're like, I got more, I got more.

I, I feel like this is going to be like kind of the, the bread and butter of like glassing.

It makes between A10 and A-15, but lightweight.

You know, we were overly impressed with the the 10 by 40 SFLS last year.

Super compact, super clear, very light.

Like you didn't know you're packing them around And if the only thing would be like in you're in big sheep country, the 10 by 40s might just they're all right first spawning, but a little bit more behind them.

Like power wise is great.

And then they came out with the 12 by 50s this year and like, yeah.

So they came out with these 12 by 50s and the big thing is they're not they're they're still compact.

So to put it into context, I run a regular Kuyu vinyl harness and the regular size Kuyu vinyl harness comes with foam inserts.

So I think all they all do.

So they come with foam inserts in the bottom that you put in to set your distance just right.

So the top cap like is secure and it's easy to take on and off 1 handed.

And I had my 10 by 40s, which is a very, very compact small sizes in there.

And I took my 12 by 50s and I took out 1/4 inch foam pad.

Yeah.

To fit them in the same vinyl harness so I didn't have to get the extra large vinyl harness like I have with my fifteens.

They I was pumped that they came with their own tripod adapter.

I'll be honest, like I thought it was sick and it's like locking.

It's very nice.

Like it comes with the stud like so I was said to occur.

Well, it's about time when you spend this kind of money on a set of glassing vinyls, not just like truck vinyls, that you get the adapter that everyone's buying anyways.

Yeah, like when I opened the box and I was like, God damn, there's a fucking tripod down here.

I'm like sweet, 'cause like I had, I bought a cheap one off fucking Amazon.

It was like $8 I think.

Did the fucking trick, I guess.

But like, you know, you had the one with the stud where it comes on and off the outdoorsman style.

Yeah, it is.

And this is pretty much exactly what this is.

So it's fucking slick and but like I had 10 by 42 size conquest for years for for a decade and these things are like they would probably weigh the same or very, very, very slightly heavier, probably not even much, but the size is almost identical.

Like they're buckets, super compact, super light compared to like something like your fifteens that you had right and.

Those are a compact 15 like the Swaros are actually a smaller version of 15 too.

Yeah, well, for sure.

And they make those look big.

Yeah, like the Conquest Fifteens are fucking massive too.

Massive barrels in your head?

Mavens are pretty big and long.

Mavens are big too.

Yeah.

So I feel like the 12 by 50s, you're going to get that light coming in a little bit better magnification.

Like, I mean, we haven't really had a chance to test them out, but we're about to real fucking soon.

OK, so my #2 then I suppose my combo #2 is the Asia front country tripod and head.

Yeah.

So that's like #3 probably for both of us because so far, like, awesome, awesome.

Super impressed with everything.

But we haven't had it on a hunt yet.

So yeah, I really can't wait.

And kind of the combo that technically I haven't really proven out my Zeiss Galvius water.

Yeah, this is the first sheep hunt to go and count rings and age sheep and you know, look, look across cheap countries.

So even though it's not brand new to us, we've had it for a bit.

That's also still on my list of like.

I'm ready to prove that one out a bit more.

I just, you know, like elk hunting where you live, you don't need a spotter.

Like, not very often, you know, where I'm at.

Like, I always packed a spotter in case I was looking across a huge slash.

And I see no big deer.

That's all I would ever use it for is like deer hunting.

Yeah.

In November and but it's like sheep hunting is swatting scope or like Alpine mule deer or something like that.

It's like your bread and butter where you're like looking at lots of animals.

You're judging them from afar, trying to figure out if it's worth walking all the way over the door.

So this is going to be a great test to it So far, just playing around with it at the range, using it like it's super compact, it's short, it's not overly heavy or bulky like some of the other ones.

I think it's going to be.

I think it's going to be really fucking good, but definitely looking forward to like stretching legs on it and glassing, you know, a couple kilometers.

I got to mention my ex OK, four.

I mean, that is I I've been wearing it, but it's the first hunt that I, you know, will have it on and I'm really hoping I can put some meat in it and prove it out.

I don't think it's going to be bad.

I don't.

I also don't think like it's going to be miraculous.

And I don't think there's any backpack that all of a sudden is just so much better at packing out £120 than another, unless you're going to a frame pack.

But then we're not talking about mountain hunting.

So we're talking mountain hunting.

Like, I'm liking it a lot.

It's comfortable.

It probably will be slightly better over the long haul, but I'm excited to try it.

And I, it was something that was on my mind and list for a long time.

And, you know, I kind of got lucky that it was at the sheep show and got it.

So that one's definitely on my list.

Yeah, I'm.

I mean, I'm still rocking the old school Kuyu 78 Pearl it I know it does its job isn't perfect.

Like Devin said, there probably isn't a perfect backpack.

Perfect backpack is a horse.

You really think about it anyway, those things are cunts.

But no, like, yeah, I'm excited because I know you've really looked though deep into like your research on those backpacks before you you knew you were going to buy one before you even got that at the sheep shore.

So I mean, just to see how it how you haul this week.

And if you love it, you know, I would probably I'm I'm going to looking at upgrading soon because the Kuya is pretty Thunder like.

It's it's hauled a lot of loads out.

It's been rallied in the back of a truck in the back of the Suzuki and tied to the back of the quad.

It's it's getting fucking a little bit worn.

Multiple sheepunts, yeah.

Multiple sheepunks.

So it's, yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing how you truly like it so.

I'm trying to think that I bought a couple like you always buy like little trinkity shit too.

Like I'm bad for that.

We're like, oh, I could use that or whatever.

So I got a like they call them plasma arc lighters.

So it's an electronic lighter.

It's windproof, waterproof like for Firestarter.

What I'm saying lighter.

So I'm kind of excited to see how that little fucker works.

It's like a flashlight.

I show Curtis like this rechargeable lighter.

So I don't know, I just want to see what it's like.

It's not a game changer, but I like trying out new gear.

Yeah, nice little things.

My Milwaukee power saw, that's that's on my list.

So that's something where we were tossing up.

Well, I wanted to buy one just because it's sweet to throw in the back of the hunting rig.

It's not very loud.

Nothing's worse than trying to fire up a power saw when you're like, creeping into A and I was.

Thought to go to that like keeping it in the hunting rig and then cutting a blow down out.

Like it's louder, like it's not dead silent, like you hear the fucking motor winding up, but it ain't no fucking God damn fucking still.

Or an Husky, right?

Yeah.

Like it's 6:00 in the morning.

And I, I've had that man where you're just like you're trying to sneak into a block at first light, like who's hunting or guiding?

And you're like, there's a fucking tree across the road like 400 yards, not even 40 yards from the block.

And you're like, and I've like pulled an axe out and chopped the fucking log for 10 minutes.

Like I'm talking like a fucking 20 inch fucking fur tree, right?

And you're like chopping and chopping because you don't want to fire up that power saw.

So like this thing would be if you were within 200 yards of it, you'd probably think it's a mosquito buzzing around your ear.

It's not loud.

It's on the 12 amp battery.

It says it's 150 cuts.

It's got a 16 inch bar on it and I got 2 batteries, 2 twelves.

So I mean am I cutting a fucking cord of love with it?

No.

Am I fucking cutting trail for a little bit?

Absolute fucking loot.

Like you know, So I was thinking for like you guys hanging cameras and stuff.

It's yeah, yeah, that's.

What?

It ain't heavy?

Yeah, you throw it in your backpack.

They control your batter.

It's a different one.

Yeah, it's it's I like it.

I almost bought there's a top handle 1 and I was like, oh, I liked it.

It was a 14 inch bar.

I think like that's super handy for like on a quad or something.

But then I was like, ah, the 16 with the handle.

It's a little bit easier if you're, if you're actually bucking trail.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, having two hands on it a little bit, you're not going to wear out, I think.

So that's something exciting that it was kind of a little 40th birthday present to myself and yeah, that I like.

So we'll see.

It's kind of a repeat one from our elk hunting gear, but the the Pine Princess elk call is still on that list too.

Just trying it out about country.

I am pumped to see it and I always like trying out new calls.

I got a couple new mouth reads too.

Different brands this year.

Yeah, yeah, that's nothing crazy.

But like I was down in the States and there's that Riven brand that is starting to get a bit popular because that Brooks family, he won the World elk call.

He's pretty young buck and he won the World Alcoholic Championship.

So obviously you have your own calls.

So, but I've been playing with them and they they sound like an elk call.

I like trying alcohols.

I'm kind of into that shit.

So I mean, an alcohol that sounds like an alcohol sounds like a pretty good alcohol.

That's good, right?

Like they did the right thing, yeah.

Makes sense, I'm really excited actually.

Fucking Mike Jones after getting the the Bush fucker for my birthday.

He ended up throwing a little nice little knife in with it as a little birthday gift to me, so I'm excited for that one.

But at the same stroke I already told him I wanted to buy one off of them too, so I ended up buying another one off too.

That's like probably how long you think that is.

Dev 3.

And 1/2 inch blade probably maybe.

4/4 inch blade, yeah.

So like, nice little fucking knife for fucking doing some work.

And yeah, we're excited to put both of those to the test on some animals here real soon.

Hopefully, yeah.

I think that's all I got for exciting.

Great question.

Fuck that was probably 2025 minutes of yeah gear talk.

I mean, we could dive into.

A nine hour fucking episode.

Well, I'm going to get 14 hours of driving.

True.

There's a couple things questions still left here.

So how many times do you think you guys will get stuck here?

The rivers are low right now, so that's interesting.

We actually got told the rivers are raging.

So I don't know.

We're hoping none.

Yeah.

Roping none times.

The plan is 0.

We'll shoot for that and then adjust this shit that gets haywire.

We did get a good piece of advice today of stay right somewhere where that probably was going to happen, so.

Yeah, so hopefully that may mean 0.

The river changes every year.

Everyone that's on the river knows that.

Like, I mean, boulders the size of houses don't move, but logs come down, they plug up.

New fucking parades happen.

So you know, it's we're in no rush to get where we're going.

So I think taking our time and like if we got to get out and fucking have a little walk, if things get fucking skinny, then that's what we do.

We got chest waiters.

And so yeah, the plan is 0 fucking sucks, but if it happens, we got winches, we got fucking two big push pulls, we got enough fucking tools to fucking build a house.

So I think we'll be all right, yeah.

Actually same guy asked another question and it's similar to 1:00 earlier.

Are you guys running your best buds boxers on the on trip up north?

Well, these guys are really hung up on the forged boxers.

It's like they're really trying to fucking get us going here, maybe.

We should get a sponsor.

Any Forged in the Backcountry could sponsor come out heavy.

We should work on that.

Jay, you hear that?

Looking for sponsorship opportunities?

Yeah.

OK, good luck out there, gents.

Hopefully Kurt's blood pressure comes down as you drive north.

Is your blood pressure coming down?

Having that beer in Fort St.

John probably spiked it, but as of right now I think she's still humming a little high.

OK, go to road trip, quick and easy meal stop.

Well, Tim Horton's in Fort Nelson, of course.

Yeah, well, Gomer said stay away from Tim Horton's in.

Fort Oh yeah, well, probably a good, good piece of advice.

He gets a sore Tommy pretty easy though.

So pussy.

Yeah, yeah.

I don't know if we stopped at the McKenzie Junction.

Grab some fucking chips.

Chips and a pop and then yeah, I don't know.

Brown social house for some Brown social craft.

House in Port Saint John for some heels and and a pint with a couple of buddies and then yeah had a dirty dirty bird and then flopped off.

So probably grabbed a couple snacks in Fort Nelson and continue on.

Yeah, I don't think we have like a quick easy like my my mom actually packed us egg wraps for breakfast.

So having moms that take care of you in your almost 40s for both of us is key.

Yeah, very key.

Yeah.

God bless him, Yeah.

And that's actually it for questions.

And that's a good time to stop.

So fuck, that was a that's a good episode.

I think it's another hour.

They're answering all those questions.

Geez you fucking Joe Rogan material here.

You guys need fucking half a day off just to listen to that episode.

Yeah, 57 minutes.

I like the listener question episode.

I think we might have to roll that one.

You guys can give us feedback, but we were thinking of if we do this, we could do it for like our gas.

Well, we do it for all sorts of episodes, but just the gas holes episodes, we could get pretty fucking hairy questions on those ones.

So yeah, we got to keep it within the lines a little bit.

But no, it's good.

It's funny.

And you know what?

Super happy, impressed, like the amount of people that have reached out to us in the last like 2 days knowing that we're leaving.

Like I had a buddy from the coast text me.

He doesn't hunt at all and he's like good luck on your trip Matt, be safe.

And then sent me a Brokeback Mountain fucking gift or whatever they are.

You know, like shit like that's funny.

I had, you know, Homer fucking giving me words of encouragement last night.

Like you guys are going to kill this.

Have fun be safe.

So many people have reached out like on Facebook and Instagram.

Just we really appreciate the the kind words guys and you know everyone's always like you need help give me a call.

People I've never met in my life are like this is my fucking in reach number should go sideways enrich me.

I'll come give you guys a hand.

Like we got contacts in fucking Fort Nelson, Contacts in Fort St.

John like so many people.

Someone.

Tell us fucking hey, there's fuel here if you guys.

Yeah, yeah.

Like that's fucking incredible.

And what a community, like, we feel like, yeah, like Kurt said, like, super impressed but super grateful that that is how our community can band together for this shit.

And you know, if you're ever down our way, you know, hit us up.

You guys ever need anything in the Kootenays?

Something comes up, need a hand pack and something out.

I love that shit.

Like I like grinding and and doing it, that kind of stuff.

You need a hand.

You got a truck breakdown like you're in the Kootenays.

Don't hesitate to send us a message on come out heavy and say Dev, like, could you give me a hand?

Because like, the amount of people that are reaching out to us is pretty crazy.

It's amazing, man.

It's like, and then it's people that like we've they've never messaged us before where it's like give a message, there's a message request.

So you like click on it thinking it's a spam message and it's like, hey, like you guys need anything, good luck, blah, blah, blah, right.

Like can't wait to hear the outcome like.

Hope you guys fucking come out heavy like fill the boat with me.

Yeah, so it's it makes us continue doing what we do.

And we appreciate all the listeners and all the people that are following along.

And, you know, it's why we do what we do.

And yeah, like, we're no one's listening.

We're, we're, I mean, we might still be doing it, but probably not.

But it's the fact that all that people are paying attention and listening and following along to our stories and we just appreciate it.

So thanks a lot of people for for tuning in and chiming in too.

All right, well, we'll see you in hopefully 14 days with a bunch of stories.

And if it goes to plan, a boat, boat full of fucking.

Meat desert on my hands, strong like a tree.

There's roots where I stand.

Oh, I've been running from the lawn.

Hope they won't shoot me down so they seem gone asleep.

Try try to catch me.

Holla not to move, try to catch me.