00:00:00 Speaker 1: Hey, what's up? All its people, I'm Tyler Jones and this is the back Country many series from the Element podcast Casey fill them in. Since we're diving head first into the back country hunting this season, we decided to call in some help and talk to some experts that know how to crush it in the back country. So make sure and subscribe and if this is helpful, we'd love for you guys to give us a five star rating. And and I Tunes reviewed absolutely. Now let's get into it because I still have a lot of Mountain House flavors to try before September gets here. Okay, So on the show today, we've got Pete Munich with Stone Glacier and the Goat Aligns. Pete, what's up, dude, Hey, how's it going best? It's going good. We just got our feel of traditional Mexican food for the day, So feeling right. It's it's lunchtime here and uh man, that's what we call back country fuel around here. Some get the whole beans and rice with with some Mexican food. You know. Yeah, it's good stuff. Man. So Pete, uh, as you know we've talked about a little bit, We've got a big time back country hunt coming up this season. We're pretty in experience with this stuff, and we're trying to talk to people that we know from personal acquaintances or people that we see go hard on social media, well not actually hard on social media, but go hard and put it on social media in the back country and get it done. And you're one of those guys. Man, Um, where exactly did you get your start going in the back country and doing all this crazy stuff? Yeah? I uh, I live in Bozeman, Montana. I've been here for twelve years, but I moved here in two thousand and seven to go to college, and that's when I really started cutting my teeth, putting a backpack on and chasing elk um. That's evolved into a lot of different things that I like doing now, from hunting sheep and goats to mountain lion hunting. Um. But I think it all probably started, you know, making that switch from being a white tail hunter and a two key hunter to a mountain backpack hunters probably, and uh my college years starting in two thousand and seven when I moved to Montana. Yeah, that's cool, So you kind of made the same transition that we are working on I mean, we'll never transition from the white tailor turkey stuff, but uh, you know, you kinda can relate to some of the struggles that we're dealing with as far as like trying to figure out this whole like living off your back kind of thing and uh, understanding that what you're toting around in your backpack is what you have to survive on. Uh. So when was your first like true like overnight or backpack kind of thing. Yeah, I started chasing elk with buddies probably, you know, my sophomore year of college, started doing overnights. Um, pretty simple stuff, not staying too far from Hilhoad, but you know, making an effort to stay overnight in areas that we thought we could kill elkin. Yeah. Um, and that's kind of where I started to dip my toes into it. And this is before I you know, I started not the best gear, not the best boots, not the best backpack. But you work with what you got and through the years kind of dial your gear list and things get a little easier and more comfortable as you can experience. Yeah. Yeah, let the think a nice gear across money. That's a reality. Um, But I think in two thousand eleven, I drew a mountain build permit here in Montana. That's when I went all in, you know, as far as mountaineer style hunting and U extended trips at higher elevation and stuff like that, and I just got absolutely addicted to it. So I tried to do that as much as possible. Now. So, uh, we've been talking about backpack hunting some and then you just used a new term to me, and that's mountaineering style hunting. Uh. Is that those differentiate? There? Is that just like a more extreme form of it? Or what is that? Yeah? I guess I guess what I'm referring to when to talk about that is cheap and goat hunting. If that's taking you above the alpine. Uh, maybe often into more dangerous technical terrain that your average deer or elk hunt might not get you into. But um yeah, that's that's where I like it the most cool is that that instance kind of while you are how you ended up at Stone Glacier there? Yeah, it's funny chain of events. You know. I kind of joke that hunting that mountain goat in two thousand and eleven changed my life, and uh, I'll try to tell this story quickly. But I killed the mountain goat and then, uh, for a short time after that, I actually moved to Puerto Rico. Oh wow, I lived in Puorter after I graduated college. I stuck around for a hunting season and I high tailed to Puerto Rico for about half a year. Did you lose your residency when I did? Yeah, well I came. I came back and got it back. But anyway, is I um came back from Puerto Rico. I was homeless. I was living on a buddy's couch. I was twenty two years old. And uh, my mountain goat was finished at the taxider must and I had no where to put it. So I called a popular downtown storm Bozeman, called local boot company, and they've got great taxidermy in their store. And I said, yeah, I got his mountain goat. It's coming back from the taxidermy. It's all finished. It's a local goats shot just outside of Bozeman. There's a there's a magazine article coming out about it. Can you please, how is it for me? And I try to pitch it to him and they said absolutely. So I ended up putting that mountain goat in the front window of Snays in downtown Bozeman's nowhere else for it, and through that, Through that experience, I met the owner of SIS, John Edwards, who was kind enough to offer me my first professional job, which was working with the marketing and sales teams at UM. In my time my tenure at SAYS, I was fortunate enough to meet a guy named Kurt Roscoe who was a backpack design overre in Bozeman thinking about launching a brand called Stone Glacier, and so we at SNAIS became the exclusive retailer for Stone Glacier backpacks for the first year and a half two years of the brand's existence. It's about a year and a half tw years into it. I was working with Kurt on the side, building backpacks at night after work and in my garage and stuff, and uh, there was some momentum to it. So I left my job at SNOWS, came on full time at Stone Glacier, and uh we've been at it ever since. That's bad the bond dude, And so it all comes back to shooting that damn mountain, having anywhere to put them. The American dream dade, that's the American dreams just to get a goat tag much less help it find you a career. You know, that's cool man. I would imagine that now the pack you're using is much better than the pack you used when you packed the mountain. Got at it? Is that correct? Yeah? Absolutely agree with that. State. You're lucky to use the gear we got right now. Yeah, that's cool man. So, um, while we're on packs, you know, UM, let's just make a real general broad question here and see what you do with it. What what makes a good pack? Well, you gotta be comfortable, it's gotta be lightweight, two things I'm going for. Um. So yeah, you know, being comfortable on extended hunts is just an absolute necessity. And then having the functionality of a pack that's designed to carry extreme heavy loads off the mountain, you know, whether it's an elk quarter or a sheet cape. Um, A lot of these hunts there's there's no two trips, you know, like you're you're so far in the back country that everything's gotta come out and one swoops. Um. Having having the functionality of an expandable load shelf and the ability to haul out more than you came in with is a really important Okay, so tell us, uh, I do kind of know what a load shelf is, but for the listener that Matt not might not understand that. Can you explain that a little bit? Sure? So there's internally framed backpacks and externally framed bout the packs, and some people would consider a stone glacier a bit of a hybrid. Okay, that's where the bag is mounted onto an external frame, but it has the ability to separate away from that frame and create a space between the frame and the bag where you would carry your heaviest item, which is often a big bag of meat. So what you've achieved by using a load shelf as you're keeping the heaviest part of your load closest to center of gravity, minimizing the lateral forces pulling you around, and you also didn't sacrifice the internal volume of your bag with bloody meat to get that stuff out of there. I got you achieving two things at once. Cool. Uh So I watched a video on social media the day if y'all kind of explaining this. Somebody there killed a bear and y'all are kind of go on how to do it, and it was pretty pretty cool. Man. I kind of like the uh, the modular way the stone glacier pat kind of wraps things up or whatever. Um, is it uh an essential thing to have that like bottom shelf. I guess you would call it like the true shelf part of it would be like the thing on the bottom that kind of holds everything up or uh. Can is there a way we're like a pack can just have a frame and then you just strap on like the pack part as the meat is like tied to the frame. Yeah. So, um. Stone glacial pacts are designed around the load shelf itself is a panel of X pack fabric that kind of kind of almost describe as like a kangaroo pouch or something in there that wants the bag separates the way you can loosen it up and catches that elk quarter or that bag of meat. Um. But there you know, you might be envisioning old school style frames, like big aluminum rectangles on people's backs with a metal shelf at the bottom. Yeah, I've got one of the original load you know. That's kind of the as the general load shop. Those things are designed for just hauling those big loads off the mountain for a backpack style hunter who needs to keep his gear and clothing and food with him, you know, having the bag in front of the load keeps everything with you. Yeah. Yeah cool. Speaking of bears, Uh, you sent me an email the other day. We're like, hey, dude, we need to move this interview because I found a big bear last night. And I was like, dude, I can't be mad at all. Case he was like, at least this guy is a real is a real deal, you know, like he's hunting. He's not just a saying this guy sit in the office all day. You know, let's just say, let's just say, still have my bear tax. But uh, yeah, No, we're pretty we're pretty proud that everybody that works Stone Gloucier is pretty hardcore hunter. Yeah, everybody here gets after it. Yeah, I think you're seeing less and less up. And you know what else I'm glad is you didn't say big hunter. You said hardcore. I can't tell you how many podcasts have says we've been on when somebody says, yeah, he's a big hunter, will you make kind of like making like the fat guy thing with our hands and laugh about it, you know, silently, gonna be dumb. You gotta be tough, that's right. Hardcore hunters and that's good stuff, dude. Um So earlier you mentioned like, uh a lot of times on these mountaineering style hunts or whatever, like it's a one time in, one time out kind of thing. It's not a going in and grabbing loads and coming back or whatever. So part of that is like being able to make sure that you can haul your meat and then uh have that the bag part of your pack, uh contain all your stuff. So what like how much room do you do you need for a hunt like that in your bag? Yeah, so picking picking a bag, picking a pack. Um. Things to consider would be the duration of your hunt, how long you're going to be out there, and a lot of personal preference on zipper and pocket configuration. Um So I'm a big fan of our sky talas that's a large backpack stub against that's a big backpack, so it's appropriate for the biggest trips I go on. It also has the added versatility of the lid being able to come off in the main bag, folding up and converting down into a smaller configuration. It's whether I'm going out for the day or just going out for a night or two, I'll probably run it in that smaller what we call bivvy mode, and then uh, if I got an extended week long elkash hunt, I can throw the lid on it, stand the main bag up tall and make it work for me. But you know, on average, if our most popular Western style bad option is our sky, so that's our probably most most commonly chosen bag for a guy that's doing you know, the biggest trip I go on as a five six day elk hunt. Um, that is a real sweet spot, and it also has the ability to convert down into a great day pack without the lid as well. Um, but when you start talking about us seven, ten, fourteen day hunts, you need a really big bag. And the main thing that's changing between your gear list between a five day hunt and a fourteen day hunt is food. You just have a we just have a way more food. Average day of food is going away for me at least two to three pounds, So you're talking about thirty pounds of food you're holding on some of these hunts if you're out there for two if you're out there for two weeks, so um, you kind of need need the big bag. And then you know, depending on what time of year you're hunting. Later season hunts you can have more insulating layers and warm clothing, whereas September one elk hunt you can get away with minimal amounts of clothing. So yeah, so variables, Yeah, yeah, for sure. How much How much I guess thought, are you putting into like your daily weight as opposed to how much food that gets you in calories and stuff? Are you just kind of pecking what you need to eat or do you really break it down. I've gone both ways of not, you know, just hastily packed my food as I run out the door for a weekend hunt, and then I've meticulously planned every single day for adulshy hunt before, so I've done both. Um, my biggest problem in the back country is maintaining an appetite. Your stomach is gonna shrink. You're not going to want as to eat as much as you probably should. And this is different for everybody, but for me, I think it's different. For me. I've struggle to maintain an appetite. Um, so I've gotten to the point where I'm going to take fruit that I'm excited to eat and you know, I can stomach and put down. So I used to be uh, I used to not be as nice to myself and I would pack just like nothing but cliff bars, And that's idolizing. Kurt Roscoe, the founder of Stone Glaciers, he won't even carry a stove because he doesn't want it, doesn't want the added weight or so. He's a big bar guy. And I followed in his footsteps for a couple of years and to suffered through it. I can't eat a cliff bar of this day. Nothing against cliff Bar. They make some great products and I used some of their other stuff, but um, just taking stuff that I was excited to eat some whther than that was, like cash shoes or chocolate um or you know, switching it up from trying different brands besides just Mountain House trying you know, backpackers, pantry alpin, their heather chores, just mixing it up and having stuff that I knew I was going to be able to stomach, but at the end of the day, I don't. Yeah, I let that be the first kind of deciding factor when I'm packing my food before the weight. If it weighs a couple of ounces more and I know I'm gonna eat it, I'll take it. Yeah, Yeah, I got you. If you're on a you know, a little bit less intensive a hunt where you're still doing backpacking thing that you have the option of coming back to the truck halfway through, would you do that to save that weight? Uh? If you're saying, if I've got a base camp to kind of ping pong out of. Yeah, So like say, say you can go out and spoke out for three or four days and then look back to the truck and refuel and and you know, maybe grab a goodbye to eat there or something like that. Is that something you think about doing or would you rather just stay back there for the eight nine days? No, that there's a lot of hunts that are but that is very appropriate to do. You know. That's typically like an hunt to a three day rip and then you'll regroup something like a like a sheep hunt or a goat hunt. You're probably gonna stay up on the mountain until, uh the hunt has concluded. But you know, hunting mule deer, hunting antelope or elk or whatever you're doing. Um, you know, I've certainly had plenty of hunts. Would make our way back to the truck to resupply and uh kind of regroup and get back out there. Yeah. Yeah, So, Um, I haven't noticed a lot of pockets on some of the bags that you guys offer. Is that? Um? You know, I've been noticing it seems like more and more people are are loving the simplicity of of a bag like that in many options. And for me, I I I'm semi organized. I'm not like some neat freak or anything, but like, um, I look at packs and I'm like, man, there's nothing on that thing. I don't know where I put my matches or you know whatever. So how do you how do you deal with that? Or what does your system look like? I guess inside the shop? Yeah, you know, by design, almost all Stone Glacier packs are very streamlined. There's not a lot of bells and whistles to them. Um. You know, our most full feature packs probably that Sky tell Us and I say that just because the two sides, zip pockets and the thirty three centers that Besides that, most of our bags are very clean and design So it's a couple of reasons. Um, save weight. When you don't put a bunch of pockets and zippers everywhere, You're gonna keep your weight down. And then Uh. It also allows the end user to kind of customize and organize their backpack with some of our accessory pouches. So from our swing out pockets to our camp pockets, to accessory pockets and hide your holsters, you can kind of set up the pack how you want to run it. So I use a combination of camp pockets and swing out pockets to organize, um, my first aid kit into a swing out pocket. I have a kilt kit in a swing out pocket, which is my tags, knives, electrical tape, gloves and stuff like that. And then in a large camp pocket is kind of my catch off from my toilet treees, my headlamp, my toothbrush, toilet paper, um, all the little stuff I might want in the tent at night, things like that. So for somebody who's from Texas that may not understand what explain what those the swingouts and all that? What is what are what are those different pockets look like? What is the hydro or whatever you said or on that. You know, some of these guys don't understand that lingo very well, you know what I mean. That's so we're just referring to some of the accessories we make you with stone glacier for our backpack. Swing out pocket is about hundred cubic inch semi transparent white nylon pockets, just organizational pouch with a zipper on it. The camp pocket is a big brother to that. It's about three fifty cubic inches semi transparent white nylon pocket with the horseshoe shaped zipper at the top. Um both just organizational pouches. They just waded around in there. There's attachment points throughout the inside of the back Those bags have three quarter inch webbings stubs off of them, and throughout the inside of all of our backpacks there are three quarter inch try slides or attachment points. Is that kind of like a Molly system same kind of thing. Yeah, not not exactly Molly webbing, but you can't daisy chain these accessory pockets and achieve same thing. And uh so, depending on the touch on a couple other popular accessories that people might customize their pack with, depending on whether you drink out of a water bottle or a bladder. If you run an announcement of something called a hydro holster that's gonna put a water bottle on flank, quick access to it. If you drink out of a bladder. There's a hydro sleeve which would house up to a three leader bladder inside your backpack, which you can route the host through the hydro port after that. And then uh, we make other things like rain covers, which are obviously a smart thing to have on extended hunts, load cell dry bags which we recommend using for packing boned out meat in the load shelf. Um, lots of other things just kind of set the pack up exactly how you want it. Yeah. Sure, when in talking about packing meat, you know that's what we all aspire to do, right, So, um, do you you lock the bone at your stuff and put it in a bag, or do you like to just take a quarter? Is taking a bag with a bone in it and haul it. Every situation is different. Um. I would say the average elk we pack out is usually boning quarters. We're usually within five miles of a trailhead and we'll just start It's it's almost a time. Boning an animal out is going to take you an extra hour. In my mind, I'd rather just pony up the quarter and start start working. Start hauling a quarter out. Yeah, but the animal like a sheep or a goat and a really remote, rugged area, those are almost always boned out. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense to take the extra time to kind of you know, no sense in carrying something out that you don't have to. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean I've done a little bit of both. And there's always a bag of meat, you know with the elk that is boned out, you know, max straps and just yeah, hamburger meat and everything, and it always seems like that thing just ends up in a big ball at the bottom of the bag pack and it's just super terrible to haul. Is there a way to kind of avoid that or is there a way that like a load shelf can do that? There is um When you load your load shelf, we recommend taking the bag off the frame and then laying the frame flat on the ground. The step after that, it's important is to evenly distribute the meat vertically up and down the frame sheet. And then when the bag, your actual backpack bag, comes over the meat, it becomes the compression panel against that bag of meat and creing it to the frame sheet. When you sent you down into place, it's going to keep that meat locked to the frame vertically up and down distributing across your back, got you, got you makes a like a sausage up and down your back more than at the bottom. That's cool, that's cool. So um, whenever you're talking about, you know, placing that on your back, do you want that weight distributed from like top of the pack down to your lumbar or where where should you try to make the bulk of the white set? So yeah, properly fitted backpack is going to have the belt anchored on the tipsy with hip bone and holding most of the weight. Um. The other important step is to have your shoulders shops making good, constant even contact across the top and back of your shoulder. But the split, you know, we kind of talked about like an eight percent of the weight locked on your hips and on your shoulders. Now that being said, there's a lot of personal preference in that division of weight. And the first mile often feels a lot different than the seventh. So I might start like that, but then five miles and then you know, man, I just want to get some of this shifted up higher up onto my shoulders, So I might loosen my belt slightly and pull on my load lifters a little bit and transfer the weight up to my shoulders, just to give myself a break. Um, everybody's a little different on that. Yeah, what if you don't have hips, what do you do? I don't. I mean I'm straight up just as tight as you can. So what what about your sleeping situation? Like, I'm interested in what that looks like for you on on a uh some kind of extended back country expedition that you might make, and then also interested in how that packs into your into your pack. Sure, um so use use a fifteen degree sleeping bag for almost everything I do. Um So our chilk cute fifteen degree sleeping bags about a two pounds set up, and that goes with me everywhere. That is often the first thing in my backpack. I'll put that down at the bottom, um, and then with that, I'll have my sleeping pad, which I have a number of. I've got a closet full of sleeping pads, But the one I most often uses an R I want to use X pad E X E D or something like that, and I use those two the most. There's a really popular ones out there, those neo errors and stuff like that. They're kind of crinkly when you lay on them. And sleeping is really important in the back country. If you're not gonna sleep, you're not gonna be able to do much the next day and you're just gonna be dragging ass and constantly falling behind. Um, so sleeping is really important. So I have an inflatable pillow, my therm Arrust that goes with me everywhere. That is an absolute lifesaver. Gone at the days of trying to like sleep on a balled up coat. Yeah, and that that actually makes that pillow alone. It's probably the biggest, the hottest tip I can give you as far as sleeping in the back country. The pillow is a lifesaver. And then uh so that's my my sleeping bab is the chilk fifteen degree and that goes into the bottom of my backpack with my pillow and my sleeping pad. Um. The reason I use a fifteen degree even in colder weather hunts is because I sleep in my clothes almost always. Um, sleeping, I thought I was a weirdo sleeping in a down A nice down bag is that. See, if they're like a convection of and you can dry your clothes off. So if you're kind of wet and you crawl up in a sleeping bag for a couple of hours, you dry off. So um, I've heard guys doing that. Like, what's the extent of how that works? Like if you just get caught in the monsoon on September twelf, Like, is it still a good idea? It is? Yeah, I'm not kidding you. I was caribou hunting in the Alaska Range last August and just got pummeled by rain. And you don't got rain here on the sweating and packing getting a cariboo back to an arstake by myself a multi day thing, and I was just a mess. I mean, soaked to the bone and uh, I curled up in my sleeping bag and dried off my sleeping back. Got a little game throughout that because it's sucking the moisture off of me. But I from a survival standpoint, and it's a very smart thing to do. Man, it sounds so uncomfortable, sounds like the worst thing that I could do in the back country. But I mean, if it works, I understand, and I definitely would probably try it if I was in that situation. But I just want to throw up thinking about it. Well, on that note, do you bring like a rain gear on a back country kind of hunter. Is that something you just kind of deal with? Yeah? Absolutely, rain geers always with me, even in a day pack set up. Um, that's one of those things that's almost never comes out of my backpack. Um, so we have rain pants and raincoat are always in my system. Is that like a is that like cheap frog dogs or is that something really expensive or what I've got quite a few different brands. Um, I've been kind of running some some samples of some stone glacier products for working on that we're excited to introduce everybody to next year. We got a couple of irons in the fire that held that front. Yeah. Well, um that in the combination of gators, you know, using gators and wet grass or loose rock or ever post holing through snow, gators are pretty mandatory on those hunts. Yeah. So, uh, gators are a thing I've I've used a little bit, and I don't know, I think I thought they looked cool. So I got them, and they did look cool. I looked like an elk hunting champion in them, you know, But like I don't know if I really like got a ton of benefit from them and maybe is it just really uh, situationally dependent on when a gator actually is helpful? Is it one of those things were like you wear it and then one day you're out there and man, it was really life saving kind of thing. Yeah. If they're not on my calves, they're usually strapped to the bottom of my backpack. I'll always have them with me if you're going to encounter any kind of snow of any depth. Uh, They're a lifesaver. And then even just like a simple rain shower, all the branches and leaves and grass, if you don't have a gator on, you're walking through a meadow, lower half of your leg is just wrenched. So um, I've always got them with me and often more often than not have them on. Yeah. So speaking of that, are you like a boots guy? Do you wear trail runners or how do you what's your set up on your feet? I'm a leather boot guy. Um, you know, for my days at working at kind of bought into the you know, the eight inch stiff leather boot and I still wear them to this day. A lot of good boot companies out there. Everybody's got different feet and everybody's looking for something you know, maybe maybe weights important to you, or height or stiffness. Um. Personally, I like a taller, stiff boot. Um. It makes side hilling a lot easier, towing in to gain elevation a lot easier. Um. I have a mild insulation on my boots. I almost always run about two hundred grams of insulation and boots. Um. Yeah, but keeping your feet comfortable. Boots are so important. I mean, right after having a comfortable backpack. I think boots are the most second most important thing. Um, because if your feet are gonna get tore up, you're going to have a really bad time out there. What about tracking polls? Yeah, I use them. Um, it's like four wheel drive, most most beneficial. I think when you're packing a lot of weight. Um, if I've got eighty pounds elk meat on my back, um man, I gained so much confidence and stability from having trecking pulls out. That's something I didn't used to use, and now I don't go anywhere without them. Yeah. Is that like? Uh, is there any particular details about a trekking pole that you prefer over others? Yeah? I like I like trecking polls that collapse and you can break them down into smaller pieces and slap them on the side of your path to put them in your pack, and they're just kind of out of sight, out of mind. Um. I like them to be very light weight. There's some only light weight treking pools available today. Um, it's a shame they used there used to be this tool. You know, any any mountain hunting out there pred knows about this thing. But it used to be a tool called a snow scopic and it was a tool made by the brand Petzel. And the snow scopic was in ice axe with a telescoping trekking pole out of the bottom of it. So it was it was awesome. You could uh you know as your trekking pole. You could level a camping site with it, if you needed to make a flat spot for your tent. You could dig for water with it. You could self arrest if you slid off the mountain. It was just the most badass little mountain hunter tool. And they stopped making it. Seems there they're like the Holy grad you know, they're like a hidden gym. No, people that have them aren't giving them up easily. Yeah, yeah, And it's it's funny how Um. A lot of times you think products are expensive when they come out until they cancel them and then see what right? Yeah, no kidding, man, no kidding, But no, that's cool. I I've never done the trek and pole thing, and I think definitely this year I'm going to have them with me. I don't know how much I'll you know, I guess it's just like anything else, you kind of need to kind of see how it fits to your system or whatever. And I'm just I'm still developing my system, you know, so. But I think that especially the heavy loads on your back. You know, it's funny. We're flat landers, right, and you think that like the hardest thing would be gaining elevation. But I think for me, the descent is so much harder than the US And it might not feel like kid at the time, but it's a lot harder on your legs, and I think that those are really coming handy there. It has a real quad burner coming. You might not uh lose your breath, you know, going uphill you're just constantly trying to catch your breath. You're not doing that going downhill, but those your quads are gonna oh man, yeah, that's where mine were given out going into the Black Canyon. You know, it's just straight down. We definitely could have used them there. Um, what about what about your water system? Is that? Is that going to be a bladder system or analogenes scenario? Yeah, kind of combination too. I don't uh, personally, I don't like drinking out of a bladder. Um. I don't like the the mouthpiece and the hose and stuff. It always tastes like plastic. Man, I hate it. And in any type of cold weather, which we get into real fast here in Montana, Um, the hose freezes. It gets ruled out pretty quick to where you have to have a water bottle. Um. But what I do carry our large bladders. I've got like a six leader ms R bladder that I'll use for haul and water. So I'll use bladder systems to carry a lot of water. Between my two knowledgens and that bladder, i can all like eight leaders to camp and then I'll just leave. I'll have water dot camp. Um. Is that bladder just sit in your pack on your on your bag and everything or how does that? Yeah? So it's usually empty. I've usually got at empty, I get it full. I'll just haul it to camp, coming off tree and just lives there. Um, it's just kind of a backgroup. Yeah. So are you a fan of like the you talk about hauling it back to camp? Are you fan of what I guess you called baby style hunting where you pack up everything that morning and head out or do you like to kind of go out there, set up your camp and then hunt on radius is from there? Yeah? I like. I like being mobile, Yeah, being able to move as I go. That being said up more, you know, more often than not, I'm probably not taking my tent with me in the morning, probably getting in setting up my spike camp, leaving my tent in the morning, and returning to it at night, and then you know, maybe moving every couple of days, but not every night. We talk about busy hunting. Uh, that is what I when I hear that term, I think of sleeping in a buvy sack. So not having a tent with you, but a baby system to go over your sleeping bag. Um, I'm too claustrophobic for that stuff. I've never been a baby guy. I never never will be. Tents are light and tents are lightweight enough. I'm just not a baby guy. Um, so, yeah, the three types of camps, because you got the baby camp, which I'm not doing, Spike camp, which taking my my fourth season tent with up in the back country and returning to it every evening and moving every couple of days. And then like a base camp style hunt where you might have the comforts of you know, a truck nearby and you can come in and out of there and resupply really easily, live very comfortably, you know, something like that. It's a good terminology and stuff that we don't we're not exposed to all the time when we talk hunting and we talk about tree stands and you know, pinch points and all these different things in the whitetail woods and and uh, we don't get to talk about baby camping what that actually means, you know. So it's good to know for us. Um, what's your what's your first aid kit look like? Yeah, Adventure Medical Kit is the company who made it. I have since kind of customized it a little bit. So, Um, honestly, I'm prepared for more catastrophic injuries. UM, got some supplies for that, but the most common thing I need out there is often uh like band aids, like cut my hands and stuff like that. Um. So the most common thing I'm reaching into that first aid kit for a band aids. So I carry a lot of band aids. Um. But I've also carried a small bag of quick clot uh if I was to have some kind of gnarly compound fracture falling off a cliff or something. Um. And the probably the most important thing I carry as far as safety is my Delora men Reach, which is a SS button. So um being able to call a helicopter. And if things go really awry, isn't that it's a nice piece of mind. Yeah, it's gonna be kind of intricate, and if you don't really know, it's fine. But on those band aids, like band aids just fall off like a really easy right, like I new construction for living in it, it adn't even worth putting one on. Right. Have you found like a system or are you making your own like with Luco tape or something, or how are you keeping a band aid on your finger or on your hand or elbow or whatever happens? Yeah? I guess, Um most of the times I'm just like fixing up my fingers for banging them around. Um. So you get the full rap out of the band aid they're often staying on. Yeah, yeah, I agree with you that it can be a battle. Definitely. So favorite Mountain House meal. Oh that's a good question. Uh Um. I like the simple ones. Um like the mac and cheese, just put down over and over again and calories and it tastes good. It's easy to eat. Um. I'm also a fan of the chicken breast and mashed potatoes, which is really simple. Um, two grilled chicken breasts and instant mashed potatoes and just kind of feels like you're not a dinner or something. Yeah. Yeah, not crazy about the rice ones. I don't really eat those lasagna Mountain House lasagna shout out. But my lasagna, I love it. It used to be uh as a mountainslasagna has got a bad rap, man you got. They used to make it with this cheese that's stuck to your fork, Like they were like it was the end of the world. Um. People complained about it a lot. It was like people like, I like the lasagna, but the damn cheese sticks to my fork, And I, ironically enough liked it. I didn't have anything else to do, sitting their own camp like cheese off my fork, pick it off there and it was I liked it. They have since changed it. The cheese they're using the Mountain House Lasa on you today is different and it does not stick your fork anymore. That might be a good thing or dout thing to tend it on. What you like, flavor is the same. That's funny. Does it bug you do not? Okay, So back to the mac and cheese? When does it bug? You do not have meat in the meal? Uh? No, not necessarily. I mean I don't have to have meat every single meal, Um, but I do try to integrate it every other day at the very least. Yeah. You know, something I carroll almost always a jerky with me. It's jerky or snack sticks or pepper sticks or anything like that. So I'm guess I'm getting meat throughout the day from stuff like that. Yeah. Um, Pete, You've given us a lot of information, man, But I was gonna see if you had one, just like primo tip for just making bad country life better. Yeah, you know, uh take it kind of already touched on her, but all pretty highlight taking food that you're going to be excited to eat. Um, those the small victories throughout the day, you know, being excited about your snacks and keeping yourself well fed and then making sure you're comfortable at night and sleeping well. And I do that. You know that my pill I give my pillow so much credit. I slept on you know, an empty backpack, were baled up clothing for so long. You just your neck gets in a weird place and you sleep, you don't sleep well. And yeah, I'm sleep well and eat well. Uh, take care of you, take care of your feet. Um, you think you're getting a blister, take care of it, nurse it, don't don't ignore it. Yeah, but just being prepared mentally and physically. You're not gonna get in that position if your boots already broke in, and you know, if you're already conditioned for the hunt and ready to go, So just be prepared for it. Yeah, makes sense, Eat well, asleep. Oh, I kind of try to live by that. So don't care of that into the back country too. And uh, I have thermo rest pillow written down in my notes now, so you've been raving about that thing. I'm gonna check it out. But yeah, dude, you talked about how the goat hunt changed your life, and uh, I believe it because you are the founder of the go to lines? Is that correct? That's right? Yeah? Is the go to lines the proper term? Or is the Rocky Mountain go to lines? Or what's the what's the Rocky Mountain go to lines? Rm G got you? Okay? So what's rm G a doing for goats man? Yeah? RMG is the only UM wildlife conservation organization focused on North American's mountain goats. So, uh, we started in thousand, I believe, and UH just kind of grew out of my personal passion for those wild animals and their wild places they lived. And uh, I'm a proud member and strong supporter of the Wild Sheep Foundation, and I can quickly learned that there just wasn't a counterpart for for the mountain goat. So it kind of started as very grassroots beginning with orchestrating back country volunteer projects to assist regional biologists with population counts, which are then used for making management decisions on how many tags should be in an area or not being an area. UM And now today the organization is quite large and uh fruitful, and we do everything from fund helicopter time to pH d students, field work, and everything in between. So we still stay true to our roots and host back country volunteer projects across North America every summer. Um. But yeah, the organization is definitely matured and we're fortunate to be able to financially back research and relocation projects, helicopter time, grad student work, field research, and everything in between. So yeah, that's all going on. That's cool, man. And honestly, uh, if I hadn't found go to lines on Instagram, I would have never known that. Um the Sheep Foundation didn't encompass goats. Like I know that probably sounds so like amateur of me or whatever, but it just seems like it would be one of the same, right, And I understand why it's not now, But like before, I was like, oh, goats are good, you know, like they got them, you know, give credit where credit is due. Wild Cheap Foundation is our most our most valued affiliate in the world of conservation. Um. Yeah. Their their mission is for the conservation of the four species of wild sheep in North America, and Mountain does not fall under that. Yeah, but they do see a tremendous amount of value in US as we do them and Uh, proud to call him a close partner. So how can you go doing across the landscape? Man? Mountain goats doing well? Um, we have roughly a hundred thousand mountain goats in North America. You know, roughly half of those living in British Columbia. UM, mount goat is doing well on a continental scale. There are some smaller battles being fought and some some isolated populations like Western Montana. A lot of our native populations are not doing great and declining um in kind of a mysterious way. And then on the flip side, you have areas that have so many mountain goats like Kodiak Island that they're encouraging the harvest of females. So um, kind of a diverse spread of of the mountain goats battle and story right now. But across continent we're doing well, and I believe the Rocky Mountain Goat Alliance is doing good work and going to ensure that future of that species from generations a lot of us to enjoy. Yeah, that's cool, bros. So if somebody wants to enjoy the hunt for a mountain goat, I know you're probably gonna act to ask this a lot, But just what's your best shot? Is it you just pony up the money and go buy tag up north somewhere, or should you play the points game? You know, I would play the points game, and I certainly would have my name in the hat. And I do have my name in the hat several Western states. Yeah. Um. That being said, if you don't want to wait and you want to go out hunting, and there are plenty of affordable options um throughout Alaska, British Columbia is going to be a little bit higher premium costs, and that's because the goats are bigger, um. But places like Kodeyak Island offers tremendous hunting opportunity. You don't have part of that island, you have to draw the tag. Part of that you don't. So you know, the name Kodiak also goes with a bear that it would probably wig me out real hard. So yeah, joking aside the bear country thing, it would be. I mean, that's talk about a whole another consideration that we never have to worry about. There's a reason that I never hunted north of Colorado, and it's probably so now. But that's cool, man, that's great. So Pete, you're a guy who lives it, does it? Uh? You make you you're living from outdoor stuff. So we'd like to give you an opportunity to tell us, like where can people find out more about Stone Glacier and all the cool products you all have going on? Man? Yeah? Absolutely, Um, you can find us on every social media platform and stone Glacier dot com. Um, you guys got any questions about gear back country hunting, um tochtical use of our stuff, please do not hesitate to contact us based in Bozeman, Montana, and uh, we can be reached straight here at our shop four oh six or zero four zero six for one. Just info I n f O at stone Glacier dot com. Dang, dude dropped the phone number, man, Like, that's that's next level ready for some customers. Score. That's right and bring it on. That's awesome, dude. We'll be sure and linked to all that below, both the goat lines and the Stone Glacier stuff. Looking forward to seeing some of that new more apparel kind of stuff that you were talking about, man, And that'll that'll be kind of neat. It's kind of cool to see another player kind of entered the game on that stuff. Um, anyways, Pete, thanks so much, dude. It's been great. Uh. It's cool to talk to somebody who who's kind of a younger guy like us and his man. You've been getting after it for a while, you know, Like you said you were twenty two and had a goat mounted like allie. Man, that wasn't that. That's for sure? You know. Man, that's cool. Pete. Well, hi, dude, thanks so much for sending some time with us. Dude. Yeah, thanks guys so much for having me appreciate it. Sure, yeah, no problem, man, We'll talk to you later, all right, see you. Man. That was some killer info. If you found this interview helpful, be sure and leave us review below and comment what you thought was the most helpful tip from this episode. For sure, make sure you also follow us on our social media your platforms Facebook and Instagram, and also subscribe on YouTube so you can see how these hunts turn out. Remember, this is your element living Net. They're waiting the whole lot for that.

Save this episode