When S**t Goes South with Hayden Richins

Foreign. To the Hunt west podcast, here's your host, Jaden Bales. What's up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Hunt West Podcast. Today's guest is my good friend, one of my main hunting buddies, Hayden Richens. And today, Hayden and I are going to do something that's a little bit different than the norm. I think most guys get on a podcast and sound like they know what they're doing and that everything goes perfectly all the time. But I wanted to do one about when goes south because it happens. And I want to make sure that people know what to do when things don't go the way they're supposed to, either when they're about to try to shoot an animal or, you know, in the middle of their hunt when they have something go sideways and, like, you just have to figure out and problem solve a way around it. Now, I will say, like, a lot of the times these types of situations are really serious and oftentimes will be something that you should take seriously, whether you wounded an animal and you got a follow up or you miss or, you know, something goes wrong as far as your health or like, you get injured. But I think that when you're retelling these stories, especially like, long after the fact, they get to be funny. So just knowing Hayden and I, we're going to be talking and probably laughing a little bit about recounting all of these things. But also I understand that there's some seriousness behind each of these situations that we'll be talking about too. I don't want that to go unnoticed. The fact that, like, we take a lot of this stuff very seriously. But also, like, when you're telling a hunting story, it's just the natural way of things is to look back and laugh. So, Hayden, does that sound like a good plan to you? Yeah, that seems pretty fair.

I do poke a lot of fun, especially after on a story, because some of them are just tragic at the end of the day, but you might as well laugh about it.

That's exactly right, man. And the other thing is, like, you know, I was thinking about all the people I've spent a bunch of time around and people I've hunted with a lot. And I was like, who's had more shit go south than me? And I was like, Hayden might be a good close second.

I don't know if I really want to be on that list at all.

So you, you have the honor at this point in time? Yeah.

You know, I just think it probably is because of how we started hunting together. The idea is like it started on a one of the like worst hunting experiences of my life. Just absolute heartbreak.

Yeah, I think that's the one that we should start with because it's a joint. It's a joint story for both of us and we should just give her. Give that story from the top.

Okay, well. And it just sets a really good. You know, if I made your list, it had to be from the beginning, so.

Yeah, exactly.

But. So I was in school in Laramie when we met Jaden and I, and I, you know, Jaden wasn't an in state resident yet, didn't have a tag. And I was going to hunt general. And you convinced me, you said, you know, if I find elk, you're going to skip class on opening morning and we're going to go elk hunting. And I just figured, sure, I'm in. Sure as shit. You found elk and a pile of them. And the weather wasn't great the next morning. It was just cold. How cold was it?

Well, okay, so I think it was probably. You said it wasn't great. I'm like, no, it was perfect. It was. So when I was up there, okay, that wasn't bad.

It was just cold as all get.

Out when I was up there the night before. And this is helpful because this happens every time it storms in the west is like when I was up there the night before, it was stormy, there was snow, but it would come through in squalls. And then you could, you could glass. And it was in the teens the night before. And then that next morning it was clear. I remember it was a full moon and it was like negative five at the truck. And then we still hiked, I don't know, thousand foot or whatever up, up the ridge. So it was even colder where we were sitting.

Well, and we parked. Part of the story, part of the issue is we parked like too far down or parked in not exactly the right spot. And we had to go through all those willows. And at the time I was running a scabbard that you can put, this is going to be important, that you can put your rifle on your back inside the pack. And then we walked through all those willows and you're just getting snow dumped on the top of you and just like down your back through your backpack, stuff like that. But we got up there too early to shoot. But we could still see the elk and hear them, do you think?

I don't know. We got there 15 minutes before you.

Could shoot basically maybe a little bit more because we sat behind that Rock doing, like jumping jacks, trying to stay warm. Yeah, yeah. Probably 15 minutes, 30 minutes. Like, enough you could see elk, but not one, it wasn't legal shooting light. Two. What. We couldn't quite tell what each was like between cows or bigger bulls.

But yeah, and I will say, most of the time, I'm deal. I am telling people to get there that early because, like, as you were talking about, like, we're sitting there in the dark, but we know there's Elk 200 something yards in front of us.

Which was really great except for how cold it was. I remember standing. We'd hop off the backside of the ridge because it was so cold to do jumping jacks just to try to warm up. And then one person would be sitting watching, making sure the elk didn't, you know, take off. Then we'd swap so that. But either way, so the elk are there. It's great setup. We know there's bulls in there because it's the group you had found the night before. We're pretty excited about it. And first light rolls around and they'll do what they do. And before, you know, I could actually get a shut off, they'd move their way into the timber. But with that fresh snow, we were just like, oh, we can. We can run them down, we can dog them, and this is going to be great. And it did. It was fantastic.

I just remember. Yeah, I just remember you sitting behind the rifle and I'm like, literally watching my clock to be like, okay, okay, we're not there yet. But, like, you're on the gun and you're like, getting ready to shoot this bull. And this is classic because, like, I think everyone will be like, oh, yeah, elk will be in these meadows feeding. When I wake, dude, it's negative five. They've got no reason to leave. Like, there's no hunting pressure yet. It's opening day, and they still rounded up their cows, that bull or whatever, couple bulls and went into the timber before shooting light started.

And it had to have been the one thing that. Yeah, like you said, I really don't think we realize how much they're moving right at that time. You know, like all those shots that we talk about nighttime and morning or at that, like, light that you can't quite see it. Legal shooting light is there, but I think that there's so much movement that happens in 30 minutes before that. So, like, if you're showing up to the glassing knob just at legal shooting light, I think you've missed a lot of movement.

Yeah, for sure. But like to your point, tendency to.

Get there way too early, which is okay.

Is it better to be. I would rather. Yeah, exactly. I'm like hey, hey, hey. This is the direction we want to be. We don't want to be late.

Well, we end up dogging these elk. We didn't. It wasn't even that far through that timber patch. How far would you say it was? I don't want to sound like I'm telling a wives tale here, but I.

Actually have this whole area pulled up on my Onx so that I can. I have the track from the night before. Yeah. 10, 14, 20, 18. So but we went, oh, it's 600 yards across that first, that first ridge. Yeah.

So not even a mile. And we just followed their. It's fresh snow, just easy to track. Just great. Follow them through.

And then we kind of come over.

A hill and they're in this park and there's I think there was three six point bulls, like good bulls. Nothing that was like huge but good bulls. All shooters. So I get out and this, I'd like to also open up. This is our first like actual hunt together.

Yeah, we had gone for like a, we had gone for like a really quick walk in the woods in September together, but that was about it.

Yeah. So you know, we know each other, can talk a good game. We're not really sure if we like hunted together well yet. So I lay down in my pack, rack one in, just waiting to see which one gives me the best broadside shot. Jaden gives me a range and I just start wrenching on the trigger. Just absolutely. So I'm trying to figure out why the gun's not going off. And Jaden doesn't know me yet, so he's probably thinking, he just takes a long time to shoot.

I'm trying to be nice. I'm standing there trying to be nice, but I'm losing my. I.

It was only a hut under like over 200 yards. I think it was not a long shot and I'm proned out. Everything is beautiful, beautiful. And Jaden's just trying to be nice and he's like, you can shoot whenever you want. And I'm laying on my pack, about to break the trigger of my gun off. Turns out when we walked through those willows, a bunch of snow had dumped down in my backpack. Gotten hot. And then I took the gun out and it froze the pin on my gun.

Yeah. That was so sad.

And that's where it just gets worse.

Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, no, no, go so then I, being the smart man I am, I, like, look down on my hip pouch, and I have, like, a water bottle from the truck still on my hip pouch. And I'm like, oh, water's still got to be warm. But we've left the truck an hour and a half ago at this point, and I'm like, I'll just pour my warm water onto the rifle, and hopefully it'll clear up the. And these elk are still in front of us. Like, they're just still going right there. 280, 200 yards in front of us. And so I about just hanging. They just. And we're just dumb and dumber over here, just having the yard sale. And I pour. Dude, I remember pouring that water onto your rifle and then just watching it glisten because it just went sheer instant ice. And I'm like, oh, yeah.

Not only is the pin stuck, now the bolt's stuck in the gun. So the worst part about this is we had enough time to chip the ice off the freshly formed ice. And then we started a fire. We had enough time to start a fire and shish kebab the bolt on my gun to get the pin to come out. And about the time I got it back in and back laid down, the elk worked into the trees, and we're just. We never caught up to him again.

Hey, man, I. I still am proud of our woodsmanship on that. To be like, all right, what next step? Build a fire. And we had a fire ripping while they were elk in front of us. Still, like, we're still moving through. Yeah.

Except for the fact I still have nightmares about laying on the gun and just, like, breaking a trigger off. Just pulling on that thing so hard. The thing probably had to have bent. I was just. I wouldn't have hit anything if it would have gone off at that point, but I was just trying to get that gun to go off so bad.

Do you still use that rifle?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. See, great works when the pin goes.

Yeah.

So my favorite part of. My favorite part of this is weird, you know, sitting here dumb and dumber yard sailing. Get this thing on. On, you know, thought out and over a fire that we built. I don't know if we just. I don't know if I had fire starter or what if I just had a good lighter with us. I don't know.

I think I've blocked out some of the memory.

Yeah. And. And then we shish kebab the rifle. And then so we're like, okay, well, we did it once Already. Like, we already tracked him down one time. Let's do it again. And so we cut the tracks and you're taking lead, and this time they're in the deadfall and in the timber. But I don't actually really know what happened next, but I know that there was a shot fired. Yeah.

And then. So I'm pretty desperate to get something on the ground at this point, just out of what had just happened. And we were in just one of the nastier, like, deadfall areas in the snowies. Just like, getting in and out of there with any weight on your back would have been a nightmare. And a spike ran by at 50 yards to 100 yards. It was not far away. And I just winged a shot at it and smoked a tree. So, like, here I was just desperate. But I, you know, I think it was good for my mental. Just the gun was going off again, at least.

Yeah, exactly.

Not that I really missed it. Fired.

Yeah. I just remember that hike out of there was so nasty. And. And it was right when all of the snow was starting to melt, as it started warming up. And as we were crossing that deadfall, the snow was getting slick on the deadfall and I slipped and ripped my pants and, like, it was.

It was a. Yeah, you're lucky you didn't end up a shish kebab on that one.

Yeah, no kidding.

But that. That hike out was just slushy and just, I think, worse because we were both just like, we should be packing out a nice bowl, and instead we're just getting soaked in this nasty, like, downfall area and nothing.

It was one of the. It was one of the sadder hikes out I've had, I'm not gonna lie.

Yeah. I think if we wouldn't have become friends, that would have been pretty fair after that showing. But it panned out. But damn, that was a rough start.

That was a rough start, dude. I was thinking about it the other day, too, and that whole elk season after that, we probably went another half dozen or more times together. And, like, it was rough. Just classic.

I don't think we got into them again. Like, I think we saw some here and there, but we didn't get into them. Like, we got into them that morning.

No. And the one day that we probably could have got into him was when we were leaving from the truck and there was a dude that said, hey, we're going to go. I'm going to go down the trail. And I'm like, oh, do you want us to, like, account for where you're headed, like, we'll. We'll just, you know, coordinate. And he's like, nope, don't worry about me. And I'm like, okay, whatever. And he just takes off down the trail, and we go straight up the mountain, and on the way out, we find that carcass right next to the trail where he was headed. And I was like, oh, my God, he killed a bull. Yeah.

You know, good for him. But damn it, we did push it pretty good that year in there. But, yeah, I think it was a.

Good example of we probably walked more with our legs than we did with our eyes. And we probably should have put those in inverse. I agree.

We did a lot of, like, where we just run a ridge line and just peek off instead of just sit down and glass.

Yeah.

But, yeah, and it's work smarter, not harder. Right. Like, I think a lot of the time, we always get into that, like, well, if I hike harder, that means I'm doing more. It's like, well, no, I like. I like the enthusiasm, but that's not it.

Exactly. The fun thing is I. I do have. I have that cow moose tag down in that same area this year, and I think we need redemption. I think we need to go down there. I'll be hunting for cow moose, and.

Then we gotta get to kill something in there.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Yeah. Probably have more luck during archery season. I.

Probably. Probably so. But, yeah, like you were saying, that kind of, like, kickstarted our hunting together, and it's been. It's been a lot more shit shows after that. One of my favorites, though, was 20, 21, when we were archery deer hunting in particular. Like, you and our friend Mason came out, and I was like, guys, I got, like, a bunch of bucks found. Like, we'll just kind of bounce around and hunt mule deer and for archery. And I feel like we started off pretty good. We kept. We found deer. Mason stocked some critters and didn't do very well. And.

But he was giving it. He was giving it his all, dude.

His. His effort level is through the roof. I appreciate him for it. But then we went into this gnarly canyon, and same exact kind of setup. It's like, all right, let's get behind some private and hike up 1400ft to start the morning in the dark.

Yeah, 1400ft for breakfast, dude.

And I love the. We walked into that zone, and I was like, okay, like, we're here at daylight or dark, you know, and we, like, letting it get light, and we don't see anything. We're like, oh my God, dude, we just worked our butt off here and like, we're sitting there, glass and glass and glass and glass and not seeing. And I'm just like, oh, no. Yeah, we just talked a big game.

About being there early and that being super helpful that morning. It was not helpful at all. We didn't see a thing.

Dude, it was rough. But then about like 9:30, 9 o'. Clock. Ish. I'd have to go back and look at the timestamp on the photos. I remember we. It might have been me. I don't know. Someone spotted this like, really bright colored doe on the other side of the hill and like, oh, game on. And then we all sat down and like, got really serious about digging apart that hillside and critters started popping. It was like, oh, sweet, there's a buck. Oh, there's a buck. Oh, there's a buck.

I think that's the lesson learned on that one. Just like we were talking about the eyes or what, Using your eyes more than your feet a lot of the time. I also just think that, like, even though, like, I feel like I'm pretty good behind glass and I spend a lot of time behind glass, but once you see something, like, pick that area apart again, like, you might have been over it, you know, I know when I sit in grid, I'll go over an area five times and then all of a sudden there's a deer there. That deer didn't just get there. Like, I'm just finally seeing it. It's now, you know, it's moved a little bit. I can see it or I finally just picked up some movement or whatever it'll be. But like just sitting, pounding glass I think is just underrated, even though it gets talked about all the time.

But yeah, no, I think you're right though. The first. I mean, you took a photo of me looking at the canyon at 7:52, but the first photo of any deer I have on my phone is at 9:14. So we'd already get. Yeah, we'd already like, given up and we're taking photos of each other by eight idiots.

You got to get something out of it. Might as well get, you know, your photo shoot in if we weren't finding anything.

Exactly, exactly. So the way that I remember this going is we basically Mason had his stock opportunity and then so I was like, all right, we're up. And there was. There was a couple shooter bucks in this group of. In this bachelor group of deer. And so we kind of look at Mason. We're like, all right, Mason, sit here and be our overlook and Hayden and I are going to rip over there. And so as you're, as you're thinking about the timing on this, it's like we probably left at what, 11, no.

Like 10 to 10:30. Because once we decided to go, it was. We basically just did a controlled fall down the one side of the hill.

Yes, yes we did. And I will say the other piece of that that I think about a lot and I'm kind of curious what you think. So I took a photo. My last photo I took of that hillside before we left was at 10:30. I oftentimes think like it's a good thing we had Mason over there because they got up and re bedded and he was able to like let us know what was happening. But like it was, we, we kind of jumped the gun so quick.

Yeah, it, what was. We talked about this when we were together in Argentina. Like the knowing when it's all gas but when to use brakes. Like I think you and I end up on all gas sometimes where it's just like, look, I know I'm like, I'm fit enough. I can get over there, I can get over there quick. But there is an art in being patient because the thing is, it wouldn't have hurt us like at all to wait an hour, even 45 minutes for that re bed to happen and then go over there. We know they're going to be in there, they're not going anywhere. But instead we were just like gung ho, let's get over there. Let's make it happen right now.

Yep, exactly. But it was cool because like the way that they bedded each of us had a nice four point to stock. Like there was one that sat up higher and then there was one kind of down lower under a cliff. And I was like, okay, I want to shoot the, the three by four down here. And then you're like, okay, cool. I'll go for the high and tight four point that was up on the ridge. And I just vividly remember us like taking inventory before we headed out. And we were like, oh, I don't have much water left. We each just had like a. What do they call 32 ounce Nalgene.

Yeah, just like a standard Nalgene. And there wasn't left, not much was left in either of our Nalgenes. No.

And if you think about it, we left the truck at probably 5, 35ish, something like that. So we're like four or five hours into this hunt before we find. Yeah. Five hours into this hunt before we, like, go on the stock. And both of us are looking at our Nalgenes, and we're like, we don't have much water. And I was like, but there's a creek in the bottom here. We gotta, like, cross the creek to get the other side. So we'll just.

The map showed Blue there's gotta be water there.

Yeah, exactly. And I vividly remember, like you said, we were kind of in freefall, coming down the one slope to get across the creek. And we get to the bottom, and it's dry as bone. There is not a drop of water, and it didn't look like there'd been a drop for a long time. I was like, you and I just kind of. We just kind of look at each other. And I remember doing something to the effect of, huh, that's not good.

Well, the. The worst part is, like, I think, you know, some common sense what we were getting in for, because it was like, 1400 foot up. It's about 800 to a thousand down and then another thousand up or 800 to a thousand up the other side. Yeah. So, like, it's not a. It was not a easy hike either, no matter how it went. And we were. We just kind of looked around and we're like, we're already here. We might as well just go for it.

Yeah, we got. We gotta climb a bunch to get out either way. So, yeah, we. And we snuck around on top of that ridge and got in position. And the buck you were chasing was higher, so you kind of. I kind of was going. Working slow down towards mine, making sure I didn't get in sight of the buck you were going after. And you snuck in on. On your deer, what happened up there? Because I didn't obviously see what was going on as well.

So I'm not sure if he winded me or saw me when I didn't see him, but he got up out of his bed, and then I got drawn back at like 40, mid-40s, I don't remember exactly, and just never got steady enough to get a shot before he actually busted. So he wasn't sure what I was. I. I would bet he saw me coming in because the wind was pretty good for us. And I think I just exposed myself somewhere kind of on the top, and he saw me. And then he kind of did, like, the classic fish hook backing around. So I ended up laying in his bed because it was the best shade to watch you on your deer. Like, I have a bunch of photos of you above your deer. And I can see you both. And I was in just a beautiful shade While you were just out baking for hours. You're just laying in the open and it was hot.

It was very hot that day. I'd like to go back to the records and see what it was. But if anyone's keeping track here, we haven't had water. We have like a little splash in the bottom of our nalgenes. Like, we haven't had water really for a while.

I would have said when we left, we each had less than 8 ounces. Pretty sure. Yeah.

And so we're sitting on this. So Hayden's deer gets up and moves. He gets in the shade. And I'm sitting out in the sun, and there's like a flat rock that's like 30 yards from where the cliff is where the two. There was two bucks bedded together. I wanted to shoot the three by four. Then there was another like, like kind of a medium four point next to him. And I'm sitting there and every now and then I can see antlers moving underneath the thing. And I'm like, all right. I just hang out here, I guess. And I had pre ranged. I'd pre ranged like a rock at 34 yards or something that I was like, if they're at the rock, they're, you know, 34. That's good shot. Like, if they come closer to me, I mean, we're in the 20s for sure.

Yeah.

And I'm just sitting out there baking in the sun, Just sitting on a rock, Just waiting for them to get up. One of the things. One of the things I remember sound.

Like an egg up there.

Yeah, dude. I had my. I had that long sleeve, like, marino camo top, and I just had that hood up. And that was my only shade, man. I was just. It was pretty rough. But then it was probably about five o' clock in the afternoon, and I start seeing the antlers of the medium four point moving. And I'm like, oh, he's gonna, he's gonna get up. I'm looking back at the timestamps, and it looks like about my first photos after the fact were at 450. So it was, yeah, 4:45 or whatever when I see these deer start moving. And I'm like, all right, it's go time. And I'm just staring at this, like, medium four point waiting for him to come out at like 27 yards or 28 yards, whatever it is, this side. And like, I. I don't know if I just Got tunnel vision or what? But then all of a sudden I like catch movement out of the corner of my eye. And the 3x4 is standing, feeding away at like 30. Like he's almost to my rock that I had ranged and I was like, oh. Like I just. Oh God. So from the heat stroke, yeah, it like totally caught me off guard. And so I like, you know, was kind of in position to shoot already. And so I just see him and I didn't range or anything. I was like, oh, he's almost to my rock. So I draw back and he's just feeding. He has no idea I'm there. And I released that arrow and dude, I just sailed it right over his back. He had probably come out a little closer to me and it was more like 28, 29 yards. And I put it on for like 33, 34 and I just sent it over his back and I was just like, oh my God. I did not just do that. He had been roasting in the sun all day. We spent. We're out of water. We did this huge climb and I just blew it.

And immediately from my vantage point, I can just. You're a couple hundred yards from me and I can see that you stood up to draw. I can't quite see the buck just where he had fed to. So I see the shot go out and then I see you running, which is very rarely a good sign. Very rarely after you let an arrow go. Is a dead sprint a good sign?

No, it is not. So that deer, he was going to the left and he like spun and went down to the right a little bit. And I was, he's underneath this cliff band and so I'm like, okay, I'm going to run over to the edge of the cliff band, see if I can get another shot. And sure enough, I like run. I don't know, it was only 20, 30 yards. And he's standing there looking around and I'm like, well, okay. And I range and he's right at 40 and I draw back and shoot and this one hits kind of forward and he runs off like kind of parallel or underneath you. And I'm trying to get your attention, like, hey, I got an arrow in my room. And like by the time, you know, and we're watching him the whole time, by the time I think that you were like, you had eyes on him and stuff, then he gets wobbly legged and pitches himself over a cliff.

Yeah, he did fall quite. He jumped off the cliff. When we recovered him, he was head upside down. In a cedar tree below the cliff.

Yeah, he. It was his final middle finger to us, I think. Yeah.

He just wanted to make sure we had to climb because where you had hit him the second time, it wasn't really any elevation. If we wanted to go over the ridge, he wanted to make sure that we had to go uphill to get out.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And of course, like, he's a velvet buck. It's like September 5th, and when he pitches himself off, all of his velvet starts hanging off. I'm like, oh, dang.

Adding to the story, Mason now knows that we've got one down and he's starting to come around. Or we think we have no idea what happened to Mason for quite some time. So we think Mason got lost. We get the deer taken care of, we're ready to go. And that's. We're just waiting, I don't know, an hour and a half later, two hours later.

Yeah. And we're in the canyon. Yeah, we're in the canyon. It's not like we have cell service, you know.

Yeah.

It's just like, oh, my God, I hope Mason's okay. Well, then Mason, of course, he rolls up and he's like, sorry, guys, I had a sketchy run in with a black bear. They got this and he's out of water.

I think the next thing we asked him for was water. And he was also out.

Yeah. Which is where. Which is. I mean, all this is fine and dandy, but this is where things start going sideways. Right. I mean, it's probably 6:30 or 7:00 in the evening.

Yeah.

And for home gamers, like, we haven't had fresh water for six hours or something, like, weird.

And it hasn't been cool or a lack of physical effort. So it's. It's getting.

Or getting really dehydrated. So basically Mason gets over there. I think he had like a little tiny spot, just enough to wet our whistles. And then we're like, all right, like, guess we gotta hike out. And the way that this lays out is there's some private landowners that it would cut off miles if we could go through this private land. Like, not just a couple miles. It would cut off, like it would. It would turn like a 5 mile hike out into like a 1 mile hikeout and downhill and downhill. And so I get on the. We hike up to the top of the ridge with the buck on our backs, and then I start calling people because I'm like, can we go through any of this private? Because this we're in bad shape. And everyone was like, nope, don't even try. Like, don't do it. And I even had, like, I, like, had friends of our friends who knew these people. And like, I. I thought I had a good in. It wasn't just some random person calling. And so sure enough, they were like, nope, nope, nope. And I was like, oh, boy. So it's, like, dark now, and we're like, well, guess we're going out the long way.

Yeah. Well, I'm not sure. I still think that we made the wrong choice there. I understand why we made it, but I still think that it would have just been better to do the one nasty climb and then a lot of downhill than the extra length. I think we under. Underplayed the topo that we were about to go through.

Yeah, I have been in that canyon a lot. And funny enough, because of Mason finding that bear, I ended up going back in there bear hunting, and I shot a bear out of there two years ago. So I've spent a lot of time in that canyon. And I fully agree, like, I've. I've now packed one animal up one way and one animal up the steep way. And the steep way is better, honestly.

Well, and I think the. One of the funniest parts is we're packing out. We're all starting to, like, not do very good. And it's a long way and a lot more. It's not like big or super steep climbs, but it's consistently up or down, like you're climbing or descending the whole time. I think everyone's been in those kind of undulating hills areas, so you're never really getting that much of a break that you thought it would just be a, you know, plod your way out.

Yeah.

We find a little hole of salamander piss. Some of the grossest water that I've ever seen. And we. It was so bad, it broke the filter. We didn't even get any water out of the deal.

I know. I felt. It's so funny because last year in 2024, Mason still reminded me. He's like, hey, you know you still broke my filter, right? And I was like, oh, I'm so sorry. I gave him like, a. A life straw. It's like, this is. This is all I got right now, brother.

It's better than nothing.

Yeah, exactly.

So the only water that we come across was so bad, the Catadine. Catadine filter gave up the ghost trying to filter it. It was like, it. Nah, there's nothing that can save this water. And then we have no filter, so we just keep walking. And then I really gotta shout him out because he saved our bacon. Tanner warder showed up running, so we had called him, telling him, like, if you're around, can you please bring us some water? And we're crawling over and under fences. You know the worst part about the packouts, when you have to take your backpack off and either get it over the fence or under the fence, and then you got to get it back on. And we're all kind of laying by this fence. No one's talking to each other anymore. And then we see a headlight bobbing on, like, the next ridgeline. And it was.

It was one of the most. It was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen.

Yeah. I'm pretty sure I heard like a chorus, like a choir.

Yeah.

And that. That great man just came in with. I think he ran in with 2 gallons of water on his back.

Yeah.

Not like a super short run either. And he ran the whole way.

Yeah. It was awesome.

Oh.

So then once we got water in us, we were feeling a lot better and we could just kind of boogie out. Oh, yeah, I was just looking. I took a photo once we got back to the truck, and it was 1204am so it was. That was an awfully long day, man.

Also, at the end, didn't we hit the screw it button and we walked through a river at the end because it just wasn't worth going around to the bridge.

Yeah, yeah, that's. Yeah, yeah, dude. It's like, dude, this is. This is not worth it. Let's just wait to cross. Yeah. Oh, my. One of the things. One of the things for, like, people listening is, like, really important is. And I've called upon you a couple times now, but it's nice to have someone within a couple hundred miles at least of where you're going to be hunting in case something goes south like that. And you can be like, hey, I'm in a bad way. Like, we need. We need water or we need pack out help or something like that. It's one of the things, like with my clients and stuff, if I know someone, a good guy who's going to be in the area, I'll try to link them up so that someone doesn't get in a pickle and. And get in a really bad, bad way.

It's kind of an interesting dynamic because I think most of us as hunters really want to be that, like, I'm never in trouble and, like, I can do things solo. And there's like a fun bravado to that, but one, I think the community that comes with that, like, just having people around. I know that my favorite hunts I've ever been on were never solo hunts. They, like, even if I was hunting by myself that day, like, you're hunting from camp with a group or, you know, you have someone that you called to help you get it out. I think it keeps you out of bad situations and it, you know, everyone has had times that they needed to call someone for a hand. So, like, when you get in a bad way, just give your buddy a call that they want to come help. Like, that's just what it is. And having that community will get you out of a sticky situation.

Yep. Hey, sorry to interrupt, but I want to make sure that you knew that we're going back to Argentina in 2026 and you are invited. If you'd like to come down to Argentina, there's only a couple spots left. So if you've heard the podcast that we've done and you want to go back and chase Argentina Red Stag with me, be sure to reach out. Jaden Huntwest.net We've only got a couple spots for 2026, so let me know. And if you haven't listened to those podcasts, go back and do it. It's going to be an awesome time, and I'd love it if you joined us. All right, back to the show.

You're listening to the Hunt west podcast.

Absolutely. Before we. Before we tell the story of another sticky situation of mine, because we have another good one. But what's. What's one of the situations you've been in when you were solo and you were just like, gotten a bad way? Whether it's the. Whether it's the pack wheel crash or. Or a bow, I feel miss or a wounded animal or like something like that.

I think one of them was actually this. This year when I got that mule deer, I had like a weird tendonitis issue. This year you were with me when it started, and then I was just running tennis shoes after that. Something happened with my Achilles. I still don't know what went wrong, but if I was in really low tennis shoes, I could get by. And I shot a deer with my bow about four miles, maybe five miles back, and I was solo and just the pack out was just excruciating. I didn't really think that through, and I kind of pushed some of like the limits of what my Achilles was probably ready for, and it pushed me back further and like, getting it healed, things like that. What.

What was this? What was the specific. Like, how, like, how far are we talking? Like, what's the like for people who don't know how much of a mule deer pack out is by yourself? It's not. Everyone talks about it being easier than an elk, and it is. But. But the. The one load that you're taking with the mule deer is more than a quarter of an L.

Yeah, I think especially because I just debone it. I deboned the whole thing and thought, you know, I'll just pack it all out in one go. I was by myself. I've done it before. It's okay.

Did you have camp on your back or were you also. Were you just.

I was just day hunting, so I didn't have much. Just bow and, you know, your standard stuff. But the pack, it was. I don't know how much debone? Under a hundred pounds, but around a hundred pounds probably with everything, you know, I'm trying to get the head. I wasn't taking. It's not like I caped it out. I wasn't carrying the hide with me, but a full debone. Good sized mule deer. Um, and it. I. Partway through the hike, I just laid down and like, was like, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to make this all the way out.

Was this at night? Was this at night or was it daytime?

Yeah, I shot him. I shot him probably an hour before last light. And yeah, I called my pops and he was on his way in, so I ended up making it out. But, man, it was just a bad. You know. Have you ever been on a packout and you're really considering if you can actually make it?

Yes. In particular. One in particular that I called you about.

Yeah, let's. Hey, you made it out. You got a little help, but you made it out.

Yeah. My favorite story that you tell me is when you called your dad for packout help and he shows up and you're like, dad, where's your backpack? What do you say?

He. He's like, oh, I'm not packing anything. I brought knives. Yeah.

What are they?

Tower. You got it? Yeah. So the worst part is I didn't realize till. So I shot this elk by myself. And it wasn't terribly far, but further than I wanted to pack alone. So I went and picked him up and came back to get it or met him at the truck and rode out there with him. And we were almost to the elk by the time I realized he didn't Have a backpack on.

Such a classic old man move.

He's like, no, I'm cutting. You're carrying. I'm not. I brought knives.

That's great.

It wasn't like a terribly long pack out, but I would just do laps, quarter by quarter. I'd get there, you'd have a new quarter off.

What a guy.

The old man move.

What a guy. Yeah, the other. The other really major time that went south with me was on a really literal way. Yeah, it went south, was on a pronghorn hunt, and I was by myself. So there's like some general. Deer tag was open, and I had this pronghorn tag, and it was like a super. There was public land to hunt, but it was hard to access. And I was like, well, if there was ever a time to do a backpack antelope hunt, it's when I'm gonna, you know, possibly find a good buck deer or, you know, backpack in and find a good antelope. We'll see. We'll see what we can turn up. And the way that this place lays out, you cross a creek and then you kind of wiggle between two private sections, and then it opens up into a big, like, space where you can roam around.

And I give some things away. But we have to name the creek, right?

Yeah, yeah. We'll talk about it at the end. So we. So I go in there the night before, and I'm hiking in. I. I actually find a buck that I was, like, considering shooting. He was on private just enough that I was like, yeah, nope. Like, I'm not going to spend time waiting for him to come on public especially. It's. It's early October, so they don't move in a lot. And the next morning I wake up and I packed in enough water for that evening before. In the morning, the next morning. So I don't know if I had a gallon, but it was, you know, two big nala jeans or something. And I see these pronghorn and I'm like, heck, yeah. And I drop down off the glassing knob and, like, wiggle my way up there. And then I pop up 400, 500 yards from where I'd seen them last. And there's a truck that came in from private and they had loaded the pronghorn up. So they had got this goat while I was stalking it. I was just like, dang it. So then I'm like, well, I'll just keep going further back in. And I'm hiking back, hiking back, and I'm kind of aiming for this cattle trough. Because I was like, well, I gotta fill up water here before noon. I was doing good still that morning, but I was like, gotta fill up water. And as I'm getting closer to the cattle trough, I come across this spring and I'm literally seeing the water like bubble up out of the ground. And I'm like, dude, this is going to be better than a cattle trough. Like, there's no reason to. To pass up a good spring source of water. So I stop and I fill up all my stuff and I drop my tablets in to the water and I get to hike in and I get up to this glass and knob where I'm going to eat lunch, drink water and do all that stuff. So I take a drink out of my water when I sit down and I'm like, yeah, that tastes like crap. And I was like, maybe I should boil it. So I boil water as it's getting ready for lunch. And after it's boiled, I poured some into my, my Nalgene, poured some into my little mountain house thing, and I go take another drink out of this kind of like warmish water. And I'm like, God, still doesn't taste very good. I was like, but it's now been not only treated, but it's also been boiled. And I was like, yeah, should be fine. So like, I pour some electrolytes in there and like drink this water and I go to eat my meal and I take a bite out of my meal and I'm like, ah, this tastes terrible. What is going on? And so I like, like I'm just going to skip the. I'm going to skip the mountain house or whatever it was at the time and I eat some snacks and stuff. And then from there I'm sitting there dicking around and eating lunch and drinking some water and I see these pronghorn that are a good ways off in the distance. And I'm like, ah, that's a buck. I'll go kill him. And so it's probably a mile or so to like get to where this pronghorn is and I'm like making my way towards him, just kind of bebopping across the prairie. And I get about 400 yards from this antelope and all of a sudden my stomach gurgles and I'm like, oh, I gotta go to the bathroom like now. So I drop tr. Take a poop, pull up my pants, and then I like finish the stock. And I gotta admit, it wouldn't be a complete story if I didn't explain that I mag dumped on this pronghorn. I. I definitely was like. I don't know what was going on, if I just, like, wasn't focused or what, but I just. I missed a couple shots, and then he was still standing there, and I finally hit one, and he dropped. And I was like, okay, good to go. And I get up to the pronghorn, getting ready to, like, butcher him up, take my photos, and I'm like, oh, my stomach's gurgling again. I gotta go to the bathroom. And so I do that, and then as I'm butchering the pronghorn every 15 minutes, I'm got diarrhea bad.

Hold on. I don't think you also properly described it, how you have to me in the past, when you were making the stock, the fact that there's not always a whole lot of Topo out there to hide behind. It was kind of a. Yeah. It wasn't like, you have the tree that you can get a nice slot behind. It was.

It was like, I'm grabbing a sage brush that's sticking out of, like, a cut in the wash that I'm, like, using as cover. Get to the antelope yet? It's not. It's not good. It's not good. So, long story short, I put the antelope on my backpack, and so I've got camp and an antelope. So let's say an antelope with his head is 60 pounds or something, and camp's 40, and then another 10 pounds for a rifle. So it's a pretty heavy pack, like, all things considered. And every time I stand up, I'm getting lightheaded, and I'm just like, oh, this is. This is not good. And I'm running the equation in my brain. I'm like, well, I'll just keep drinking this water. I think it's causing the problem. But I bet you if 100% water comes in, 80% is coming out. That's plus 20% going into my system. That's. That's math.

Bad math. Bad math.

I. Yeah. So as I'm hiking, I. I'm starting to get more and more lightheaded every time I stand up. And keep in mind, I'm like, having to go to the bathroom every 15 minutes or so. And I didn't bring that much toilet paper, so I just keep going, keep going. I find a cool deer shed along the way, which is cool. And I'm, like, watching my little cursor, and I'm thinking, I'm getting closer to the truck. And I'm getting in worse and worse shape. But I'm realizing, like I said, a fan. Four and a half or five miles to go. So I shot that pronghorn, like, I don't know, the track was like 6.8 miles or something from the truck. And I was like, oh, no. Like, I think I'm actually getting in trouble. Like, in order to get this pronghorn out and to get myself out safely, like, I'm gonna have to do something different. So I call Hayden, and I was like, hayden, where are you at? And he's like, oh, we're like five miles from this exit. And I was like, would you please take that exit?

With my dad and Mason hunting antelope that same day, and it's kind of an area bordering yours or I guess.

To the kitty corner.

Yeah, kitty corner. And this exit is in the middle of nowhere. And I'm talking. We can see the exit when he calls and he's just like, oh, please take that exit.

I always forget how fortuitous that was that. That that exit was coming up, man.

Yeah.

So you guys come in, and I'm like. I explained kind of where I'm at, and I'm like, I. I need some water. I need. I need some help. The way you describe it is you were like. You were like, jaden needs some help. And he's really calm, so it's probably pretty bad.

My. My dad, he's been around us both enough now to know that, like, if one of us is calling for help, that means, like, we are in the situation where, like, that's needed. Help is needed at this point. So the fact you called for help is already. We need to go right now.

Yeah. And like I said, I just appreciate having friends like you guys that. But we'll drop everything to come lend a hand, you know?

Well, the story does get better from here. So you call us and we have a bunch of. I think we had probably gotten. It was a standard kind of antelope hunt that day. Nothing too serious. I'm pretty sure we had gotten Egg McMuffins on the way. I'm pretty sure there were McDonald's napkins. I threw as many in my backpack as I could get. And then all the water we had in the truck and took off trotting in your direction.

I will say Hayden took off trotting. Mason was fast walking. I love. Was so fun. You guys are just, like, bombing in. And of course, like, if you remember from the beginning of the story, you guys have to cross creek Wiggle between these two private pieces and like, just try to hoof it back up to where I was at. And I remember you guys said that you, you talked to somebody when you pulled up. Yeah.

So there was a father, son that had been hunting. And I was like, I had just, you know, you had called, so I knew you were in a bad way and I just asked, you know, had. Have you seen a guy out there? I know he killed Nanlope today. He's like, oh, he's way out there. We saw him earlier. He's a long way in there.

Yeah, it was when that story was recounted to me, I was like, yeah, I guess I probably, I probably didn't need to do that.

Um, yeah, I think they had crossed the creek and gotten on that kind of front rim and seen you back there. And they're, oh, he's way back there.

I wish they had to come ask me if I wanted water, but that's okay.

I bet they, you put on a show for them. That's probably why they came out so early.

Yeah, that's right. That's right. They just kept seeing a big white flash out there with my butt hanging out. So I, as you guys are like running in, I'm still trying to like, and I'm seeing stars every time I get up. I'm. I'm not feeling good. So eventually I just go like, hey, I'm gonna wait by this fence line right here. And I find like the tallest little ridge looking thing with a little sage brush that sticks up and gives you like 2 foot of a shadow. And I just lay there. I'm like, that's like, I'm gonna wait here. I'm not going anywhere.

You had already broke into your gauze at this point, right?

Yeah, I ran out of toilet paper. So then, you know, I'm looking through my med kit, like, what can I use as toilet paper in here? And I just had like gauze, obviously, that you would pack a wound with. And I was like, well, this will, this will suffice. And that's what I was using at that point. It was, it was rough.

And where I was coming in from, he had hungry. Like, I don't know if it was a game bag. He hung something orange on the fence. So I couldn't really see you from the direction I came in from, but I could see the orange game bag or whatever it was hanging on the fence. So I come jogging up to that and turn and you were just laying on your back, just flat on your back under, just the saddest piece of shade. And you just looked up at me and gave me a smile. Oh, it's good to see you. Yeah.

Oh, it was great, man. You busted out the. You busted out the McDonald's napkins first thing. And I was like, don't worry. I don't need those anymore. Like, I'm out of. I'm out of. I'm out of anything that come out of me. Like, it was. I was done. And so then Mason. And then you pull out a jug of water. Mason catches up, and you guys split the pronghorn up, and, dude, I. I appreciated that so much. It was so good. And as soon as I started getting water in my system, I had to go to the bathroom a couple more times. But, like, not bad. And as soon as I got fresh water in my system, I started perking up. I was like, oh, yeah, dude. Like, we're good to go. And it was probably three, three and a half miles or something from there to the truck. So you guys had ran in. In more than three miles. And I remember just being like, oh, as we keep walking a little further, I'm like, yeah, I'm feeling good. I was like, ah, must have. It was clearly the water that, like, screwed me up. But I didn't have, like, a sickness. It was something with the water. And then I'm starting to do the math, and I think I texted my mom at that point. She's used to be an ER nurse and is a teacher nursing now. And I was kind of, like, triaging with her, like, what the heck is going on? And she.

What happened to me?

Yeah, what happened to me? And she's like, sounds like you have salt poisoning. Like, you. You drank salt water. And then it dawns on me that I'm hunting in Salt Creek as a unit, and I'm like, oh, my God, you idiot. Just drinking salt water the whole time. It wasn't.

It was. Filters don't take salt out.

No filters. Don't. I. You'd be a rich man if you could create a portable filter that took salt out. Yeah. Yeah.

Well. And just to tie the story up, my pups, he's. You know, he knew that Mason and I could handle it. He wasn't gonna run in. He knew it would be quicker if he just hung out. So he hung out, did some glassing at the truck, and we parked right next to Jaden's truck, so we knew exactly where he went in. And not that he's a germaphobe, but just a touch. And that Just adds to the story. Just a cup. Some things will just really set them off, get them dry, even, stuff like that. So on the way out, Jaden's been in a bad enough way, and we're. It's dark. We just mobbed across this nasty black water creek. You know, we didn't take boots off, we just mobbed it. We just said whatever.

I've come to find out I did more research because I was just like interested in the history of this place after all this went down. And that creek is actually the first place in Wyoming where they found oil. But it's because the oil comes up into the creek, really. So a lot of that mud and stuff has actually got oil in it, like. Yeah, it could be.

Well, it is black and stinky. That makes sense.

Yeah.

So we're all covered when we get back to the truck. Especially Jaden. I don't know why in particular you got more covered, but you did. And you went up to thank my pops for stopping, shook his hand. And my pops doesn't see well at night, so he shines a light on it because he can feel something on his hand and just kind of dry heaves for a second. He's just shadin. Tell me this is mud. Oh, tell me this is mud.

He's got a big brown smear on his hand. I think my response was, don't worry, Todd hasn't been that solid for hours.

That was funny. I do have one more that it went south this year. It had a happy ending. Kind of like yours. Not.

Is this your elk?

Yeah.

I wanted to hear this. I wanted to hear this story again for sure.

Okay. So, yeah, you and I had been chasing elk in this unit for two weeks or 10 days or something, and we'd gotten. Got into elk but never got one down. And it's what? I killed it the 28th, I think. Something like that.

Yeah. You ground it out, man. Yeah.

And. Yeah, so it's like the 28th. My wife, it's her first elk hunt. She was now with me. She'd gotten back from some travel and we're out hunting. We're glassing on one of these knobs that we can just see into this canyon. And it's a long way down, but you can just see a ton of country. And sure enough, we spotted some elk straight below us. And what I mean, straight below us, it was. It's just shale straight down. Like. I don't know how best to describe it. There's a couple ribbon cliffs in there, and it's Shale.

It's just. This is like, classic. It's the same kind of setup. Whether you could kind of call that high country for sure. But whether you're sitting on a big glassing knob in high elevations or you're in a canyon, like, it's just straight below you where you can see. It's so steep, you can actually see below you, which is a defining feature of this terrain.

Yeah. So my good thing. My wife is all gung ho and I'm. She spotted them first anyway, and she's, yeah, sure, I'll go. Part of getting down some of the ribbon clips. You kind of like lean over and hug a tree and then just kind of shimmy your way down. So it's pretty steep, Pretty straight down. On our way in, where we had seen the elk go in was a little bit further through this timber patch. And we get right on top of. We kind of hear some movement and then see them. And we are maybe 50 yards from a couple real young rag horns. And we are straight on top of them. They've heard us coming down, but they haven't seen us. And the wind was great, so it wasn't really a concern. But how we're standing. Your feet are just pointed straight down. All your weight is just in your toes. You're sliding in your boots, and you can't move because they're looking straight up at us. So we stood there. It had to have been almost an hour, maybe an hour and a half while they decided how concerned they were about us being there. They never busted, never got too concerned. But it was one of my wife's first in depth hunts, and she kept moving on the rocks. So my hands behind my back, I'm like flashing her sign language, telling her to stop moving about every 10 minutes because it just makes so much noise. Yeah, our feet are numb. And then eventually they kind of worked out to maybe 40 yards. But it's just thick timber and. But it's a really doable shot. Or at least I thought so. My wife is there. I was like, this is all coming together. She's right behind me. She's going to get to see this. But, you know, just any standard shooting through timber was. I can thread that needle like this will be fine. I've been watching this thing for an hour. It doesn't seem concerned. I draw back, get dead settled and smoked a branch, just absolutely whacked a branch, couldn't thread the needle. They don't spook hardly at all. They take a couple steps to what I thought was A more open window drawback. He's still in that, you know, just over 40 range. Get settled in smoke. Another branch.

Oh, no.

So then third time's the charm. And he didn't spook again. Hardly at all. May maybe went 10 yards. And instead of like away, he's just kind of moving to the side. So my range is staying pretty consistent. One more time, I'm like, okay, I can thread that needle. Smoked another branch. Three in a row. I sent three arrows just straight into a tree. And then after that.

Hold on. How many arrows are you running in the quiver? Cuz we were, we were grouse slaying. So, like, did you have three broadheads and a. And a grouse arrow or how did you have another.

No, you convinced me to send. So I have four broadheads. I had six, but you convinced me to send one of my arrows just straight. Hold on. Yeah, let's talk about that. We were on this hunt. There was grouse galore this year, which was awesome. And we're easily distracted, so grouse hunting is always an option. There's a grouse kind of up above us in this tree. And Jaden had already thwacked a few. And I thought it was a bad idea. I was like, there's no way this is a good idea. There's no backdrop. That arrow is going to go a mile before it touches the ground. And he's, oh, you're fine. You can do it.

You hit the grouse. I don't know how much I missed.

It by, but it's obvious I didn't hit the grouse. And that arrow just sailed. And Jaden just looks at me. He's like, huh.

There goes $40. Yeah.

Because I think I hadn't, I, I. Because I sent a broadhead on that one too. Because I had lost my judo.

Yeah, it fell out of your quiver.

It had fallen out of my quiver. So. Oh, I lost so many arrows on. And then I lost three when I finally killed this out. Okay. No, I'm running five. Four broadheads and one judo. I almost had to use my judo on this elk. So at this point, I'm down three arrows. None have touched the elk. I have successfully not threaded a single needle through any of these shop windows. I thought I had this elk trots off like 50 yards more or less. And just how the area is, there's some kind of downed timber. I'm kind of able to crawl and crouch. And I get up about 30, 35 yards from it and end up jumping up on top of a Downed log. So I'm just standing out in the open. No trees in the way. Smacked him. Great shot. He went maybe 50 after that. But I was standing out in the open.

Oh my God.

And just had stood up on top of. Just highlighted myself and it didn't move the worst. All of this to say it's my wife's first elk hunt where we've actually gone after it and now she just thinks they are the dumbest things. And it's super easy. She's like, you shot three arrows. We were standing above it on like all these rocks making noise. They never went anywhere. It's so easy. And I was like, oh no.

Oh geez. Yeah, like they're the dumbest critters. It is very rare that you get multiple opportunities, let alone 4.

4, 4 and 4. Like all within 150 yards of each other.

Oh man, that's crazy.

I'd also like to say her first pack out, it was about seven and a half miles out.

So. Okay, so this is another example of you could either go straight up and it is a, it is a big straight up. I'm not going to say it's not, but. Or you could go out the bottom and you guys decided to go out the bottom. Was that the right decision?

I didn't have to go up. The thing is, I think Maddie ended up finding a decent route up. Like she kind of skirted around. I think maybe if we would have taken that route, it wouldn't have been so bad. There was no way to get up the way we came down. With much weight on your back. How she went up to go. She ended up going to the four wheeler and then coming, going back to camp, getting the truck and driving around to the trail head and then hiking in from the bottom as I was hiking meat out. And then we met. But yeah, maybe if we would have gone that way, it wouldn't have been, I don't know, it was still. I don't know. I don't think there was a big winner on that one.

Yeah, probably not. Especially with just two of you. So you gotta do multiple trips anyway. Yeah, you're like, well, might as well just take the long but better way out.

Mason ended up coming in too. He ran up the mountain and came in. But I, I am so grateful. That was the smallest bodied elk ever. The thing I was able to move it by myself before I deboned it. Like I could grab its leg and move it, which means it. And I, you know, after I shot it, I was like, wow, and by the end of the pack out, I was like, I am so grateful that that elk was so small.

Thank goodness we didn't shoot the big one in here.

Yeah, no kidding.

He was.

I think he had superb genetics because he was a little rag horn and he had to have only been a year old and shooting tomorrow's giants today.

That's right. That's right. So the packout ended up going smoothly, more or less, I think as smooth.

As you could get. It was definitely not fun.

Yeah. Well, I remember. I remember you. It was right when that giant elk fire kicked up and we didn't know which way it was going. I didn't really know a whole lot. And yeah, we. I was just like, oh, no, Hayden's got an elk down and there's a fire, like burning somewhere up there. You know, Like, I. I didn't know much details yet. And I was just like, this could be real bad. But it ended up being okay. Yeah.

When Maddie, so she talks about, she hiked out by herself when I was deboning the elk to get ready to go, and she gets up to the top of the ridge and can see the smoke and she just thought like.

Oh, no, this is bad. Yeah.

Yeah. It was far enough away and it didn't like, come over to us or anything like that. It did end up shutting that road down. So, like, you couldn't get up to our area.

But how'd you guys get home then? Do you have to go around?

It was like. It was a couple days later when it really exploded that. Okay, they shut it down. It might have been the next day. So we were able to drive out that night. We didn't get home till, I think.

4Am yeah, that's what you got to do to get those elk out in, like September. You just gotta, like, work. Work through the night and make sure you get out.

Yeah. And it wasn't cold by any stretch. Our whole season was pretty warm. We had the one random cold snap where it snowed. No, it just warmed straight back up.

Yeah. And I remember on the hunts I was on at the end of September, early October, it was just hot all the time. It was just freaking hot and dusty. So that's why we had such bad fires.

Yeah. Yeah. But I. It's going to be an issue now that Maddie thinks elk hunting, like, elk are real dumb. And it's super easy because she did see the dumbest elk I've ever seen.

Like, and that's like 20 days. That's like 20 days into hunting. That unit too. You just like hunted long enough to find the dumb one, the special elk.

I don't, but that's just something terrible about me, doesn't it? I couldn't get it done until we found the troubled elk, the special elk.

Either that or you're just like, you're like, well, you know, we're either going to shoot a big one or a dumb one. And you know what? At least you found a dumb one.

Yeah, you know, I think I like to think of it as I just earned the mountain karma from being up there so much that, you know, the hunting gods smiled on me and said, we gotta give him something.

Yeah, It's a great example. In one of my last podcasts, I was talking about how like, scouting is so important because it just gives you more days afield. We didn't scout that unit at all. And therefore you put all the days in during the, during the hunting season. And like, if you're out there enough, it's like crazy stuff happens. Like, you just talk about it.

You and I talk about it all the time. I just think there's no replacement for time. I don't, you know, whether it's during season or scouting, like, luck is awesome. You know, being really good shot, being great at stalking, being really physically fit is all super helpful. I think the one thing that we don't talk enough about and it's the hardest thing to come by is time. Yep. Time. A field is. Yeah, it's, it's something you can't train for. It's something that you can't do at home, you know?

Yeah. And, and comes back to like, if someone's like, oh, I'm going to try a five day elk hunt. Like, let's just say it's a five day rifle season or something. Six day rifle season. I'm over here like, dude, stretcher to nine. Because that's, that's two weekends in a full week, I'm like, just stretch it to nine and goes scout. You know, like, just because the season's open for that short a time, like, just try to get as many days as possible.

It does, it does change stuff. Like the, my dad's elk he got in Utah. I was able to be in there about a week beforehand and we shot on the opening morning. But most of the guys we met weren't having any luck. And there's a lot of elk in there. Just, I think that time makes all the difference. And I have figured out one thing that really helps me with that time and it's I quit my job for every.

I highly recommend quitting jobs and living on ramen and grouse. That's a good idea.

Yeah, it. It is pretty fulfilling. It's terrible for your wallet. But for the past, I don't know, going on four or five years, I have found that the best thing for time in my hunting season is not being employed.

That's right. That's right.

It really. It's pretty helpful.

I love it because I can always count on you to be around to save my butt when I'm in a bad way. But you know, at some point when you, when you go down the kid route and stuff, I'm gonna have to find somebody else to come save me.

Yeah, I, I gotta get it sorted out. I don't know how I keep that. Keep that going. But it has been the best thing for my time of field and I recommend it to everybody. If you can quit your job for hunting season. 10 out of 10 worth.

I. I think that's why entrepreneur. I think that's why entrepreneurs work so well as getting a lot of days hunting because entrepreneurs can just tell their boss to screw off. That's great. Yeah.

So I'm just recommend 10 out of 10.

Yeah. So ahead of this fall you've had some things shake up. What's on your. What's on your game plan? Like what are you looking forward to the most about this fall signing season?

Oh, besides the unemployment. I think that just the. I. I'm a big fan. So I drew an elk tag this year back to back.

He used to tell me. Yeah, I know you used to tell me that you could never draw anything and then we went on one draw hell and then now it's like the floodgates of unleashed for you.

Welcome to I know I'm draw so. And Pops drew a one of those late season tags for gear so be over for that. That one's pretty exciting. I think I'm most excited just to be. Yeah. To have the time again. Anytime that we're out, it's just nice. I think that I'm going to try to hunt. I do a lot of the low country with my bow. I'm going to try to switch that up this year and be in a little bit more high country stuff which I've done for. For muleys but it's been a couple years since I've really pounded that and that'll be awesome. My wife is finally an in state resident so that's going to be a game changer for us. I think getting her her first big game Critters is going to be. Going to be awesome. That's going to be one of the main, I think, focuses this year and I think we're going to have the time, seeing as. Yeah. There's going to be nothing else to.

Yeah, exactly. Just so long as your parents don't kick all of your stuff out of their storage unit or their garage as your storage unit, you'll be all right.

Yeah. Hey. Hey. We've upgraded. We're now in the box trailer.

Oh, okay. Good, good. Well, no, you need that for hunting season.

I know. The thing is, I could still sleep in it with all my stuff in there if I, if I was really desperate. It's not that much stuff.

That's awesome, man. Well, yeah, I'm really hoping forward or hoping we get to. To do our high country deer hunt. And yeah, if you can run down for the cow moose hunt for a little bit, that'll be a blast.

Yeah. So we'll be back in August. So we're seeing her parents for a few weeks. So I'm out here with a terrible view of the. The sound. But we'll, we'll be back. Hopefully be able to get up and do some scouting in August and it'll be nice to just. Yeah. Be there for, for a little while again.

Oh, that's awesome, man. Well, thanks for taking the time to do this podcast. Do you have any parting words of wisdom for someone when. When shit goes south when they're on their hunt?

There's, I guess two. One is have some good friends because it will always help. And our worst situation, pack more water than you think you need. It'll kick you out of bad situation. Seems to be a common thread for us.

Yep. For sure.

I think the other biggest thing, having those friends that you can call on because things are going to go south eventually. Just have someone that you know will drop everything and be there.

Yep. For sure. The only thing that I would add was just like, I think a lot of people will get all anxious, they'll get worried and like when things start going sideways, they'll start losing their stuff and then like, make a rational decision. And I think if you just keep calm, I can just go like, all right, how are we going to problem solve through this? Like, that's, that's the only way to get through something. Because if you lose your stuff and hit the SOS button, you probably. I'm not saying you shouldn't hit the SOS button if you're in a bad way, but if you haven't problem solved until that point. There might be an easier way out. Less expensive way out, less expensive.

And you know, I think people get in bad ways. The SOS buttons there for a reason for a lot of people. But yeah, that staying calm and just problem solving. Yeah. Just don't think we can get in our heads about stuff. Don't think that it's the end of the world. Like you were in a bad way. More so we laugh about it now. Like you were talking about some of these things are pretty serious. You are not okay in the Salt Creek situation, but just kind of having a little bit of a game plan or just you know, those resources. I really do think that having some type of community and that's hard in hunting where it's all about kind of being self reliant and we all get into that and I think that's part of why we like it. But having, having buddies to help out is yeah priceless. Whether it's even on the happy moments where you've just got an elk down and you just don't want to carry the whole damn thing by yourself.

But yeah, for sure.

Also, also in those situations where you need, you need some help.

Yep. And I've even like I did a Colorado hunt handful of years ago now and I found someone who just randomly posted hey, I'm gonna be in this unit. Who else is gonna be here? And I reached out to him and I ended up camping next to those guys but. And I pulled another dude that out who got stuck in mud and snow. And it's one of those things where if you just can, you know, even just do something like that, like find someone on Facebook or, or rock slide or hunt talk or whatever and like have someone in the unit that you know is going to be around. Like that's really helpful.

So. Well, and I know you and I even we talk if we see a rancher, obviously we're, we're stopping to wave and ask if they need a hand or anything like that. I think the same goes for hunting camps. I know. Yeah. Just the culture is that people don't want to interact with everyone else because everyone's, you know, taking care of themselves. But I really do think that even just someone knowing that you're in the area, people keep an eye out for each other more than we realize. So if all of a sudden you're not coming back to camp or they haven't seen you at all, like I think you just get more resources to people looking and being aware you're you should be there. You should be.

Yeah, yeah. They might not, like, the. They might not like the initial reaction of being like, God dang it, there's another person here. But, like, even last year, I just went up and talked to these guys who are setting up for the antelope opener the next day, and I was archery deer hunting, and they put us on some deer. Like, that night. I was like, oh, shit. All right, cool. So.

And I. I do think that there's, you know, some etiquette to it. You don't go and don't. I'm not saying go and put your camp next to their wall tent. That's not what I mean. But the. The. The idea is, yeah, most people are good and yeah. Want to help each other. So.

Yeah.

When you're on the mountain, don't be. Don't be an ass. Like, don't be the one that's an ass. If someone comes up and says hi, just interact. See what they're up to. Let them know what you're up to.

It's kind of why I always keep an extra bottle of whiskey in my truck, because you never know when you need to either either thank somebody with it or just BS with somebody and, like, bust it out, you know, it's like. It's a good backup. Yeah. Oh, well, cool, man. Thanks for doing this again. And, yeah, I appreciate. I appreciate all your friendship and support and hunt. Hunt memories that we've had over the years. You've got a really. You do a really good job with your photography, so plug it. Where can people, like, fall along with your photography and videography that you're doing?

Yeah, it's. Why not wild? So W Y N O T W I L D and I just post all sorts of travel a lot, so it's hunting, travel, all sorts of photography stuff up there.

It's really cool. A lot of that stuff. You're still kind of posting some stuff from Argentina and it keeps coming because you got so much good content from down there. So. Yeah, man, it's really cool.

I've just started to go through a lot of it finally, so there'll be more and more, so.

Nice, man.

Give it a follow. Check it out.

Oh, perfect. Yep. I appreciate you doing this this morning, and I'm sure we'll be talking soon. All right, man. Talk soon. All right, later. That's the pod. Thank you for listening to the Hunt west podcast. If you like what you heard today, the best compliment you can give is.

To share the show with a friend. We will see you on the next episode.

And we hope one day to see you Hunt West. Sam.