00:00:02 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your home for deer hunting news, stories and strategies, and now your host, Mark Kenyon. Welcome to the Wire to Hunt podcast. I'm your host, Mark Kenyan in this episode number two hundred and thirty seven, and today I am joined by First Lights Director of Conservation and public Relations, Ryan Callahan, and we're talking about the elk hunt we just went on in Montana over the past week and all the adventures that went along with it. All Right, real quick, before we get to that, they'll just want to give a big shout out to our friends over at Lacrosse Footwear for the support of this podcast. And if you're not already using Lacrosse products, they are definitely worth checking out if you are a white tail hunter and you need some new boots. The rubber boots the Lacrosse are putting out there are the best I've tried, at least up to this point. They've been working great for me for almost two decades now. You can get them in many different camera patterns, you can get them in many different levels of insulation. They are about as sent free as you can get a boot. Because of the rubber construction, they are as waterproof as you can ask for because of that same rubber construction, and they're really comfortable. They've been able to find a great way with a lot of their boot models to mold it well to your foot. Makes it easy to hike around in these things, but still have the proper strength that you need to you know, walk on tough ground, to be in muck, to be in snow, whatever it might be. They just seem to cover just about everywhere I've taken them. As I've mentioned, I've used the Lacrosse Arrowheads and the Alpha Burly Pros have been happy with both. So if you are in need of checking out some new boots, you can learn more at Lacrosse Footwear dot com. And now to the show. All right, welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought to you by Onyx And I'm sitting in Montana in a truck on a mountain next to Ryan Callahan. Ryan, we had a snowy cold morning. Huh yeah, man, first, like very cold morning. How cold do you think it actually wash? Mid twenties, twenties somewhere in the twice yeah, if not, maybe even lower. Because we're it's mid day now and we're down where there is no snow and it's thirty six. It was frosty. Chili felt good. Yeah, I did impressively cold. Yeah, it felt like something could happen. It did. Um, we're out here in Montana and we've been elk hunting, and Ryan, I was hoping to kind of run through the story since I've been out here, what what what I did before I met up with you and and what we did together, and then, Um, I wouldn't mind hearing a little bit about your elk hunts ahead of this. You're telling me some stories about your early season action. I wouldn't mind hearing about some of that again. But I also want to make sure we touch on a few things about the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Is that something you're up for chatting about two? Yeah, absolutely, good timing, all right, Yes, this is primo timing. So I guess that we talk elk first. This is the first time up hunting elk in two years. Well, I took I started hunting elk in two and then one every year for four years or five years after that, and then took last year off because I did that Carabra hunt. So this is good to get back out on the Elk woits I was missing it. Um, but it's kind of a short trip, yes, yeah, um, but you know, good good thing to remember is this is like longer than a lot of folks is average ELK trip. You know. Yeah, I mean I know so many people that are you know, they're lucky if they get out for a weekend. You're saying, locals, local folks. Yeah, yeah, well, I guess you're right. I feel we were talking how I feel like so many of my all of my elkns. It's always a great, big production, right, It's this big trip. All this planning goes into it. It's this long time period that you look forward to all year. It's gonna be so different for you or anyone who lives around the stuff where it's like I'll go out for a night, or I'll go out for Saturday afternoon and yes, yeah, yeah, ripping out after work as fast as you can and uh, at least get into the spot that you want to hunt, you know, and then give it a good solid morning and if it doesn't seem like it's gonna turn on, you know, maybe bail that whole weekend and go get your all your chores done and all the your responsibilities taken care of, and you kind keep tabs on it and hope to get out when things really happening. Um, you know that that was something that it was very familiar to me, not all that long ago. I feel like I feel like being an out of stater or when you hear about folks talking about how you can find public land out these days, and it always sounds like you gotta get ten miles off the road, you have to be way back in the middle of nowhere. So I will always kind of have this assumption. I feel like a lot of other people that haven't having out kind of very much, that live out on the other side of the country, have the same assumption that you need to come out here for some expedition and you need to be back there fifteen miles. But when I was heading out here, you know, chatted with you, you know, you pointed me towards a spot that I should check out to start, and You're like, oh, yeah, just drive down this road. People just drive around bugle and then go chase him right off the road. And that's something that kind of wouldn't even thought was possible. Yes, well, you know, it's all I always talk about like having a lot of different tools in your tool kit, right, and so every area is different. And you know this is um where we're sitting right now, there's a lot of like standing lodgepole pine country. It's really thick timber um and that you know, the animals use the roads a lot um and um. Yeah, so I mean that's that can be an effective tool um to locate and maybe figure a spot out and then then you know, get the backpack on and and and go in there. Like we were talking about, I had, uh a friend of mine who never I never saw him once wear a backpacks, stuff up bottle of water and it's you know, military surplus uh cargo pants and that was his whole whole kit, you know. And all he did was, you know, he operated solely within a mile of the road. Yeah. I guess it comes down to what you were talking about the other day, just the value of mobility. Yes, I mean, you kind of It's interesting. This is the same thing with white tailed deer hunting. Very often it's so easy to you pick this by your in hunt and once you pick, once you make that decision, once you kind of prepare for that if you just are stuck in that rut and you're not willing or able to adapt, and you can very often be stuck in a bad place. So like when we backpack in for these elk counts have done in the past, we've kind of been stuck. We could have pulled up, but we never did because of all the work it took to get in there. So you're kind of in this one drainage and if it's not happening there, you're kind of s oll But it seems like this this other way of going about it that you're talking about in certain situations that seems to make a lot of sense. Check out a lot of different areasun till you find where they're at. What how do you can you walk me through kind of what that would look like like, how many different places are, how far back off the main road or ian, what's like the details of how you go about that kind of mobile elk hunt, the way you approach it. Yeah, well, you know, there's um a couple of different techniques s um, but you know, you know, obviously it works better when you're in some bigger chunks of national forest where um, you don't I guess, don't get stuck on trailheads. Um. An official designated trailhead isn't your only means of accessing the Elk Woods? Right? Um? And you know hit stop primarily when I'm checking out new areas. Um. You know, in the evening primarily um that last hour um and into the dark to all stop bugle off the road, listen, move on, stop bugle off the road, listen, move on, um. And it's it's about locating, it's not about hunting. Right. So you look, kid, you look at the map and you're like, Okay, I think that people came from about here, but it's now it's nine o'clock at night. I'm willing to bet that that animal moved off of this ridge and it might be heading this direction. So maybe in the morning I'll figure out how to be on that ridge somehow. Um. And then you know, the backpacking version of that is. UM. You know, I'll try to be I'm never like an ultra light person, but I try to just pare things down as small as possible. So uh, no stove, no tent um. You know, if the weather is pretty inclement and I'm by myself, a tarp is about all the shelter I'll bring UM, and I'm just kind of cruising and calling, cruising and calling, cruising and calling UM. When I do locate ELK, I have the ability to stay on them until I can kill one, right, because you're keeping your camp on your back, because campus on my back the whole time. Yeah, that was that was something we did this time too. That was different than what I've done the past. I want to talk about that too, but um, but I guess basically, if we rewind the tape a little bit, what you talked about in the beginning is kind of how I started out. Because you couldn't meet me for a day, so I came out and just thought, all right, I'm gonna try to find something and make a move on something quick. So I drove around a bunch of these National Forest roads and stop bugle drow around, stop bagle drow and check trail heads, try to see where there are other trucks and stuff, to try to figure out where other people. I figured that was a good starting point, a void where there's a bunch of other people. So to your point, the one main trail head that we were near, there was three trucks and another truck and a horse trailer, so everyone kind of congregates around that, right. Um eventually found what I thought was decent looking out country that he had to go up this big steep ridge to get too. But it was kind of dark, timber, and some scattered meadow as long as ridges. So that first, I think it was that that first evening I just got in there. I all right, if I can get up there high, maybe I can see something, maybe I can hear something in these drainages way back there. At least have a starting point, you know. Um. So I hiked up the top of that ridge, got way up there, could see into almost three different drainages, did little locator bugles along the way every once in a while, didn't hear anything. Sat on that ridge, glassed a lot of country, didn't see anything, Um, but it looked like good enough country that it might be worth checking out that general area again. So the next morning I got up early, and I talked to a guy the night before, another hunter was in the area, and he'd mentioned that they've been there for days. I can't remember how many days, but a handful of days, and they hadn't heard a single bugle, and I hadn't heard a single bugle. So I kind of had assumption now that maybe like the locating tactic might not work as well for me, like bugling from the road or bugling all over the place. So I thought, Okay, I just need to put some miles back in there and try to see this tucked in drainage. I've been looking at the map. So I came in from a a different access point, but heading towards the same different or same general direction that I was at the first step. Hyked back in there, calling every once in a while, but I didn't hear anything. I came over this ridge that was back ridge towards this final drainage I was heading into about three miles off the road, and I was walking on the side hill of the ridge right where the timber met this little meadow, so right along that edge, and I come around a corner and I see an elk standing out there, maybe a hundred fifty yards away. I just freeze, and I'm trying to sick. Is he's staring at me? This is this elk staring at me, And I can see his head turning facing the other way. So I dropped down to my knees, pulled with buy nose and can see it was a decent bowl. Um. I think it was a five by five, and um, that was encouraging to see a bull. But as I've got my bonos up looking, I noticed there's a cow standing behind him and she's looking right at me. So I think that I had only seen him. And I dropped down because I thought he wasn't looking at me, so I thought I was safe, But I bet you she was behind him. I couldn't see her. She saw me kneel down, so she's staring at me. The bulls get his head down now feeding and then she barks, and then a calf jumps up behind her, and calf runs down the hill and then she runs down the hill, and then eventually he followed, and that was exciting to see a bull. And at that point I thought, maybe, you know, he didn't he didn't run. He like fed for another twenty seconds and then turned and just kind of walked down her following. So I sprinted down the mountainto the timber. I'm like, well, maybe I can get close enough into the world, and they hear some crashing then trout a couple of cow calls, and maybe he would be another cow um. So I did that, but I never caught up with him and never could hear them and never spun my calls, and that was kind of that. I kept hiking, exploring this new area. But I have yeah, many times I've been like, well, it's game over, and somebody wants to try this very low percentage success, last ditch effort, and I've seen it payoff, you know, and I'm like, no possible way this is gonna work, so it is worth trying. So so the sprint sprint into the woods? Yeah, would you have would you have done that? Or would you have said she barked there out of here, bail or what would you have done that scenario? Yeah? For me, I would have I would have just chilled him and like, all right, I'm gonna give these guys some time or I'm gonna go find other Elk Yeah yeah, okay, yeah, Because I mean a big part for me too is you know, I'm pretty spoiled. I get a lot of days in the Elk woods, and and I like my situations as much as I like my Elk red. So I'm like, I want that bowl vocal and I don't want them trying to step on top of it, right, um, and so I'll mess around with them until I can get that to happen. Typically, man, you are spoiled. Yes. So then I went up and met up with you and we had it off to a new area. Yes, and we're again looking for that type of snare you like, Yes, and um, so yeah, this is kind of like, um, a zone that you know, very confident there's elk in there. We pulled a couple of bulls out in the past, um, but it was still you know, kind of that road hunting scenario right where it's camps on back. We're doing, um, quite a bit of calling. Um. You know. My theory um is that these elk are always talking. Sometimes you just gotta be right on top of them. And you know, I'm not ripping like giant, huge bugles. It's more conversational, like um, confidence inducing bugles, I would think. So, so what does that actually? I mean, obviously you can't make this sound, but just like a high squeally short bugle kind of thing, or how would you describe your locator? Short and not like piercing And then didn't seem like you didn't do like any junk afterwards, not a lot of grunts or glunks or chuckles or anything at least. Yeah, yeah, and just just trying to um. It's more like, you know, this time of year, the rets on elk are moving all over the place. Elk are getting beat up and pushed into different herds, different drainages, people pressure, pushing alk around, and you know, for me, it's paid off to just have that more like everything's great with the world type of bugle. Not I'm intimidating you. I'm trying to find somebody else type of bugle. I'm looking for a fight, I'm looking for ladies. It's more just like our little groups doing just fine. Yeah, I feel like I know I was telling you this that we must maybe was missing um the boat on this a little bit because we got so call shy where we hunt in Idaho, because we we assumed that any bugling was sending these elk the other direction. So we we stopped bugling all together. We did zero calling, except for if we heard a bugle and we got closer to that bowl than we tried a little with cal calling, and that was all we did because we were so worried about the pressure. But from what it sounds like, we maybe we could have got away more. Yeah, it's it's really hard. It's really hard to get in this mental space of um playing people more than elk. And and yes, sometimes that is the right call, but more often than not, UM, when I gotta remind myself like, um, there's some absolute dumb ass luck involved. But I've very consistently been an l killer and you just need to go hunt and kill elk and not worry about the next dude in the drainage. So UM, you know, I'm sure there's some folks that would argue with that. Again, there's situations where you absolutely do need to play the people like they've been sitting on elk that have been coming out of the same betting zone and they just sit there and on the same ridge top and rip bugles and rip ugles and rip bugles. Um, those elk could probably figured out not to not to even recognize those things. Yeah, I mean I but you know, it's an odd thing. Like I was staring at a you know, a very large herd bowl in Idaho, um, a couple of weeks ago, and you know, I'm two fifty yards from him. I have cows behind me and in front of me, it should have been like a pretty darned good situation to get this guy pissed. And I did like three huge bugles, you know, two fifty yards, but everybody was on their feet. Um, my mind should have been close enough. And uh, he didn't respond or even look at me till the third bugle. What and then what did you do? Then he scooped up his cows and got out of there. Yeah, yeah, but you know so I think that particular bowl is was just in the mindset of like, you know what, the red's not really happening. He wasn't. I've been watching him for a while. He wasn't picking up cows actively. They were basically coming to him. And I think really his strategy and and this is something I very much believe in, is there's a lot of bulls out there that they know be going at tracts attention from you know, a variety of predators of course, but also just those other bulls, and they're like, well, why would these ladies are coming to me? Why would I tell everybody about it and make my job harder? Do you do you? So that's like that's the most difficult scenario than for Hunter. Right when you've got a bull like that or all the bulls like that, which sometimes it seems like recently here, Yeah, and that has been That's where we're in my past altcining trips, that's where we've struggled the most, or maybe I should say the other way. The only time we found any successes when they're talking a lot. Otherwise we struggle. UM. And what we've done in the past when that has happened is we just walked around and glassed, walked around and glass and called a little bit, you know, like I mentioned a little bit of kyl calling, but UM, it seemed like that's kind of what you do too, based on Yeah. So yeah, I'm sorry to go back like the new spot. Then we went into after we met at UM. You know, we we worked UM a variety of like high and low ridges, UM, and we were basic. I gotta I gotta jump in and say that. UM. I have always al khinted with like other friends from Michigan and in in Iowa. So when I go on these trips with my buddies locally, and I told you this yesterday, but I'm like the mountain goat in my friend group. So I was like jeez, Marks had these long legs. I was hiking Safari. You never stops for breaks, blah blah blah blah. But now I'm hiking with with you Ryan, and you're going up this first ridge and it's I don't know how high we went up? How long? Was I camp? Full miles a decent chunk of elevation game and not a single stop for a breather. The whole time, I'm just thinking, ma'am, I like it when I'm the one who gets to be leading the way, and that feeling like I was dragging. Ask oh you did great? That that's not a fun ridge either. I was like, this is a long ridge. Usually I'm I'm waiting for people behind me. And now I realized I don't want to be the one that someone's waiting for. Like in my head like, do not stop, do not make Ryan waite for you? Oh no, yeah, you know. Unfortunately, like I've definitely like clicked into this mindset where it's like, no matter, just disconnect your feet from your body, let him do the work. And the only thing that's going to make this long steep ridge more painful is stopping, because it's never gonna get over yeah, and that's kind of clicking to that mode when I'm packing meat out too. It's like, just keep the wheels turning at all costs. It is such a mental game. It has to like you said, you have to disconnect your mind from your legs and just like go into some other space and just like be an autopilot. Almost, yes, exactly, because if you get if you get in your head and you're like, oh this is miserable, I'm so tired, then you're then you're just going down to fast. Absolutely. So we kept cruising and really we're like, Okay, I know there's elkin here um. There's always elkin here um. But everything that we've been hearing um from friends that we bump into and stuff, I've been like, there is no talking going on. So despite the no talking that we were experiencing firsthand, we were cruising and looking for sign um because you know, we get a lot of success um, you know, killing bulls that come in silent and and but you know, I'm not gonna like stop and set myself up for that success unless I can find fresh sign. Yeah. Can you can you walk through what that specific fresh sign was that you were looking for, because I was really interested to understand what was going through your head as we were hiking around all the time, Like what what was enough sign or fresh enough sign to make you say, okay, yeah, this is an arraybaty to focus on more than just like a single bowl track coming out of the timber, like ideally there's some back and forth and multiple animals. Um, that all looks relatively fresh, you know. Unfortunately, when we were finding is what I would refer to as historic elk sign, not current elk sign. And what do you think a few weeks old? Yeah, yeah, yeah, and but a lot of it, a lot of it um, which yeah, man, it was just like, um, you know, that was the spot the boys and a handful of cows were hanging out in and then once the season started getting going, I think those cows probably pitched off into a different drainage and the bulls may lingered a couple of days and then followed, you know. Um. But so you know, it's nice having like the fresh rubs around, but those balls can travel so much during the route that I don't put like a I don't get super jacked when I see that. Is there anything like with white tails? Something we see a lot is you're gonna see um, increased rub activity closer and closer to their bedding areas. When you find like a buck betting area like just littered with rubs, like we're in it, do you see anything like that? Yep, absolutely absolutely, but again like a little people pressure, predator pressure because it is so close to the bedding area like that can be red hot the day before and you just missed it. Or they you know, they picked up uh, you know, a cowin into asters in the next freaking county and it seems like they're gone. So what I want to see is ideally U scat that I can just be know, no question that just happened. Um, like a real elk smell before. It's like crazy ammonia elk um. And some back and forth tracks would be like the the Holy Trinity, right um that are also like fresh um and yeah, a lot of like this super dry country that I hunt. You know, it's it's pretty darned easy to see what a fresh elk track is. Yeah. So if we had been hiking along on our first day and we ran across that, so up until this point, we've been hiking, glassing, bugling, hiking, glassing, bugling from ridge to ridge, checking all these things out. But now let's say we got to the spot you found this Holy Trinity assigned. What would we have done differently at that point? Well, at that point because that never really happened. It never happened. Um. You know, most of the time you can unless you're in like again like some of this lodgepole stuff where it doesn't really seem to look like there is, um like a defined betting area or defined like well, yeah, of course they're going to be on this bench or working through the saddle, unless you're in a spot like that. You know, I am looking for those obvious like okay to me looking at this hillside, like they have to be in that draw. So here's the sign. That's where they're coming out onto, like the exposed ridge at night to feed and and mess around and and get into that running activity. Um. This is kind of like the area that they're using, um most of the time for me, because I I'd like to throw caution to the wind. Is I would slipping in there on that same trail, get as close as possible to the betting zone. Um. And you know, and and and that's about the most that's the time that I'm the most quiet in the elk woods, because when I'm like, okay, I know they're betting right here. I was just two yards away ripping a bugle and nobody responded. So now I'm gonna be You're like pretty darn quiet. From a calling standpoint, you're saying, and from a walking standpoint like yeah, but not like my boots off or anything, but just being a little more. I'm not gonna go crashing through brush. I'm slipping around it. Um and then uh, you know, and paying attention to the wind the whole time. And then I'll set up, um, you know, I'll have my bottom my bow m in my front pocket so it's a vertical and I can rest it would rest my arm and sit there and call and do you try to get close enough that you're actually seeing like a betted cow or something. Sometimes sometimes that's too close. Most of the time, most of the time you don't need to be that close. So you're just in the timber, you're in the dark stuff. You've got to feel that there's somewhere on this ridge your yards. Yeah, I mean you're definitely within a hundred yards. Yeah. So then you're set up and do a little calling. Yep, and it's a little calling. So one call this is a calcol calcol, like wait a little bit, a couple of alcohols, and then I'll wait for half an hour and then I'll make another calcol, A couple of calcols um. And you know, it's definitely time dependent. During the day when I found these things, all right, because you don't want that wind to switch on you. But then all do like a really like very very chill, don't mind me type of bugle that says, I'm I'm a little bowl. I am in here with these cows, and I do not want to screw up this situation. And a lot of times that's when I'll get like a grunt or a chuckle out of that timber and that's the bigger bowl likely that says, what's this punk doing in here? It's like, I like the cows. And then I'll just go back to cow calling and again like very sporadic, and I get a lot of success with that bowl standing up in the middle of the day and coming to check that stuff out. Not a lot of people do that kind of betting here sneak, do they? I feel like that's it's high consequence right, right, because you blow up the betting area, just like with white tails, it's like, well, you just screwed up their safety zone. And so a lot of people would say, well, why don't you just stay on the ridge where you know they're coming out to feed? Um, And you know the answer sometimes is well, I know this is a press trud area and that's where the people think comes in. And it's like if I don't get him today, um, you know, this betting area doesn't really look like a betting area. It looks like a place that you can just walk through and no problem, and and somebody might do that in the next five minutes um or um. You know they've been really quiet, and this is my weekend to hunt, you know, because I gotta go do something else. Um. You know, there's plenty outside factors, right, It's like, this is my last weekend. I gotta make it happen. Um. But the biggest factory for me is like that's like those situations, I just have a lot of success. And you were saying too that you like the shorter shot opportunities to versus like big wide meadow type things where lots of times you're you're stuck with her and do I want to take that sixty yard shot or seven yards whatever? Fifty yards? Um, you're kind of forcing yourself to a much higher percent of shot, right, Yeah, And you know that bowl has to come find you in the timber and they're comfortable in the timber, and then but you know you you just called your butt off and you did a great job, and that bowl breaks through the tree line into a meadow at a hundred yards. A lot of times he's gonna take five or six steps and lock up and be like, Okay, I should see something. Yeah, where where where is he? Yeah? So yeah, And I mean most most of the time when i'm um, if I'm calling for somebody else, I can work things a lot differently. But you know, most of the time when I'm out there for the freezer, I'm just by myself. So yeah, So we're doing we're doing the thing you mentioned before. We find hot sign. We're still hiking, glassing bugling, hiking glassing bugling. It's something that should be pointed out about this area is that it's just blowdowns everywhere. So it's and I think to your point you talked about how this is one of the reasons why this is a better spot was because that was a tarrant to people, right, most pikers didn't want to go in through that kind of stuff. Yeah, I mean it's not a pretty place, it's not a welcoming place, um, and it it can be kind of a sanctuary um as other places get pressured. Right now, we're kind of later in the season, felt like the time was ready to go in there, um and pretty shocked that we weren't weren't really finding anything. So like the you know, the most sign that we found would be like a single bowl um had like cruise through the area like probably within three days um and then UM. But I mean still, like when things aren't talking and you have the confidence that there are elk there, you don't have a lot choice other than to totally leave and find a different area like we talked about before, and find where they are talking, or to like really hunt the thing well and and hit those pockets that you know where they like to hide and and hang out. And so that's what we kind of did. And I hope that something comes in quiet, right and just make sure you're really ready for it and that you're ready for it at all times. Yeah. So we're we're doing this and we get to this back kind of ridge, a little bowl, I guess before this last major ridge sort of rum rumors. Right, we're kind of we walked up to the little outcrop of rocks. Ryan lads off a bugle, um, don't maybe Kyl call or to something like that. We listened and nothing as it had been for the last two days. And so then we sat down and just kind of started bussing a little bit, right, Yeah. And I had my back against this rock because I didn't really want to sit all the way down um, because you know, I was kind of getting into magic time. It's getting later in the days. I was like, probably if they're not here, well we got to charge over this next reage. And and Mark, you're looking the opposite direction, and you're like, hey, right there, and you know, that was definitely something I've been wanting to hear, right, But I was looking. I was basically standing up leaning against this big rock, looking the opposite direction, and I was like, oh boy, what are they doing? Yeah? And I was sitting on I was sitting on a rock like ten yards away when I bowing my lap facing that direction, and I just remember hearing like rocks clattering, and so you were like you were in the middle of saying something because I remember like, hey, like pointing at you, like right right, and then hearing this, like that's definitely the sound of elk. And then yeah, when I turned to that noise, there's this elk coming right at us. There was a bowl, but I just remember thinking, oh, there's no way that this is gonna work out, because he's he must he must see us or something. But we just stayed frozen. Man, Yeah, and talk about should have worked out. So yeah, I kind of craned my neckground and I see that the bulls heads all covered up. Um, but I'm looking at the body and I'm like, oh, it's not a huge bull. And then his buddy started coming over the ridge, and I'm like, oh man, this is like home run. This is like I'm immediately I'm like, go put okay, elk goes down here. We're gonna have to camp in here, and we're gonna drop down this ridge and get this thing packed out. And this is the way we're gonna have to do it. And this was not what was going through my mind at that moment. Oh man, yeah, So I was just like, yeah, golden scenario, and um, they like those little tiny cow calls and they were kind of marching in and then um, yeah, that's like yeah, so you you were behind I was closest to where they're at, and so I'm thinking I'm stuck. I thought you since you were behind me and you were you were lower. I felt like it was a little bit lower, but you know, my head was sticking up about that rock, so I thought like, you might be able to move, and I didn't think I could. But when I realized that this bull the front bowl, I hadn't seen the other two yet. I just saw the front bowl. Um, And at first, like I said, I thought, oh, he's gonna see me, but then he didn't. He just started kept walking and put his head down. So I was like, oh wow, i'mn have an opportunity. So he started walking, put his walk behind a tree, and at that point I dropped down to my knees behind this rock. And then he went behind another tree and I pulled an arrow and knocked it and got set by another tree. And now I'm like, okay, he's getting like close to that that range. So I got my range finder out and there was one there was a bunch of dead trees, and then there's a cluster of dead trees. But just after that cluster of dead trees, there was a nice wide opening and I ranged a big bowlder right there that was sixty yards and that was a shot. I couldn't take it, and I feel comfortable taking an elk. And he was going behind all these trees. You know, he's probably eighty that he was at seventy and like, okay, he's gonna go right into this opening, right at my range. And so he gets behind that cluster of trees, walking on the steady walking like the holy crap, this is happening in my head. I'm like at first I was I couldn't believe it, and I'm like, oh, whow, I might have an opportunity. And then he got behind the cluster, like oh wow, this is this I'm about to shoot out ye And I kind of peeked over it, you know again, like I didn't want to be moving because I was exposed and I couldn't really see what everybody was seeing, but I had kind of peeked and I saw you like like there was just like a little bit of tension on the string, like okay, like here, like this is gonna happen, and uh again, I was like, oh, thank god. Yeah. Literally, had I had the boat up, I had, I was clipped on, and I was like starting at the beginning of the drap process, and then he froze and or he never showed up on the other side, so I couldn't see him anymore. But I knew he should be like any second, because the cluster wasn't so big that you know, it was like an elk body with probably, but he was. He was stuck in that cluster, and I just need him to pop out, you know, a handful more yards, and I'm like, uh. And then which which that bowl would have done under any circumstances other than what we experienced, Right, Seriously, what happened Even if even if he was like, oh, there's no Elk here, I don't like it, that's the way it was gonna go. And if he was like, oh I saw something weird, I don't like it, that's the opening he would have gone through. And however, what we experienced was, you know, I'm craned around, I'm looking directly at these three balls, and all of a sudden, so like my left ear hole is towards the balls, and my right ear hole just gets full of wind. And I was just like, oh man, I wind shifted right on us. Yeah, and it was just like second literally just seconds before I would have had a shot. Yeah. I was like, okay, well this isn't ideal. And so I kind of hit the calcol a couple more times and and they all three like again, like the age, they were at a very impressionable age, these balls, and they were trying their best to ignore the wind. From what I saw, they still badly wanted to keep coming. I couldn't see them at all, and I could not a single one could I see at this point. So I was just stuck waiting for him to pop out. But you you were seeing that they were just kind of looking at our direction. But yeah, and they just knew. I was like, oh boy, something stinks over there and that's not good. And and then yeah, they yeah kind of pe old ah in the wrong direction. And then you know again I was like, man, so so close, and you could just in my mind and my experience said, I was like these this would have happened, This would have happened, and even watching how those bulls walked away like they wanted so badly to come check that out, just couldn't let them. They kind of like a slow turn and jog away, and then do they stop and we started walking again, and yeah, and they kind of paralleled us a little bit, and and yeah, I mean that was that was pretty much. Yeah, those were our elk of the trip. Those were our elk of the trip. Yeah. We kept hiking, we kept bugling, we kept glassing, and I did. I felt very good about how we covered the rest of that ground. Um, I mean we really hunted it. We didn't just like march through there. I don't feel like there's a much of alk hiding underneath rocks. You know, there could have been. In my mind, like there are maybe something like cow calf pairs in there that were hiding from everybody else, Like Mom wasn't ready to kick her calf out and be bread, so she's staying out of the fray. Like that's about what was probably in there. Well, like we said, when we gave her hell, gave it a good college effort, Yes, we we did, we did, um so Yeah, and then speaking of college efforts, we um uh. Upon her hike out. It was late in the day and we had a couple of beers. We got to bed relatively early after we transitioned to a new spot. Then it felt very much like when I was because I haven't hunted these areas in a long time. I'm I am happy to know that there's still elkin here. Um, but yeah, it was definitely taking me back to the college days, like these are the old stomping grounds, hyeah, old stomping grounds. And then um, yeah, that the spot that kind of our last ditch effort spot for this morning because we both gotta go back to the jobs. Um still has elk in nu and we uh yeah. The only bugle of the entire trip is like pull up to the spot basically basically drove to the top of a mountain through these all these forest roads, and a couple of times I'm like, where is he taking me? Like is this where he kills me now? And also also yeah, I'm driving. I guess I'm just not as confident with my rig as you are with yours, because you're driving down these roads just way faster than me. It's your way ahead of me. I can't see you anymore. I'm like, Okay, if I blow a tire or if i'm if I take the wrong turn, I'll never find him. And so at one point there's a fork in the in the road and I stopped and I'm like, well, the main it seems like the road to the right is more established, but that left one certainly could be a road he'd go down and sat there like, man, it's the mill of night. There's no cell phone set. I'm not gonna get turned like. You can't turn around a lot of these roads. It's so narrow, like this is a nightmare. But I finally did pick the right spot and I found you. It was so funny, man, I was because I was thinking to myself. I was like, man, you've really matured. You used to drive these roads so much. Well that shows you how that is the lame of a driver. I am. Well. This morning, when we were driving out in the snow, though, again, I'm like, oh, Ryan's gotta think I'm like the old grandma driver of the world. But I haven't driven with these new tires in my truck and snow yet. And then we're going down these muddy dirt roads. I'm like, man, and The last thing I want is like to start spin and go off one of these big banks. I was creeping in low geared going down those hills. Well, yeah, I know that was gosh man. Yeah, so this morning was super super cold. Um, we heard a bugle in the middle of the night as we were shock a shock bugle. Yes, we shocked, shocked, shocked bugle Smelk with her truck doors canopy doors as we were going to bed. Um, and yeah, it's just colder and cold this morning. I thought we were going to get up and just I thought they're gonna be lightening it up. Yeah, it was this cold weather. We heard the beagle last night. I thought we wenna start hiking and you were rip off a locator. Then finally okay, here we go game plan huh. But yeah, I mean it was cold enough to where like the ground, the ground had like no squish to it, right, it was like awkward uneven cement walking um and just kind of do a little loop and it was gorgeous. And then the snow started just like it was like more so like wanted to rain, but it was just like at any given time you could see like a dozen snow flakes maybe um. And then then you pointed out the snow to me at that point, and then that's when I go to you, like, man, I've got a Christmas carol stuck in my head. Immediately got chestnuts roasting over an open fire playing in my head when I saw the first snow of the year. You I mean it was cold. I mean I was I was wearing. We were both wearing a lot of clothes, and I was surprised and and you know what I mean that, I'm like, yeah, the body, you know, just it's been so warm and then to be have this type of cold, you know, your body needs to acclimatize. And I'm basically wearing you know, what i'd be wearing if it were you know, ten degrees, probably more than what I would be wearing if there were ten degrees, and I was actually doing so you think that maybe it wasn't the teens. Oh yeah, man, So I don't feel quite so bad that pilot on the puffy stuff. Dude, it was cold. Um. And then so get into this meadow finally, and it's just more of the same, no talking. Get into this meadow and it's like, okay, well there is brand new fresh tracks. Um uh you know, a big noticeable bowl track. UM couple, you know, a cow and a calf and a cow, um, And they kind of peeled through this gap, and then we went through a different gap trying to keep the wind right and I'm like, yeah, we're just gonna follow tracks, and then we've ended up on what to me was like a very noticeable like Raghorn bowl track, and more so because it was separated from the group, Like he's in proxid to the group, but he's not a part of the group. But I'm like, okay, this is young bull could have been a spike for all we know, and you and you said to me like, this is a great scenario, right, yes, So why why did you think that the scenario we had was was so good? Because those those young bulls um, you know, like especially like late out there in the tracks. I was like, oh, this guy's he wants to be a part of the group, but he's not a part of the group. If we become a welcoming group, he's gonna march right in. Um. And so then I was not bugling at all, just like really soft cal calls as we kind of like slipped through that timber and continued tracking these elks and and then like get to the spot where I was like, yeah, they gotta be betted up here. What did you think that? What was about the habitat? It's just something about like a lot of times like you have like a nice contouring ridge and it's you know, it's relatively mellow, and then there'll be a face that's much steeper and heavily timbered, and to me, that's like an elk bedding area. They like the steeper stuff. Yeah, I mean not all the time, but I'm like, yes, if I had to like draw this up, I'd be like, yeah, that's where they're gonna be. You basically pointed there's like this knob up ahead of us, as timbered knob that as you just said, this mellow ridge we are on all so it' steper up that and their bed right there, and yeah, so let me start making remove. So we started making her move, and then it was just kind of like almost like a repeat. Right. It's like you get on top of the ridge, the snow like really starts falling and it's kind of swirling around us in every direction, and there go all of our tracks, um and Uh, I guess I should say like in that kind of like hardened cement ground, those elk elk toes were punched and through that stuff and leaving like very nice noticeable tracks. Um and man, it's an odd thing Montana, Idaho. I've had it happened a hundred percent of the time, like where like a real snow day, it just shuts everything down. And uh so we you know, I switched over to bugles to try to like, okay, maybe we're close enough and might fire something up last to Jefford kind of last at she effort um and nothing and we kind of you know, hit our tails and slunk off for the track. So so we never really talked about it. But why didn't we go push into that betting air? Did you where it was? The snow? You're like, you know what I was thinking? Maybe in your head you were thinking this is getting like a serious snow maybe we should get off the mountain before it gets worse? Was that? What was it going in mind? Or do you think we're not gonna make this happen? It was kind of a combination of like, Okay, how how much do we want to push this? And um, yeah, like the amount of snow that accumulated just in that brief window of it picking up like that was a pretty darn treacherous drive off that mountain, So we probably made the good call. Who knows, well we we would just told I think you were telling me this story, um, right, were you telling me this story like an hour or two before about how you and a friend got caught in like the snowstorm deal like that, right, yeah, where it came out of nowhere and now we're I'm like, oh, well, now that's happening to us, how fast can we get six inches pile up here? Yeah? We had this like, yeah, this spot that we had both hunted a bunch and knew the area really well, and this inversion happened and it was like this super wet snow that just like soaked through everything. Plus it was like super warm and you were dressed for super cold, and they're just like no finding that happy medium. And it was a complete complete white out, like you know, ten yards of visibility type of scenario, And it took us a long long time to find our way off this place that we I mean, you really really knew, but it was almost like a full vertigo situation. What's amazing how different things look when it's all white. And then then if you can't see ahead of you at all on that wall of precipitation, that's it's all in the world. Yes, so definitely. I mean when you're out here in these areas and weather comes in, it it's just it's not like a snowstorm blown in. When I'm in Michigan and I've got quarter mile to the truck, you gotta think a little bit more like, is this something that you're prepared for? Is is something that you're able to get out of? Um? I'm sure that's something that has to run through your head many times a year when you get something like that coming through. Oh yeah, all all the time, all the time. Um, And that was her hunt did. But I do feel like we gave it a heck of an effort, So I don't feel bad about that at all. Yeah for having a weekend. Yeah yeah, I mean yeah, grown up here, I've had way worse, way worse l Kins. You know, would you have done anything differently if you like look back, Is there anything we could have done to any mistakes we could have avoid other than I guess not being ready for those three to kim In. I think honestly, the smart move would have probably been after that first night um on our kind of multiday spot probably would have been like, Okay, we just need to cut our losses and bail um. The problem is I would be sitting here right now being like, man, if we would have gone over that other ridge um and and just been like more cognizant of the time, right and be like, okay, only have a weekend, let's just like turn and burn as many spots as we can, um and just get that active bowl. I feel like there's some guy and we're talking about, you know, just the different styles stuff. There are some people that that's all they do, right, They just drive from spots spot bugle, spots spot Bugle, And I guess it can work for it yea yeah. But I mean the reality is like we basically did that last night, and we had a bold Bugle at us right off the road and we're like, okay, well yeah here we go. Yeah, that's that's our plan out for the morning. Perfect. So um yeah, man, I don't know. Um yeah, it's just you gotta you gotta have like that rolodex of spots and be able to go through them and definitely burn some shoe leather and um, you know, I think anybody that knows me knows I'm not like the bast and maximizing my time. Uh, and so that's something I gotta get get that are on in the elk woods too. So it's funny that a lot of the stuff that you've talked about here, as far as the elk hunting public land elk hunting, it's very similar public land white tail unting in that you need to have a whole lot of different spots you can go check because you can't just depend on one spot because if there's so many different variables that can change on public land, one spot might be hot right now, it might be horrible in two weeks. So having a lot of different options, a lot of different you know, scenarios play out. If a bunch of people show up, you've got something else to fall back on. The same thing with the aggressive tactics that you talked about, how it might pay off on public land to go into a betting area because if you don't, someone might do it tomorrow. Um, they might be betting some completely different area. But if you know that there right now, you gotta go with that, and a lot of the guys that are talking and a lot of that that betting scenario is certainly like if you've um taken note of some pressure at Yeah, so it's like no trucks at the trailhead, pretty darn confident I can leave these guys untill tomorrow. Yeah. That that typically typically a good good bed is to let him have that betting spot and catch him on the outside if if you know, you got a couple of days. But yeah, the flip side is definitely like there are people all over I know these alk are betted right here. Um, and this is definitely like I'm up here, so that stands to reason somebody else is gonna walk up right, And I feel like that's the same thing a lot of people that are finding success on public land white deals, especially back in the Midwest or different more heavily pressured areas. That's becoming like the most consistent way to get the mature buck in those spots. You can't hang around the edges, you can't wait for them to come to you. You have to go for those high risk, high reward type tactics. Get in that betting area and like you said it's high consequence, you might ruin it, but that might be your only chance to actually get a shot too. And like you're saying, if that's your only spot, it's like, well, you better have a whole lot more spots. Yeah, you better, you know, be prepared for that. So I had a really good time though. I appreciate you show me around and taking me out to some of your spots and we had a good time. Didn't didn't get an out, but good man, good Yeah. You know, you know how it is. You're always like, I hope they see that there is a point in this, even though it doesn't seem like it. Oh yeah, like I am encouraging myself right now. Yeah, oh yeah, I know. That's that's how hunting goes a lot, So you just gotta put an I always, I don't feel too bad about a hunt that doesn't end up with me in the freezer. As long as I feel like I didn't like take any shortcuts or I didn't do something. As long as I don't feel like I pulled out without giving it everything I had, I'm okay. But that's a horrible feeling if you ever, you know, leave early or you're like, well, like I knew I should have gone off that ridge, but it's so steep, I didn't want to do it. Um, I always want to make sure I never have that feeling. So I don't feel like we had that. I feel like we did it. Do a brest of efforts so good, so I can ask for good good Thank you for saying that those nice things mark all right? Before moving on, let's take a quick break to think our friends at White Tailed Properties. This week. With white Tail Properties, we're drawn by Jeff Probes it lands specialists out of Missouri, and Jeff is going to be telling us about shopping for properties away from home. Well interestingly enough, um, I just became one of those buyers. I live in northeast Missouri, but I just my wife and I just bought a farm in southeast Kansas. So you know, it opened my eyes to what my buyers come, you know, go through when they come into my area to buy a property, when they're when they're not from here. The biggest thing is is get to know the neighbors, find out what's going on with the you know, most of the properties we sell our for deer hunters, and if it's a deer hunting property. Try to find out, you know, how the management's going on in the area for you know, upper age class year if that's what you're after. Trying to find out if there's any issues with any of the neighbors around the property that you're looking out or the area that you're looking at, and you know, get to know get to know the neighbors because they live there, they know everybody. They can refer you to people you might need help get the stuff down on the property. So I think first and foremost is to find out the general scope of the neighborhood and get to know the neighbors. If you'd like to learn more, and to see the properties that Jeff currently has listed for sale, visit white tail properties dot com, backslash probes. That's p r O p ST. While I got to though, right, I want to talk about another issue on the public landfront, not just chasing Alkina. But um here this is coming out today is the twenty fourth, maybe in September, I think, is what my watch tells me, and this podcast we're coming out on like the seven or six of September. Land and Water Conservation Fund. There's some big stuff happening here this week. Can you talk to us about what what's going on? What do we need to do on that front? Yeah, So Land Water Conservation Fund UH. You know it doesn't sound like UM something that you use every day, but UM, I mean so many communities benefit from this big and small. It's it's a uh basically a tax on offshore oil gas leases UM UM that goes into a fund which is the fund part of LWCF, and it it goes to lots of access UM and lots of basically like think of like outdoor like things that you can get people outdoors on easily, like UM, bike paths, city parks um. Uh. If you like, walk from UM the city up into UM an area that everybody goes and walks their dog that but it's private all around there. That's probably an LWCF easement. The LBCF typically does matching funds UM and they work with private landowners or that fund can be used in private land situations that provide ease months through private land UM. You know, full blown access UM like new boat ramps on rivers and lakes UM again, parking areas, picnic tables, UM, bike pass UM. Chances are everybody you know, benefits from l WCF if they do anything semi active outside including if that activity is just going down to the park. Um so UM. The land our Conservation Fund um has been is something that needs to be reauthorized. And you know we've been fighting, advocating rather for a long time to get this thing permanently authorized. UM. A vote just went through the I believe the twelfth of September two permanently reauthorized Land Water Conservation Fund, which sounds fantastic. However this was a committee ville right the next and however, what we need is funding in the fund, and they have not authorized how much funding uh it will receive. UM. We would like, you know, permanent reauthorization and fully funding. It has been fully funded like almost ever for a very long period, right correct, Yes, yeah, and we're talking about a big chunk of money. UM. And again uh you can um, you know, you can utilize those funds to either match funds that you already have, which is the most common um or um. Sometimes you can get um, you know, a full grant basically from LWCF to on a on a particular project if it shows value. So and it's something I was just reading in Bugle magazine on the way out here. I think it was. I think it was in Wisconsin, maybe where they fountain that where they've got their elk herd. Maybe Minnesota. I can't remember which. But there's a scenario where you know, there's this large chunk of state land, state forest or national forest up there where they're herd is and a piece of private land right in the center of it, kind of some core habitat was going out for sale, and if it were sold private landowners is likely going to be subdivided into houses and stuff like that, kind of right in the core. That's great habitat, great hunting opportunity. And so instead of that being sold off to someone to be developed, um, the state was able to I think this is right. I think between between r m F and the state, they were able to pool funds and then get LWCF money is to help acquire that land and then give it back to the state to become public land open to hunting, wildlife, all that kind of stuff. That was a cool example of how they're using that I mean direct benefit to hunters right there. I mean, great example. And and you know, when these deals go down, it's not like they're doing it on the cheap. You know, it's it's market value. It's it's a lot of money. Yeah, but obviously it's you know, that scenario is a perfect one because it's it is market value, and the market is again a favor um, you know, subdivisions a lot more than it's gonna favor open land that uh help get to live on. And I feel like, not very it would be very unlikely that a state or DNR or whatever could pull off something like that without the help of these programs, right, and organizations like Rocky Mountain, Elk Foundation others that can help coordinate these things and bring people together on that front. But you know, they need this l w CF to be able to finance that kind of stuff, to be able to protect these final places and these special little spots. I feel like it's been used a lot to help open access to landlocked public land to right. Yes, that's something I've read a lot about. So it's something that catch my Idaho where I live, like every subdivision um has basically an LWCF funded easement through through the private property into the public land. So this vote or I guess, basically, what what do we need to do or what can we do to make sure not only it gets permanently reauthorized, but also funded. And what's the timeline? It is absolutely critical as fast as as your finger yours can fly. You know, Um, you don't really just call you're elected officials and say, hey, I benefit greatly from this. I want I want you to vote or advocate or take a leadership position that that to fully fund Land Water Conservation Fund. Um. Something that you need to realize is this is not You're not gonna see anything tax based regards to this. This is something that is that has nothing to do tax wise with you locally. Um. This is literally when these oil and gas leases are activated, there is tax that puts this money aside. And basically what they need to vote on is to utilize those funds and how much of those funds. And this isn't just a Western state issue, not at all. If you're in New York or Alabama, I mean you should be calling your represents just as much there as if you live in Montana. Yeah. I mean, if you have a dog in a big city, chances are you're walking it into something that LWCF had a part of the same with your kids. Um, it, yeah, man, I mean it's it's critical. Um. I guess we could talk about like the negative side of things is, you know, the detractors from this say, well, they're the funds aren't being used efficiently. Um. That's something reppround Bishop uh would would always hang his hat on. And the fact of the matter is, Um, you know, there's there's definitely some cases there and everybody you know who probably could do a heck of a lot better job of spending their funds efficiently. Um. But you know, in this day and age, we're likely not going to see some bipartisan, you know, unanimous vote to tax anybody and have those funds be used for wildlife again, so their habitat and wildlife and access again. This is one of those another byproduct of the of the sixties where we got so many different programs like this in place, right. I'm pretty sure that's when the LBCF was put in place. Was some point in the sixties or early seventies somewhere out there that that, to your point, that was this kind of odd time where there's bipartis and support for so many things related to conservation in the environment. I mean, incredible landmark regulations and laws are put in place during that time period that we benefit from now. But there's no way they could happen now, Like odds are no. Yeah, I don't want to say no way, Like I still got some some faith out there. Um, but you know, I mean to be completely honest. Um. You know when I was in in d C the middle of the month, you know, part of the spiel is is definitely like listen, if you aren't to vote on behalf of you know, public lands access. Um, you know, I'm gonna vote for somebody who will. Yeah, And and that's our job as voters, is you know this is not as much as we want to think that somebody else is just going to go out there and do the job for us. The whole system, this whole crazy democracy system that we have here in the US, is based around active participation. And so you actively get up and vote, You actively keep tabs on your elected officials. You put them in office. They're supposed to represent you and your interests. You need to let them know what your interests are and how you want to be represented. And that's the way the system works. And you've got to be the squeaky wheel on a lot of this, And I feel like for so many people today we identify as hunters or anglers. Is like that's how we identify. It's for a lot of us, it's not just like some little hobby we do one week a year or weekend a year like that is like our who we are. And if that is who you are, then what allows us to be that person to live that life? Are these places? The wildlife? These wild places. I mean, there's not many other people that are speak up for him, you know. It's it's Theodore Roosevelt said, Uh, these animals and place you can't speak for themselves. So we have to. Yes, and we have a giant tracko uh driving driving into check us out. I wonder what that was. Unfortunately they move it like one mile an hour. Um uh, but yeah, it it is man. I mean, it's a lot of folks like, oh well, I don't like being political. This isn't political. This is just the system that we're in. And you gotta participate, um and stand up for what you believe in because nobody else will. And it's you know, everybody's busy. Everybody's busy, and they're gonna take the path at least resistance is the unfortunate thing that I've learned. So you gotta you gotta get in there and you gotta say this is you know, this is what I do. These are the programs that support it. You need to support those programs and don't let them off the hook. So on this front, what's happening. Why is September important date for us to make these phone calls before? So I've been seeing that that date throw around. Yes, September is supposed to be like when like House Appropriations Committee UM is supposed to have all their ducks in a row for um UH, basically going forward with with the budget for this year. So if you hear this in real time on the ninth September two eighteen, give your representatives a call, let them know that you care about l WCF, that it's benefiting you and other hunters and anglers and outdoorrect creators. And that's something that's a very quick I mean, does it take very long place a quick phone call. Lots of times you'll leave a voicemail or talk to a secretary or something, but that stuff, it takes five minutes of your time, and it adds up and makes a difference, doesn't it. Oh, it adds up. It makes huge difference. And and the man, it is so so easy, and it is not like I'm not somebody who likes conflict at all, and this is not conflict at all. Their job when they pick up the phone is to listen to you. They ask you where you're from so they can make sure that you're you know, you're in their district or not. Um. And and that's basically it say, Hey, I wanna you know, I need need to let my congressman know or my state senator know that this is extremely important to me. Um. You know, it absolutely helps if you're part of the tax base. And and you know, if you have that story about like listen, boy, I just you know, moved to this place with my three kids, and this is a huge part of why I moved here. Um. That's a that's a very important thing. It's big economic impact. UM. And you know, as we see a lot of folks come into these Western states, you know, it's like the time to get this infrastructure in places yesterday. Like the more we can do right on the front end, the better it's going to be for generations and generations to come. UM. And the tool is sitting there, and we gotta figure out why the heck these folks aren't using that and and make sure they pick it up again and start getting these easy monts in place, and and and get that funding, you know, ideally fully funded permanently. I hope it happens. I was glad to see that the votes went well earlier this month through the committee. But to your point, we still have work to do. So if we can get you know, we got tens of thousands of people who could pick up the phone and if we all did that, that would make a real big noise in d C and across the state capitals, across the country of all sorts of hunters and anglers started saying, Hey, this matters, this is something we care about. So we do have a lot of power. I think we've shown that in some of these past things over the last year or two that when we stand up and make some noise around issues like this, politicians take notice. And we need to you know, wield our wield that big stick. Sometimes. Oh absolutely, And you know your your buddies over there at on X and uh Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, you know they just released UM, you know, something that we've all known about, but they did a great report and you know, laid out in a way that anybody can follow about how much land that we're currently paying for that we have no access to landlocked public land um all across the US, and LBCF is one of the tools that you can use to unlock those gates. Literally, when I was in on my Montana and white Tail hunt a few weeks ago, I was dealing with that. I wanted to be there's public land, great looking public land that I couldn't access because there's private landing between me and the road, and I had to go get permission to get to those spots, and some of the people wouldn't give me that permission, and it's kind of frustrating. This is public land, this land I own, UM that essentially becomes private land because of that. UM. So this is, like you said, l WC d F. L WCF is a great tool to to fix that. If you're one of those folks, it's like all the fans have too much ground already. Well call an advocate for LBCF, because we should at least be able to access the ground that we already have, right um, you know, and the reality is is we need more, we need more access, we need we need more more ground out here. And you know, the population is growing and and we like our wild and free places. And that's you know, how America was founded. To get kind of cheesy. But um, I don't fence me in, man. Man, I'm right there with you. Every time I get to take some time away from the office and get out, whether it be driving around the back roads in northern Michigan or out here in Montana, and it is just such an incredible feeling to know that you can step out at the truck door and walk for miles and that's that's land open to every one of us, and you can hunt it. You can forge for mushrooms, you can fish, you can hike, you can just sit down and have a picnic. To still have places where you can get away from the hustling and bustling, the noise and the smog and the traffic. I mean, I don't know in today's world, I don't know how you could live without places like that, absolutely escape from it all. I know, like one of the roads just up behind us, Um it was not a good elk hunting spot. But you'd always get like nice afternoon sun. I don't know when the wind was blown in these lodgepool pine You know, I couldn't hear a bugle to save my life. And you know I'd pull in there and just lay in the sun with my dogs and read a book. And if that's all the value it has to you, pick up the damn phone. Yeah, good stuff. Well, is there any other final plugs you want to make, any projects or any anything you want to make sure he's out there in the world that we need to pay attention to other than what's happened with LWCF. Um, you know, you know, really we have. UM. I want to see more active participation in in these advocacy fights that we need to be a part of, as you know, people who enjoy the outdoors period. So um. You know, I think we got mid term elections coming up. UM, I'd love to see just a higher voter turnout period. Um, because man, it's dismal. And when you travel to other countries and you tell them how few people vote in America, they look at us like we're the stupidest people on the planet. Um. So i'd I'd love to see those numbers start cranking up. And i'd love to see folks, you know, vote vote on behalf of public lands man hunting, fishing, public lands, while life wild places. That's one of our greatest tools, that vote. And we're seeing we're seeing the public lands uh get thrown around is starting to get tossed back and forth as this political football. And we know the politicians are paying attention to it, um, but they also need to know that there's some consequences there too. So all right, well, good stuff, Ryan. I appreciate the work that you're doing, you know, spreading the word about these things and working on a lot of different programs, going to d C talking to people about this. UM. As a hunter angler myself, I'm glad there's people like you leading the charge. So thank you for that. And thanks for leading the flat land around the mountains for a few days. Oh man, great attitude. Thank you very much. Now, it's a pleasure being in the woods with you and UM. And like I said, coming off the mountain today, even then, though it didn't see like it seemed like it, I think we'll have that you know, successful very heavy pack out here in the near future. So we'll make it happen eventually, Yester, and that is it today, and we didn't get to talk about on this episode, but when you hear from me next it will be white tail season here in Michigan and across most of the rest of the country. So man, best time of year, very exciting things to come, lots of stories, hopefully an update on holy Field and all those things I will be sharing not just here on the podcast, but also on the wired Hunt Instagram account also on the wired Hunt YouTube channel, so make sure you're checking out all of those things. Will be keeping you posted. Thank you for following along, Good luck out in the woods. Until next time, stay wired to Hunt.

Save this episode