Episode 162 - Hunting Plans Vs. Hunting Reality

Episode 162 is a conversational hunting podcast episode (host Jaden Bales with at least one co-speaker) that mixes hunting stories, practical details, and reflections. The speakers trade anecdotes about deer and antelope hunts (meat handling, packing out, tag successes), describe a pattern they call "Crash Jaden" — mistakes driven by overconfidence or excitement (long/windy shots, miscommunication) — and reflect on balancing ambition with enjoying the process. The episode also contains a mid-episode ad read for Mint Mobile.
Questions this video answers
Between 40 and 50 pounds.
Istrelock.
351 yards (ranged from the carcass to the nearest road).
A highway sign reading 'caution wind 60 mile an hour gusts.'
Chapters
Go ahead, man. We're recording. Sweet.
So I got up pretty early this morning and just kind of. So we hang all of our meat kind of that first night. And so I hung my meat last night and I left the like hawks on the quarters. So this morning I got up, cut the hawks off and then put it in on ice. So now it's just. I'm actually going to take it to our hunters for the hungry program because our freezers are all full and we're waiting on a backordered freezer to get in. So we've kind of got a meat surplus.
That's a good problem to have. I'm working through my first two deer pretty quick. I'm going to have to rely on some fish here for a little bit, which is nice. I got a good amount of halibut and some salmon, so that's nice. So it's great time of year to be eating, but do you end up.
Giving away much of your deer meat?
No, no, not. I got a buddy who cooks backstrap and he made a fly tying table for Abby, so I gave him some backstrap. For the most part, man, I'm. I keep it because then you like, who do you give it to? Who do you not? And then if they can get it themselves and you know, they're not huge deer, so.
Yeah. How much meat do you normally get off those bucks?
You can get between 40 and 50 pounds.
Okay. Yeah. That's about the exact same size as an antelope buck, I think. Yeah.
Yeah. When I was looking at comparison, comparing, obviously they vary. You know, you can get a real big, big buck, but yeah, you know, there's not a. Not a ton, but solid for sure. And if I go hunting with someone and they help me pack it out, I'll give them half.
So that seems pretty customary.
Yeah. Yeah. And then I went hunting my buddy Dave and he got a nice four by three. He hadn't shot an alpine buck in a couple years and so I helped him pack it out and just gave it to him though, because he doesn't. He gets maybe one per year. Doesn't get you angry at it. So I just let him have the whole thing. I don't need to be taking half your deer if I already have two.
So there you go. Yeah. Well, you've had an epic start to the season. Really?
Yeah. I don't have a whole lot to complain about, but there's always that other thing that you're like. Nothing ever goes perfectly for longer than, you know, two or three trips in a row.
So there's.
There's been.
Or one in my case. Yeah.
So it's. I think it's epic in the. That's. You know, we've talked a lot about redefining your goals and your. Your views of things. I think that has something to do with it. So when those little things happen, you can still kind of smile, say, hey, man, I'm still getting out there. So that compared to the alternative, this is still really, really good, but not perfect. So I have been up that mountain that I really wanted to go up twice, and I haven't seen any goats. But there has to be goats there. It's one of those peaks that I've seen. The one side, just seen that bull side, and I haven't seen that opposite ridge. I haven't seen up over the top on the northwest side. I haven't seen that. That opposite ridge. You haven't seen the ridge that goes away from the peak. So there's 1, 2, 3, 4 different sides that I have not seen. And there. There has to be goats there. So that's still in the back of my head is, gosh, you've been up there twice and you haven't seen that one. Then the other spot where my buddy Dave got that really nice buck, we only saw maybe a fifth of that mountain, and that one could have goats. So I was hoping this year would be the year the mountain goat. And I've been on some great hunts. Haven't seen one, but they've got to be there.
So. Yeah, man, I hear you there, though. Like, it's like you set this goal in your mind and you're like, ah, we can do this. And then, you know, like, with you, you found some awesome bucks right away. And then, you know, I just punched my third antelope tag last night. So I was like, you're the deer or the antelope. I guess that works.
I think you have to have goals, but then also be open and receptive to how things actually turn out, because your. Your antelope one didn't even start off very good because you had that. We went to the wrong. Wrong ridge or the wrong. What'd you do when you were running around the last time we were talking? Ran around to the wrong thing there and jacked that up.
Oh. Oh, well. Archery hunting. Yeah. Antelope archery hunting, I think, is just so dang hard. Like. Like, I. We had spotted these antelope and like, the. The thing that you're looking for when you're archery Antelope hunting is, is just a good stock. Like, you just need a good antelope. Need to be in a place where you can sneak up and be within bow range without them seeing you, which is dang near impossible. Except for this one time we drove by this cliff and there was a bunch of antelope bullet beneath the cliff. And sure enough, I hop out and got so excited that they were under a cliff that I just like walked out onto the wrong ridge. I just didn't even walk on the right ridge with the cliff. So it was, it's not good. So. But there's actually, we've got a term for that now and that's called crash. Jaden. When I just get too excited and I just like, everything goes to shit. And it's all predicated on just being like so excited and anxious and ready to like shoot the thing or whatever like that. I just don't think things through. And I actually did it again last night on my dough and I feel like really terrible about it perfectly.
Yeah, so go ahead, tell the story.
Okay, so I think it's worth it to say opening morning of rifle season. So I had that one major crash. I, as archery takes so much more of my focus, takes so much more like, you know, like time and energy and like, you just, you know, the margin for error is less. I tend not to make too many crash decisions when I'm archery hunting comparatively. And then like, I was explaining this like, and I hope listeners or you, Jeff, you know, who've been hunting a decent, Like made really good in the past or whatever, like, then you get this overconfidence, right? And this kind of the crack when they're like, ah, chip shot, ah, piece of cake. And then you just rush in and then everything falls apart. Um, so on the opening day of rifled antelope season here in Wyoming, I, we were out there at first light, like waiting for it to get light. And there was a buck that and a group of does that were just right next to the truck, 200 yards from the truck. And I was like, ah, let's see. You know, I don't know if it's a big enough buck. And by the time the light got good enough to tell, they're walking away because they could see our truck. And I was like, ah, shoot, I should, I should definitely shoot that buck. So I got out, I laid down on my pack trying to get a shot, like waiting for a shot. And that buck was just walking away and he basically walked away from 250 yards out to 400 yards. And then, you know, we tried to get around and. And chased him for basically a mile just trying to. They're just right on the edge of my comfortable shooting range, right? And we did that for a mile. And then we go, okay, this is stupid. We need to stop, like, whatever silliness we're doing, go back to the truck. We're trying too hard. So we get back in the truck. And I'm like, okay, I know there's these goats that hang out, speed goats for those who don't know. Not, not. Not mountain goats. There's some goats that hang out around this. This alfalfa field. It's a private alfalfa field, but the above. There are these hills of BLM Bureau of Land Management ground. And I know they've been in there. I actually got really close to a good buck in there with my bow. So I was like, let's just drive out in there. On my way to driving to that spot, there's a buck that crosses the little ridge line in front of us. And I look at it, I'm like, oh, that's a pretty good buck. And then he turned sideways and he was really goofy. And I was like, oh, oh, I like that. And so I basically like, after having. Because we chase those antelope for a mile, and then he had to walk a mile back to the truck after doing a two mile, like, sprint the first part of the morning, this buck is right next to the road. And so I get out and I thought it was 30 yards from the road that you needed to be. So I, like, got 30 yards from the road, sat down on my pack, and at 275 yards sitting, I shot this buck and, you know, 10 ring, you know, he did bullseye. He runs a little bit and tips over right in sight. And I'm like, sweet. You know, we go up there and clean them up and do the whole thing. And gosh, I'm just super stoked about that. Like, that's. That's how you want it to go, right? Mean, I don't know what, what, Jeff, what's like, your comfortable shooting range Normally.
It really depends, like, having a good rest, you know, I've shot out to 220, 230, but yeah, I don't really have. I would say I would cap it like a 250 or 300. I wouldn't even really approach much more. But I also, I always really like getting closer, and I haven't really had to. I think I shot that one bucket 220. Other than that, everything else has been 100 to 150, if not close. Well, that's, that's your alpine deer. There's a lot of texture, so a lot of times you can get pretty close. And then in the woods you're gonna be pretty close. So longer ridges or you know, out in the open there, like in the plains, like you don't have a whole lot of long shots.
But I love hearing that because it just like, it confirms kind of like what I'm gonna do moving forward. So. Okay, so this, all this whole buck scenario, it works out great like this. The tips over, we got him cleaned up, we drove the truck like 350. I remember I ranged it from the carcass 351 yards from the buck to the nearest road that we got to like where he tipped over. I'm like, awesome. So this is all good. It works out great. And I have two dough tags to fill. And this is, it's 9:30 in the morning and I'm done with my buck right. Like just now it's on to the next. And so we go up to this new spot and there's some does and I'm like, sweet. You know, like this is piece of cake and it's a little bit breezy and I go, I think it's probably about 20 mile an hour wind. So if I'm at 250 yards, it's like only a 6 inch drift, yada yada. You know, I do the whole calculation. Actually have this app on my phone called Istrelock and it's super sweet to help you like identify where you're gonna hit on something. And so I was like, okay, 225 yards, 250 yards, whatever. The. I don't remember the exact range from these antelope does. And I'm like, I just made a 275 yard shot. You know, I made a 323 yard shot on a bear last spring. I was like, this would be just a chip shot. And sure enough, I laid or sit down on my pack just like I did and squeeze off a shot and air ball. What the heck? So I was like, you know, I think I should, that was me. I just should have laid down on my pack or got a better shot, you know, got a better rest. So we go up and around and lay down again or get up on these antelope again and again. I just like they were 180 yards and I sat down on my pack and shot and missed. I'm like what in the heck is going on, Jaden? So I go, you know, we like, okay, it's too windy. My confidence is shook. We went to town to get some lunch and as we're driving to town, we passed this sign that says on the highway, it says caution wind 60 mile an hour gusts. And I'm like, oh God, no. So, so definitely just that was some poor decision making on my part. I probably shouldn't have even been trying to make any shots if it was over like a hundred and twenty five yards, hundred yards. But I was out there trying to fling lead at 200 plus yards, you know, in 60 plus mile an hour gusts, right? Like it. There's probably a 20 to 30 mile an hour steady wind. That was just stupid, right? And that was just classic, classic crash Jaden. So that evening the wind calms down, there's big storm that rolls through. And then it's about 5pm we go out, we find though, and Jess is like, hey, that one that's walking is 275 yards or 280, whatever it was. And then she's like the one behind it is 320. And so I shoot, I shoot a gun with a break. So I didn't like tell her that I was not gonna shoot the closer one. So the closer goat started walking away from me. So instead of taking that shot, I took a shot on the one that was. It actually ended up being bedded. And I just kind of crash Jaden this one. And I was like, oh, that's, I'll just shoot the bedded one. And when I did that, Jess was looking at the wrong one and thought that I had just totally air balled and hit something different. And it was just like, it's really like, it was just again just like not great communication. And, and good news is I made a pretty good shot. And that was like at 320 yards on that doe. Weirdly enough, we think it was shot before and this whole back end was kind of destroyed, which was not great because basically what I did is I shot it and it was like, you know, center punch, you know, lungs. And then walked up there and was like, oh wait, this whole back end is destroyed. Yeah, it was not great. But you know, the dough ended up dying pretty quick and we have a bunch of meat in the freezer from that dough. It's good stuff. Yeah.
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So we all tracking here. We've had. We had. I had a great start and then we had Crash Jaden on Saturday. Does that all make sense?
Yeah. You know, people who don't have those sort of stories, you kind of wonder. Yeah, you can't do anything perfect. It's just trying to prevent things that might be a little bit, you know, outlandish. And sometimes you get that confidence that you feel the wind, it doesn't feel that bad. And then you don't calculate exactly. Oh, wait, this is a huge. This is actually pretty stout. Like, I need to calculate. I need to do a little bit of math here and whether or not it's. It's right.
Yeah. And, you know, it's one of those things where I looked at my. I looked at, like, the weather app, you know, and said, like, y', all, it looks like it's 20 mile an hour wind right now. Like, we should be fine. And it was one of those things where I just let my ego and confidence, like, get ahead of making good decisions. And so I hope folks don't do that. And I'm gonna keep reiterating this because I freaking did it again last night. So last night, we basically, we only had a little bit of time after work, you know, and we didn't want to go. We as in Jess Johnson, my girlfriend and I. And, you know, we were basically like, well, what do we. What should we do? You know, go hunting this evening, but, like, not have to drive to Elkwood. So I was like, well, I got my doe tag and we have two of our friends who are actually another co worker staying at the house, Just got into the truck and they all had shotguns to shoot sage grouse. And I had my rifle just in case we saw a doe. And we went out back to this area. It's actually called the do muta triangle, because every time I was hunting with my bow, I tried to get on a doe back there or a buck, it doesn't matter. And all I could see was, like, them on one side of the ridge. And then I drop down and drop out of sight, and I'd pop up on the other side and they'd be gone. Like, they disappeared. So it's the Bermuda triangle anyway, and it's shaped like a triangle. It's great. So we drop into the domi to triangle. And Jess had seen sage grouse when she went back to get the packs when I went to work up the dough the other day. Sweet. They should be right in here somewhere. And we walk up and over the ridge and are they go, there's some does 700 yards out. So we're like, let's go try to make a play on those. And I told we had an agreement with the other. With all three of them. If there's a sage grouse nearby, shoot it. Like, I think there are plenty of opportunities, and I have a long season for my doe. So it was just kind of like we're. We're kind of just doing an opportunity hunt. And we get down there and drop into this little draw, and all of a sudden there's goats, like, 350, 350 yards away, real close and relatively. So we all sit down and Jess is like, hey, that one is, you know, 300 yards away. And I'm like, well, I'm just gonna see if I can get a good rest and, you know, make sure everything's all right. And then we'll see if I'll make a shot, you know, going through my whole deal. And then a goat, a doe, and a buck walk up over the ridge, like, 230 yards away. I was like, oh, well, that's easy. So I'm looking at this dough, and let me just, like, clarify. I sight my rifle in for zeroed at 200 yards. And I'm looking at this dough and all three of my compadres are have their ears plugged because I shoot that gun with a break. And everyone, everyone's gonna have their eardrums blown out if they don't. So. So I don't have anybody spotting me. And I am like, okay, great, this is. This is a chip shot, you know. And so that doe is walking towards me or stops staring at us, you know, looking towards us, and I'm like, man, I'm dead on. I'm just going to shoot a frontal shot. And I do that and we see blood come out the back end and we're like, awesome. Like, you know, it went through the front and then out the back. It's going to tip over anytime now, you know, and we kind of walk down there and she gets up again and starts running and I start crash. Jaden and I start taking shots and I missed twice. Nice. And as she's like wobbling away and that's when, you know, your heart just drops to the pit of your stomach and you're just like, oh, no, what have I done? You know, like, this thing is really not in good shape. You got to keep your crap together so that you can, you know, do right by the animal and like, you know, just like, you know, kind of finish it off. But this whole thing happens and then it goes around the corner and the doe goes around the corner and we lose sight of her and we're like, okay, well, there's a pile of blood that it can't make it very far even if I miss, like, I got femoral or something. And so sure enough, like, she's laying down in a ditch and. And I finish her off a little while later. But anyway, the whole moral of the story is, you know, I got down there and just was super confident in this shot. And every time that I've been overly confident in my shots is when everything goes south. Like, it's when I just lose my crap. And don't think about my shot sequence. Don't think about getting a good rest. I think about the critter turning perfectly broadside and standing, you know, all that stuff. And it was super humbling, man. It's. It's like one of those things where today I feel like I'm picking myself up off the floor because, like, not because I. We didn't retrieve her or anything. Like, I just like when you make a decision that, you know, was a not a good decision, there's no one else to blame. There's no wind blame. Like, you can't, you know, pick out other factors. If you have to look at yourself and say, I pulled the trigger, like, that was my fault. And that's kind of where I'm at today, is just being, like, you know, super humbled by that experience and feeling like I really got to reset here and, you know, make some good shots, especially, you know, going deer hunting and elk hunting that I have still coming up. It's just. And it was a humbling experience.
All right, so next time you got a nice opportunity out there, would you rather be feeling overly confident or being worried and not secure in yourself because of what happened last time?
Man, I. That's a good question. And I think each person. Because, like, my remedy, I think, is to be really not unconfident, but just, like, really critical and, like, really kind of concerned that I'm going to make the best shot. Excuse me. Possible. Because, like, when I get overconfident, it's just, like, been the. It's been. The track record is that when I get too confident is when I take stupid shots. Right. It's like, oh, I can do that. So for me, it's like, I need to be a little worried and be sure that I can make the shot. And, you know, and Jess talked about last night. She said, well, you should probably consider taking some shorter shots. And. And. Which is like, you know, I think she's right. And it's a punch to the ego knowing that I drilled a buck at 275 and drilled a bear at 323, and then I shot another doe at 320. Like, I really. It's one of those things where, like, she's right. I need to just get my crap together and make some shorter shots. But, man, it's hard. It's hard to go backwards in that way, you know? Yeah.
I think that another thing, too, with the excitement, if you didn't get excited, which admittedly is what leads to probably that's, you know, everybody's. Everyone gets too excited, and that's usually what leads to the problems. If you didn't get excited, it would take a lot of the fun out of it. So if you had, like, some sort of sedated you out there, it wouldn't be nearly as fun. So it's, you know, when we undulate back and forth between, like, okay, I got too excited. I need to calm down a little bit. Or confident versus no, no confidence. Like, we go back and forth between this so much, it's Hard to stay in that sweet spot because we are who we are. And if we take too much of that away, then we become, you know, what. So it's kind of an interesting psychological dilemma as we go back and forth through the good and the bad.
Dude, it totally is. And it's one of those things too where, you know, I think maybe as guys and gals who just put so much pressure on ourselves to perform well, whether it's because, you know, a family member is being critical or spouse is going to be critical, or you're going to be critical of yourself and just want to do right by the critters. Like, it just is. It just is like something that is inherent, I think, in hunting is that you're critical of your actions and I think you should be. So it just adds a lot of pressure and. And I think maybe with age or with experience in the mountains, like making shots and making good shots, that it'll come around and be a little bit different. But yeah, it's totally balanced. And I think, you know, just trying to, you know, reduce the undulations, you know, reduce the roller coaster ride to smaller sine waves is probably the best goal, I think, because, yeah, if you didn't get excited about hunting, like, that kind of defeats the purpose too.
Yeah. You see some people come up here, like, you see it a lot in Alaska. You know, these people come up here and it's. It's almost like relief. And it looks like they're having no fun. They've caught their fish and they've caught, you know, whatever, and they're just. Are you having any fun anymore? Is this at all joy or is it just almost a chore? You paid for Alaska. You came up here and all the fishing wasn't as good as it was supposed to be. Like, man, like, this is. Where's, where's the joy? Where's the excitement? Where's the. You don't have to be the hooting, hollering and getting too crazy. But, you know, there should be some joy and there should be some, you know, palm to your forehead every once in a while making a stupid mistake. That's kind of part of it. As long as the consequences aren't super bad and as long as, you know, you're not do anything super ridiculous.
But oh, totally, man. And I'm super stoked that you said that too, because I actually saw all of this sober talk about my last experience, like, is super uncharacteristic because I freaking. I just love being out in the woods with folks and like, just screwing around. I mean, just like you and I did when you came down. You know, we just like to have a good time. And that's how I do it in hunting, too. It's just like, don't take myself too seriously. And then, you know, you should probably. There's a moment to take yourself a little more seriously, you know, but hopefully it's just a small portion of it. Yeah.
When I was down there last year for that doe antelope tag, I was so frustrated the first couple days, because actually, the first couple days when I was getting looks at these doe antelope, but never been in such a flat area. And so I'm. I was paranoid about the cows behind the antelope. I was paranoid about the house behind. And just the idea that I don't really know what's up over that ridge, you know, is it trains?
Is it.
You know, does the shot go all the way back to Laramie? I was so paranoid because I'd never been there. And then it turned into frustration because I was looking like I was just. Something was going to happen. I was not going to get a shot. It was going to be a cow. There was going to be a train, there's going to be a house. There was going to be something always in the background. If there wasn't, then I was going to blow the stock. And I got so frustrated. And then I came all the way back toward the end where I was like, I'm just going to make a good stock on this, and if it works, it works. And then I was finally able to kind of just enjoy the experience on, like, the last day. So. And I looked.
That's so true.
And I think that that was some of the most fun hunting I've done, because you really had to look at the texture in the planes like that. They are totally flat, except for these little things. And, you know, you become a more skilled hunter and you get to do these stocks and you get to experience this different way of doing things. And it was just an antelope tag that I ate. So it was 46 bucks or whatever it was, you know, if it would have been eaten a mule deer tag at 300, whatever that is, that'd be maybe a little bit different. But, you know, being able to find the joy in some level of lack of success, you know, we just have to. There's really no other way, because otherwise you're not going to be successful all the time. You have to be prepared for that. That has to be in there. And you know, you're not going to be immune to frustration, but being able to enjoy it for what it is is so important.
Man, I went on that kind of a 10 day hunt this year. Not kind of. It was a 10 day hunt, archery, mule deer. And it was the first hunt where I like, had approached it just like what you're talking about. Like, I'm gonna go up here and just enjoy the process. You know, I'm gonna give it a lot of effort, but, you know, if I don't get something, like, I also was really realistic and just that I'm looking for a bigger buck and like, you know, it's hard to stock on deer with a bow. And you know, I just. For the first time I went in with like a very kind of frank attitude of like, I might not get something and it's okay if I don't. And that was the most, like, enjoyable hunt. And it was just. I was by myself. Like, for a lot of folks, it probably wouldn't have been that fun, but it was more enjoyable for sure. Just like you're saying when you just go in there and be like, I'm gonna see some cool stuff, you know, and then when you do and then you get some opportunities and they're great. But you know, I think especially when you look at what your goal is for the hunt, like, I also feel like I should encourage you to try to just enjoy the process of looking for mule deer when you come up in two weeks. Because, like, you have meat in the freezer, you have fish in the freezer. Like, just come up and enjoy it and learn a lot. And if you don't kill a buck, like, that should be okay, you know, like, you've already. It's a sunk cost. The tag is a sunk cost. It's going to good conservation work. Like, you know, I know it's hard to be like. And I am the reason why I'm saying this is mostly because I've done the same freaking thing of like, you know, I had a head Brassica buck tag couple years ago and, and I just was so wanting to kill a buck on that tag. And I think it kind of detracted from the experience of the fact that like, I was seeing 50 deer a day. It was pretty freaking sweet. And you know, just, just. It is one of the things that it's a trap we fall into. And I can't tell if it's folks who may put themselves out there more in public or if it's everybody, but it is totally easy to Fall into the trap of being like, I have to get something. Because, you know, whether you think other people are critiquing you or not, like, it is just like it's a mindset we fall into. And I think you can end up being crash Jaden if you just think about getting the thing done.
Yeah, I think there's another trap that we could fall into because we know what to say before and after. So we say that. Oh, but it was just a great hunt. But really the truth is I was a miserable jerk the entire time and I was so pissed. And so now I'm just applying what I know, what I've said before and what I've heard before about. Oh, it's really just about getting out there. And you know what? On the last day I got the perspective. But the truth might be that I was pissed the entire time and only now I'm saying that to kind of COVID up the fact that I missed the point. So there's a lot of words that are out there, a lot of perspectives that work and sometimes we apply them. And so I think that's the key also to have that legitimate enjoyment. And when you're out on the hunt, really appreciate that because sometimes we can apply all those right words after the experience.
Yeah, totally. So here's a good, here's a good example. We, a couple weekends ago, two weekends ago, we were out and we had a friend of ours from Nebraska who, she came out just to experience elk hunting and hopefully she would just like hear a bugle. And she, her goal was to hear a bugle and see an elk. Like that was it. She hadn't done either of those two things. And we had a friend of ours who was out filming as well, just like filming Jess and. And he ended up doing some work for. On a project I'm working on. And so he was with us too. And we kind of like walk into this area after two days of not hearing any bugles. We didn't see an elk for two, you know, two straight hunting days. Then walk into this area at 3pm in the afternoon and there's a cow. It's just like staring there, looking at us. So we all drop down in the sagebrush and I guess to set the scene a little bit more, this is kind of helpful. There's a giant north slope with a creek running down the bottom. In the creek bottom there are a bunch of aspens. And then on the south slope side is all there's a couple juniper trees, like cedar type trees and sagebrush. And it's rocks and just open. So we're walking down the south slope to get to the north slope where we know the elk like to hang out. And as we're walking down the sagebrush, there's a cow right at the edge of the creek bottom. It's just like feeding on the edge of the aspens. And so we hunker down in the sagebrush and just sit next to this old dead tree. And there's four of us. Jess, me, Mel, the gal, who's the gal from Nebraska, and Joe the filmographer, the videographer. And so we're sitting there and just gonna wait until she feeds back into the trees and then we'll finish our walk to the north slope. And she's about 280 yards away. As we're sitting there waiting for her to feed back into the timber, another cow elk walks out. Then another cow elk walks out, and then they kind of meander back in. And then another cow elk walks back out. And so between that next, from 3 o' clock until about 6 o', clock, there ends up being all 30, 40 head of cows feeding out in front of us. And we're like, holy cow, this is a great experience, you know, and, and then a little tiny tweaker bowl, like we say that like it's like a little satellite bowl, you know, like a three point raghorn just kind of bugles off in the back. And we're like, oh, oh, that's cool. And as we're sitting there in the sage brush, I look at Jess and I'm like, I think, you know, we both agree on this too. I don't remember who come up with the idea, but we just look at each other, be like, this is going to be an epic experience if we don't get a shot. That's fine. Let's just like sit here and enjoy what's going to go down and like just, it just, you know, take this all in because this is sweet. So we're sitting out there in the sage brush and pretty soon that satellite bowl comes out and he kind of bugles a little bit. And then we hear up the drainage like a mile, just a giant like just roar of a bowl. And we're like, oh, God, that's pretty sweet.
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