[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, you spend all this time e-scouting, all this time searching, and then when you find them, the last thing you want to do is stink the joint up and spook them off.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I wish you would have been there answering all these questions. I could have been in the back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Eating donuts and drinking coffee or something. Calling on people, next, next. I don't think they... I'm glad you were there and not me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You told me in a, in a, one of our listeners brought this up and I, until you'd mentioned it, I never had heard this rationale.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But they say that some of the reasons for regulations against allowing shed hunting in national parks or certain areas is that that takes nutrients away from rodents and the whole


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, decomposition soil cycle, uh, by not letting the antlers be there for the rodents to eat and turn into rodent turds and turn into soil.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One of our listeners asked that same question of, you know, is that valid or is that, you know, should anyone be concerned about that?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You got any thoughts on that? Or is there any science that supports it? Or is that just somebody came up with that idea because they didn't want folks seeking out?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's like man, I, if I want to go outdoors, I don't want to have, you know, 800,000 people fighting me, elbowing me to get the, you know, a soda pop and an ice cream or cotton candy for my little niece or something.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, well, I, uh, I guess, uh, I don't want to ask you any more details about your shed hunting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because I know you're about ready to get worked up over that and you're gonna start going here pretty soon and I might cause you to let out more than you should about where you go and what you do. I'm not gonna put you on the hot seat.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'll, I'll be about three weeks behind you because my spring activity is spring black bear hunting. Uh, do you ever see black bears patrolling the hillside when you're out there?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, that's uh, that's kind of my, my same observation. I do hunt them pretty hard though. Uh, one, I like being out there. I do like seeing the bulls with about, you know, three or four weeks of new antler growth. It's amazing to me. I've seen some


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I guess it just is a testament to how much energy they are investing in regrowing their antlers when the time comes. Yup.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's amazing when you think about that. That is a lot of mass of, what is it at the time? Is it cartilage at the time? Or is it bone? At that time, yeaah, it's forming into bone there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, huh. And you think about how much blood flow is going through that velvet to build or grow something of that size. Oof.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's gotta be draining on them. Yup. But they still get pretty fat over the summer. They do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, alright, well, I guess that's...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you get exercise, you're also paying for your addictions. Pretty hard not to support that. That's a win-win.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Don't tell, don't tell my wife that you can recoup some money in that because she'll say, why are you leaving them in the trees? Why are you hanging money in trees?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, I'm gonna do that. From now on, when I hang one in a tree, expect to get an email with coordinate. Excellent.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If it's not there when you show up, let me know. Because I noticed my, my camera crew has, I, I look, go on Craigslist and it's like, New Mexico elk antlers for sale. And I'm like, I know that phone number.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How many times have you flown to an Alcon? Because we got some questions on that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The question is what's your greatest logistic hurdle when flying?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and most of the airlines anymore won't let you fly antlers.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, or if you do, they make you take the skull cap, cut it in half, and fold the antlers.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In a stack, tape them together, which a lot of people don't want to do that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, I know people who go down to the U ship, whatever, and they ship their antlers home, and then they fly home with the meat, but plan on bringing some coolers and plan on paying a lot of extra baggage.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Point of that being is the cost of the Alcantara is seldom just the price of your tag.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it creates a big level of complication. That's why I tell people, if you can,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There, there you go. Yeah. Whatever you do. I mean, if you don't listen to the Elk Talk podcast and your way to your Elk Camp, you shouldn't have even went. Yeah. You might as well just burn that tag on the way there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I got the reminder of how, I don't know if it's an intrigue issue, if it's a fear issue or discomfort issue, whatever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But when I was in Oregon, during these four days of Q&A sessions, a lot of questions about archery hunting elk, rifle hunting elk, whatever, in grizzly country.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so I gave them my ideas and my experiences of it in Montana and I said, you know,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If it's a discomfort thing, the way to get over that is learn more about grizzly bears. Learn more about where they're at at the time of year you're hunting them because I think some people have the


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] False idea that grizzly bears are equally dispersed across the elk hunting landscape.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where in reality, this week is September, they might be up really high.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Last week in September, they might be looking for that last little bit of green or berries on a north slope. Uh, another time, eh, might be doing something else, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I know a little bit about grizzly bears, uh, read a lot about them, talked to lots of biologists, and by knowing where the bears are in higher densities,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The elk know that also, and so the elk are less likely to be there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And more likely to be somewhere else. So I want to hunt in the places with low grizzly bear density and high elk density.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I was just telling people, you know, you do a few things and a lot of it comes down to just learning more about grizzly bears and what their habits are, what they're doing certain times a year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And there's no guarantee that you're not going to have an encounter. But if you keep a clean camp,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You kind of think it through and use as much common sense as you can.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're going to lower your likelihoods. Now, I told them as quick as I say that,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Someone's going to follow my advice and have an encounter and they're going to, if they survive, they're going to call me and say, Newberg, I need your attorney's name because I'm going to sue you. I did what you told me to do and I still lost my scalp. Uh, I'm Hugh Glass the second.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I always tell them that look, you know, I, I get a little uncomfortable answering all these grizzly bear questions because it makes it sound like I've got a foolproof way and there is no foolproof way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And if I have a streak of bad luck, you guys are going to read about me and the Montana news outlets of, Hey, Randy Newberg's now a bear turd up on the top of the Madison range.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's just, there's some really good elk hunting in grizzly bear country and I don't want people to have the bear presence.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Gut pile and carcass in the middle of Wyoming's most dense grizzly country. I said, I can tell you what not to do. That's what I said. Before I tell you what to do, let me tell you what not to do. And what not to do is to follow what Cory and Donnie do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some guy comes up to me though after that and he shows me a picture of a grizzly bear sow and a cub. And he says, you see this? He said, I heard what you said in there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I killed an elk in Montana and I had a black bear tag and I walked over to it and something had already been at the carcass. And I thought, well, I'm going to sit here and, uh, I'm going to shoot a black bear.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I didn't realize what had already been at the carcass till I climb up this little knob above it and I see this grizzly sow and her cub coming.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm like, you have no idea how lucky you were, but you walked in there and that grizzly was not on that carcass.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because he said, yeah, when I walked in the next morning, it was all tore and drug around and dirt all over.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You are so lucky that that thing wasn't there defending that carcass when you walked up to it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, when you filmed with me in that one spot, Lauren was our camera guy. But now that I always have two camera guys with me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Think about the mindset of, alright, if I want to go enjoy the best of what those states have to offer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I gotta learn more about grizzly bears. I gotta learn how to keep a clean camp. I gotta learn how to take care of an elk once it's down and get it away from the gut pile and the carcass. All those things. And once they get those in their head and that becomes part of their, their knowledge base,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or if they told me you can't get rid of point systems because people already invested too much in them, I'd say okay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then, if you're forcing me that we have to have that in the states that currently have them,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then I'm gonna say you cannot just buy a point. You have to apply. Yeaah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, no, I'm with you. I would, you know, looking at all the points I've got for sheep in a lot of places and building back up elk and deer and antelope and other places. It's like, you know what? I'd give all these away.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To just go, and then I'm talking about, I'm at max points for moose and sheep in Montana. I wouldn't give those away to go to a random system. And people are like, you've lost your mind, Randy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I probably have, but I'm with you. And as far as the tag allocations, I don't have any problem with 90 10. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the states, I'm a non-resident. If I gotta compete for 10%, you know what, I'm good with that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I do wish that my home state of Montana, your state of Idaho, Arizona, I wish that if whatever the percentage is, I wish it was a pool of tags for the non-residents. So you knew who and what you're competing against. Instead of an up to a certain percentage.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so I, I think there's some things the states could do easier or change and tweak just a little bit that, uhm, probably make it seem a little bit better.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or more fair without feeling that they gotta have point systems.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you do feel like you gotta have a point system, I also...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm a big believer that if you draw any of your choices, you burn your points.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you buy a landowner voucher or acquire a tag in an auction or some other way, you burn your points.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If that was the case, I don't know if it'd be a lot. Are there enough of those tags to make a difference? But.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, I think you should, your point should get reset.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you get a tag that year, I don't care how you get it. Yup.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I kind of like Nevada's idea where they give you five choices, but if you draw any of the five, your points are gone.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I didn't know if that's what you were going to answer that, but I'm on board with you, man.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let's get rid of these, right? We need a t-shirt or a slogan, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm sure, I'm sure some younger person, some creative person listening to this could come up with a bumper sticker and a t-shirt slogan for us. Yeah, hashtag something.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There you go. See? Yea, right there. That's empirical evidence that engineers are more creative than accountants.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All right, so we've resolved that we would both, uh, get rid of tag allocate or we'd get rid of point systems in our king for the day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Changers to the tag allocation systems. 90 10 work for you? Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I know what the Hunters of Montana would do if we followed the Colorado rule where 35% of their deer tags go to non-residents and 20% I believe go to landowners.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So residents, I could be wrong on this, maybe only 10% go to landowners, but I thought it was 20. So residents get 45% of the tags.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I know for years and years, I've always said, oh, we'd burn the Capitol down in Montana if we tried that. And now it's like, as I said, that I'm like, Randy, do you realize what year it is right now?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How would they respond, how would you folks in Idaho respond if you guys were going to give 35% of your deer tags to non-residents and 10 to 20% to...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To landowners, so you guys only ended up with.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, I po-point all that out, that there's a big variety across the West.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We get 7250 and the gap between the 16% of limited entry


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hopefully we can all focus our efforts on that and not fight and argue about.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, I got an email from RMEF yesterday. Uh, Montana, one of our...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I am so upset that the legislative session isn't over right now. Normally it's over by now, but in the stimulus package it passed, they sent us three billion dollars to Montana out of the federal stimulus package.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We want to make it illegal for a non-profit organization to buy more than 80 acres of land in Montana.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So every access project I'm aware of in Montana, whether it was RMEF, the Trust for Public Lands, the Nature Conservancy, local organizations, none of those could have happened if this new bill passes. What's the purpose?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because here's how it works with RMEF. They go, they're kind of the transact, they're the deal maker.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They have all these relationships. They go to these landowners and they're like, hey, you've told us to let you know if we ever had the money. We've put together some federal money, some state money, some partner money, some private donor money.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We can make this work if you want to sell us this 300 acres over here that gets access to these 10,000 acres of public back behind.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Are you willing to do that? And a lot of times the landowners are like, yeah, you know, we told you we'd do it. Let's, let's get this done.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So how it works, RMEF is actually the entity that buys the land.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And immediately it turns it over to the Forest Service or the BLM or the state wildlife agency. So RMEF is the executor of the agreement. They don't hold the land for more than just however long it takes to change title. But this bill would eliminate the opportunity for nonprofits like RMEF to do that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, so, when we're wanting to build a bigger pie, like we're talking about,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We, we got some of these legislative things that are coming up that are, uh, I just said this, I, I posted on my Hunt & Talk website today. This is the biggest anti-hunting bill of the entire legislative session. Yep. And it is. Anti-Access is anti-hunting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And what it is, there's a non-profit group in Montana that is buying ranchers, willing buyer, willing seller.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they're restoring them back to native wildlife habitats. And on some of them they're running bison.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They have enrolled these ranches in the block management program, most of it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is opening up access that in most cases was closed previously. Restoring the land to more native grasses and such. And there are people who just don't like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In that, there are groups out there that are working to build a bigger pie. And, you know, we rattled off RMEF and some of the other big land trust partners, uh, Nature Conservancy, the Trust for Public Lands, uh, you know, list goes on and on. Uh, but.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Here, here's where I'm going with it, long term. Did you read the meat eater article last week about we have too many hunters? No, I didn't.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, does an opinion piece, which, you know folks, an opinion piece is someone's opinion.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Makes the case that maybe we shouldn't be doing so much R3 recruit, retain, reactivate because the woods are already too crowded.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know when he talks about the frustration of showing up and there's four trucks at the trailhead when there only used to be one or two? I can relate to that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But as I was reading the article, I'm thinking, alright, this is gonna talk, it's gonna make the case for increasing access. And it didn't. I'm like, oh man, come on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If anything, Matt's article illustrates


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The importance of access. Every time we lose access, and I heard this in Oregon and Washington, those hunters made this so clear.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They said, here's what happened to us. The timberland companies found out that they could close the gates and either lease to private parties. You know, I guess they got some parcels where they do really big hunting leases.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or a bunch of their lands or you pay 300 bucks or something.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And there's a lot of people, thousands of people used to hunt those lands, but they don't anymore because of these changes. And now they're all on public.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so the public land is crazy busy because of that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so their warning to me is whatever you do, make sure you conserve and preserve and protect as much access as you can because here's what happened in Oregon. Here's what happened in Washington.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's a larger scale of what happens every time bad hunter behavior causes a landowner to quit allowing access.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He, he previously let, you know, over the course of a season 40 hunters hunt in there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He just is so frustrated because of bad hunter behavior, you know, left the gate open or who knows what. Now, nobody on set. Where did those 40 people go? Public. Yep.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I get Matt's point that the public lands are getting crowded, but.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My pushback to that would be, the answer isn't to have fewer hunters.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The answer is to work harder at access. Keep the access we have, add to it, educate


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the thread that weaves through all that is conservation. We can't look at it in just one lens. And the conservation part of it is we need more animals on those landscapes that we do have access to. So we need more productive landscapes. We need better management of that landscape.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We need maybe some changes in season date, season settings.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Things that allow elk, deer, other wildlife to exist on those accessible landscapes so they don't all push somewhere else.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or, there's no feed, no cover, no anything else, so they'd leave the public lands.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So those three pieces, I, I can't.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And pretty much everybody had their rebuttal and then I think I saw yesterday or the day before meat eater.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, Steve wrote something about his explanation of it. Like, you know, hey, my brother, he's got valid opinions. It's like I got opinions. Uh, and...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So it was interesting to read it all. I'm thankful that they threw it out there, even if I disagree with Matt's conclusion.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, I certainly agree with his findings that, hey, we've, we've got a lot of people out there with this pandemic. Uh, and I'm getting frustrated with it. I think when you read that part of it, it's like nodding their head. Yep. Yep. Uh, I was hoping it was going to be used as a,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As a piece that would say, this is why access is so important. This is why quality habitat, quality landscapes are so important.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But it didn't go there, so I think that opened up their flank for a lot of criticism.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But the value of them doing it is one, they're this huge platform in the hunting space and it's forcing us to have this discussion.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I'm, I wanna, I wanna be part of that discussion and I hope all hunters wanna be part of that discussion. And...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And RMEF is playing a big part in that. Absolutely. So be a member, please.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And if you want to email me after you do that, I'll give you Cory's credit card and you guys can all put it on his credit card.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, we live in this amazing country. We have so much opportunity, so much of a positive possibility in front of us. I hate to see us get all


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's good to have the discussion, good to have the debate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yep. And if they want to know the real answers to all these questions that were asked of us.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They should go to your university of elk hunting course and sign up using promo code elk talk. And they'd save 20 bucks because I'm, I just threw these notes away as I'm standing here. I'm like, I can throw this away. This was all BS. I made all this up. So if you want.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We got, we got a great group of people who spend all that time sending us emails out at the website and everything.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But anyhow, I hope that your 16 points in Colorado was


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Was, was it gonna be a worth, will be a worthwhile investment? I hope that everybody else listening.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This podcast will probably drop a day or two before that deadline. So please don't miss your Colorado deadline. Uh, and get ready because not long after that we have Nevada. Uh, and then what else?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and then Wyoming, not the, this is Elk Talk, so we don't need to worry about Wyoming deer and antelope, but I, but I do worry about it. That's May 31st, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Nothing, but I know what you're talking about. In 2016, I burnt 19 elk points in Colorado. Wow.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For a third season hunt. And the warning everybody gave is pray for snow.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We showed up, there wasn't any snow at 12,000 feet, let alone where we were hunting. It was hot, it was 70 degrees and I find this bowl down in this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ugly, now the worst extraction I will ever have in my life. And it's a nice seven point bowl and I'm thinking, hmm, it's first day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I look over at Marcus, and this is where you don't want a camera guy who's enthusiastic.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He looks at me, he's like, you'll make that shot all day long. I'm like, well yeah, but look how far down there he is. He's like, well what else are we going to do for the next five days? You should shoot that bull, he said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm like, wow, I, I better make up my mind cause it's getting dark. And he kept egging me on, egging me on. He's like, I'm on him. He wouldn't even let me debate him after a while. He's just the eye in the camera. I'm on him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, do you think I should shoot him or will we find a bigger one? I'm on him. Well, what do you think the packout will be like? I'm on him. Alright. Kaboom. We spent three days packing him out. Sounds like Marcus needs a raise.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He did. He definitely did. And, uh, he was, smiles the whole time. He's just like, are you glad you shot that thing? Look at this thing. It's a beautiful ball. I'm like, yeah, it is, but we're going to almost kill ourselves here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was having some of those worries when we showed up, set up camp and it is so warm and I looked at the forecast and it's going to be in the seventies all week. I'm like, oh man.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ah, all these years of building points and I draw the card like this. And, uh.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, the pressure's on now, Cory. Everyone's going to be wanting to know, one, did you draw? If you draw, then when you come back in November, they're going to be like, well, why'd you shoot? Yep. Well, hopefully we have a story to tell anyway. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For sure, but how about I hit the stop button here so people can get back to their lunch or their work or their nap or whatever we interrupted.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I hope you find a bunch of antlers. I will take pictures of them. Alright.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Thanks for being here, folks. Yep. Good luck on the draws. Yeah. We'll catch you next time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Welcome to the Elk Talk Podcast with Randy Newberg and Corey Jacobson presented by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Elk Talk Podcast is brought to you by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, ensuring the future of elk, other wildlife, their habitat, and our hunting heritage. To become a member, go to rmef.org.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The podcast is also brought to you by Gerber, uh, go to gerbergear.com and learn about the knives, the vital, the big game vital, the gauge premium, all the things that we use when we're out in the woods and not just knives, but also some really cool multi tools that they have.


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[Assistant] Use promo code ALKTOCK and when you do, when you sign up for the insider, you're going to get $50 of store credit, mad money, in their gear shop.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I was. It wasn't like we charged the capital and tried to take over or anything. You know, we showed up unarmed, peaceful, gave our peace. And, I don't know, you go there.


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[Assistant] And you want, you leave there. So all these really serious folks, these amazing volunteer citizens, they take a day off work or a day from their business or their family and they show up.


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[Assistant] Like one guy, Justin drove all the way from Glasgow, Montana. If you know how far that is, that's a six hour drive each way. Wow.


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[Assistant] You've made a big enough impression that when it gets to the full floor, they might vote against it, but it's, uh, it's all part of the process.


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[Assistant] If you looked at the bags under my eyes and a few more gray hairs and probably my eyebrows are bushing out like the crazy mad scientist professor you had in your physics class in college or something, uh, that's probably me this morning.


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[Assistant] The Chicago Bulls and the whole Michael Jordan story, what was the name of that?


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[Assistant] You could have that, you could have been cast for that role, given how competitive you are.


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[Assistant] I don't know how that applies to, uh, well that's me trying to close the loop of your basketball coaching to elk hunting since this is the Elk Talk podcast.


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[Assistant] And what'd I send you this morning? An email link that someone had forwarded to us.


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[Assistant] Where your game and fish department published a rulemaking change.


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[Assistant] This room making proposal would modify chapter 13.01.04.500 with the following.


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[Assistant] Increase the annual limits of deer and elk tags set aside for allocation to outfitters for their clients.


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[Assistant] So, it's open to comment. Public comment period is open until March 24th and then there will be a public meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 31st. You must sign up to be in that virtual meeting.


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[Assistant] Here's the question to ask. Currently the number of general hunt elk tags set aside for allocation to outfitters to sell to their clients is 2,800. A and B tags combined, which you guys have the elk A and elk B. Which is 21.8% of the non-resident quota for general elk ones.


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[Assistant] Then the number of general deer tags set aside for allocation to outfitters for their clients is 1,985, both regular and whitetail tags combined, which is 12.8% of the non-resident quota for general hunt deer tags.


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[Assistant] This would increase it to 25%. So that's an increase of 12.8.


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[Assistant] 12.2% in terms of the total number of tags you guys give to non-residents. So what's crazy? One would go, the elk would go from 21.8% up to 25% and the deer would go from 12.8% up to 25%.


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[Assistant] Yeah. So here's what they do say in, in the feedback box. You actually get to leave your, your comment and says, Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association has petitioned the fishing game commission to adopt a rule to set aside the statutory maximum of 25% of the non-resident general elk hunt tag.


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[Assistant] General Hunt out tags and 25% of the non-resident General Hunt deer tags as the new annual limits for allocation to outfitters for the use of their clients.


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[Assistant] Then Game and Fish to their credit is saying, you get to answer. Do you support increasing the number of general hunt out tags and general hunt deer tags that are set aside for outfitters to use for their clients to the stat, to a statutory maximum of 25%? Yes or no.


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[Assistant] City or town, Bozeman, state, Montana. So that's probably, if it says Montana, that's going to get it put in the round file, the garbage file. Submit.


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[Assistant] Voila, thank you for participating in this rulemaking public comment period. So that's how easy it was for me to go and tell your department I don't agree with that.


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[Assistant] People might say, well, what legislator do I call? Well, this is a different place. This is rulemaking.


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[Assistant] So your legislature has given your department the authority to change these numbers as they see helpful or beneficial.


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[Assistant] So now, our last podcast talked about when policy is in a legislative setting.


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[Assistant] Here is policy that's in a administrative agency setting. So sometimes policy gets affected by the agency or administrative rulemaking process.


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[Assistant] And your state, like just about every other state, has a public comment process. So.


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[Assistant] Click on about and then click on rulemaking and there it will be. Or you can probably search.


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[Assistant] So your state has a 79 page administrative bulletin.


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[Assistant] That got published on March 3rd, 2021.


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[Assistant] That is all of the proposed changes to Idaho Administrative Code. So.


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[Assistant] Interesting. There you go. So, we're just, we're teaching people how to, how to speak up for themselves, I hope. That's right. So, eya.


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[Assistant] And this is so standard when you go to these legislative hearings.


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[Assistant] Some of the folks who came yesterday from my Hunt Talk website were asked, hey, show up if you can. And I can't believe how many of them showed up. It's so impressive. And, uh, a lot of them, this was their first time doing this. And most of them remarked, like, what's that group huddled up over there in the corner? Well, what it is, is the lobbyists.


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[Assistant] Who were supporting this really bad bill in Montana?


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[Assistant] Hanging out with the legislators who were supporting it. It's like cocktail hour in the halls of the legislature.


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[Assistant] And here we are, a bunch of amateur, not even amateur novice. You know, we don't have any connections. If I were to walk over there and start talking to people, they'd be like,


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[Assistant] Now, eh, I will say this, that if anyone doesn't have enough energy to log on to their computer and do that,


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[Assistant] Uh, I was a person from Idaho and I don't want to make this Idaho-centric because we're going to get to the New Mexico details here pretty soon.


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[Assistant] Cause the New Mexico deadline's coming up. Uh, when is that? March 17th is the New Mexico deadline.


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[Assistant] I like the fact that New Mexico does not have a point system. So that usually suckers me into it. It's like, look, Randy, you, you blow more money on this on other raffles that have.


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[Assistant] 84% of the tags go to residents.


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[Assistant] And then, if you go with an outfitter, they've carved away 10% of the tags. If you go with a outfitter, you know.


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[Assistant] So you have a contract with an outfitter. So, uh, there's a, there's a lot of really unique things about New Mexico that they have really short seasons.


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[Assistant] And that's how they get so many people in the field is they'll give you a tag, but you only got five days in the rifle hunts and the archery hunts.


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[Assistant] The first archery hunt I think is 14 days and the second archery hunt I think is, let's see.


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[Assistant] But after that, the muzzleloader and rifle hunts are five day hunts. So if you draw a New Mexico tag, you better be on your game.


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[Assistant] Yeah, because, uh, you know, you show up and all of a sudden you get...


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[Assistant] You know, some sort of strange weather event or something else happened. It's like.


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[Assistant] When you have a five day hunt, it doesn't take much of a mix up.


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[Assistant] Which quite honestly, I prefer that. And some people are listening saying, you idiot Newberg, I want to at least get something for my investment.


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[Assistant] So uhm, what else do we need to tell people? Oh, they give you three


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[Assistant] Maybe even swing for the fences on your second choice. But if you want to have a higher likelihood of going out cutting a pneumatocale,


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[Assistant] Make your third choice something a little more reasonable. But, I'm not going to go into all the gory details because


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[Assistant] A podcast can't do justice to it compared to what the go hunt strategy articles and all that stuff Brady and trail do. So we gave them a deadline right here. I'm reading it March 17th. What is that? That's a, that's a week from today. Yeah.


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[Assistant] So what are we going to do if Joe's on vacation and he can't get this published or edited and turned around in time?


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[Assistant] So just in case this gets published late, we also have the Montana deadline that's coming April 1st.


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[Assistant] And the Colorado deadline shortly after that, April 6th. And I see Nevada move their deadline into May.


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[Assistant] Like early May. So, when's Oregon's deadline? Uh, it's later. May?


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[Assistant] But if you want all the details on this, just go to gohunt.com, sign up for their insider, use promo code Elk Talked, and they'll give you a $50 gift card for their gear shop. That's, that's a quicker way.


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[Assistant] Don't miss that and get yourself ready for Montana and for Colorado. And those of you wondering know that all the crazy Montana legislation you've been hearing about, none of that affects the 2021 draws.


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[Assistant] But, uh, now we can go to the question we got. Uh, someone said that


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[Assistant] I don't know because I'm not a turkey hunter. I've shot two in my life, which is a testament to the fact that every population has at least two animals that are mentally challenged.


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[Assistant] Yeaah. Oh man, that's like, that's like a 400 inch bull elk to get a Wolverine on a trail camera. It's like getting a unicorn on a trail camera.


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[Assistant] So, here's what I'd ask you to do with that footage. Give it to your game and fish agency.


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[Assistant] Because right now a lot of folks are trying to get the wolverine in the lower 48 listed as an endangered species. So as many of them as we can show exist, better off we are. Yeah, for sure.


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[Assistant] Well, we have, uh, elk and wolves here in Montana also, like they do in Wyoming.


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[Assistant] I think that I would, this is completely anecdotal. You know, just my own observation and experience. I'd say it's very much what you've said.


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[Assistant] I don't think there's a hard and fast rule that you can say, you know, it's this or it's that. It's, you know.


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[Assistant] It's somewhat dependent upon the elk density, the wolf density, uh, you know.


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[Assistant] It's mostly, from my experience has been...


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[Assistant] Wolves are just, like you said, one more dynamic that doesn't serve my old style very well.


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[Assistant] I mean, if I showed up and said, this is how I do it, and the weather wasn't conducive to that, guess what? I was messed up.


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[Assistant] Now, add wolves as one more variable is just one more reason why I can't be stuck in my ways of saying, this is how I do it. If they aren't here, well, heck with them. I thought as you got older, you got more stuck in your ways.


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[Assistant] Lesson to be learned is don't think that every elk is the same and that every situation is the same.


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[Assistant] Dude, you know, don't be afraid to experiment. What did you have to lose in that situation?


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[Assistant] Well, that kind of leads to the next question we got. This person is hunting elk at high elevation in September and wants to know if elk will be


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[Assistant] Up around Timberline, which they said is about 11,000 feet.


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[Assistant] In the early season, attempts get down to 25 degrees. It gets cold that night. Will they be there?


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[Assistant] Yeah, but maybe I should say it where the person wants to know, will that, will those conditions of cold temps at high elevation move the elk out of there? Yeah. My answer, no. Yeah.


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[Assistant] They're 25 degrees. An elk would prefer that once they get their winter coat on. They'd rather have that than 55 degrees.


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[Assistant] Yep, I, uh, I actually did that this year in October. October 10th was opening day for Schreiffel in Colorado. I had the tag and...


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[Assistant] I looked at it, and I like to hunt anything that's an edge. Whether it's an edge of a burn, edge of a clear cut, edge of a change of vegetation types. While tree line, if you think about it, is an edge. Totally.


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[Assistant] And so what were they doing? Exactly what you said. In the day, they're bedded down in the timber tree. Tree line here was 11, five to 12,000 feet. So we were camped at about 11.


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[Assistant] And the number of elk at night that were coming up out of tree line and feeding between 11-5 and 12-5 was crazy.


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[Assistant] But you think about it, that's an edge. And it was a warmer fall. So there wasn't a ton of snow. So all that grass stuff.


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[Assistant] All that forage that was above tree line was still available to them. It wasn't under snow. And so.


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[Assistant] Went up there. You'd be so proud of me. The first, first call I made was just a cow call through my bugle tube and a bull tried to run us over.


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[Assistant] I'm like, let's get outta here. Let's get, cause it was a scouting day. It was the day before season. I'm like, let's get outta here before he smells us. So we're trying to get away from him. Well, the next morning was opening day.


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[Assistant] And there was a bull leaving, a group of cows came off that high country, headed down into the dead fall, all the beetle kill.


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[Assistant] And about 20 minutes later, I look way over where they were. They were two ridges away. Here comes a bull just bugling his brains out going down the same trail.


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[Assistant] Doing what you said. Had been up all night feeding up high. And was following his cows down into the timber. And he got shot.


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[Assistant] I'm like, well, we did lower. We saw a lot of hunters down in the timber.


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[Assistant] I mean, maybe they all filled their tags with great big bulls. I don't know. Maybe I'm the one who's stupid to take llamas seven miles back in there.


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[Assistant] Uh, but it was so classic. It was just almost, if you flatten this landscape out and just ignore the fact that the timber line is 11.5 and below that is, you know, dark timber and above that's open ground. If you just flattened it out and said, all right, if this was level ground, where would I hunt? I'd hunt this edge.


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[Assistant] And that's, that's what we did. And so, uh, to that person's question, do elk live up that high?


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[Assistant] Uh, yeaah. I mean, nighttime temperatures for us were getting down in the, you know, like 18, 19 degrees. Uh, which I think for that high elevation was probably pretty mild still. And they were there.


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[Assistant] It definitely is a big advantage to have a rifle in your hand when the elk are boogling.


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[Assistant] I did turn to the camera just before because we could hear him coming through the timber and we set up across this little opening and I said, look, he's going to come to this opening and he's going to look, he's not going to cross this big opening unless he sees an elk.


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[Assistant] Just like he's looking out, you know how a dog driving down the window has his head sticking out the window? That's what this guy did.


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[Assistant] He comes and he looks for a cow and he doesn't see one.


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[Assistant] So he turns around and I let him have it again. And now he's like, all right, I must not have looked close enough. So this time he steps out a little bit.


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[Assistant] Any turns and he walked back in right on the edge of the trees and I give another cow call and he stops and he turns and now.


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[Assistant] His vitals, there's no trees in the way. And I tell the camera crew, I'm like, you guys on him?


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[Assistant] Yep. Boom. So that bull died at 11,300 feet. So he'd made it down into the timber a little bit, but he'd spent most of his evening up with all those cows, I would bet, uh, above 11,500.


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[Assistant] Yeah, and yeah, this is Colorado. Some of the peaks, you know, in that unit, there's quite a few 14,000 foot peaks, so.


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[Assistant] Uh, but if you look at how the edges go, you got the edge of the timber that converts to like almost a tundra grass type habitat. And then you get above that and it's mostly rock and ice. Once you get above, I don't know, 12, 5 it looked like it was just rock and no vegetation. So they're not going to be up in the rock piles that time of year because there's nothing to eat. Yup.


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[Assistant] Uhm. Cause we've talked, you and I have talked about possibly adding some modules that really get into that in more detail. Some of the details. Or some videos.


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[Assistant] Alright, I got it written down here Cory. Perfect. So, if people go out to the course, didn't you say that for the podcast you give them some sort of...


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[Assistant] You're saying that the value stays the same or the value gets greater, but you just wanna.


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[Assistant] I'm uh, you know, I'll just laugh and say that Cory, I don't know what he's thinking, but whatever he wants to do.


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[Assistant] Uh, well, on my whiteboard, where I'm sitting right here in my office, it says, why? Every whiteboard in our office has this written on it. Why?


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[Assistant] To promote self-guided public land hunting and create advocates for that cause. So in my mind, to create advocates, you gotta have them experience it.


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[Assistant] They have to know how to go out and do it and hopefully have some success and then they become, like you say, advocates because they love it.


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[Assistant] If it is that, that it's hurting them so minuscule-ly, that's a word. Man, I like that word. In such a minuscule manner, I'm not gonna lose any sleep over the fact that


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[Assistant] My odds or my chance. Okay. Maybe I got to share something with the next generation of elk hunters. You know what? Oh, well.


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[Assistant] Have I ever went into the scarcity thinker versus abundance thinker on this podcast? You have. I have all kinds. No, that's the whole pie. Piece of the pie. Yep. Yeah. So, anyhow.


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[Assistant] I'm a good friend Cory, and when I said I'll do anything that you think is helpful, Cory.


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[Assistant] Do you, do you need any like tax seminars or anything like that? You know, I could do, you know, tax planning for elk hunters or something.


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[Assistant] You know how many emails I get from people because they know I'm a CPA?


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[Assistant] Well, a specific tax advice that is like this, how do I deduct my hunting costs?


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[Assistant] So, is it shed season? When are they going to start dropping their antlers? April? Late March? Early April?


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[Assistant] My neighbor has about 40 deer that hang out in his pasture over there. And now that the snow is starting to melt off, they bed there all day long. And through the course of the last two months,


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[Assistant] The number of them that show up with no antlers or one antler.


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[Assistant] It's kinda funny to watch. And now none of them have an antler in their head. Yup.


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[Assistant] Yeaah. So, you'll be out shed hunting.


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[Assistant] Right away when they start dropping, I mean, so I don't, this is me, you know, I hang them in trees, so I'm, I'm, I got.


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[Assistant] Everything I know about shed hunting is from just asking questions. Uh, so if you see bulls right now, do you


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[Assistant] When I was in Helena yesterday, there was a bill that was being heard just before the bill I had there to testify on about penalties for trespass while shed antler hunting.


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[Assistant] Because in Montana we have a general trespass law and then we have a trespass wall hunting.


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[Assistant] The berry picker who trespasses isn't slapped as hard as the hunter who...


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[Assistant] But this rule was to enhance the fines and penalties related to trespass while shed antler hunting.


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[Assistant] And one of, there's a lot of the comments were about, in Montana we have a lot of wildlife management areas that are state properties that were bought with $100 to make a bigger pie.


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[Assistant] And we're not allowed to be on those wildlife management areas from December 1st to May 1st, sometimes May 15th.


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[Assistant] And the other part is, if, if you, have you ever seen some of those far side cartoons about how the wolf is always on the, on the edge of somewhere, like looking at the sheep? Well, this is kinda, there are wolves around the periphery of these herds this time of year. I could go down to any of those areas.


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[Assistant] And if I stayed there for a day, I'd probably locate a pack of wolves. So again, you start pushing them around and they're in the place they are for a reason.


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[Assistant] Don't go to a Montana WMA wildlife management area and chase the wintering bull elk.


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[Assistant] People watch these big elk and they know if they start moving a lot, they'll, you know, if they go through trees or whatever, they'll drop their antlers. Like really? No idea. So.


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[Assistant] That, uh, and then everyone else gets asked to follow the rules designed to, uh,


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[Assistant] Yeah, this isn't like attorneys and politicians. There, you know, it's the 98% that give the other 2% a bad name.


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[Assistant] I have so many emails in the Elk Talk podcast folder. It's crazy.


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[Assistant] I don't know how, I mean you and I come up with some of our own ideas, but when we're reading these, uh, it's pretty much an analysis of what's on people's minds. And that's how we find out.


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[Assistant] Okay, so your credit card is not going to get hit with a tag fee. Nope. Is it? It's, Arizona's having troubles this year, aren't they?


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[Assistant] Here's the, the situation is a lot of people by now expect that they're going to have their Arizona draw results.


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[Assistant] And we got New Mexico a week from now. And so they're thinking, well, if I drew in Arizona, I don't want to apply in New Mexico.


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[Assistant] So this could be the year where they don't find out either way. And so they're going to have to say.


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[Assistant] Even though normally it's the last Friday in February that Arizona you start seeing credit cards get hit. And this year, as bad as the drought is down there, if they don't hit my credit card, I'm not going to lose any sleep. And it's just, they're going to need some moisture or.


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[Assistant] But if anybody's credit card's been hit in Arizona, I'd like to know.


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[Assistant] So if you do, let me give you a little insider tip here.


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[Assistant] Well, it's not an insider tip. All you gotta do is google rmef.org access and this will pop up. But.


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[Assistant] Gifford Pinchot, National Forest. Gifford Pinchot was the first chief ever.


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[Assistant] Uh, RMEF has been working with a company called Pacific Corp. And they're an electric utility company. They own a lot of land in a lot of places. Uh, actually where I've hunted in Wyoming, they own a bunch of wind farm land there. Uh, but anyhow, uh, they entered into an agreement.


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[Assistant] Department of Fish and Wildlife, uh, Pacific Corp has opened some of their other land


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[Assistant] I think the total package of what's there between Forest Service, Pacific Corp and stuff is now 15,000 acres. Uh, but because it concerns over weeds, fires, other stuff, Pacific Corp says we'll open our land, but it's non-motorized access.


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[Assistant] Uhm, and I know some people are like, well, if I can't drive there, what good does it do me? Well, in this case...


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[Assistant] It's enough incentive to allow a big landowner to say, hey, if you aren't going to be tearing up our roads and you're not going to be spreading noxious weeds and lower likelihood that you're going to be, you know, increasing the risk of fire.


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[Assistant] That's what good it does us. It gives us access to places that otherwise we wouldn't be able to go.


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[Assistant] This group trusts RMEF and Washington Fish and Wildlife to enough to say, hey, we'll do this.


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[Assistant] And even if you don't hunt it, think about it from your own selfish aspect.


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[Assistant] That, that's a place for other hunters to go that hopefully relieves the pressure in the place you hunt to some small portion. Yeaah.


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[Assistant] So, it's stuff like that that I, this is my own personal.


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[Assistant] If I have a criticism of RMEO and they hear it from me all the time, you need to tell people you're doing this stuff.


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[Assistant] I'm going to tell them you're doing it. So there, I just told people they're doing it. So doesn't matter where you live in elk country, the odds are.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right. It's gonna be a future old country. Yeaah. So go to rmef.org. Sign up. Be a member. And uh, we did that big promo last year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That extra money you get, you donate goes to the access program. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, you know, there's the Randy Newberg out-cutting knife. I think you get one of those Randy Newberg series knives if you go to the Hortsman's live. I don't know if they're still doing that or not. Yeah. Are you serious? You didn't get one?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yep, look at that. $100 annual sportsman membership. You get...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, you get in on their exclusive club discounts or a bunch of their partners give you discounts. It's like an affinity group.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You get Bugle Magazine, you know that your money is going to...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, one last thing I want to touch on before we leave in this, the question came from Oregon, but it could apply to anywhere. And this goes to my thought of keeping the pie bigger. Ah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This person says, hey, because of hunting pressure, Oregon is going to make a lot of its Rocky Mountain Elk units limited entry draw.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Elk population that is gonna stay over the counter archery. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It sounds like Oregon's gonna make the, a lot of the units that were.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Over the counter Archery Elk for Rocky Mountain Elk.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Gonna make most of those limited entry draw and this person is saying that's gonna push so much pressure.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Over to the Roosevelt population that is going to stay over the counter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It, it very likely could. I don't, I don't know what the answer is. And that's why for me, like in my home state of Montana,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In your state, Idaho, most of our units are general units. Not all, but most.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I want to keep those as general units as much as I can, whether that's managing motorized travel, whether it's managing season dates, whether it's whatever, because every time you take a unit that was a general unit and you make it a limited entry unit,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That doesn't happen in a vacuum. That displaces the hunters that were there as a general unit and puts them somewhere else. So it's like throwing a rock in a pond. The ripple effect is going to affect other places. So I don't know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bigger populations across your landscape and I'll use an example in Montana.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When I first moved here in the early 90s, every year they have a public season setting, a public hearing for the season setting process.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And now they've moved it to every other year, but we all would show up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, as motorized travel is increasing, because at the time this was really a big expansion of, uh, ATVs, like the, they were going from three-wheelers to four-wheelers at this time. Some people probably don't even know that their original ATV was a tricycle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're talking to our peers in other states and we think that if we don't do something about seasonal, uh, closures,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Related to motorized travel, we might end up, instead of having a six week archery season, it might get shortened significantly. And instead of a five week rifle season, that could get shortened significantly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And a lot of our units could go from general to limited entry.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So we're here asking, what do you guys want? And so they said, how many would prefer to see more motorized travel in shorter seasons and more limited entry?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think two people out of the room of a couple hundred raised their hand. Really?


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[Assistant] And then they said, how many people are willing to deal with us working with federal agencies to have seasonal closures to benefit, benefit elk?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But you get to keep your six weeks of archery and your five weeks of rifle and most of the state remains general seasons.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's what Montana did. Montana embarked on a program to work with the federal agencies where we have a lot of seasonal road closures or motorized travel restrictions, whatever you want to call it. Uh, and we still have six weeks of archery and five weeks of rifle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we haven't added a limited entry elk unit for a long time. So we've been able to maintain that and some would say, well, yeah, but you got way too many hunters on public land, blah, blah, blah. That's a different topic.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And more every year another unit goes to limited entry or the whole state or a whole region goes to limited entry and that has an impact on opportunity.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, to the extent you can keep more elk on the ground.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And keep your bull to cow ratios and your cow to calf ratios in good shape. It's worth it in the long run. Yup. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's, that's the lesson I take away from the Oregon example that the listener sent us the email on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I screwed it up in how I cooked it. I, I was so worried about disease. In fact, a chef from Iowa got ahold of me and said, hey, I do a lot of cooking with a sous vide.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For disease, you only need to get it to 165 for a short period of time and then let it, you know, let it come back down.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's a pretty, that's a pretty low bar to clear. I know, uh, you know, a spring bear that's been the last thing they ate was an elk gut pile. And then they crawled in a den. I mean, that's not like he was down in the blueberry patch or something. So a spring bear can be pretty.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pretty strong, uh, but among the crew, the vote was nine in favor, zero said no, that they would eat it again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, the next time I shoot a wolf, I'm packing it out again, and I'm gonna invite one of these chefs from, I've had multiple professional cooks, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've always wanted to do it and people are like, well, why would you do that? I was like, well, it's always been a curiosity for me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause I, I trap a lot and I've trapped fox and coyotes and then it's like, I wonder if they're edible.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, I know people who trap bobcats and they eat them. I know lion hunters. I mean, that same day, Paul in our office, they'd shot a lion. We ate that too. I've ate lion many times. It's excellent. It's like, look, it can't be that bad.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it actually turned out to be pretty darn good. So now, as far as wolves go, I don't know about coyote and fox because they're such sinewy, wiry, grishly things. I'm not sure that I'll do that, but I can see myself eating wolf going forward. Interesting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Might have to dwell on it more than I'd like, uh, but I feel it's important. And I was the beneficiary that when I moved to Montana 30 years ago, my first legislative session was 1993. So what's that? 20?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But those people took the time and took me aside.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To show me the importance of it and show me how you can do it and just taught me so much. And that was before we had these communication tools we have today. So I feel that it's incumbent on me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To use your, uh, your basketball thing and, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some of the Michael Jordan quotes, he hated playing defense all the time, even though he is super good at it. He'd like to play offense. Well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Playing defense because defense is a lot of work and takes a lot of energy. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When I have my plan finalized of how we're going to play a little offense, I'll let you know. Excellent.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All elk. All the time. Only elk. Only elk. Well, it's us having conversations, so we usually go down some


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you look at it like, well that's a target rich environment, but if you're trying to single one out a solo target, there's much easier to go into than a big group. We record everything.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the podcast is also brought to you by OnX Maps and with OnX Maps, you can know where you stand with the most accurate hunting GPS tech on the market with land ownership maps that work offline.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're also proud to partner with Sitka Gear and if you go to SitkaGear.com you'll see their full line of clothing and their tagline is turning clothing into gear and they are doing that through advanced technology that allows you to stay in the field longer, hunt harder and stay safer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we are also brought to you by Rocky Mountain Hunting Calls and Rocky Mountain Hunting Calls is the original designer and inventor of the pallet plate diaphragm that's completely changed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we have to mention that Hillary, his lovely wife, has tapped in with us. We didn't turn the microphone off this last time Ryan and I did a podcast together.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you hunt, it's like everything that lives and breathes is in danger because they don't know


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, September, first part of September. It's like daylight till 10 o'clock. It's daylight at 5 45 and you're out for three hours at night trying to locate you're getting three or four hours of sleep.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well see, and I think, like, I grew up as an elk hunter from the beginning. I think someone who grows up as a deer hunter probably becomes a better elk hunter. Because elk hunting, once you learn to rely on calls,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Did you, what led you to being a stealthy hunter? Like, I mean, the spot in stock, just the...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we spent so much time chasing elk, we'd get locked on the first elk that bugled at us after 40 minutes of trying, we would spend all of our time chasing him. And I don't know at what point it changed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well I think a lot of times, you know, public land type stuff, you're excited to hear a bugle. Yea, absolutely. Even if it's a lazy bugle. It's like, we got an elk bugle and we've got to make something happen here. Yep. And you say, we say it all the time, we have to find the elk that wants to die today.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I shot a bigger elk than him or he shot a bigger elk than me. I've got to try harder next year. And that becomes the driving force and the purpose behind hunting and it loses all its fun. And that's.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The crazy thing and the cool thing about elk hunting is the second you gain confidence, the elk can steal it from you. Every time that I go out there and think, this year I've practiced more with my bow, I'm in better shape, I'm doing everything, the elk don't stand a chance.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] First day in Wyoming, very first day, a bull from 450 yards away bugles, and the next time he bugles he's 250 yards away and I said get ready to pack.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] of getting this bowl into our setup. But the wind can switch at any time. Another hunter on public land can move in at any time. There's all these factors in the back of my mind. I never seal, I never notch my tag before I


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's like that bowl in New Mexico. We got within 90 yards of it in three minutes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then it was four hours to get a shot. And it's just, I think anybody can get inside, you know, 100 or 150 yards on an elk, a mule or anything, but it's closing that gap and getting close enough for a shot. And like you said, it's very rare that you're going to be able to shoot an animal in its bed. It has to make the move. It has to step up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I stood up fully expecting that bull to just launch out of his bed and take off. And so I pulled back and I step up on him and he just swung his head slow and you could see his eyes get big and he rose up about halfway and they stopped and looked at me again and came all the way up. Well in that time I'm like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I spent four hours getting in close to this bull, baked out there, and then missed a 25 yard shot. Unfortunately, I think you'd been sleeping that whole four hours. And he didn't, yeaah, he's like, what is, what's going on? What is, what's this guy doing?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ryan, like, inspires me to be a stealthy hunter. I want to spot and stalk things because I know I am not a good hunter. I'm a, I can hold my own elk hunting, but when it comes across the board to go out and say, we need camp meat or we, you know, you're, you're providing for the village this week. I'm not that guy unless the elk season is September and it aligns right there, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean it's, you can look as far as you want to see and there are so many ridges with rock bluffs and cliffs and ribbons and then one juniper tree out here and one pine tree over here and just windswept grass and then backside is just


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I was just going to say, that extends opportunity. When you become a stealthy hunter, you get to hunt the rut in September and call, but you can spot in stock for two weeks in August. You can spot in stock in October. You can go to Arizona and spot in stock in November, late season, in units like Unit 9 and Unit 10.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, yeah, I kicked myself. I had mule deer points for the first five years and I was just so focused on elk. So I started in 2001.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, great. Awesome. Well, Ryan, thank you for imparting your wisdom and making all this better. I don't know how much wisdom there was there, but Dr. Hillary, thank you so much.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Welcome to the Elk Talk Podcast with Randy Newberg and Corey Jacobson presented by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Elk Talk Podcast is brought to you by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, ensuring the future of elk, other wildlife, their habitat, and our hunting heritage. To become a member, go to rmef.org.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And uh, Cory and I are trying to figure out just which of the multitude of great Elk Foundation partners who are here we should have on the podcast.


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[Assistant] Like you said, okay, you want it red? I'll bring you red tomorrow. Okay. 12 times? 13? However many times I got a knock on your door. And I think there's a lot about business and hunting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's been my brother and I the last couple of years just going out and hunting and we never had a father to help us, you know, encourage us and coach us and mentor us. So, uh, this year my son has drawn his first deer tag and uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're hoping to connect with that. Is there any fatherly advice that you could impart?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Elk Talk Podcast is also brought to you by Mountain Ops, making outdoor energy and performance nutrition to make you a stronger and healthier elk hunter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They have a full line of hunting related supplements, including meal replacement shakes, multivitamins, pre-workout fuel and post-workout recovery. And my favorite, their new performance protein bars that by the way are packed with 270 calories and 20 grams of protein, but contain less than six grams of sugar.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Visit MountainOps.com to learn more and to order and be sure to use the promo code ELKTOCK to save on your next order.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we have a promo code for Gerber as well, just use the code ELKTALK to save 20% on your orders at gerbergear.com.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Lastly, the University of Elk Hunting online course is a proud partner of the Elk Talk podcast. And within the University of Elk Hunting online course, you're going to find nearly 60 chapters organized in 17 modules of elk hunting instruction aimed at making you a more successful elk hunter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] From planning and e-scouting to calling strategies and packing, every imaginable elk hunting topic is included in the online course. And regardless of your previous elk hunting experience or success, I'm confident the University of Elk Hunting online course will make you a more confident, more successful elk hunter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just visit elk101.com and use the promo code elktalk to save 20% when you sign up for a membership to the University of Elk Hunting online course.


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[Assistant] I, uh, I'm very white I guess. I used to tan really nicely but as I'm getting older my


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They all have full time jobs. That's what they keep telling me. I went out looking for firewood yesterday and I'm like, oh, I'm going to get all of this and bring it home and you guys are going to be splitting wood all summer. And they all piped up. We have full time jobs, dad. You can't expect us to do that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My wife went to the equipment rental place and rented a full size rototiller and a jackhammer while I was gone and used them. Wow.


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[Assistant] So I was gonna say, not only taking care of herself, but making sure that if I don't carry my weight, that...


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[Assistant] Uh, that's great. Are we gonna make, are we gonna scare people away from hunting around predators or encourage them to do it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that is an older article, my good friend Ron Nijalic, who actually lives in Cody, Wyoming, wrote that article, I don't know, six, seven years ago. And that guy has more grizzly stories and encounters with grizzlies than anyone I know. Yup.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was, you know, my first experience there was being very aware at night, um, listening to every sound and then kind of getting a little


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And never seen grizzlies. And so it kind of, you know, after the first couple days, it kind of becomes, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then Donnie shot an elk and we went back, I believe it was two nights later after he shot the elk, we packed it all out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So yeaah, that was my first real experience and you know, kind of went through the whole range of being super aware to kind of putting it out of mind to being reminded and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, running or any kind of an encounter, but there are, there's always those stories of, you know, people cowcalling, sitting on a stump, just cowcalling, minding their own business and bear comes sneaking in from behind and.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We can talk on a whole bunch of things that we can do to make us more prepared.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, they're, they're showing up in places where you would never expect them and I've never seen them before. And all of a sudden somebody reports a grizzly bear and fishing game goes in and sure enough, there's a grizzly bear there. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, attacks, you know, and I'm just trying to think of the word, you know, where people, a physical attack, not just an encounter, but an actual attack where people are mauled or otherwise sent to the hospital and.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, with your guard down, but at the same time, you don't have to avoid those areas. There's, you know, you have to be careful, but you don't have to completely avoid them if you're prepared.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I remember standing there and bugling in a bowl answering, and I turned around to ask you, is this a safe place to go? And you had gotten sidetracked chasing a grouse up the hill. Right. And I turned to Lauren and said, are we okay to go down? He's like, yeah, I don't know why not. So we dropped down in there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you stayed back 100 yards and watched us go down in there knowing that that was a dangerous place to be. And I don't remember any warnings. In fact, I think this is the first time that you've ever told me that the collar data suggests that it's a,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Similar in a few ways, but we uh, we hunted in Wyoming several years ago and we were in grizzly country and I had shot a bull.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Depression there off of a ridge and so I hung the trail camera in a tree and we skedaddled out of there and packed the elk out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think it was three or four days later. Uh, we're driving back from our last evening of the hunt. It's 30 minutes before dark. We're heading back to camp. And I thought, oh, we've got to go get that trail camera.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This isn't fun now. Like we're on edge driving in there thinking about it's almost dark. We have a half mile hike in that ridge that was such a great place that shaded the Elk while we processed it that morning.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He was, you know, scared. You can see when he gets out of the truck, but we filmed it. We got out. We're talking, hey, we're going to make noise. We're going to say, Hey bear, we're going to do everything we can.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I'm a, I'm a bear spray guy over a firearm. Donnie had, uh, I think he had bear spray and a sidearm.


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[Assistant] And then John had the camera. So we're walking in and we had a plan. Okay, we're going to get into here. We're going to, you know, talk loudly. When we get to this certain point, we're going to stop and just listen and see if there's anything before we proceed over the ridge.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So we get to that point and we're kind of stopped and just dead silent. You know, there's not anything making any noise and just listening for any rustling in the brush and we're 30 yards from the carcass. We have about 10 yards to go to be right on the ridge top and then we're literally right on top of it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Coming right at us and so I have my bear spray out and I turn and, you know, kind of turn to run, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, still keeping my arms somewhat pointed in that direction. And I think just in the stress of everything tensing up to turn and run, my thumb hit the bear spray trigger. And the wind was blowing right at cameraman John and Donnie.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's pretty comical to see us go in there. We went in, unstrapped the camera and turned and ran out of there, but it was pretty cool that night at camp to be sitting there. We're going through the card, you know, we've got the laptop there, we're scrolling through the card and we're like raven, raven, raven, vulture, raven, raven.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's one of those things that just, you know, we're head on a swivel when we're working up the elk there, but then we get done and it's like, alright, we made it, we're done, the elk's loaded on the packs, we're safe. So let's put up a trail camera.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and going back to the camp thing, for us, you know, just little things that you don't even think about. Uhm, you know, we usually have a little garbage sack. We have a separate


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] An open peak dehydrated meal that you've ate everything except for the little bit in the bottom corners you couldn't get out. You know, don't leave that city not exposed, but.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There were huge grizzly bear claw slash marks down the door on the inside and the door was bent, you know, dented in from the inside. I'm pretty sure a bear either got in there and the door shut and locked, but I would not want to have been the person that was responsible for opening the door and letting that bear out of there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you are super scared about camping in bear country, that might be a good option to, to alleviate some of those concerns because they are set up to help you manage some of that stuff in camp. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, no, and it, it was, I think we were fortunate the area that that one...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But mine on the other hand on that trip, I shot it right before dark, uh, fortunately didn't have to track it at all, it fell over right there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, it was, it was scary because, you know, that creek bottom, you can't hear really good. There's just a little trickle. It wasn't a roaring.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And uh, I think moving that meat away from the carcass


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whatever, 30 years, 35 years of elk hunting, the only elk that I've killed and not gotten the ivories from it was that elk and I left them in the skull and we used a saw to cut the antlers off the skull and there was no way I was going back in there to dig the ivories out the next day, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They come running and at that point there's nothing you can do. In fact, the fishing game and everybody will tell you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Walk away from it. That's, that's the bear's elk now. It's not yours. And uh, the worst thing is just, you know, getting in there and packing out two quarters and then going back in and the bears got the rest of it and you lose that meat. But that first


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I thought if I sit here and try to take care of the silk by myself, it's gonna take two or three hours just by the time I get it moved around and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Got out of there shortly after dark and knew I had to just leave it and it would be much safer to come in. Fortunately the next morning I came in and nothing had gotten on it. I was able to get it skinned up and packed out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm the same, you know, it really comes down to what you're most comfortable with, but I just look at, you know, the incident where we were going in to check the trail camera and Donnie and John got a little whiff of bear spray from an accidental discharge. If that had been a handgun,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, you're turning to run, there's everything, in those moments, everything is just chaos, it really is, and you can't prepare for it, you can be more prepared, but when it really happens, you know, it's, you're, you're in fight or flight, and hopefully you're in flight mode because you don't want to fight a grizzly, but,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The chance of you turning to run, and your finger squeezing on the grip and the trigger of a pistol that's drawn,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know what I think that that is the biggest concern for me is I'd much rather shoot my hunting partner with bear spray and he's not going to be very happy about it and I'm probably going to


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A whole bunch of grain of lead goes into its skull and makes it stop. And again, hitting that target in those situations is not as easy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What to do at camp and cooking, what to do when you get an elk down and you're processing it. And I think there are definitely things that you need to do and you have to do in those two scenarios to be safe and to be prepared.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then you're sometimes calling, you know, cow calling and stuff and that'll, that'll call bears in. So for me, that's kind of the one that's the wild card that, you know, you've just gotta, you've gotta be so cautious and so alert to what's around you and have,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whether it's a sidearm or your bear spray, you've got to have it readily accessible. It can't be in your backpack. It's got to be, you have to know how to use it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've never fired bear spray before. It took me a minute and a half to figure out how to get the protective cap off of it so I didn't spray myself. Had that been the first time, you know,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What have been a disaster? And so, you know, there's just, there's a lot of things that you can do in, in the camp situation and the elk on the ground situation. But when you're hunting, you've got to realize you're, you're breaking the laws of, of, uh, staying safe. Common sense.


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[Assistant] 15th through 23rd time frame somewhere in there, but if I'm hunting in grizzly country, I purposely go earlier. You know, Wyoming opens September 1st.


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[Assistant] Probably not going to be down where the elk are. The reason they come down to where the elk are is because they start smelling gut piles.


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[Assistant] And that first week of season, there's no gut piles on the ground. Um, you aren't walking up on, on other people's carcasses from three or four days prior, nearly as much as you are that third and fourth week of September by October.


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[Assistant] A gunshot goes off and it's a dinner bell. I mean it really is. I would not rifle hunt in October in heavy grizzly country because they are just, they're accustomed, they're, they're down there looking for those easy meals.


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[Assistant] And so I do, I purposely, if we're going to hunt grizzly country, I usually don't hunt after the 15th of September because there's less carcasses in the area. The bears are more likely going to be focused on berries by the 15th. The berries are drying up and the bears are turning towards carcasses for a, for an easy meal.


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[Assistant] We tell John, camera guy John, we tell him the same thing.


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[Assistant] You're in the back and there is a grizzly encounter. You keep filming. We've got the situation under control. We've got the bear spray.


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[Assistant] I think it would be awesome to be able to film that and have that film to share.


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[Assistant] Seriously, the cameraman didn't have the decency to set the camera down and try to help the guy, and it's like, man, he's...


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[Assistant] I have seen some giant elk that I have picked up some big sheds.


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[Assistant] Donnie grew up in Nevada and he, I mean he'll walk up and take his shoe off and thump a rattlesnake on the head.


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[Assistant] You won't see me anywhere near it, but he grew up around it. He's comfortable with it. And so I think, you know, as people, if they can become comfortable that, hey, if you take all the precautions, the chances of an encounter, the chances of an attack,


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[Assistant] They're gonna be lower. I'm not gonna say they're gonna be low, but they're gonna be lower. And that should give you a little bit more confidence that


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[Assistant] Some of these areas nobody's going into, especially non-resident draw areas. You look at Wyoming, there's some areas there that are heavy grizzly areas that are draw only for a non-resident and a lot of people avoid those and there's a good chance that you could draw that


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[Assistant] Uh, with zero, one, two, three points and go in and have an incredible hunt. And that's one thing I've noticed about Wyoming. You come to Idaho in grizzly country or wolf country.


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[Assistant] The elk are skittish, the elk are quiet. In Wyoming, for whatever reason, those elk are brave. They, you know, they...


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[Assistant] Bugle, they carry on just like there's no predators there. And, uh, if you're willing to go in there with, with the brave elk and the predators, you can have a great hunt in some of those areas.


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[Assistant] Uh, nothing on rattlesnakes in there, but, uh, other, other predators. Yeah. So I break down, uh, there's a full chapter, a full module on common challenges. And one of the chapters is on predators. Uh, and you know, I talk about wolves and how wolves affect elk hunting, uh, how they affect the elk.


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[Assistant] Uh, and then it's another section on grizzly bears, nylon black bear and mountain lion and coyotes in together because they're really


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[Assistant] Uh, I ran hounds, you know, grew up with hounds and I ran them.


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[Assistant] Uh, but the percentage and the chance of that is probably lower than just about anything else.


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[Assistant] And, uh, they, they just, they don't like humans. They, they have big territories. Uh, they, they aren't densely populated most of the time.


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[Assistant] It's not like we're like Timothy Treadwell out there feeding the bears by hand and, you know, naming them and standing there and deserving to be attacked. We're taking every precaution we can.


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[Assistant] But I think when we, when we weigh out our precautions and the risks that come from that, the, it's worth it.


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[Assistant] The odds of being attacked are...


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[Assistant] A nice discount there by using the promo code ELKTALK. But, uh, we've got the, the Bully Bull Extreme Bugle Tube, which is one that we developed several years ago.


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[Assistant] Well, I think if I don't go here pretty soon, my wife's gonna come and drag me up to the house to help her with the flagstone. She's probably been up there. She probably has her part all done for the day and started on mine. Yep. She's probably sitting.


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[Assistant] Uhm, big fan, watch the podcast, or I listen to the podcast all the time. I'm sorry Zara, I'm not very familiar with you.


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[Assistant] Well, my favorite episode of your YouTube was the Antelope Jack rabbit one. That one was awesome.


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[Assistant] Uhm, I don't really have a question. I just wanted to get up here and tell you guys thank you for everything you do and I'm an adult onset hunter.


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[Assistant] I'm Hispanic, so I'm a minority in the minority of hunting, so.


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[Assistant] Welcome to the Elk Talk Podcast with Randy Newberg and Corey Jacobson presented by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.


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[Assistant] The goal is, what little you and I know about Elk Hunting, we share with people.


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[Assistant] The Elk Talk Podcast is brought to you by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, ensuring the future of elk, other wildlife, their habitat, and our hunting heritage. To become a member, go to rmef.org.