Packed In with Llamas: Crew's Buck, a Storm-Blown Teepee & Big Bucks with Matt Bingham and Dane Erickson

Full transcript for Episode 67: Packed In with Llamas: Crew's Buck, a Storm-Blown Teepee & Big Bucks with Matt Bingham and Dane Erickson.

Tyce

Hey, folks. Welcome to the Bird Dog and Big Game podcast. Today I'm really excited for this podcast. I got two of some of my, my favorite people in the world here. I got my br- little brother, Dane, and I have my good friend, Matt Bingham. So, you know, I'm gonna be honest, we just recorded like, eight minutes of podcast- and I forgot to hit record, so we're gonna go ahead and do it again. So glad these guys are bearing with me on this, and, you guys are gonna hear even more of a polished podcast at this, at this point. So, we just recently, on this podcast, I wanted to talk about a recent deer hunt that we all returned from, and it was full of adventure, excitement, success. We were very tired at the end of it. I know I was. We'll talk about losing a llama, some of the, Matt losing his tent in the middle of the night. It just- it was full of adventure, so we're gonna dive into that. But Matt, first, why don't we, why don't we, you give us a background of kind of when I get on these, these, these shows, I like to have a a background of, just a background of who you are and, and so why don't you kind of tell us about you and your, your hunting career. We already heard it once, but we want to hear it again since we missed the recording. And so tell us about you.

MATT

So my name's Matt Bingham. I live in Mona, Utah. I own a pest control company there.

Tyce

Let's go ahead and give you a, let's give a plug on that pest control. We did that earlier, so let's, let's do that. That's actually-

MATT

That's how

Tyce

We met, Tyce I'm gonna kinda jump in. That's how we met, was, Matt was doing my pest control at my house, and, he has a phenomenal business, does a really good job at taking care of his customers. And we were talking earlier, I'm like, "How did we actually bring up hunting?" And he was, saw my llamas out around my house that we use for packing and then was spraying inside the house and saw some of my deer mounts. And, and then we just started talking hunting and kinda hit it off from there, and we'll go more kinda into that down here in a little bit. But anyhow, tell us about your business, where people can find you where you guys service and stuff too while we're talking about it.

MATT

So our service area, like I said, I live in Mona down by Nephi in Juab County, so we service Juab County. And then, Tyce is in Payson here. We service, like, the southern part of Utah County, like pretty much south of Spanish Fork, and then we do, Sanpete County, and then we do Millard County. It's kind of our hub where we service, try to just keep it down there in the smaller towns. And yeah, we're just kind of a People like working with us. We're more of a s- local owner/operator. I've got a, you know, couple employees. We just try to do a good job off, or just try to retain our customers by doing a good job, so we don't do a ton of marketing or anything. But if anyone, you know, is looking for pest control and you live in those areas, hit me up. We also do lawn treatments, just fertilizing and, you know controlling weeds and stuff in the lawn. We do that stuff too. But yeah, I've been in that industry for probably 18 years. I think it was, we're going on almost 10 years that I started my own business. So, so yeah, I stay busy with that, and I've got single dad of two kids. I have them pretty much full time, so business, the kids, and then this time of year it's hunting for me.

Tyce

Tell us about how you got into Well, first, if you're looking to get ahold of Matt, check out his website. It's pinepestcontrol.com. And you can get ahold of him and, and have him help you out. But tell us about how you got into hunting, Matt, and what how, where that all came from and your passion and all that stuff.

MATT

So- you know, I think back to where it kind of all started, and I think back to the time where I must have been four or five, 'cause I was in preschool and I remember waking up and hearing that my dad and my brothers had gotten a deer. And I go out Well, actually it's kind of funny. We had a little pond and a creek at this place we were living at the time and my dad, back then he would just drag the whole deer off the mountain. I think they drug this thing, like, four hours off the mountain, had to go for a while. I think that's the

Tyce

Way they used to do it

MATT

Back

Tyce

In the day. Just drag. Like, that's what we did- That's- was just drag everything I remember my first deer. Drag it- Got it down the mountain. Half the h- Gut it yeah, gut it and drag it, and I think half the hide was always missing- Yeah and yeah.

MATT

So that's what So he's got this deer down in the creek cooling down, I guess, and- and then, you know, he brings it up to the house and hangs it in the car port. And that was the first time they ever got a mature deer, and I can remember seeing, like, a mature deer up close, and I just stood there and I stared at it and was in awe and just thought it was the coolest thing ever. I remember I missed preschool that day because I just, my mind was just on this deer and I was in awe. So that's kind of where it all started for me. I remember ever since then just having this, like, passion, kind of obsession for mule deer. And then I remember the next year I started going hunting with my dad and brothers and just hiking anywhere they would go, and, just loving every, every minute of it.

Tyce

Do you guys have those antlers by chance still?

MATT

I do. I have them in my living room. And that-

Tyce

How big, how big are they?

MATT

It's just, like, a big three point.

Tyce

Oh, okay.

MATT

My dad shot it- out in Utah out in the West Desert. But yeah, so that's where it all started. And I remember hunting every year with my dad and my brothers, and this is back in the day where it's just different. No, you know, no spotting scopes. We rarely had binoculars. My dad would just use the scope on the gun, you know? And-

Tyce

That's what we did too.

MATT

And, I don't know if there really wasn't any bucks back then or if we just weren't seeing them, but I just remember going years and years without a deer. I remember hunting with my dad for, like- probably five or six years and never killing a buck. And I remember that first time actually being there when he shot one. It was, like, this little two-point, and just thinking it was so cool and just loving it, and just counting down the days till I was old enough to- Get out there and go hunting be able to hunt on my own, have a tag. And we hunted elk a little bit and, you know, I like hunting elk. I've actually only killed one bull in my life. It's a spike by six. I got lucky on a spike unit. That's

Tyce

Cool.

MATT

But deer hunting is just what I've always loved as far as hunting goes. I love hunting mule deer. So yeah, that's where, that's where it all started and then, - I would say probably 10 years ago is when I kind of flipped the switch and was like, "Okay, I'm gonna figure out how to, like, get good at hunting and kill-

Tyce

Big deer

MATT

A deer that you, like, put on the wall." You know what I mean? So really it's only probably been 10 years that I've been, like, kind of like, really hungry and wanted to go- do what other people aren't willing to do- Mm- to try and kill big deer.

Tyce

I remember, it's funny you say that. I did a podcast earlier this morning kind of, it's w- 'cause we were transitioning from, you know, the Bird, Bird Dog, my Bird Dog Podcast to now the kind of this Bird Dog Big Game r- Radio. It's gonna, we're going on ORN, Outdoor Radio Network, and then, but then anyhow, I was doing kind of an overview of my life, and I rem- I talked about that, was I don't remember really Do you remember using s- binoculars much?

DANE

I remember looking through scopes

Tyce

I remember looking at scopes, like, through, at people and stuff, you know? You're like, "You have to be careful not to put your crosshairs Oh there's a hunter over there." You put your cross- Yep look it up at him in your scope and yeah it seemed like you just used your scope for your optics, you know? And so- Mm- you know, it's kind of crazy. I don't, I don't remember, I've never, I don't think I have ever seen Dad shoot anything- Yeah, I don't in my life. I know you went on that elk hunt and you shot an elk. Actually, a couple elk we've seen. I've, I've never seen him shoot a deer.

DANE

Yeah, I've never seen him shoot a deer.

Tyce

And he's onl- he's never, he's, he's, he's never really shot a mature deer- Mature deer, yeah in his whole life. Yeah, which is kind of crazy. But he was, he was busy growing up. He had us seven kids and you know, we would just kind of hunt the weekends you know, opening weekend, and we'd usually have a base ca- you know, just a fun deer camp that we'd just hike into the basins and hunt around and- Not as serious as we are now and, you know, where you put ti- You know what? To kill stuff it takes a decent amount of time. I mean, you can luck, luck into stuff, right? But, he, but he's what got us into the outdoors and got us out and we had- Mm such fun camps even though we didn't seem to harvest a whole lot of stuff. We did get some deer here or there, but it wasn't like, you know, it wasn't as consistent as I would say it is now today, you know? So, Dane, what do you want to say?

DANE

Yeah, just kind of what, kind of what Matt said. Growing up, I was the youngest of the brothers. I had three older brothers, and I was the youngest, and I remember when I was too young to go, my dad wouldn't let me go 'cause I was too young. And I remember just being so bummed out that all the brothers got to go, but I didn't 'cause I was too, too young. And so it was, it was super exciting when I got old enough to actually go out and go hunt and spend time with, my brothers and with my dad out in the woods, and that's kind of what drove my passion, from the beginning is just getting out with the family. You know what I mean? That's been- Yeah kind of the way ever since. Especially with me and you, it seems like we've been- on lots of adventures over the years.

Tyce

Dane's been with me on most of, most of my adventures and a lot of the, lot of the kills here in- Yeah in my man cave. And, and once either on the hunt or right with me or whatever it may have been so- we spent a lot of time outdoors and suffering together and- Yes and having fun. Lot of suffering. And, with our, with our other brothers, too. But those are, those are some, those are some fun memories. So, cool. Well, thanks for coming on today, guys, and, I'm excited to talk about our hunt that we did just recently. So, I guess how it kind of came up, Matt, the last couple years, he's been taking my llamas and going hunting with them, and you've had some pretty good success the last couple years. And, and I, we had drawn some tags here and didn't really have many points, and so I, I talked to Matt and said, "I think" I can't remember if I said I was going to or we just put in, 'cause I've hunted this unit before. And, then I just started talking to Matt and I said, "Hey, I guess I asked myself to come along or something." Invited yourself.

MATT

Which I was excited because I had taken his llamas and gone into this spot I'd hunted a few times and just hunted it the way I do but I'd never hunted with Tyce and seen him work the llamas. I was just winging it, you know. He showed me how to saddle them and you just were up there. So I was excited to go hunting with Tyce and see exactly what he does with the llamas and everything and how he hunts, and it was all I learned a lot. We'll get into it later, but- That's fun.

Tyce

I guess, and rewind a little bit, so my daughter drew a limited entry late season elk tag here in Utah, and, and we were having a hard time turning up elk. We'd tu- or turned up a lot of elk, just no mature elk.

MATT

This is after that really bad winter, right?

Tyce

Yeah, I think it was it the next year or the two years after that or?

MATT

It was the very We had the hard winter, and it was that following fall-

Tyce

Following winter, yeah

MATT

That you had the tag.

Tyce

But we'd, we'd areas, we'd hunted them before in these late season elk. We were s- the elk were there, but they were just like raghorns. Like, everything I don't know if the big mature bulls died from the winter or what it w- what was going on, but we, me and my daughter covered so much ground, and we were getting down to the last of the hunt. I think it was like a Thursday or f- I don't know.

MATT

I think it was about the last day you were gonna hunt. You maybe had one more day

Tyce

Or something, and then- It was getting close, yeah. And Matt's like, "Hey, I'll go, I'll go look around for you guys and We were clear up in one part of the state and Matt calls me. He's like, "Hey." He's like, "I got a, I got a bull here. It looks pretty good." And you've said, like, I don't You haven't hunted a ton of bulls- at that point.

MATT

I was like, "Let me send you a video. I think it's decent. You tell me what you think." But-

Tyce

And I'm, like, an hour and a half away, and I he sends me a video. I'm like, "Dude, I'll be right there as quick as I can." So 'Cause it was, we didn't have anything pinned down, and we, and we're trying a new area, seeing if we can turn something up. And, we ended up, coming down. Matt's like, "Dude, there's the bull right there." And so, and he kind of stayed down low, and we s- worked up in there with my daughter in this avalanche chute and ended up, harvesting that bull and now it's right here on the wall. So that was, that was, that was kind of our first, in a way, hunt together. It was, yeah. Matt helped, helped find this bull for us and, so I was super grateful f- for him for helping us out on that, 'cause we were kind of getting down to the end of the hunt and hadn't really found anything mature. And we ended up getting a nice three- three It's about a 320 bull or something around that range. So, and then, so that's kind of how it started. And then we were talking, and yeah, got these tags, ended up having the same tags. And, and then Matt's like, "Hey, do you wanna, you wanna come along?" And, I said, "Well, my son Crew drew a tag." And he's like, "Oh, that- that'd be fun." Matt's like, likes, you know, he was happy to help take a young, young guy along. And I said, "Well, my brother drew a tag."

DANE

Drew one.

Tyce

" Can we just invite the whole family?" And Matt's like- Invite the whole party "Oh, bring, bring them along, whatever." So that just you're just a nice guy, and we're good guys at keeping things quiet on- you know, on hunting spots. But, but anyhow, so we were grateful as Dane was able to come up for a couple days on the hunt. And, and it was, seemed like it was kind of a long couple days. Seems like a lot happened. It was a long couple days. It was two days. Two or three days that we were hunting. But, - So yeah, that's kinda, that's kinda how it got started. And then we, we were gonna take lla- we ended up taking eight llamas in, so we ended up packing in, you know, it took a, it's a you know, six, I don't know, I'm just kinda shooting from the hip here. It's about a f- a few-hour hike to get into there, six miles, something like that, to get into this hunting spot. And, I didn't, I didn't know what to expect. We did I only, I had some Matt had previously gone up on the hunt, actually with some of my llamas. He had a friend that, was depil- debilitated and ended up w- being able to hunt a little bit earlier, and so he went up and hunted and then stayed into the opening part of the hunt, and his nephew ended up getting a deer. And then, and then he ended up packing out. So he spent, he spent a lot more time on the mountain than, than- all of us.

MATT

We went up So my friend, basically, he's got one arm, so he gets, like, the handicap extension, so he could have started hunting Monday, you know, five

Tyce

Days- Is it, is that before or after? Do, can you choose, or is it just before- usually? Do you know?

MATT

I don't know exactly. Or I don't know these are facts of

Tyce

It, but.

MATT

I don't, and I think maybe the elk hunt, it's after. I don't know at all. But yeah, I just know this year with the deer hunt specifically he was able to go five days early. And so, the weather was actually terrible Monday, Tuesday. We, so we went up Wednesday. We packed in Wednesday. Oh, okay. Got in, let's see. We're able to glass our way in Wednesday, but really not hunting much. And then, -

Tyce

Thursday and Friday.

MATT

Yeah, we hunted Thursday, Friday. So Thursday, we went in and killed his deer, so two days before the hunt, and then packed that out. And then, Friday, actually Thursday we killed his deer and then just kind of glassed everything up and found some other deer, and some deer that my nephew was, said, "Yeah, I'd be happy to shoot that deer," you know? So kind of picked out a deer for my nephew, assuming it would be their opening day. And then- I mean, it was pretty rough where we killed this deer. So Friday, we kind of just chilled at camp and glassed stuff around camp, glassed up some decent deer. But ended up going back into where we killed Paul's deer on Thursday, and my nephew shot, a deer in there opening morning. And he was way excited. He hadn't killed a deer for, it was like, had been six or seven years or something. That's awesome. And we found him a pretty mature, like nice three-point, and he was super happy. So we had a good opening weekend. I didn't even pack my gun actually Saturday on the opener. I was just like, the stuff we were hunting, I'm just like "Let's get a deer for my nephew." Yeah, yeah. If I see something giant, maybe I'll use his, borrow his gun real quick or something. But opening weekend or the couple days before, it's like, "Let's just help Paul and let's get my nephew a deer." And then I figured when I'd be up on the other side of the mountain with Tyce, I'd kind of take it more serious and- Yeah kind of hunt for myself. So- Yeah yeah. So I, long story short, I'd been up there on the mountain for four or five days before we

Tyce

Met up. So we'd kind of planned a, the pl- the hunt was, the plan was to kind of hunt the last part of the hunt, just kind of let the pressure die down and get up into some basins and see if we could, turn something up where Matt is. You know, he's, he's seen some deer in the past. And so we, I reached out to a friend of mine that had some llamas, and he's 'Cause we had, I have a c- I have a f- I have some really good llamas, and I have a few that are kind of on the fence. If they're, if it's real rugged, hard hiking, they, eh, they kind of get a little, they're, they're kind of a little wussy, I guess you could say. So they're just ma- They, we're trying to keep breeding the stock up and make them better, tougher. And, these ones are kind of on the fence. And from what Matt was saying, I said, "Oh, how do you think this one would do?" 'Cause one had kind of struggled with him. And he's like, "" So I reached out to a friend. He's like, "Yeah, you can borrow." I'm like, "Do you have any I can use?" He had a couple males that had, he hadn't really packed with them a whole lot, but he had purchased them. And, their name was Lewis and Lewis and Kevin. And we thought, well, I'm like, "Well, they're two males. They're supposedly packed." It's kind of a gamble taking- Yeah, it's a gamble taking llamas in. You don't, you don't know. And, we, we ended up getting them. And luckily, overall, they were pretty good, pretty good llamas to work with. But the, Lewis definitely, he kind of had an attitude. And he, we put him in the trailer. He started spitting and biting the other ones. And it was kind of, they were spit all over. And the, it was kind of a rodeo there for a minute, but they kind of worked out their, their pecking order and, Anyways, so we grabbed those two and loaded everything up, and loaded all our tents up. And, Matt, Dane and I both have teepee tents, so we're like, Dane was gonna bring his tent, I was gonna bring my tent, and then we took Me and Crew w- us ended up sleeping in my teepee, and then Dane and Matt ended up s- staying in his teepee. And, so anyways, we start hiking in there. By the time we get up in there it's kind of starting to get dark, and the final ascent up the mountain Well, we started getting about, what, three-quarters of the way and Lewis kind of started laying down a little bit.

DANE

Probably about that was when he started-

Tyce

So- giving

DANE

Up.

Tyce

Yeah, so it was kind of an all-uphill climb, and then Lewis started giving up. Was You were leading him, right, Matt?

MATT

Yeah, he was kind of, like, dragging the whole way. Which is funny. On the way out he cruised, but on the way in he was kind of just dragging. We were kind of pulling him the whole way. But yeah, about three-quarters of the way is when he's just like, "Nah, I'm tired." And started laying down and, that's when his attitude really set in. But yeah.

Tyce

And that's the one thing I t- have told Matt when he, before when he ran into the llamas, and I just have to tell myself too every time, when you're you know, when you're dealing with pack animals, you just have to, like You basically just have to, just plan on having some type of drama. Then it's not gonna surprise you know? If someone were like, "All right, we're gonna have" You're using horses, you're using goats, you're using llamas. There's probably gonna be some type of drama. We call it llama drama. Llama drama. Llama drama. There's always llama drama. There's always some type of llama drama. And, so as long as you're just like, "Hey, this is just part of the game," that's what it is. So, you were leading, you were leading in the front with Lewis and then when it, when you switched to the back, did that help at all? Or-

MATT

Yeah, I think it did, because when he was in the front he was kind of dragging. But then when we went to the back of the group, then he was like "Oh, I wanna keep up," you know? Then he- He want- his leadership kind of- Yeah set in, 'cause supposedly he likes to lead, is what the owner said. So-

Tyce

Yeah, the owner said he likes to be in the front and stuff so he did pick up pace.

MATT

It helped.

Tyce

So yeah, we put, we put Matt in the back, 'cause he was trying to lead, 'cause the owner, yeah, had said that he liked to lead. And then, - Anyways, but he must've gotten tired pulling Kevin. And again, to kinda give him the benefit of the doubt, they hadn't They hadn't, I don't know when the last time they'd packed, so they were probably a little out of shape. And I, you had taken mine out the fir- the first time this year, so mine really hadn't been out a ton this year either. I was gone to Alaska moose hunting, and I'd had another s- tag in another state that didn't work out just 'cause I ran out of time. But, so this was kind of their first, second bigger hunt of the year I guess you could say. And, anyway, so Matt, we put Matt in the back, kept going, and then Lewis started getting tired as we were climbing up there, and we ended up Did we switch Kevin to the front or did we just put him in line with the other ones? - Do you guys remember?

DANE

We took one I think we took him off the back and put him on the back of my line, I think. If I remember. Who were you

Tyce

Leading?

DANE

, was I leading Timp? That Nebo? I can't remember which one I was leading. But we put them- Put them together we put one of them on the back of my line.

Tyce

Did we to put them all in- Yeah did we have three lines still at that point?

MATT

Yeah- Or did

Tyce

We put-

MATT

We did the whole time. We always

Tyce

Had the three- The whole, the three going up on the way in. So Matt ended up Anyways, we ended up putting, I think, both those guys in line of the other ones, right? And I think maybe you led one of them. Matt, you led Usually we lead Timp, Nebo, or Prime. Those, those three. Anyways, we ended up plugging them in line and started going up the mountain and then, was it L- Lewis was the one we took all the weight off. You might have been leading Nebo, 'cause I think that was right, 'cause you ended up taking-- We took the panniers off Lewis- And doubled down on- And doubled up on Nebo Nebo. But that about-

MATT

So Nebo had 120 pounds there for a minute And that

Tyce

Didn't last very long. Nebo was packing straight up a mountain. Yeah, 130, yeah, 100 and Let's see. We had 25 on each. Yeah, it's

DANE

Probably-

Tyce

Yeah, close to a hundred probably

DANE

120 pounds.

Tyce

120 pounds with the, by the time of the saddle, and that's a lot for a llama especially straight up a mountain. So he made it, what? Like 30 yards- Yeah and we're like, "This isn't gonna work." So we went down. I ended up taking, one of the panniers and packing all the gear into my backpack. And then did you guys put the other one- We

DANE

Split the rest

Tyce

Of them You guys split the other- Yeah 'cause we had d- we didn't really have anything in our packs minus our guns and a little bit of gear, you know. So we ended up taking the weight off them, him, and then after that it was-

MATT

Yeah, at that point luckily- That point we were only like, what? 800 yards from camp. It was just straight up-

Tyce

Yeah that ridge. Just straight up, so. So we took it easy, kind of just zigzagged the best we could, worked up. Dane, you had Lewis, right, by yourself?

DANE

Can't remember at that point what we had, but-

Tyce

It was kind of a late night. It

DANE

Was a late night, and we had lots of weight on our back at that point.

Tyce

But anyhow-

DANE

So we was trying to get up to camp

Tyce

We were trying to get to a spot and luckily, I know for me, Matt, you had shared me a pin and I was like, and I bet it was like further up the ridge.

DANE

So I'm like- Yeah. Here I go.

Tyce

And my boy Crew was like, "Are we there yet?" I'm like, "Is this it?" And I'm like, 'cause we got kind of crested over the, over the hill to the camp spot and I'm like, "I don't know." I'm like, and I don't know. I should be a better dad, but it's like he'd just keep, "Are we there?" I'm like, "Dude, we're, when we're there, we're there. So stop asking." Well, it's not- Yeah. You're like, I don't

MATT

Luckily we didn't have to go to that pin- 'cause that would've sucked.

Tyce

Would've been more. But anyways, yeah, we got to camp and end up getting camp set up and, -

DANE

By that time it was late.

Tyce

Yeah, it was pretty late, but- It was late. Quite a late time we were, couldn't really see where Dane and I, never been there, we couldn't see where- Probably

MATT

Midnight or something, right?

DANE: It was probably midnight to 1

00 by the time we got- I think

Tyce

So

DANE

Camp set up and-

Tyce

Yeah, we stopped and got dinner. Yeah, it was probably close to that time.

DANE

Yeah, it was late.

Tyce

Anyways, we got camp set up, got all the panniers off the llamas, all that stuff. Got 'em, got 'em tied out, tied out, just, like, taking care of animals. And, and then the next morning happened. One of y- one of you guys wanna tell the next story?

DANE

Yeah, I'll start the next story. So it was the first morning we were up there, and basically we could start glassing right from, right from where we were camped. There was those two, the big basin that we were glassing, and so we could start glassing right off the bat, which was nice. We didn't have to hike anymore to get up to any other places. So we started glassing straight from camp, and sure enough, we started picking up a few deer here and there. At first, we really weren't seeing a ton in the basin, you know what I mean? We're like, "Where are all the deer at?" And then eventually they started-

Tyce

Popping

DANE

Up they started popping up. You know what I mean? I'm not sure if they were just waiting till the sun hit or what the case was but they started eventually popping up, and we were finding, finding bucks, here and there, but nothing big and mature that we were looking for- Mm in that one basin.

Tyce

That was one thing, though, I started getting excited 'cause we were seeing quite a few deer. Yeah, we

DANE

Were seeing

Tyce

Lots of deer. Like, with does and smaller bucks and But we're, we were there for hunting more mature deer.

DANE

So And that basin had a lot of, had a lot of depth to it. You know what I mean? We could see part of it, but obviously you can't pick everything apart just because it had some drainages and everything in it, so it was hard to try to pick out everything. I'm sure there was deer in there that we never saw, you know what I mean, from where we could glass. So we were-

Tyce

Oh, we saw that one little herd of bucks that we- That- that kinda, they were in kind of a fold. Then we saw 'em and, but then they must have went up

DANE

On that ridge. Yeah, disappeared. And they, yeah, they must have gone up. Yeah, and I was like- 'Cause we worked, when we worked over there, we never saw 'em- Yeah over to where they were at. - So we were glassing, trying to find that big mature deer that we were looking for, and that's when we found, that's when we found the buck Crew ended up harvesting, right? Yeah, who spotted him?

Tyce

Did you spot him first, Matt

MATT

I think I saw, saw him- probably first. I'm like, "Oh, it's looks, I think it's just a three-point- By that cliff but he's Yeah. Check that deer out. That guy's a good frame, yeah. Good frame, yeah.

DANE

But at that point, what, how many yards? 12? There was 1,200 yards across that basin or so? Yeah, it's 1,200-

MATT

Yeah, I mean, it's far from camp to the other side.

DANE

Yeah, it's a far basin, you know what I mean? It's a big basin. So we could tell he had a decent frame on him, but it was hard to really at that distance, you know, you could tell that he was a three-point and had a good, a good frame on him. And so- Well

Tyce

He was He, I mean, we were He was the main, he was the biggest frame one we had seen. But we were kinda keeping an eye on him, but still glassing around, right?

DANE

So we were kinda watching him where he was gonna bed, 'cause just the way he was working, it looked like he was gonna work his way up into, some bushes across the face of the big basin. And sure enough, that's what he did, you know what I mean? He worked his way up and bedded at the base of- Pine tree some pine tree and some bushes there. Kinda out in the open, really. He was You know, you could see him bedded from where we were at. All the other deer, seems like they all bedded and you lost sight of them. But that one kinda stayed out in the open, which was nice so we could keep an eye on him.

Tyce

He was kind of all by himself, just like a lot of those mature bucks do.

DANE

Just hanging out by himself. Just kind of by himself hanging out. So the plan was to, for me, you, and Crew to work our way across the basin- and to go see where, if we could get eyes on those other deer that we saw briefly that first morning, right? 'Cause we knew they were kinda in the fold, but- yeah didn't know exactly where they were, or didn't get a good look at them of how big they naturally were. We saw one

Tyce

Buck I thought, I thought it looked like had a decent

DANE

Frame, but it was- Looked like a good frame, but it was really quick.

Tyce

Yeah yeah, but then he kinda slipped over a little- a little ridge.

DANE

So I think that was the plan, is to work our way across the basin see if we could get eyes on those deer that we saw for a split second to see if they were still there. Why didn't you come with

Tyce

Us, Matt, on that one?

MATT

I, 'cause there was just all that stuff below us that- Oh, yeah I hadn't really glassed yet. I'm like, "I'm gonna hang out here and just, I just wanna check below us." We'd kinda been looking across the basin and above us- Yeah and behind us.

Tyce

And we

MATT

Just said- I just- "We'll

Tyce

Kinda go up and look around, and you'll just stay there- And I'll check low and keep glassing."

DANE

'Cause there was a lot of area to glass, you know what I mean? From that area, there's It's big country, you know what I mean? Big, steep bowls, big basins. It's There's a lot to be able to pick out. And we all know how those deer, they can disappear and then show back up, you know what I mean, within a couple minutes. So they move and they can pop out, and you glass the same area for 20 minutes, and all of a sudden there's a deer there. So- we worked our So we packed up, got all our guns, gear- to work our way over. And then at that point, had Crew decided if he wanted to, I can't remember if he wanted to at that point- Six or if he was like, "Eh, let's go take a look at it," or-

Tyce

So I didn't, I didn't wanna really push him, I didn't wanna push him into, like, a decision, you know? I don't wanna, like, him be excited about it. I'm like, "Yeah, you should shoot that deer," you know, or whatever. So, so I, as I was hiking up though, it was kind of funny, he's like, "Dad, I had a dream last night that I shot, I shot a buck, and I think, I'm pretty sure it's that buck." That's what he said? Yeah, he told me that. Yeah, I didn't know that. He's like, "I had a dream last night I shot that buck." And I'm like- "Okay, well-

DANE

Well

Tyce

We gotta make that dream come true do you think it's that one?" It's like, he's like I'm like, "Okay." And then I'm like, "Well, do you wanna go shoot it?" He's like, "Yeah, I wanna shoot it." And I still, I don't know why he said that, but he still, I don't know he still wasn't like I don't know. He's like-

DANE

It seems like he wasn't dead set on-

Tyce

Yeah that one, but- But maybe I didn't, I didn't read into it. So we- we hiked up, went up that ridge line, and then we got to a higher glassing point, and we found the deer bedded. And then I was kind of talking to him and I said, "Well this is kind of Matt's spot. I better call him and see if he wants to, if he cares if we shoot this deer," you know? So I called up you and I said, "Matt, do you care if Crew shoots that buck?" And you're like, "Yeah." And but the thing was, we kind of, we had glassed a decent amount but my worry was if we shot that deer and then we hike over to get it, we were gonna kind of blow out that basin. Bust, bust the basin. You know?

MATT

I remember Crew asking you, he's like, "Dad, so if I do decide to shoot that deer, like, how are we gonna go about it? What are we gonna do?" I thought that was cool. He's, like, thinking it through, like, "So if I do decide, what you know, what happens next? Like, how do we do it?"

Tyce

So we, Yeah, so Crew and, we get up there, and he was like, after he told me he had his dream to shoot it- I was like, "Okay, let's, let's shoot this thing" Go for it you know, and I called Matt and got the green light, and so we ended up, I kind of had, from your s- Could you see it very well? I got a look though, filming with- Oh, yeah

MATT

It was level with me straight across the basin, and I filmed shots from there. I can

Tyce

I remember that I took him his, I had to kind of guide you, 'cause you hadn't seen it.

MATT

You, I kept looking in the spot you were saying, and then you dropped a pin, and then I'm like, "Oh, duh. It's right there embedded right out in the open."

Tyce

You could see it okay from there? I could see it. Well, deer are hard. I mean, they, when they're laying down, it's just gray and dull. And so anyways, at fir- It took a second and I was like, "Matt, get on it," 'cause we wanted to get some different angles. It's kind of fun to film. And, so we got Crew set up for the shot. It was kind of It wasn't, it was a steep hillside, and we were up elevated shooting kind of down and a- across on that deer. And, - Anyway, so he got set up. We got him prone. I've always, you know, we're, when, in that high country, if you're shooting a little further shot, you know, regardless, I just like to get myself, get kids prone, whatever you can just to get that every get that good anchor, you know? And so-

MATT

And when they're bedded, it's the best 'cause you have time to slow down and-

Tyce

Mm- get prone. Yeah, they're not moving. You can even practice dry s- dry fires if you want or whatever. You can dry fire a few times, yeah. He didn't do, he didn't, he didn't do that, but I thought about actually doing that with him. But anyway, so we got him set up, and it was kind of a s- steep hillside and he kind of had to get his feet, and we got the bipod out, and we got like, I used, I think I used some, some of my jackets or something to put under that rear end to help kind of anchor that gun in place. And I kind of got it set up for him in the general area, you know, so he didn't have to move things too much. And then, then we, then we talked to Matt and said, "Hey, you know, he's gonna, he's gonna start shooting." And then, and then, got h- Dane was filming too, right, on your- Yeah I was yours, and I was filming. And, - Anyways, arranged him up, got the turret dialed and let the first shot go, and, it was a good shot. It was, it was right, right where he was- It was a good shot aiming. It was just maybe a hair low. It's kind of hard sometimes, those deer too, when they're, like, bedded down- It is that everything's kind of compacted, you know and different, different angles. But then, he, the deer kind of stood up and was staggering and then, I don't know, I don't know what was going on. I think I do know after talking to a buddy, but he ended up shooting a few more times. Kind of my philosophy is if it's up, just keep shooting till it's down, you know. You don't want to get away or have it go off a cliff or-

DANE

You never know

Tyce

Whatever it may be. Yeah, so, he ended up, shooting and, he hit it one more time in the, in the hind end, which wasn't the best place but he ended up hitting the high end, hind end and then it ended up just going down kind of after that. He shot a couple more times, but the thing that kind of threw me off was his the gun kept shooting to the left, and I, after his first shot was great, but I was like, "Why is that gun shooting left?" So I He was shooting my gun, and so I was, I was, a little concerned if I saw another deer if my gun was gonna be, you know, on at that point. But, anyways, I was talking to a buddy that does a lot of, a lot of shooting, and he thinks he di- he had that gun kind of cantered and didn't have- Yeah the bubble lined up. 'Cause the first one I remember I'm like, "Get your bubble," you know, "Make sure everything's lined up," and he shot, made a good shot, but then after that it was the shots were kind of hitting left and I think he just didn't have it li- you know, that bubble leveled and so when he was shooting it was going more left. But, we ended up getting the deer down and, that was, that was really exciting, and he was pumped about that. And then, I don't know, one of you guys chime in. I'm tired of talking- for a second. Matt, do you want to-

MATT

Well, you called me, you called me and said, "Hey, hook up two llamas and bring them over here." Which I was like, "Okay, cool." 'Cause I had, I'd actually shot a deer in a similar spot to where Crew shot this deer, and in my mind I'm like, "I don't think it's a good idea to take the llamas over there. This side hill's too steep." So when I'd killed a deer in there I kept the llamas at camp and I packed the deer up to the llamas or up to camp. But Tyce's like, "Hey, saddle up two of the llamas, put the panniers on them and bring them down here." So- Mm- so I grabbed two of the llamas and the deer was pretty much elevation with camp, which was nice. We just side hilled over. I mean, it's steep and rocky and stuff, but those llamas, man they're, they're sure-footed. They don't skip, they don't skip a beat. They're sure-footed.

DANE

Anywhere

MATT

You can go they can go. As long as it's not like thick oak brush, I mean, you're probably gonna be fine. You know? So yeah, I cruised across the hillside with those llamas and- Met up with Tyce and Dane and Crew and got to see Crew's deer up close, and it was, it was pretty cool to see that deer up close 'cause it was actually a lot bigger than- Actually

DANE

It grew.

Tyce

There was no ground shrinkage with that deer.

MATT

A sudden it was- Actually got lot Its bases were like- Yeah huge and, I mean, it didn't have giant forks, but the frame on it was just, like, so big and-

Tyce

Yeah it was heavy. Yeah, it was 20, 24 inches wide- Yeah so a good mature buck and big eye guard and- Yeah.

MATT

It was- So I was, I was stoked for Crew 'cause it was so much bigger than we all, than we all thought. It was just such a perfect deer for him

Tyce

And- I don't know why we thought it w- I don't wonder why that- I don't know why that's the case, 'cause you s- you th- I feel like we've seen enough deer, you kinda can judge them, but

DANE

It, that grew, that deer grew. There was no ground shrinka- Mm shrinkage with that deer. When you walked up to it, you're like, "Man, this is actually a

Tyce

Great-" I know. Dane's like, "Man, maybe I should've shot that deer." And I'm like, "Maybe I should've shot that deer, too." Yeah, he was, he was a good size. It was awesome though. I wonder if his, I wonder if it had something to do with his body. I wonder if their bodies are big- Was a smaller body? Was it a s-

DANE

I don't know. I don't

Tyce

Not a s- I didn't think its body was really small. I j- it seems like their body would be bigger than their antlers may not-

DANE

Yeah, I don't know

Tyce

Yeah, appear. I thought his body was actually a pretty decent size, but- Yeah it wasn't like a Colorado deer sized body, but, -

DANE

Either way, he was a great buck. Like you said, good solid three point. Super stoked for Crew to- Mm- be able to knock him down, made a great shot, so it was awesome.

Tyce

So that was, that was, morning one, right? So we got the- Yeah deer, we got the deer, This was a funny story about Dane on the next one about how I ruined your deer shot.

DANE

So I'll tell

Tyce

The-

DANE

I'll tell this one. I forgot about this. Oh, yeah. We were about You got to

Tyce

Tell the story about that. So Matt, so we're cutting up the deer and Matt's like, "Hey, I'm gonna go glass over this next canyon." I'm like, "Go for it, man." Like, the, we got this, and so, -

DANE

No, this was before, before Matt got over I knew, I knew that those buck were in- Oh, that's

Tyce

Right, Matt was coming to us.

DANE

Yeah, he was coming to us. And I knew there were deer over in a little bit further past us.

Tyce

Yeah, so Dane, Dane goes up on the hillside above us, and he's glassing, and he runs down. He's like, "There's a buck over here, I'm gonna shoot it." And I'm like, "Okay." There was a three-by-four, kind of a smaller three-by-four that was hanging out in the trees, and so I'm, I'm like, "Oh, okay." So I grabbed the- I got a

DANE

Little, I got a little trigger happy when I saw Chris shoot his deer that

Tyce

You saw a dead deer and you're like, "let's, let's-

DANE

I want, I wanna get one.

Tyce

Let's stack them up." So he ended up going up there, and, and, we find the deer, and they're kind of just dinking around in the trees. Oh, yeah. They're just kinda- But they kind of saw They must have They act like they s- they did see us, I think, or-

DANE

But they got in the trees, and they were just kind of-

Tyce

Were sparring

DANE

Point.

Tyce

They weren't really- Yeah, they were sparring at each other They

DANE

Didn't seem very nervous.

Tyce

So Dane, Dane gets set up, and I get my spotting scope up, and I got them on film, and they're kind of sparring, and they were pretty open on that hillside. And I thought, "This thing's gonna be dead." They were only, what? 250 yards or something. Dead or whatever. And Dane's just like I'm like, "All right, I got them on film, and they're sparring." And then I go, "You sure you want to shoot that?" And I look up. He's like, he looks up. He's like, "What?" Or something, and then he gets back down, and that deer, it like, all of a sudden they just-

DANE

It was gone. They

Tyce

Just took off. They just took off. They were, like, sparring, act like they hadn't a care in the world, and then all of a sudden they just pfft, pfft, pfft down.

DANE

Bolted.

Tyce

Yeah, I don't know if they heard something or- Sure or what, but so that deer, that deer ran off, and those deer ran off, and they didn't stop. And I thought they'd just kind of move into those pines there. Anyways, and they got away, and then I So I kind of felt bad at that point, so it's like- 'cause he was gonna shoot it.

DANE

It was, it was probably a good thing.

Tyce

Anyways, but it, that deer was a, kind of a lucky deer, so. Anyways, Matt ends up coming over to us and getting there, and those deer got away, and then we kind of I guess we started cleaning it. You were hanging out kind of with us. I started cutting

DANE

It down-

Tyce

Yeah yeah, breaking it down. Breaking it down and getting it on We put it on one of the llamas and then the other gear we had, on the other llamas, and, like, our water bottles and stuff like that. And so tell us then kind of what you ended up doing, Matt.

MATT

Yeah, so I just- Tell

Tyce

Everyone

MATT

I mean, it was only another couple hundred yards to get up to the ridge to be able to look into the next basin. So I head up there while these guys are getting that deer taken care of, and I started glassing. And I mean, this next basin is huge. Massive. Huge, and it's steep, and it's cliffy, and it's one of those areas, like it's like I probably shouldn't even be glassing that because if we shoot something, it might fall off a huge cliff, and we'll never get to it. Or- Yeah like, we might have to completely go off the mountain and come up the other side. It might take like two days to get this thing out kind of thing. But you still glass it, 'cause what if there's a giant, you know? Oh, yeah. If you find a giant deer, you're just gonna figure it out. So I'm sitting there. For whatever reason, when I glass, I'm always looking, like, 1,000 yards out. That's like where I start. I might s- take a second right close below me, but for whatever reason, I just look way out there. I'm probably doing it backwards. And then, I mean, they had that deer cut up pretty quick, and so probably within an hour, Dane and, Tyce and crew come up the ridge behind me. At that point I don't think I'd really glassed up anything yet. So Tyce and- It

Tyce

Was kind of stormy and it was

MATT

Raining- It started raining and clouds and- Yeah, we were dealing with cloud. That's true. I forgot about that it was

DANE

The weather ca- Yeah the weather came in and it

MATT

Started raining. We were kind of just waiting out the storm, and we couldn't really see that well. That's true. And then finally the weather started to clear up a little bit, and we were all kind of in the same spot glassing right in that, on that ridge. And then Dane started picking up a couple deer right below us in the canyon close by. One of them had a big frame. We got excited for a minute Dane was like, "Oh man, I might shoot this thing," and then we realized it was just a two-point

DANE

Yeah, it was a-

MATT

Like, really big two-point a big

DANE

Frame. Big frame two-point, but-

MATT

Just a two-point Yeah And then- Was that

Tyce

The three or no?

DANE

It was, it ended up being, like, a-

MATT

That's right

DANE

It had a three three, it was a three by two basically. Had a very, very small little crab- Yeah on the one side.

Tyce

Mm-, yeah.

DANE

So it was We had a good frame, super tall, good frame, but just where he was at, it was, questionable.

Tyce

Just

MATT

In a hole- Yeah

DANE

It was

MATT

Super steep down below

DANE

Us Yeah, it was a hole.

Tyce

When I came over the hill, I saw Matt, and he was It was, like, raining, and Matt was, you didn't have any rain gear on.

MATT

No, I was just

Tyce

Chilling in the rain glassing through my binos. It's like, "Dude, how are you not freezing to, how are you not freezing to death?" You did have your down coat, but- I

MATT

Had layers, but I was getting wet. I was doing okay.

Tyce

Did it come through your down?

MATT

A little bit, yeah. But it was enough layers to where I wasn't super cold.

Tyce

So it was raining and- It pinned it down pretty good we tried putting up a little Dane brought a little tarp, a little t- a little, -

DANE

Just a

Tyce

Little tarp there rain fly tarp thing we set up and tried to get out of the rain, and we're just kinda We were sitting there just glassing and trying to turn some stuff up. Saw, I think, those deer close and one far away, and then I was getting cold, so I said I'm like, I'm like, "I'm gonna hike." I was just cold, so I was like, "I wanna move." So I ended up hiking down that ridge line. I didn't even take my gun. I'm like, "Well, I'll just take my binos and go a little ways and glass," and then I That's kind of my story of my life. There's like It's like I see a ridge, and I'm like, "I gotta go over that ridge," and then the next ridge, and then I'm like, now I'm hundreds, you know, a long ways away.

DANE

When you, when you called me, you're like, "Hey, I found this deer. Come, come to me," I look, and I'm like, "Where are you?" And you're like 200 yards down the ridge.

Tyce

So I kept kind of going, and I was The wind was howling off the top. And I was glass- And I was like, "Oh, what the heck?" It was, but it was kind of gradual, so I was just kind of like, "I'll just kind of gradually work down there." And, I'm working down, and I don't And then I work actually all the way down. I'm glassing. I don't see anything. I'm like, "Man," and with If guys hunt a lot, they'll know, like high wind, deer don't like that. They, their senses are overloaded. They can't see. They'll usually hunker down and not be out a lot, and there was a lot of wind and rain, and so they were just kind of hunkered down. Well, we're, I'm, I'm hiking back up the ridge to you guys and hadn't gotten too f- far, and I look down, and there's, like, a three by three. He's just, like, I don't know, 12 inches wide, little eye guards, you know right below me at, like, 200 yards. I'm like, "Holy cow, there are deer in here," you know? And it was There was kind of a cliff line that came down from you guys, and it was really jagged and a bunch of cliffs on it, and from the ridge you guys were on. And I was hiking up, and I just glassed from that buck, and I look over and just boom, like right between the base of a cliff and these pines was this buck, and he was just staring, like right up in my direction. And I like-

DANE

Small window.

Tyce

Super small window. Small window. Like- Yeah you wouldn't have seen Like, if you moved 20 yards left to right, he was gone, you know? And I just happened to be in the right window at the right time. And I look in, I pull up my binos, and I'm like, "That thing has some serious mass on him." But I could tell he wasn't really that wide, and so I was like, "Oh," like, "Hm." I'm like, "I'm pretty sure this like" Then I called you guys up, and I'm like, "This is a sh" I'm like, "I got a shooter here." Like, he has really good mass. He's not really wide. But I was like I just was like, "Oh, he's, he's a good buck. Like we, one of us should probably shoot him," you know? So I told Dane, I'm like, "Why don't you hike your pack down here and maybe I'll" I don't know, I'm like, "Maybe I'll let you shoot him." I guess I felt bad. I called, I called it off on that other deer. And so he And it was-

DANE

You didn't have a choice, 'cause you didn't have your gun out of

Tyce

Your pack with you. Yeah, and I was worried if I went up to get my gun, you know- By the time you come down no one was there. So I said, "You gotta pack my gun and pack down to me." And so Dane had to hike it down, and I said, "Bring a llama with you just in case we get this." So he tied up, ti- Temp up there and brought Nebo down. And then I, talking to Matt, Matt's like, "Should I come down?" I said, "Well," he was right on this little knife ridge, and so if we had missed, he would've gone over and right towards you. So yeah, that buck

MATT

Was probably only 500 or 600 yards from me and Dane probably.

Tyce

Yeah, just straight

DANE

Down, but he

MATT

He was just in the canyon right below us- but he was just over this rock ledge in between pines where we couldn't see him. And so-

Tyce

Straight down below you guys.

MATT

So Tyce is like, "Well, why don't you stay up there? If we miss, I mean, it's gonna come running out toward-

Tyce

I figured he'd come up over that way and you'd have shots on him. I mean, that's what-

MATT

Which is what he, I'm sure, he would've done, 'cause you guys ended up bumping that other buck that came right up past me.

Tyce

That came right up, yeah. So anyways, so Dane comes down. We're actually getting, making pretty We only got about a handful minutes left here. But, anyways, Dane comes down, we get set up, and I'm like- And Dane's like, "Do you wanna shoot it?" And I'm like Or I'm like, "Do you wanna shoot it?" And he's like, "Yeah, I'll shoot it." And I'm like- course he'll shoot it "Well, I kinda wanna shoot." I'm like, "I kinda Actually, I kinda wanna shoot it." I'm like, "Would that be selfish of me to shoot it?" And kind of we use our, our play when Dane and I hunt together, it's like if you spot it's kinda like- It's your deer your, your deer, you know? And so I was like, I'm like, "" but he packed my gun down and- I've shot a few more bucks than him, and so I was like, "All right, let's like let- let's do paper, rock, scissor. We'll leave it up to the paper, rock, scissor gods on who, who gets it." So we just like best out of one, boom, boom, boom, Dane wins. I'm like, "Oh, all right." "Well, that's okay." I'm like, "Sweet." I'm like- Someone

DANE

Will get it

Tyce

" You'll get a buck." And so I was like, "All right, get down." Like, "I'm gonna back you up though. If you miss, I'm gonna shoot in case you end up missing." And so we get, we get down pro- prone, we dial our scopes up, get then set up and I was down the hill, like, 'cause he has, he has a muzzle brake on his so I don't wanna blow my ears out. Anyways, goes down the hill and, and you let one rip, and was it the c- well, we, what'd we figure then?

DANE

So now looking back, I messed up, and we all make mistakes. And been doing this a long time, I still make, make mistakes when it comes to hunting and dialing your scope. And, I just over-dialed. I mean, with how steep the angle was, I should've trusted my rangefinder that I ranged it with, and I went off your range just 'cause your rangefinder's a little bit better, and I, so I went off yours. But now replaying it all- Mine

Tyce

Compensates-

DANE

For itself Yeah, so mine, I had a true range, and I should've gone off of that and dialed that. I didn't. I dialed too high.

Tyce

You went to my range or

DANE

Whatever. And I shot over its back. And that's just made, made an error, and that's just- Yeah what it is hunting is you make- So- make mistakes and those you learn from them, so.

Tyce

So he shot- That's what

DANE

Happened.

Tyce

Well, that's what makes you a better hunter, I think, as you get older in your years. Like, the more, the more mistakes you make, the more you become an efficient killer. Like- Yeah. And that's just so many mistakes make you make less mistakes ideally and then you end up getting them. But- Dane shot. I saw the bullet hit the dirt right above him. It was a couple f- feet high- It was or something like that, significantly high. It was high And as soon as I saw it hit, I didn't want the deer to break, so I luckily And it was kind of a little, I didn't know if my shot was gonna break good 'cause I was on him, and I'm like, "All right, Dane, go." You know, those are all a little tricky 'cause you're like boom, and then you're like hoping you hold on still. But luckily I was on enough and I pulled the trigger and it, yeah went right through his shoulder, and he ended up going down, so.

DANE

Yeah, it was cool 'cause I was able I got back on with my scope right after the shot and I could see I could see through my scope you hit it. You know what I mean? And it hit it. Like, it was wet and you could see the water just- Just

Tyce

Boom boom-

DANE

Kinda fly off of it like you It was a perfect shot for that deer.

Tyce

That was cool. And we went down, yeah, it was right through the shoulder and, and it was-

DANE

It didn't go far.

Tyce

We got down to it, and his mass is awesome. He's not real wide. He's just, he's only, like, seven inches. His tips kinda bound, come up together, and he's, like, seven inches wide at the top and- Anyways, kind of speed the whole story up. We get the llama down to it, we break it down, we pack it out, we get out. And as that buck, we're watching it, all of a sudden Matt starts ripping shots off. And we're like, "What the What's happening?" I see like, I see like dust cloud fly like right on the ridge in front of us. Crew's like, "There goes a buck," like right, right towards Matt. And he I never saw it, but then Matt started pshh, pshh. And what'd you shoot, five shots or something?

MATT

I think I shot five shots, yeah. Not my proudest moment. Long story short- That's what I think we learned my turret wasn't zeroed out. I wasn't back to zero. And this deer was only 200 yards, so I wasn't gonna adjust for distance. Basically just put it right on it, but I'd been messing with my scope and I didn't put it back to zero, so I missed this deer, yeah four- Yeah four or five times.

Tyce

But I think it

MATT

Ended up being a blessing. But it worked out. Yeah, yeah. It was a blessing. It happened for a reason. It got, it got the jitters out. After that I'm like, "Okay, next time I shoot at something I'm gonna calm down." And this deer is one of those things, it's r- it's kinda running and you look at it and you're like It was like a big-bodied deer and it looked like it had a good frame, and I'm like, "I'm gonna shoot this deer." Shoot it. And I was hoping it'd get to the top of the ridge and then stop and give me that shot, you know, but he'd get to the top of the ridge and just slow down. And so when he sl- slowed down is when I shot, and I'm sure I would've hit it if my scope- Yeah was as, was- Yeah zeroed in.

DANE

Oh, yeah

MATT

But it didn't. Yeah. I don't think we wanted to pack two deer out of that hole that- Yeah that night, really anyways. That would've been, that would've

Tyce

Been rough. Yeah, not at that time. So I, overall- 'Cause they already had two deer down at that point. And so- Overall- We had a deer on each llama at this

MATT

Point I ended up killing a deer the two days after that. And yeah, it worked out, 'cause I don't think we wanted to pull two deer out of that hole that night.

Tyce

Well, to wrap it up, w- to kind of speed the story up, 'cause we're h- we're on a little bit of a time crunch. We end up getting the deer out, getting back to camp, put two deer on two llamas, pack them out. It was an awesome day. We were really beat. The next day we end up hunting. It was cl- it was kinda clouded in, not a lot. We end up seeing some deer, saw some smaller deer.

MATT

Yeah, there was part of the mountain we just couldn't glass 'cause- Yeah the clouds just hung in there.

Tyce

We wanted to get in an area where Matt actually ended up getting his deer, and, Dane had to get back to work that night, the, and the the rain came in and it was howling. Crew stayed back at camp, and he ended up throwing up at camp and wasn't feeling good. We think he got like altitude sickness or maybe- Something junk food. And so we get back to camp, and I asked Crew, I'm like, "Hey, do you wanna pack out with, Dane?" Uncle Dane, he's like, "Yeah, I think I'm gonna pack out." So he- Matt's in his tent at this point, and then the rain just starts coming down. We're tired, so we're kind of getting ready to go to bed. I was

MATT

Beat, man. I went to bed, like I climbed- Yeah, we were beaten into the tent to warm up and went to bed early, so- Yeah didn't I just knew that Dane was leaving early that night for work, but I didn't know-

Tyce

Didn't know

MATT

Crew was well, for sure. Crew ended up leaving with him too, and I had no idea.

DANE

It was a, it was a blessing in disguise.

Tyce

So I end up, Dane, ends up, yeah, heading out with Crew. They get out, and in the middle of the night it is the worst storm I've ever been in. Matt's in his tent, a teepee tent. Dane's teepee tent. I'm in mine. And in the middle of the night the, it's, I s- I don't know how f- it, the mile- the wind had to have been going 50, 60 miles an hour. It was just ripping. It was bad. You could just hear it coming up, and it was pouring rain and pounding us, and s- turning into snow and all sud- And I called Matt in the middle. I'm like, "Dude, are you, like, doing okay?" He didn't answer his phone, and all of a sudden he comes up to my tent "Tyce, my tent just blew over." And I'm like, "Oh, crap." And, like- his teepee blew over, and it was like- Yeah out in the rain. He had his sleeping bag and his pillow in his arms- and they were just completely wet. You're like in your slippers or whatever.

MATT

I was just laying there, and I'd started waking up 'cause the wind was getting so bad, so I'm kind of in and out. And then all of a sudden, it's not like the tent started coming apart and the stakes were coming out. It was just, like, in a matter of a second- Just blew over this big gust of wind and boom, and that teepee- Just was gone off me. And the w- it was like- Mm sleeting and rain coming sideways at me and I wear contacts. My contacts were out, and I stand up and I'm looking around and I'm trying to f- scramble to find, like, the stakes for the teepee and some of them are missing. And then I'm looking at this wind and I'm like, "There's just no way I'm getting this thing back up- No in this wind and this weather, and I can't find-"

DANE

The ground was soft already. When we

MATT

Put those stakes in- The ground was all muddy now it was, like, it was soft. And so I realized pretty quick I'm not getting that tent back up. And so- I'm like, "Well, freak." So I run over to Tyce's teepee where he's at, and I'm just like, "Yeah, my tee- that thing blew over," you know? And, he's like, "Well, we could You know, there's probably room for you in here." And Tyce's teepee's pretty small. It's like a two-man. He had a cot in there for him and one for Crew, and those cots are basically touching. And so I'm looking at him like, "No, I don't think there's room for me in here," you know? He's like, "Yeah, you could probably just sleep in here." And I'm just like, "How am I gonna do that?" And then I start looking around, and I'm not, I'm not seeing Crew. And I'm like, "Where, where's Crew at?" I thought maybe he just tucked into a ball at the bottom of his cot or something- Yeah, 'cause

Tyce

You were kind of- 'cause it was a little smaller sitting on the edge of his cot looking around there.

MATT

I'm just like, "Well, where's, where's Crew at?" And Tyce is like, "Oh, Crew, Crew left last night with Dane. You didn't know that?" I'm like, "Oh, wow, I didn't know that." But ended up being a really good thing. I was able to crawl into Tyce's tent and sleep on Crew's. I used Crew's sleeping bag too, 'cause mine was- Wow so wet.

Tyce

Yours in the corner.

MATT

And I just basically ran back to the teepee I was using and pulled it up over all my gear to kind of cover it just like a tarp, and then I threw, like my pack and some weight on it just to hopefully hold it down in the wind. To kind of-

DANE

And the only thing that kept yours up, it was tied to trees.

Tyce

I guyed it out to

DANE

Trees. Otherwise- Mine was We just had stakes it would've been

Tyce

Done.

DANE

Yeah, we just had- You were more

Tyce

On the open ridge.

DANE

Yeah, we were more on the open ridge, and we just had- Yeah stakes and the ground was already soft, and so it just ripped them. Ripped them out of the ground.

Tyce

Well, we gotta wrap this up pretty quick here, but, so that was a crazy night. Matt Then the next day we end up hiking up, to the next basin. The weather had changed. It kind of It was still really windy that morning. And it cleared up, and we hiked up, this ridge line. Got up there and saw two bucks way up in the back of this basin, and we're like, "Oh." And I, and I It's kind of funny. I'm like, "It'd be sweet if we, like,

killed the deer, like, 2

00," and then we packed it back to camp. And M- Matt ended up killing his buck at, like, 2:30

MATT

Or something. We said, "Hey, let's just kill something between 2:00 and

3

00."

Tyce

Kill a monster.

MATT: Have it back to camp by 5

00 or so.

Tyce

Tonight. Get out.

MATT

Get camp packed up and hike out tonight. And that's literally what

Tyce

Happened, so. That's literally what happened. Yeah, we saw his buck. We didn't We couldn't tell how good he was. We got up in there and then we're like, "Man, he" Like he's a five I thought he was a five-by-five. Ended up being a four-by-five, but with eye guards. And he kept getting bigger and bigger as we got closer, and Matt ended up laying down and got in prone with his, his seven PRC, that he just got, and, S- a Seekins, right? So is there a model on that gun?

MATT

So it's the Seekins, I think they call it the Element M3 or something. It's like a Havak Element M3- I- I think is what the model is.

Tyce

But we had some wind rip, and he set up prone and fricking drilled it, man. Drilled it in his bed.

MATT

I was excited 'cause I'd just shot that d- that gun at 100 yards just to zero it in. I had, I'd never hunted with it or killed anything with it. I literally have only had it for a few months, so- it was exciting. I mean, that was the last day. I'd been up on the mountain for- eight days at that point. And then that morning I remember thinking like, "Freak, this is really the last day I'm gonna be up here. Like, I haven't really found a deer I wanna shoot yet, and this is the last day. Like, if it hasn't happened yet, I don't know." You know, that discouragement sets in. I start thinking that maybe I'm not gonna shoot anything. And then I'm like, "Well, this is that final push. Last day, we're tired and whatever, but let's push up the hill and go into that next canyon, look up into that next basin and- and that's what we did, and we found that deer. And, yeah, at first when we saw it looked small to me 'cause it was in the branches and you couldn't tell what was antler and what was-

Tyce

Branch.

MATT

And then I just saw his little fork where it actually w- made him a five by five, that split tine, and I thought that was maybe his back fork where he was just barely a four-point. So I'm like, "Oh, he's like a little- Yeah crap crop four point or something." But then as we got in closer and got a better look, I'm like, "Oh my gosh. Oh, and he's got good eye guards, and oh, he's Yeah, he's like a five-point, maybe a five by five." And then- Solid. Yeah, solid deer. Solid buck. I actually went from really not even considering the deer, thinking it wasn't really an option- Mm- to like being excited about it. Like, oh my gosh, this is awesome. Like, I wanna kill this deer.

Tyce

It's like, "That's my deer." That's what you said. "That's my deer."

MATT

It's the one. It just clicked- Yeah and I'm like, "Okay, yeah, that's my deer. I'm getting set up." And, it just worked out, man. It's We kind of talked about it how with hunting, like at the end of the day, like I used to overthink it. Like, "God," I'm like, I up- used to obsess about the outcome. Like- I've got to get up there and I've got to find a good deer and I've got to kill Like, I have to leave this mountain with a good deer. And I just obsessed over it. And now I'm learning more to try and enjoy the process and then just trust it. Like, do your prep work, shoot your gun, try and be in shape, do all that stuff, have the right gear with you. And then when you're up there, just give it, you know, your all. Don't be sitting around camp. And if it's meant to be, if you're gonna kill a deer that hunt, if so long as you've done your part and put in the work, like it's gonna happen. And that's just kind of how it worked out right at the end. - I was way discouraged, but then we found that deer, and I'm like, "Yep, that's my deer." " Let's do this."

Tyce

Ended up being an epic hunt, packed out three nice bucks. Dane coulda shot plenty of deer, but- Yeah he just, I messed him up on one. He had a shot at a big one.

DANE

It was probably a good thing.

MATT

Well, then the last day was- We all got

Tyce

Shots

MATT

We got- The last day you were there- Had opportunities you were gonna shoot that three-by-four, and it kind of- Yeah, it kind of- went into the trees and disappeared. And then it, we bumped it later. So that could've been your deer, but-

DANE

There was, there was opportunities, but nah. That's hunting.

Tyce

Well, we ended up having, I'll kind of just wrap it up here. We ended up having a little llama drama. We were hiking down, I was kind of, - we get down about a mile down the mountain, and I look back and I don't have a llama on my pack train. So I had to hike back up, get the llama, get back down, and, eh, we ended up, it ended up being fine besides that little, you know, they were kind of tired, but we made it out pretty good.

MATT

Yeah, I was worried sick. I'd never been in a situation where there's a missing llama in my mind. I'm like, "Is that thing running across the mountain right now?" Like-

Tyce

What

MATT

Where, where, where's it gonna go? "What is it gonna happen? Is he ever gonna find this thing? Do we have to come back tomorrow?" -

DANE

Luckily it was just there

Tyce

With packs. Just- He was just laying down. He's like, "Eh, where'd they go?" I'm like, "All right." He's just eating grass, hanging out. And that's usually what happens if they detach, they'll just, especially if they're weighted, they'll just kind of, oh, they'll just kind of mosey around or lay down and- that's what ended up doing. But I think, I think what you just said, though, before I, mention that llama, I think I believe there's some type of law of reward, out there, and call it, call it putting in the effort, and you just put more of the, you know, chances on your side. But, like, there's a lot of times when I've been hunting the last day, the last hour, and you hear that all the time with people. Like, they're like, they end up killing something that last day the last hour, whatever, you know? And I truly believe if you put in, if you leave, like you said, you leave it all out on the table, you put in the effort, there's like a law of reward that, like, a lot of times you're gonna harvest something. I don't know if it's, you wanna call it God blessing you or just the law law of the land, but it's pretty cool. I think if you put in that effort compared to if you just sit around and don't work hard, you know, but you leave it all out there's a good chance you're gonna put the ball in your court, you know? So And that happened on this trip- Yeah I feel like overall.

MATT

And I have to mention, Tyce, Tyce's deer was huge. It's bigger than the, all the deer we killed. I'd been up there eight days, it's by far the biggest deer that- I saw probably the biggest deer on the mountain. And I was talking to Dane kind of hiking out, and I'm like, "Dane, have you ever killed a bigger deer than Tyce?" And he's like- Nope "Nope, this is the story of my life. This hunt right here is the story of my life." That is very true. Tyce ends up killing the biggest deer. And he- Oh he was kind of saying he just pushes, he just does that little extra push. Like, we were all sitting on that ridge. The deer was right below us. Tyce decides to go over another couple hundred yards to get the other side of this- canyon, and then he hikes down this ridge to be able to look into this canyon from a different angle, to kind of be able to look up it and down into it from the other side. And that's what it took. He d- he did that little extra push, and he found that- Yeah that giant- Yeah like matured deer that scored like 187 or something.

Tyce

I think God just blesses you in some I don't know. I don't know what it is. I pro- it's pr- that and my ADD probably I just, I just gotta, I just gotta be moving all the time. You don't, you

DANE

Don't stop. I don't

Tyce

Stop.

MATT

Yeah, I learned a lot hunting with Tyce. He's, he covers some ground. Like- he hikes quick when he decides he's done glassing an area and it's time to get a different vantage point, he moves, covers, covers some ground. Super efficient. Kind of learned a lot. I feel like I spend too much time sitting in one spot just glassing and glassing where I should think more about, "Let me get a different angle," you know? - But yeah, Tyce, there's a reason, you know, you can come into his, his man cave here and look at all these deer. Like, you can come in here, look at all these deer that he's killed, and then go hunting with him and it all makes sense. That's- That's the only way I can describe it. It's hard to But, I learned a lot. I mostly hunt with people about my experience level, if that makes sense. And Tyce has more experience than me, for sure. So I was- Mm super excited to hunt with him and Dane. They both, I learned a lot from both of them. It was, it was awesome.

Tyce

That was an epic trip, trip. Man, it was a lot of fun. So, well, thanks for coming. Thanks for coming on the podcast, guys. It was fun to re- rehash those memories and, hopefully we got some more hunts in the future to, to go after. And Dane has a- a cow tag, and- Yeah he's gonna go after. Our brother has another deer tag and, so we're looking forward to still doing some more stuff here in the future. But- okay guys, that's a wrap. No, it was fun. Thanks. Thank, thanks for coming on.