EP:429 | Elk, Helicopters, and Jealousy

0:00I have Jeff Foxworthy and welcome to GameKeeper Podcast. If you want to learn more about farming for wildlife and habitat management, then buddy you are in the right place. Join the GameKeeper crew direct from MalsioCland Enhancement Studio as they discuss the latest wildlife and habitat management practices. News and of course hunting. There's no talent what you'll learn, but I'm going to tell you I'm at its interest. Enjoy. We're live in three, two, one. Alright guys, welcome West Point Mississippi, Dudley, Lanny. Bobby. We're going to be. Bobby, we've got an interesting story to hear. It is. Yeah, yeah, one of the few things that can draw my attention off of turkey hunting right now. I agree. Yeah. Yeah, so we are in the Alabama family opened up, praised the Lord. Yeah, congratulations there, my master guy. Well, yeah, thank you. That was always good to get that one. You know, you never, you know, we talked about this a little bit yesterday. You learn so many things every time you go turkey hunting.

1:01And I think you developed a new skill set yesterday. Oh, that. But what would you say that skill set is? The off-roading. Yeah. Thank goodness it's dry. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I've got some off-roading. Yeah. Yeah, having a dry road system enabled me to move quicker than I probably would have been able to move in the past. Good thing you're in shape and you go to the gym every day. Otherwise, you probably wouldn't have been able to pull it off. He was in the truck. Yeah, we're done by driving. Oh, I thought you got around him. He did with the truck. Yeah. What you have to hurry to the truck. That's a pro move. That's right. Like, one walk when we can just drive all the way around. So, gosh, let me go ahead and get him entertained. Yeah. We've got a man. I'm looking at that. He's got a big horned sheep behind him, some elk. We've got Andrew McKean from Outdoor Life. Hello, Andrew. Hey, Jens, how you doing? Great. Thanks for being here. Outdoor Life. Yeah. I mean, how big, more of a big iconic meaty bird.

2:03I know you were like me. You used to just couldn't wait to get out to the mailbox to get your outdoor life. Yeah. Read it at night with a flashlight. That's right. Yeah. That was my entertainment. Outdoor Life. What a good magazine. It is. And the Cabela's Cadillac. And you'd have to throw field and stream in there. Yeah. But you kind of got your inspiration from the Outdoor Life field and stream. And then you tried to gear yourself out looking through the Cabela. Yeah. Good stuff. Really good stuff. So, Andrew is the hunting and conservation editor. Unless something's changed since the last time. You got it. Andrew, what a great job. Oh, yeah. It's like you guys. I was also that kid under the covers reading outdoor life. And I was like, wait, you can actually. Yeah. I could string words together for this magazine. I mean, it took a while to get there, but I got there. That's awesome. You've been there a long time. I have. I think I've had every job on the mast head when we had a mast head. Yeah. I don't know if this is the time to drop this bomb on you. Sure. I've got for it.

3:03No longer published. Yes. I heard that as of last week. You know, and that broke my heart. Yeah. And we were the only magazine that is still published down here. Gamekeepers. What do we think? Yeah. You're either ahead of your time or way behind. I'd say behind. Yeah. We still just. I can't. I mean, I just like holding an old school magazine, Andrew. Well, I just put it there. We're lucky we have everything else going on. So we can afford to print the magazine. Yeah. That's probably. It's exciting. And nobody has drilled into the analytics of our magazine. We don't. Yeah. Yeah. What are y'all doing? Keep them well away. You don't want to count it anywhere in your magazine. That's right. Yeah. But we do have so many people that like call in and are thankful. You know, and they still look forward to it. You know, people call. Yeah. I thought this thing was supposed to be in four days ago. Yeah. That tells you that we're always late. Yeah. Yeah. So I, you know, back in the day, when you guys had millions of subscribers,

4:03I can't imagine how they would respond when y'all were a little late with a magazine. Because if we're a weak late, we get all kind of nasty phone calls and emails. Yeah. Yeah. And we just got a, you know, if you they were probably a little more of a well old machine than I would imagine we are. Yeah. Those calls probably didn't reach their way to you. Yeah. They, well, I was the editor in chief for a while. And I have to tell you, like, we were big enough that we were slotted into a pretty rigorous print schedule. And we couldn't be late. If we were late, I mean, it was millions of dollars. Yeah. And it just because press time and all that business. And so our deadlines were serious things. And I, I mean, I grew up in newspapers and deadlines were always important. But never as important when you had that kind of like overhead waiting on every word and picture. So yeah, it was the real deal. And we weren't late that often. But when we were, we just called it a double issue. That was a good, oh, we should think about that. Well, so here's what happened, Sandra. So the winner issue, we're trying to duck hunt and deer on it.

5:05And we get a little. Yeah. And I mean, how are we supposed to remain all finished? Spring issue. We're burning like crazy out there in February. And we get a little bit of a hot summer issue. We're fishing. Yeah. And you forgot turkey season in the middle of all that. Look, and that kind of fixed summer. No, definitely. Yeah, if you go right about this stuff, you got to be able to do it. Right. Keep practice. Sometimes we get the fall issue, won't I? Sometimes. Sometimes. But we're usually, it's no more than a weekend. And this sounds like a maybe kind of a therapy session. I think, you know, if I was going to advise you at all, now don't you can take it or leave it. Maybe work a year ahead. Oh, he's getting ahead of things. I've never. I've never thought about that activity. I don't know. I'm kind of. We're trying to just get through to the moment. I know that was like, what am I saying? Know your audience. Andrew, before we get deeper into this,

6:06what that big horned sheep behind you? He is lusting. I'd love to hear the story behind that. You seem like a mighty young person to have a big horned sheep. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, maybe it's coming from outdoor life and the whole jack-o-conner legacy of, you know, sheep hunters and grand slams just kind of in the ether. I was sure I was going to be a grand slammer and I was going to live my life on in big, wild, high sheep meadows. And then reality crushed in. And I was like, wait, it cost $75,000 to go on one of those things, you know. At the same time, I was trying to get married and have kids and all that stuff. So anyway, I actually drew that. That's a Wyoming big horned sheep right outside of Yellowstone Park. Unit two. And I drew. I was figured, all right, I'm just going to get on the escalator of preference points. At the time I draw it, I hope to have one of my hips and maybe both knees. The eyesight's probably going to be gone. And I drew it as, I don't know, I had like 10 or 12 years of drawing it.

7:06And that big ol' fat envelope came in the mail. And I could not believe it. So did they call it in there? Did you just go the mailbox and there it was? There it was. Wow. Yeah, that was a good day to go the mailbox. And you were the only person to get that. Was there only one? Yeah, there was only one. I think the way there might have been something like, as I was non-resident, I live in Montana. This was Wyoming. I think there was one non-resident, maybe two non-resident permits. One was given to the preference point pool. And then they put one up for the random draw. Nailed it. You were that guy. Nailed it, yeah. Yeah. Have we got a winner today? We're going to be an hour. Yeah, we're going to spend that. We've got some winners this week too. So was the hunt? Everything you dreamed it would be? Oh, it was unbelievable. Actually, just in a side. I went with this guy named Lee Livingston. He had, so it's a non-resident Wyoming. If you want to hunt a wilderness area and basically sheep or wilderness creatures, you got a higher guide. So through friends of friends, I hooked up with this guy named Lee Livingston.

8:08He said, you know, if you're up for it, we're going to horseback into Buffalo Bill Cody's last hunting game. Yeah, that totally turns Mike, right? That's kind of a story. Within itself. Ready to be written. Well, those big fires that just, you know, swept three else to one park in 1988, had burned the Jesus out of this part of the country. I mean, it was just hollowed out. And Buffalo Bill's camp, there had been a big old, I think it was a fir tree or spruce tree. They call it Camp Monaco because Buffalo Bill Cody, you know, this kind of showmen of the West, iconic hunter, was down on his luck like most of us have been will be our who knows. You know, you hunts all the time. You can't be expected to keep a check book, right? Well, he was kind of getting old and he invited the Prince of Monaco, you know, this principality in Europe to come hunt with him. And the Prince of Monaco brought like a, I don't know, an ensemble of 30 people. They're all like aristocrats, European aristocrats.

9:08They all camp under this tree. And sometimes I'm sure there was libations involved. They, they blaze half the tree away and they, they put a big carving into a camp monaco. And that thing stood in that clearing for 80 years or something. This was in like 1910, 1912, something like that. Anyway, the tree burned down. So guys from Cody went and saw it down in the wilderness, which I don't think you're supposed to do, but they did it anyway. And the helicopter did out of there. You can go see it in the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody. You guys are, well, yes, worth a trip. But anyway, only living since that is we're going to camp under this, you know, basically at the stump of this old tree. And I was the camp cook at the time. I said, look, I'll do all the cooking. That's, I kind of like doing that anyway. And I was fetching water one day between exasperating, frustrating, no sheep hunting. And I look where we had the horses all tethered up to the hitched rails. And I found a nickel in that, in that duff,

10:08all that kind of turned over stuff. It was from 1905. Wow. And the next day I killed that ram. And for me, that just, it put it all together in like such crisp focus. It was the story of a lifetime. That is a good story. I mean, give me right through the tag, you know? Yeah. Stayed in that cool spot. And then found a coin that predated. And that right? The carving in the tree? Yeah. So I have, I've just always imagined that maybe it fell out of the, you know, Buffalo Bill. Yeah. Yeah. And you're sure your role as the outdoor life editor didn't have any influence on this. Maybe somebody planted it for me to find. Because it's a, it's a, it's a great story. Can you imagine? Go ahead. You still have the nickel. So I actually wrote about this. And I would have lost one. Well, so here's one of the things like. I think it's a historical artifact on public land.

11:08I don't. I don't think. I'm allowed to possess it. And so I'm going to leave it open and did what I did with it. There you go. Yeah. Can you imagine that? I like that along with the Prince of Monaco. 30 people traveling to go out. Getting up there. I mean, bless Buffalo Bill. Having to feed all those people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was, I mean, and it is, you get, you're, you're just in this. There's only rivers right there. So it's, you got water. And you got these, we're soaring mountains. Now, of course, it's all bunch of matchsticks kind of burned out. But you can just kind of blur your eyes and imagine what that must have been like when it was all timbered. And it's still even, even hollowed out and burned over. It's still, that's remarkable. I bet it is. What caliber did you use to kill your sheep? I used a 30 odd six. How about that? Oh, now six, baby. Even cooler. Yeah.

12:08That's right. It's classic. I know this is one of those favorite. Right there. We just had Jim's on by a couple weeks on, we really enjoy him. So Jim was my hookup with Lee Living, both, both for the Tony and, yeah, Jim, yeah, so full circle. Yeah. Small one there. Yeah. He totes, he loves the 30 odd six. Mm-hmm. Well, that's a beautiful mount. And I had a great story, too. Yeah, it really is. Kelly. And there's such iconic Western creatures. But they're really truly kind of out of reach for like, well, I don't have any, I would I love to kill one, but I know probably not, it's not in the cards for me to kill one. You probably don't have enough breath, you know what I mean? I could make the breath. You should have a breath. You should have a breath. Yeah. A breath or bread? Yeah. Well, it sounds like that pick up might get a long way. Yeah, you're right. I don't think about that locking in, Bobby. Oh, Lord, that's what would not make it a long way. I don't think. All right, guys, let's get serious here. Yeah. I wanna just, let me just say this. So I started googling about Andrew.

13:10Let me just tell a little bit about what's there. So outdoor life discovered Andrew. Andrew was an amateur boxer and a truck driver before joining the merchant marines. And he was discovered by an editor while he was in Cuba. He was in jail in Cuba for assault. Cuba. Andrew, that's what an interesting start to your career. You know, the interesting thing about that Cuba experience, they say it was a woman, but it was really advanced party for the Bay of Pigs. And I always thought the Bay of Pigs, I was gonna be hog hunting, feral pigs like it. And so there I was. And all of a sudden these people came and put me away. And I, it didn't make any sense until, you know, years later when I got in that, basically went to trucking school and then it all kind of snapped into focus. You know, Andrew McCain, Hemingway, all these great riders, they all have a tie to Cuba. And I'm just thankful that outdoor life saw something in Andrew and brought him here.

14:13It worked. Yeah. All right. Well, I just thought I'd share that little tip. That is it. That is a tidbit. Yeah. Just say the least. Look, I notice you've got tetrah on your hat. Are you protecting your ears with their equipment? Oh, yeah. You know, I am a believer in them. I, it's fine. I love the hat. I've got the smallest head in America. It fits me nicely. I have worn their earpieces. I can hear you thanks to their technology, but I do not own a tetra. And so I'm trying to remedy that. Well, you know what, they're great guys. We know them well. Yeah. Good, good dudes. Yeah. They make some great ones. You put in a good word. Yeah, we sure will, Andrew. They're big, big boxing fans. So once they hear that story, there you go. There you go. Peas, let's go right into the Peas list. All right. Why don't we start? Do you get some rapid fires? I do. I hope you got some Cuban and some boxing questions. We ought to. Well, maybe I should have known. Okay. Andrew, I'm going to ask you 10 or 12 questions in rapid fire. We're just trying to get to know you better.

15:14So give me a quick answer. Are you ready? Oh, yeah. Ready. This is brought to you by Nutrient Accelation. I'm buddies at Nutrient Accelations. Have you ever been hella skiing before? Never. What is the highest elevation you've ever been at? I'm tempted to answer that with a metaphysical answer. But I'm going to say a 19,000 feet 500, 19,523. That's way up there. Yeah. What mountain is that? Denali? What mountain is that? That's, that is in Kyrgyzstan. Okay. Kyrgyzstan. I'm staying. Have you hunted more in the eastern half or the western half of the country in your lifetime? Western half by far. Okay. Name a fish species that you really like to eat. To eat. Yes. Not to catch. I love wal.

16:15I love wal. They are delicious. They are delicious. That's like the crappie of the north. Yeah, it is. Yeah. What is the most days you've ever stayed in the back country at one time? 33, 34, it's over a month. Wow. Good. So pick one. Rocky Mountain Spring and Summer or Rocky Mountain Fall and Winter. Oh, what a good one. Rocky Mountain Fall and Winter. Do you normally hunt with lead or copper bullets? Big game. Ooh. Moving more toward copper. I do a lot of up and birds. That's led there. There you go. What is a preparation of elk or venison that you frequently cook? I am one of those grubby shank eaters. Big, slow, cooked, braised shank. Who's the buco? Nice. I kind of got it. Yeah. I want to hang out with Andrew wherever he is.

17:15That must be from Kirsten again. They don't have that heart. They don't have that a hearty's body. Yeah. Have you ever contracted a tick-borne illness? Yes. Let's see. When skinning game do you typically use a folding knife or a fixed blade knife? What a good question. Typically, a fixed blade knife. And last but not least, how many acres of public land are you willing to give back to private? Ooh. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Waxing twelve. Well. Ha, ha, ha. So that would be going back to you to put a little cabin on in the middle of the natural forest. Right, yeah. OK. The reason I say that I am actually not one of those, not a single acre, because I'd actually do think there are a few places that, like, come on. It's not doing anybody any good, let's get some good use for them and then, and then really preserve them. That's a good point. Great point. No doubt about it. Yeah. Good question's best. This level headed is right there. That's right. Yeah. That's what we need, some level headings.

18:17All right. Dudley, awesome question. Well, thank you, thank you. He is good. We don't, you know, we don't give Dudley enough credit for him. Maybe I need to up it to 20 or 30 per person. All right. So here we are, Andrew. It's time. You've got a one heck of a story. Can you just start at the beginning and tell us this thing? Well, you know, I'm glad we've kind of mentioned the sheep, kind of as a bit player in this whole thing, because this does involve Wyoming and preference points. So I had accumulated a whole bunch of elk preference points. I love elk. I love elk. I love bow. I like elk hunting with a rifle. I like elk. I mean, if I could chase him down, like, lobby, I probably would just do it. So anyway, I had a bunch of preference points for Wyoming. I was kind of figuring out, OK, where am I going to spend them? I coach cross country here. And so my fall is a little bit preoccupied. So I got to kind of think about seasonality of it. And there's been a place that's just always been on my mind,

19:19but it's a hard draw. And public access is ludicrous. There's very, very little. So I was talking to my buddy. He should have this guy on. David Fowlby, and he's an editor for Guns and Amble. He lives in Sheridan, Wyoming. I was commiserating with him. He's a resident of Wyoming. And so I said, where should I spend these points? And he's like, if you're up for it, I have a deal for you. I'm like, well, tell me more. And David, I hope you do have him on. So he can counter this accusation. He's an open-minded thinker. And one of his open-mindedness over the years has been, he's like, McCain, I'm going to develop a bat-wing suit and I'm going to fly into some of these landlocked parcels of public land. I'm like, that is ingenious. Let me know how it goes packing an elk out. Yeah. Anyway, so he's been preoccupied with this sort of like airborne access for a long time. And knowing that, I kind of did ask him,

20:19what do you think? And he's like, I think if you're willing to do it, let's hire a helicopter and fly into this public ground assuming you can draw a tag for it. I like a challenge. So it seemed good. This was months before the hiding season. And so I put in, and I convinced my buddy Ryan to share my preference points when we both drew. And then what? So we spent all summer looking at maps. And I drove down to this country and looked at it from the ground. And it is as landlocked as I've ever seen there is one little piece of public access where you can get into it. But it's a 20 mile hike. And you got to go down these limestone canyons that require repelling gear and ropes. And again, a little like the bat-wing suit. I was like, I think I could get there. I don't know how I could get an elk out of there. And I don't want to eat the whole elk in there. So anyway, we concluded, let's hire a helicopter. And it was pricey, but it seemed like the best way to do it. And in plus, it kind of goes back to your Dudley's public land question a little bit.

21:21This is the kind of the simmering issue of the Western Hunter is. Access is pretty interesting. And I've lived here a long time. And it's not getting better, I would say. If anything, traditional access is getting either kind of removed by people buying land because of that access. Or there's just more people at the more popular access points. And so kind of the calculus of any big game hunt in the West right now is kind of what's the access like. And so part of my calculus was, if we can legally fly in into this place, we ought to at least think about it. And so we actually, we spend a lot of time looking at what the regs were. And sure enough, we could fly from a road into a road. We could land on BLM land inside this big expansive landlock country, set up a Walton and hunt their hard jobs. And so basically, we decided to do it. So that's the prelude to the story that has like a bunch of weird plot twists, too. Bobby, I think what you picked up on was it all worked out.

22:23I mean, it was, so I'm used to Elk Hunts that don't include a lot of the main character. You know, it's like, G is four or five days later. Like I would, I'd do anything just to see some Elk sign. But we, like the first night we were in this place, the helicopter ride was just something out of like a movie. It was so cinematic and crazy. In fact, we brought a videographer to document this whole thing for outdoor life. And I mean, there's Elk all over the place. Anyway, let me ask this real quick. Exactly, a couple of questions, too. So at this point, like when you're trying to find a helicopter, is some guy out there got some leftover piece of Vietnam equipment and that he's kept up. And he's like, are we talking about a modern new helicopter with all the bells and whistles? Bobby, do you ever go in the field and not use on it?

23:23I use it all the time. It's so handy to see who's tracked this is. And yeah, I know you're knocking on doors for turkeys season. It's the way to go about that. I like to go around pre-season listening for goblers and marking where they are to make it a lot easier during the season. I can come back and check those spots. That's a great idea. Would you mind sharing that with your buddies? No. Like when we're spraying, you can see where you've been. If you missed a little corner or something. With that lot of our function, you can really see some of the train of land and help you plan your approach, whether you're hunting or working. They're continually developing and providing tools that gamekeepers need out in the field. Yeah, including this new compass mode, you can pinpoint exactly where that bird is goblin and know exactly which direction to go towards them. It really has become one of the things that we use to plan not only our gamekeeping strategies, but our hunting strategies. I'm surprised if somebody tells me they don't have on eggs. I don't know how you get along without it. And for a limited time, when you sign up for a gamekeeper subscription, you get a free trial membership of on eggs. Check out on eggs. Yeah, you'll be glad you did.

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25:28That means tighter patterns, more energy down range, and a confidence to drop three shot sizes for a massive increase in pellet count. Looking for versatility? The magnum blend offers a cone of lethality out past 50 yards by mixing five, six, and seven shots. Make your shots count. They're hard to come by and be careful. We've got to be ethical on these shots, but heavy is the ultimate insurance policy but when that guy or won't come a step closer. Don't leave your season to chance. Head to heavyshot.com or your local outfitter and load up with the world's leader in non-toxic performance. That is such a good question. I'm going to ask it sideways. One of my great bucket list is going to the Eastern Russia, the Chinatab, Chinatab, Chinatab, Peninsula, outside of the Vladivostok and Hutton Bears. And one of the ways you do that is on these old,

26:30cold-wear, arid diesel helicopters. And I can handle everything about the hunt. The cold doesn't bother me to snow that bring it on. But flying in those vintage helicopters just doesn't seem like a recipe for longevity. So anyway, I was a little worried about this. This was Fabian's job. You figure out the helicopter. I'll figure out the rest. And he had talked 20 Wyoming-based chopper pilots before he found this one guy. And it was like, I told David, like, send me a picture of the chopper. I want to make sure that this thing's in the rest part of the airplane or whatever. And I mean, the thing is gleaming. It looks like a sports car. It is like the most modern, high-performance chopper I've ever seen. Not that I've got a lot of experience with choppers, but it's pretty nice. Yeah, well, Fabian says like, like if we had left this up to, if Lanier had been in this equation, and he didn't have to, it would have looked like the dukes of hazard had a helicopter. We borrowed one. That's what we had to do. All right, all right. Lanier, did you have a gun? Yeah, I'm just trying to understand,

27:30like when you're describing the layer of this land, I mean, how big of a chunk of public land is this? Yeah, great question. So it's 50 to 70,000 acres. Got you. And one, that's the same. But it's interesting, yeah. Because part of it is wilderness. So that way we couldn't really hunt there, because again, like we's talked about with the Big Horn sheep, I would need to have a guide. Okay. And so we kind of limited, I think the BLM, it was kind of an, it was scattering of BLM state school trust sections. And there was a good deal of private land interspersed in there as well. So we had to kind of definitely know where we were the whole time. But I'm going to say the huntable area was 40,000 acres, probably. I mean, a good chunk of ground that we probably didn't, yeah, in a week, and it's rugged rough country. Yeah, I would assume you couldn't land a chopper in a wilderness area anyway. Yeah. You can't even use a chain saw to clear a trail in a wilderness area. Much less drop a chopper down and set up camp.

28:32Yeah. Well, the other interesting thing, we looked at fixed wing aircraft flying in there. And it was, it's such rugged country, and there's just no like designated landing strip. And so really, I mean, from a practical standpoint, hiking was out flying in a traditional aircraft was out. But one thing I will say we could have, and maybe should have done a better job of knocking on every door of the surrounding ranches before we concluded that there was no access. But its reputation was such there was no access. And so we were willing to kind of like, okay, it's on us to get in there. So yeah, that's how we found ourselves aboard a helicopter with all of our camp and gear. And we were planning to stay in there about 10 days. Really, I mean, we were prepared for bad snow. We were prepared for just about anything. Except tagging out in three days. Yeah, so I guess the plane was flying me in and I'm gonna call you, or you gotcha. We kind of had, yeah, that's a great question, honestly.

29:32Like, I've hunted Alaska enough where you've got to have like an extraction. Yeah. Like, I guess I can't get in touch with you. Here's the last, you know, here's the, here's the drug, I'd say drop dead. I'll still say. Yeah, that's it. Here's the right way to drop dead, on this day. Unless we call you, and we did have kind of marginal cell service we got to the higher stuff. So we basically told the chopper pilot, come back on in 10 days, unless we get in touch with you earlier. Gotcha. And hopefully we got a pile of elk you need to want to tell us with. Yeah, right, nice. It's kind of like a full entry. I'm telling you, I'm sorry. I want to go, you know what I mean? Well, here's the thing, and you guys know this. Like, I mean, a solo hunting turns my crank. I love to just strike out and just see where the day takes me. But there's something about camping with your buddies. We had two tents. We had, you know, freeze-dried food and enough. I mean, we did, we, it was a buddy hunt. And just the camaraderie of that, and almost like the challenge in the hardship and just all of the unknowns of it, just jailed.

30:35We just jailed, isn't it? And there's just, there's something so fun about that. That, yeah, it would have been interesting by myself, but it was so fun to share it with somebody. Had anybody ever done this before? Or are y'all the first? Actually, that's a good question. Thanks. I'm tired. I'm trying to get an invite out of this eventually, you know what I mean? Yeah, there was a guy who had a moose tag. And actually they had hired the same chopper pilot to bring him in there earlier than in the fall. So we hunted in November. I think this guy was in there in September. And kind of figured out landing zone places that they could basically hunt from there. They never encountered any moose, which I can see. This wasn't really a moosey country, but they at least proved the concept. Yeah, made it. All right. So yeah, we, I mean, I was the first one up. And, you know, Bobby, you'll maybe appreciate this, maybe not, but going along with my boxing skills,

31:39they call me the predator and chief. I love it. That's great. That's great. And, you know, I'm, I mean, I'm a meat hunter. Like I'm not holding out for the biggest rack in the world. Like, and so, but I was also like, okay, I know my reputation. I'm not going to like push anybody out of the way to get the first shot. I'm going to be patient. But the first night we watched all these Elk feet out of the timber. And I was like, um, are you going to shoot them? It's a good time. If you're not, yeah, I look like one in the hands, but I didn't want in the bush exactly. So I ended up going my tag first. And I mean, it was just like ludicrous. Like it worked. And we were both, I think all of us. So it was David and me and my buddy Ryan and Ben, this other Montana or Wyoming resident who knew something about the area. So he was kind of going along as basically meat packer and, and comic relief. And then we had the videographers. There's five of us. And we were all just looking at each other like astonished, like holy smokes. There's Alken here.

32:41So you had to get, did they bring in one at a time? He said you were the first in. Or did you all load it? It was a big enough chopper. You all go, go in there together. Did you hear that chopper effect out there in there? That was nice on it. Good. Yeah, you, you, you look good in batwing suit. I think it was small enough. They couldn't take us all. And we had a bunch of gear. We had a camp here for, you know, a long one. So, you know, duffel bags and tents and sleeping bags and all that stuff. So I think the way it worked, the chopper probably made three trips bringing us in. And I have to say at the outset, like, I'm, I'm a quiet hunter. I like, I just, I like hunting quietly. And, and this was so disruptive. I mean, helicopters are hard to be subtle like this. You know, you're coming. That's right. Three trips in there. I just, I had this strong sense that everybody knew we were in there. Like all the neighbors, we, you know, we flew over a couple of ranch homesteads and it's like, I mean, we're not hiding anything.

33:42There's nothing to hide, but it just felt a little like like we were being bad company in some ways. It's hard to even put it just like we're just so aggressive. And I almost wanted to like, apologize to people like, Hey, sorry, we're like in your backyard. You didn't invite us, but here we are and we'll try to be light on the land. I did. I just felt a little responsibility for being there when it's good. So you wouldn't call this a leave no trace type hunt. Well, you did. You probably left without a trace, but we left without a trace. We tried to be pretty light on the land, but like just the, just the sensory part of it. I mean, that's like we were, we had a big cast along shadow. I guess it's the best way to do it. Yeah. But so the second they were in there, we got into two more elk and all of a sudden three days in, we were, we're tagged out back up. Well, I don't want to make sure we got that. You went, you, you, it was day two. So you harvested your elk on the first night and how big was your elk? It was a good six by six.

34:42I mean, I haven't put a tape on it, but he's a three 20 class bull. Oh, yeah. Yeah. He's a 20. He's a shooter. That's right. I don't blame you. But it was also the smallest of the three bulls we killed. Oh, wow. Yeah. So Ryan shot probably a three 50 class bull and then David also shot a dang nice bull. It kind of fits slots right in the middle of the two. Yeah. So we were done and now we're meatpackers, which, I mean, I'm made to pack meat. I love packing meat partly because it's like just such a satisfying, like, you know, now I can turn my attention to like getting the rest of the trophy parts out. But that's where this thing took a weird turn and kind of this plot twist we didn't see coming. And this has been really the highest profile part of it. I think just the audacity of hiring helicopter and flying in is like, that definitely is a head turner. What happened next was just crazy. So Ryan and I are back at camp, actually doing some video stuff, just kind of recounting

35:44what we had experienced. When we, and I think we were all actually back, can we heard three shots kind of back in this back country and all of us. And I think this is a testament to kind of our like big, I'd like to say kind of big heartedness, but we were like, good for whoever, like, found a way in here, like, honestly, good for them. And we were like, we're tagged out. I wonder if this guy needs help packing, like we're here to help kind of like we were so sort of self-satisfied, I guess, with the experience we're like, we're willing to share it. Anyway, we heard the shots and we were, and then, and then David and Ben decided, look, you guys are going to slow roll your, you're getting to your job of packing meat. We're going to head to the kill site and start packing. It was going to be a hot dry day, so we had a bunch of water, we had all of our packs emptied out and ready to haul meat. So anyway, I say that because it was this, this time lag was important. By the time I got to the kill site with Ryan and the videographer, David and Ben were like, out of breath, flushed and agitated, like, like something had happened in the intervening

36:47time. What is going on? And they're just like, turn the camera on, we got a story for the ages here. So like, if you ever look at this video, we are like hearing it for the very first time. Ben and Ryan, or Ben and David got to the kill site and they're like, you know, I wonder where that other hunter is. So they just peeled up their binoculars and are looking from this kind of height of land. And Ben sees a guy going across a lower meadow with an elk rack over his back. And like, well, there he is. But kind of odd. He didn't have a gun. He's not wearing any orange, which is kind of just unusual during hunting season. And Ben's like, I could be wrong, but that looks like Ryan's elk that this guy is carrying. And David's like, no, and Ben's like, before we rush to any like conclusions, let me run up to the kill site and see if Ryan's rack is there. And if it is, no harm, no foul.

37:48Ben runs up to the kill site, Ryan's rack is not there. Wow. And he shouts to David like, go after that SOB, he's got Ryan's rack and they, so they both bail off of this really steep ridge. And they basically chase this guy down who sees him coming, hides in the woods, and Ben like legitimately, he's like, I was worried like there might be gunplay or something. I don't know what's going on. So this guy is sort of like furtively hiding in the trees. And Ben's like, hey, I see in there, come out. Come out and let's talk about this. What are you doing? And then he says to David, hey, turn on your camera on your phone. Like let's capture this. And so what you see on the video is kind of what happened next. This guy steps out of the trees and he's, it's kind of cringy to watch. He is like, kind of caught like a rat. You know, it's like, he's nervous and it's just, it's just a high tent. It's like a pension moment. And Ben is like, explain yourself. What are you doing?

38:48And the guy is like, you know, kind of first like, oh, well, nothing, what are you talking about? And like, Ben's like, dude, we saw you carry the Lcrack in here. That's our Lcrack. Where is it and why did you do it? And the guy basically says on camera, I took it because I don't want you in here. I'm trying to discourage you from hunting this outfit. Which, you know, it's kind of alarming, but Ben, note, kind of as a local, he's like, he recognizes this guy. This is the owner of the big ranch we flew over. And the rancher recognizes Ben. And so there's this kind of oddity of like, it's not unlike Romas' sit-by, like Romas. Everybody kind of knows everybody a little bit. And so that added a little bit of like oddity to this whole thing. Like, they kind of, they kind of know who each other is. But the upshot of it is, you know, this guy, absconded with Eric Elk. But it's just, it's just his head scratcher. And so basically Ben and David and the rancher go down into this cut, this little eroded cut

39:51bank where he had stuffed the Lcrack. Interestingly, like, there's a couple of things that are just like eight seconds later, we Ben and David never would have seen him on that. Right. I was thinking that same thing. We just would have been out of sight. And we would have been like scratching our heads like, what happened to Ryan's rack? And we never, ever would have gone lower down in this weird, out of the way place. Yeah, you got a helicopter in and all of a sudden the dudes over there taking the rack off your elk and running off with it. That's wild. But, but you know, like, stringing back kind of the chronology going backward. Ryan shot his bolt above the guy's ranch house. And we at late in the day, by the time we took it all apart and quartered it and got all the meat kind of hung out and cooled, we had our headlamps on. And, you know, I know how it is if somebody's in my backyard, you, I mean, you just know their presence is there. And so, I'm sure it was, like, this guy was just boiling, like, these guys are up there, like, he's an outfitter as well.

40:51Yeah, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, all kinds. And so I think he, I'm not excusing his behavior, but I'm trying to understand, like, he, he thought we were stealing from him. You know, when some like perverse, right? Yeah, he just about, he just about, how far was he in there from his ranch? You know, probably like three quarters of a mile and it's not a general country. I mean, so three quarters of a mile linearly and then I don't know, 1,200 feet. Yeah. I mean, I'll tell you what, the dude's in good shape. Yeah. Hmm. He's no Bobby Cole, but he's not many of us. He's not many of us. He's calling slam good Bobby. That's right. I can't, so you're here now that you just got to be stunned and that this is happening to y'all. Yeah. I mean, yeah, and they are like, they can't even believe like, it's just, it's, it's just like rushing out of them this story. And we're hearing it for the first time. The videographer is just like behind his camera, just like shaking his head, like, what is going on?

41:51But so kind of no harm, no foul, right? We got the elk rack back. We got the meat back. And in the course of the day, and I think this is something like, good honest work of packing meat. It gives you like some mental space to kind of think about stuff. And as we packed and sweated and talked, like, what's our obligation here? Like, this guy is ashamed of himself. Like, I don't want, we don't want to make it worse for him. On the other hand, like, that's theft. Like that, you know, and it maybe it's hunter harassment too. And so we concluded when we got back to camp that night, we had no cell service down where we were. And we were tired. And getting back up into that higher country, we were like, let's at least call the game more and to report it. So at least our side of the story is documented because maybe this guy is feeling queasy enough about everything. Maybe he's calling in to invent something and we just wanted to have our side. So we call the game more than the game. The game more is actually great. He's just like, he heard the whole thing and he could kind of hear it and pause on the

42:52phone. He's like, yeah, I have never heard of anything like this before. And he's like, this is like reverse poaching. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's kind of a good perspective. But so we, whether it's coming in, we were tagged out. We spent the next day getting the rest of the meet up and then we called the chopper pilot and then came out early. And we kind of had a pact among the five of us, like, you know what? This is a sensational story, but we didn't feel like sensationalizing it if that makes sense. I don't know. It just was out of my character as being a little more of a, in the background kind of person. And I don't know. Maybe half of us upheld that idea and the other half, like, could not wait to tell the world about it. And just pretty stupid. And we got out to like asphalt roads, like the word was out and we're getting calls and like, wait, what happened to you guys? And so it was pretty hard to contain at that point. And then we went and talked to the game board and when we came out and he kind of took a statement and we gave him our videos and all that stuff.

43:53And then basically we came home. I mean, I had more hunting to do. I had, you know, meet to butcher and kind of put it behind me a little bit mentally. I mean, we had this movie to make of everything. And I wanted the movie that we made to reflect both sides of the story. Like part of it, the main reason we went in is it was to kind of prove up this idea of access. Like, we could still legitimate way to access. Maybe it's a little aggressive, but hey, it's kind of what the West is doing. It's becoming some ways, too. And like, we proved the value proposition, though. So the movie was going to be about that, but we couldn't ignore what had happened to us either. You know, when this kind of as a journalist, I wanted to tell both sides of the story. So anyway, we did, and the thing has blown up. I mean, it has been, I don't know how many of you said, thing has got on you, too. That's sad. I don't know. That's sad. So I won't got to ask more stuff about the helicopter. So did, did you all pack in the meat out? Was it on board the helicopter?

44:55Was there a rack up under it? I mean, did you all do it all the one time to take you three more trips to come out? Yeah, I did. So I was out. I was the first one out, and I took, what did I take? I took all the camping gear, a bunch of the meat, but there's a belly hook on this chopper and the belly hook has got, you guys know about those. I'm sure you see them. Well, especially if nutrient-acolutions is your sponsor, those big like feed sacks that are like Kevlar, like that woven nylon. Super sacks, what we call them. Well, this one's a bit like this must be a, you know, I'm used to the 50 pounders. This must have been like capacity of 250 pounds, or maybe more than that. I bet 500. I mean, big one. Yeah, what we're talking about, you know, has a loop on either corner. It's a cube shape, and I think it holds a thousand pounds of, yeah, two thousand pounds. On top of a palette. Yeah. Oh, okay. That's exactly what we used. Yeah. And so we, I don't think I took any of that because when the chopper pilot went back

45:59for the next trip, he grabbed everything that would fit in one of those big hoppers. And that was all three elk rags. I'm going to say three quarters of the meat. I mean, it was a loader. Yeah. I know. When he came back, I was the only one to unload it, and I would have to get all that out of there. And then his last load, he took out the three dudes and anything else that was wound. Mm-hmm. So Andrew, the, the higher in the helicopter was cheaper than doing a guided hunt than that. That's kind of how where y'all came to all this. That's kind of where we all came to it. Yeah. I mean, like substantially cheaper, and especially so there were three of us who had tags. So even, you know, when we took in five of us, it was cheaper by far for five of us to fly in and for three of us to outfit it. Yeah. Did the, um, did the guy apologize or anything? Hey, there's nothing like having your own track a land to call your own.

47:03I can't think of a gamekeeper that doesn't want their own piece of land. And finding a place is not easy. It's tough. You need to work with a land specialist like the folks at Malsio properties. Yeah, I called my local Malsio properties office. They helped me sell my family farm and help you buy a new place. Told them what my goals were. And literally the second place I went to with my agent, it was the place. You got to have somebody to know what they're doing to help you through some of these decisions. Work with the Malsio properties land specialist that loves the land like you do. Visit Malsio properties dot com to look at available properties and connect with our network of land specialist today. Your pursuit just got a whole lot more comfortable. The new burly arrow from lacrosse is built with next-gen era form technology that helped for turn energy with every step. So you can go farther, stay out longer, and still feel good heading back to the truck. From the first step into the field, you'll notice the difference.

48:03It's innovation you can feel. Experience the difference at lacrossefootwear.com. Bobby, nobody makes it easier to get your own suppressor than silencercentral.com. Suppressure ownership has gotten even easier in 2026 with the $200 tax stamp officially being gone. So for shooters who want less noise and less recoil, silencercentral removes the hassle. You know what, from the turkey woods to the deer blind, or for the most fun you can actually have it arranged, having a suppressor is amazing. So check it out at silencercentral.com. You can browse top suppressor lines, a handle the paperwork from home with the help of their experts. Nobody makes it easier to have a new suppressor delivered straight to your door. Yeah, check it out at silencercentral.com. No, actually on camera he kind of grudgingly did, Ben was kind of, Ben is the true beauty

49:06of the digitalist of this group of people. His sister balled up and I think the guy was like, all right, Ben kept saying, I want you to apologize. That's all I went out of this thing and finally, guys, like, all right, I'm sorry. It's kind of like, what's kind of like when your sister apologizes to you, Clint. Oh, yeah. No. Then looking in the eye, looks at her shoes and apologizes, it was a little bit like a wow. What an experience. But on the flip side, it sounds like the hunting was fantastic. Yeah. Oh, the hunting was off the hook and so Bobby mentioned on the conservation editor out door life in addition to the hunting editor and this was almost like two sides, almost like the good angel is the hunting, no, the bad angels, the hunting angel and the good angels, the conservation. There it is. And I'm not saying badness. No, it's taking and putting back though. I mean, it is. We talked about all the time. Yes. I see like the conservation side of it, like, the reason it was so good. Is this is a sanctuary, right? These elk are not expecting a helicopter to drop in their living room.

50:10And I have to keep that in mind, like air obligation to that place and to those elk. I mean, we followed all the laws, but I think there was a little bit of like, we pushed the easy button in some ways and that, that one still kind of rubs me a little bit. Well, I mean, if you can't access it any other way, which, right, you know, like you said, I mean, you can't, you can't down climb with a bunch of me on it. Yeah. Yeah, you'd be wasting it. That's right. That, I mean, so, I mean, in my mind, you, you deserve a ride. And if that's the only way you can get in there, then you should be able to do it. And I'm personally getting older in life and, and you know, there's something to be said about working smarter instead of working hard, I mean, having said that, you know, when you're at the Grand Canyon or something, the last thing you want to hear is those dang helicopters coming up and down all day. So it, you know, it wouldn't maybe wouldn't be cool if that happened 20 or 30 times every elk season in that area, but you're also trying to prove a point, you know, you, we deserve

51:15access to that government land. And you're sure right. You drew the tag, you know, I mean, if you can figure out how to do it, you can figure out how to do it. I mean, speaking from just, you know, I mean, most, most of this stuff around here is very small public land access. I mean, it's a lot of land access, but it's all about how you get there is where the good stuff is. So if you can find a way to do it that nobody else is doing it, the hunting tends to be better. I want to know more about the hunting. Like I'm like, I'm, when you're talking about this, I'm saying this chopper sit down. I see this cool camp and then like, I mean, it's like, y'all got some boiling water and then there's elk just surrounding you, you know, is that how it was or was it spot and stock kind of stuff? I mean, we're just, can you tell us a little bit about the hunt? Yeah. And what season was it? Yeah. So it was, this would have been post rut, like later in November. And so I think there was a couple of things in our favor. One is the weather was open like had it been snow bound. I think the elk would still be in there, but it would have changed the dynamics a little bit.

52:17So our main thing, we got in there, we boiled water, we said, we didn't, and we started blasting from high points, we saw nothing. We finally did see like two bowls back in the timber, but like a mile away. And they were kind of hung up on the side slope and we're like, you know what? Let's just at least go down to the bottom of this draw and kind of see what happens, but it was a genius move. It turned out because there's this big timber bridge that it turned out was full elk that we couldn't see. And what they did is they fed down slope and then out in the open as the sun got low. There was a spring or a seep down there was probably only water that they had available to them. I'm pretty sure that's where they were headed. But as we watched, you know, the two bowls that we had seen earlier kind of came out and then two other junior varsity bowls came out. And they're like, we had better get up into a spot where in case a bigger bowl comes out, at least we're in position. So we kind of did that. We got it and we had to kind of push you foot our way into there. There was some you wonder we didn't want to bump and like it was definitely good hunting. But the wind was right and we just laid up and then waited for the bowls to feed to

53:20us. That was the first night. And it just worked awesome. But the second day was, you know, we started it earlier because we were already in there and it was a lucky spot. We saw like a one antler time a mile and a half away and we're like, that's it looks like a good bowl. Maybe there's more who knows. Let's just go spin the whole day there. So we went, we packed in there kind of spike camping. We all took a sleeping bag in case we needed to spend the night outside from our tent. And we kind of light to cover a ton of ground and kind of see what we could see. And it was hot like for November, it was like almost 70 degrees. And knowing Elk as I do, like they've got their winter coats on. They don't want to be in the sunshine. And so we kept looking in shady little spots where there was breeze kind of blowing and that's exactly where we found them kind of in the open in this canyon country. So it's definitely spot and stock for those last two bowls of that a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Did you see any other hunters while you're back there? None. I mean, besides this rancher, they're running off with his horns.

54:22Was it pristine? Like you felt like you were walking someplace that very, very few people walked. It was incredible. When we, there are two things I'd say about that is our landing zone with the helicopter. The hills, see what we would refer to that. I know you see their chopper. I buy all of the camping gear and all of our kit out of the belly of the chopper and kind of put it in a big pile. And then the chopper took off and I was waiting for the rest of the guys to come. I looked down and there's arrowhead flakes right where we are. Whoa. It was just like, it was so cool. Like this is definitely a hunting ground and has been for years. But it was cool country was real broken country, but very pristine. We never saw, I mean, there were, so we landed on a little rancher, two track on the BLM country, like it was on a state section. But so there had, you know, ranchers had gone in there. I mean, there was definitely, there's fences.

55:23You know, there's signs of human habitation and human use in there. But boy, oh, and we found like a old trappers cabin down there made out of stone. Like, but it's just so sticky. Yeah. Hmm. Goodness. It did. So the helicopter flew from a, from a public road, you know, parked your car or your trucks and they loaded everything up. And I'm surprised that nobody was there when the helicopter came back to say, what in the world is, who what's going on here? Who have you got, what, you got the Prince of Monaco? Is it his ensemble or what's going on? No, we've got the editor in chief of outdoor life. Yeah. The predator in chief, the predator in chief. That's a, that's a funny observation, Bobby, because the one reason I flew out early, I was the first one out there was, I was not Ben Rodgers with my fissile ball up. And I thought there's going to be somebody waiting for us to pick up. And I at least, I thought I could explain myself better than the other guys. Yeah. So I was fully expecting somebody with their arms crossed, waiting for us.

56:25We would, we would have definitely sent Bobby first. Yeah. He's the negotiator. He's the negotiator. He's the negotiator. Yeah. Nobody had messed with their pickups and there was nobody there and, and, yeah. What a story. Yeah. Yeah. I would have been really anxious, though, coming out of there after all that, you know, I'm like, oh, goodness. We know what's going on. Yeah. Well, we were, we were going to spend another night or two back there. But you know, we're also like, this has gotten weird already. Yeah. We don't want it together. Yeah. We don't want to chat for two, is right? No, we don't. And I get this guy was willing to do what he did. What else might he be willing to do? And so we're just like, you know, let's just get out of here. We've, we've made our point and we've kind of done the damage. Let's go. Yeah. Yeah. How bad he was. And the cooler is full. Mission accomplished. Oh, where? How bad he was pretty shocked to get for y'all to catch him like that. Y'all had to have unbelievable timing. I mean, just the fortunate to be there at the right time to seem and be able to see him.

57:26And I go out there, it takes me a while to even get, you know, where I can see you anything. Yeah. And the, your friend that hollered, hey, get him because he, I mean, I could picture Holler and Atlantean. He'd be like, what? What? Yeah. Well, you know, in the back of your mind, you're wondering, is this some kind of, is this real? Is this some kind of sitter crazy man that lives out in the middle of the woods? It's, you know, right? Yeah. I mean, of course, I want to thought about all these things going on in your mind. Yeah. I want to thought I was, I was like, oh, I'm on the wrong place, you know, or that. It was interesting. When they, they reacted on sort of a gut level instinct of like, let's go chase this guy down. Cause it had the contemplated it, maybe wait for us to catch up. I don't think the outcome would have been the same. Do you think you would have been able to put two and two together? I mean, you may not have been able to have any proof, but, you know, maybe a game warden could have gone and knocked on his door a couple weeks later.

58:28You know, that kind of thing, but, but Frank, we know was you give us the amateurs. I think we would have put together those three shots we heard thought there's another hunter in here. He encountered our meat and antlers and just took the hours. Yeah. He was going to say that he killed it. Is that what it was? Is that why he shot or did he shoot? He shot. I'm sure, although we never saw him with a guy. We never saw him with a rifle. So that's a, that's a presumption, but I can't confirm it. And three times, too, I mean, cause it's not the usual sign for help. I mean, you might have left somebody up there, you know, wow, you know, this whole corner crossing thing and the land that's not available, but it's hard to get to, it's just a, gosh, it's a problem that I don't, I mean, is there an answer to all this?

59:30I really think the answer is kind of what Andrew is talking about is like, you know, put yourself and other people, she used and try to be, you know, good representatives of the culture we represent as hunters and outdoorsmen and conservationists, cause I mean, on the little stuff we fight around here on public land, it's not, it's not, you know, worth it, you know, I mean, really, I don't know, it's kind of, but there's an 80 of public near here that is landlocked, making me, you want bothering me to find out how to get in there? A chopper. You need a chopper just to go squirrel life. I do think there are a couple of keys to the lock and I think one, like, I think it's a big issue and I think it's a, it's going to be a bigger issue as we kind of lose more land and as the remaining land we have becomes more, like, has more perceived value. And I think, so looking at it in this case, like, there's a wildlife management implication

1:00:30to this, right? These are kind of unhuntable, unaccessible elk. But the state's got some obligation to get hunting in there to manage them. You can't just be a private enclave that's only accessible to the people who control the access. That's just not how our system is designed. And I think, you know, and so if looking at it from the rancher standpoint, if we sort of proved the concept that you can get in there, now it was sudden his exclusive access is degraded or devalued a little bit. And I actually think those two things are a negotiating point to say look to the rancher, like, we've got land and water conservation funding from the feds, you know, that's that offshore oil revenue that is supposed to be used for conservation purposes and access. We've got the state of Wyoming's got what's called an access, yes, program, it basically pays landowners to allow public access. And it's, it's incentive based, they're getting paid for it. I actually think we can do a better job of incentivizing it for people like that rancher

1:01:31to say, okay, for a couple of weeks of the season, you've got exclusive use to it. But later on, why don't we pay you half of an elk hunt or a quarter of an elk hunt to allow somebody to trespass over your place to get in there? You're going to make some money out of it that you wouldn't ordinarily. They're going to get access where you don't have to hire a helicopter. I think the more we sort of open our minds to what is possible, I think there's, I actually think there's a lot of opportunity to that kind of model. Well, I've only been, you know, fortunate enough to elk hunt when Colorado in New Mexico, New Mexico has a ranching, I think, incentive program where I'm going to get this wrong, where you can, there's, they get value, I guess, for the best, is the best way to put it, the private landowners do, whether it's in the, in the form of more tags for them, you know, for them, granting public access, therefore they have more, you know, tags to sell or, you know, again, monetize. Yeah, 100% Andrew. Yeah, I think Colorado does something similar with their ranching for wildlife.

1:02:34You have to let the public maybe come in and take some cows or, yeah, or maybe a bowl or two, but, but you get more tags yourself and you get earlier access to the hunt and say something like that. Yeah, right. There's some great things that are going on out in the Western states. And yes, you know, the corner crossing and the access is one issue that, well, I hope it can be figured out. Well, I mean, and it, you know, that, that style of hunting or, or even, you know, backpacking in the summer has just gotten so much more popular in recent years. Yeah, you're right. There's places I, I went when I was younger where you would never see a single person. And now when you camp, you know, you see colored tents all in the background around you. That's same thing for, I mean, public access here too, it's gotten more popular. But, you know, that's just something we're facing and we're going to have to deal with it the best way we can. Yeah, because we've got a finite resource, you know, and then people have babies all the time. Yeah, we want to do what we love, you know, Andrew, you got a heck of a story.

1:03:38Yeah, you do. Yeah, but I'm going to pull that thread just a little bit once I think. I've kind of, you know, we blame COVID for a lot of that, you know, COVID came and everybody like re-discovered their outdoor routes. But I actually think there's something like generationally and talk about having more babies like we have lost so much of our rural connection. You know, the uncle whose place we could go hunt or granddad's place where, you know, my dad grew up and we can still hunt. And so we've lost that traditional access. And so in some ways, yeah, there's, there's more people doing it, but there's also less availability of that traditional private access. That is very interesting. The world's being fragmented. Yeah, and the big tracks for small tracks. That's right. And, you know, people value what they have more. Well, I don't know if you would say that they value it more than than they used to. But yes, I mean, that bass fish and pond that you, you know, you could always go to as a kid, you can't just pull up and go there anymore. You know, there may be a subdivision built around it

1:04:42now. You know, you know, Lanny, when I think about them chopper in the end, chopper in out, how much fun that would have been. Oh, I bet they were high five. Oh, yeah, I would have been. At some point, you know, that when they're coming to pick you up and you're at the LZ, you'd have to see get to the chop off. Yeah, of course. You know, it would be so much fun. I was thinking like, maybe they're blaring the Magnum PI theme song on a turtle ball. Oh, yeah. Yeah. When they're flying love it. Well, this mustache didn't just happen. I grew up. I was going to draw a comparison to that as quick as I got a chance. I'm telling you, this is an incredible story. And I'm glad it happened to you because you've told it so well. Well, thanks. I'm glad it happened to me too, but it was, it's, it does. It keeps you up at night. And it kind of, like, to you said it, I mean, no harm, no foul, y'all, you know, of course, it reported it, but it didn't make a big deal out of it. You know, I think the guy probably was like, hmm, thought I was going to get away with it,

1:05:44better didn't, you know what I mean? I think you'll handle it perfectly. Yeah, I do too. Do. Well, we, we kind of, we took our hands off of it and let the authorities. And so the, the actually the fishing game's like, we're not going to touch this. We don't, there's just, it doesn't seem like Hunter and Raspon, even though I think maybe that would be the charge I would have pursued. But the county attorney, I think, is pursuing misdemeanor theft charges. And I don't know what's going to happen to me. The guy has gotten the shame and the, I think kind of the psychic punishment that is plenty, yeah, honestly. Yeah. But I think it's, it's still alive. I mean, I think that trial is going to be in June and we'll have to see what happens with it. Goodness crisis. Wow. Well, why don't we change gears just a little bit? We've got, Lenny, is this the week we're giving away $5,000? No, unfortunately not. Oh, Andrew, I'm sorry for that. Well, we do have a, we've got, you'll be playing for a Nukem blind that you could, boy, you

1:06:44would, you would really get some use out of it when you're trying to turkey on out there in those western stages. But Richie, have we got the question ready? Yep. Yep. We do have a question, what was that? That's a good question. What was that? That was on my end. Maybe it's that guy from the inner inner vein. I'm listening to the podcast. All right, so we have a listener who left a review on YouTube. He listened to our latest podcast number 426, turkey call history with Brent Rogers. Left a review. Great episode. Can't hit the like button enough. Wow, I forget we're on YouTube. Yeah, that's good. Thank you. Tune in and look at Bobby. Check us out on YouTube. Andrew, this question is so easy. I mean, I should go ahead and give this to the shipping department, let them start shipping the package right now. Yeah. Well, first before we get to the question, though, I need to ask Andrew, do you like bowl peanuts? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. All right.

1:07:48Great because our trivia here is brought to us by the peanut patch. I'm telling Richie, you were doing a great job of him seeing today, picking up your slack, Bobby. So yeah, I saw some at Wally World the other day on the rack. So yeah, here's this super difficult question for you. When was outdoor life magazine founded? 1898. I don't even know that. So you probably figured out what his gate code is. Yeah. He's got a long time ago. And just congratulations for you guys keeping that brand around and all the information, y'all. Yeah. Think of that. All the articles that have been written for. Oh, and how many, you know, young people they've inspired to get out there and chase their dreams to hunt and fish. That's right. That's right. Andrew, y'all have just done a remarkable job. Good work. Good work. Well, thanks. It's actually we grieved at the loss of the print publication, but it's kind of it's honestly it's been it's free. It's been freeing like the amount

1:08:53of content that we can put up online and in social. And I mean, it is it it's it's been cool. It's been a really good transition. So I'm just I'm saying keep the magazine, but it's not the end of the world. If you don't we definitely need some advice. Andrew on lots of things around here. So oh my goodness. Hey, so Andrew and who left that review? If they'll get Oh, yeah. So, uh, yeah, Ryan Williams. Ryan Williamson. Sorry. Ryan Williams. Just want to look blind. All right. And Andrew, you want for getting that question so fast, you will get one shipped out there. I'm a new compliance. He's a winner. Yeah. You know, I bet that would work really good on the owner river bank, you know, duck hunting in the Rocky Mountains, probably set up behind that thing really easy. Totted in. Yeah, you could. You wouldn't have to have a helicopter to get that one. So look, a couple of weeks ago, we did a podcast with Pat Strouser. Yes. And he had one of these old, he had a pot call that

1:09:56was made from the the burger press. No, it was a patty press. No, lay any place. It was it was a piece of oak that I think they from that was used on the same calls that the Mr. Fox those 10 calls were made from. It was one wood. So he had one that we were going to give away. And we've got all those. If you have, if you emailed, if you left a review, we got, we accumulated all that. And Mitchell and Richie built the spinning board. Is that the wheel of fortune? We're going to spin this real fast. Hang on, Andrew. Look here. And we're going to spin it to say who won? Yeah, we are. So this is being done electronically. I hope we know in real time. Go ahead Richie. Let's go. Oh, got sound. That is crazy. I cannot read it. So somebody else is going to have to read it. No. No way. It's our buddy Travis Slesak. Travis Slesak, you've just won that call. So we'll be getting that look. Give a little history on Travis. Travis and I have been

1:11:02chatting on the phone once every few months for years. And he'll order seedlings and call me and tell me about him and their progress and whatnot. So we've gotten to be buddies over the years. I've never met him in person. But he's got a cool story. And I'm really happy for you, Travis. So he's going to win in a pot call made out of the wood. Go ahead. That the 10 calls that were in the Mr. Fock, the one through 10 that were auctioned. It's out of that same wood. Nice. So that would be very collectible. But I Travis, I'm going to urge you to get some blood on that call. Yeah, that's right. Go put some, put some meat on the ground. There you go. Wow. Yeah. And one more thing before we leave this, we've got, we've got this silencer central suppressor that we're giving away in a month. And how did they sign up for that? I just got to the Gamekeeper website and click on the giveaway tab and you should be able to click out there. There's also should be a link in the show notes. So be sure because we're going to give that thing away

1:12:04pretty quick. This is a shotgun suppressor guy along with the Rite shotgun. And so I mean, a shotgun suppressor. Andrew, have you ever think we would have such? I never, ever, ever did. But I can tell you they're pretty cool. They've been incredible sign up, Andrew. You can win. Yeah. Yeah. I've noticed some of these Turkey loads are subsonic. I'd be interesting to Hey, how quiet it is. Yeah, some of them are like a thousand feet a second. Those TSS loads. Yeah. That would be really interesting to see how quiet that is. Mm hmm. Yes. So Andrew, next time you're that rancher wouldn't even hear you shoot. Yeah. There you go. I know you were in there with a shotgun. Yeah. Just trying to help you out. Yeah. Well, good. Now we'll get a muffler on that helicopter. Yeah. That's true. They want to hear the helicopter. You know, just there's just all ranges of helicopter. Like these stories you've talking about in Russia, I've heard stories about these old helicopters. And there's only

1:13:05a few people that know how to flam and they they don't have part form anymore. And they're beating on the dash while I was running. What about it with this thing? Hey. Yeah. You've experienced that, Andrew. I have. Yeah. That check engine light that it does mean something. All right. Well, Andrew, I'm glad everything worked out great. Yeah. Great story. Yeah. Thank you for coming on. Yeah. Yeah. We really appreciate it. Yeah. Do you besides outdoor life? Is there an Andrew McCain page that somebody can go and follow you and learn and That's probably the best one. I write for game and fish, Peterson's and you know, Sports field a little bit everybody. So I don't know. Just Google me. You'll find me somewhere. Yeah. Let's get you to write some stuff for us. I need to get you. We need a Western flared or a whole gig. There's like a guy that's got the, you know, the hospital. Take a helicopter. Hardcore. Yeah. I did say I did mention Andrew as a boxer. I don't know if that was all true. Yeah. I found that very impugulous. Yeah. You know, we're just trying to make a good story

1:14:09year. I am now. Yeah. There you go. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. Yeah. That's right. This has been fun. Why don't you say goodbye, Doug? Goodbye, Dudley. Get us out of here, Richie. Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of the Game Keeper Podcast and be sure to tune in again. Subscribe to Game Keeper Farming for Wildlife Magazine and don't miss the Malsio Properties Fistful of Dirt Podcasts with my good buddy, Ronny Cuzz Strictly.