Ep. 957: Cal's Bucket List Hunt | 12 in '26

This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. When you're outside cleaning fish, working in your garden, or just grinding through a long day of work, your hands take a beating. Dry, cracked hands can be brutal when you need to get work done. O'Keefe's Working Hands Hand Cream. Get your hands back and work in order. This stuff is the greatest stuff in the world. Like most hand creams, you put them on, and then you're all kind of greasy and slimy and you can't grab stuff. You put the stuff on, your hands are ready to get back to work. It absorbs fast, creates a barrier to lock in moisture, and doesn't leave your hands greasy at all. Do yourself a favor. Next time your hands feel like dried out fish scales, get O'Keefe's Working Hands. I'm telling you, this stuff is amazing. Go to okeefe'scompany.com to get yours today. That's O-K-E-E-F-F-E-S, company.com, for guaranteed relief. O'Keefe's Working Hands. It works good. You guys are always hearing me talk about Montana Knife Company. I love these guys. Hands down, favorite knives. The blades are incredibly solid. These are high-quality tools that put in the work. Well, you asked for it, and I've been asking for it, and MKC finally did it. They're launching their very first folding knife. It's called the Montana. It'll be dropping soon. Go to mkc.com right now and sign up for email and text alerts so you don't miss the drop. mkc.com, Montana Knife Company. Working knives for working people. Again. mkc.com. This episode of the Meat Eater Podcast is brought to you in part by Bobcat. Now, Bobcat, they started the compact equipment industry through grit, determination, and a whole lot of, think we can't do that? Well, watch us. They set standards, broke records, empowered people to build bigger and higher, to dig deeper, to make the impossible possible. We've all been there with doubters telling us what we can't do. So, go ahead and doubt. Judge me, challenge me, but when the time comes, watch me. Bobcat. Welcome to the 12 and 26 Companion Podcast, brought to you by Bush Light. Bush Light, head for the mountains. We are strangers on their property. I'm out here on the Alaskan Peninsula hunting brown bear. This place is known for gnarly weather, extreme travel logistics, and big, huge bears. This is bears being as wild as they can be. It's like bucket list. Once in a lifetime, huh? I never thought I'd be on. Okay. Man, what you just heard or saw there was the intro to a 12 and 26 film featuring myself, Ryan Callahan, on the Alaska Peninsula. One's called In Pursuit of Brown Bear. This is the companion podcast to that show designed around you, the internet commentator who, you know, just never gets enough attention. I'm kidding. We solicited your comments and we want you to talk about this because it was awesome. And I believe the two gentlemen here at the table with me. Did a phenomenal job of showing the awesomeness to my immediate left, left Garrett Smith, AKA Dirt Meth, AKA Dirt. Man, a few words today. Howdy, everyone. And Jason Rarig, who is most of the time the producer on anything you see me doing on the YouTube. Or elsewhere. Jason, what's happening? Nothing much. Yeah. Yeah. Most of the time. I think I've produced just about everything. Maybe not. Maybe a couple of things like that. You're not on with roasts, but most of the time, if it involves you, I'm there. That's right. In some, some capacity. Yeah. The low sombra, uh, the shadow, the shadow. That sounds a little like I'm a follower, but, uh, the, the guy, the guy behind the scenes, making, making things work. Um, so thank you to everybody who commented and watch this thing. Uh, it was awesome, man. I mean, absolute dream hunt. The Alaska peninsula is a unbelievable place. I was out there a long time ago. Um, and for folks, um, certainly who grew up the way I did, um, you know, Alaska would definitely be like a stepping stone as far as any sort of a hunting career, whether you're working as a professional, uh, in hunting or, um, just as a traveling hunter. Um, and Brown bear on the peninsula would also be this pinnacle thing. And Brown bear on the peninsula is even hard for residents of Alaska to do. Um, because of one thing that we cover in this episode a lot. It is. It is very logistically challenging. They're, uh, uh, heavily, heavily managed animal and a low fecundity species, which just means that it takes them a while to make babies and get good at it. And it takes a while for those babies to get to a point where they make babies, uh, and, and be good at it too. Um, and it's really expensive to get out there. And spend the time that it takes to hunt. So even, even the locals, um, it's not a given if that, that you're going to go out to the Alaska peninsula and hunt these big bears. And some folks just don't want to either. Um, does that sound fair? Oh yeah. And three planes, three different sizes of planes, right? Yeah. Which all have their own. Yeah. You get new weather parameters. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You get smaller and smaller. And then it's so funny. The, the last. The last plane that you're on is a super cub, which is like, um, it's just so absurdly close to like what the Wright brothers came up with. Yeah. They just didn't think they couldn't fathom at that time that you could put a heavier engine on something. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Yep. Um, all right. We got a quick clip here that we're going to play for y'all. The mixed feelings have nothing to do with the bear. It's just got to do with the, um, expectations I put on myself way back when we were guiding antelope, and there would always be a couple of big giant bucks that really stood out above everybody else. And the old outfitter said, you know, you go hunt, I'll clean up camp. And so I took off after these big bucks that we'd been watching the whole time. And there was a pair of them that would hang out together. One had broken. Uh, prongs. And the other one was just perfect. And they were always running together. I squeezed the trigger and whacked what I thought was the better buck and got up there. And it was the buck that was broken up and missing the antlers or missing the prongs. I was like pissed, you know, I was like a little kid. I was like, ah, I shot the wrong one. Wasted my tag. And yeah. And that old outfitter said, pard, that old boy deserves a hell of a lot better than that. And he was genuinely disappointed in my attitude. And I feel like that's, you know, a great story for this situation here. There's so many positives to how things shook out. All right. Do we, do we need some commentary on that? What do you guys think? Our, our thoughts on that? Yeah. What are your thoughts on that? Oh, it's just beautiful. Honesty. I think everyone should have that mentality of, you know, gratitudes above expectations is what Phil would say. There you go. Yeah. I mean, it is at the end of the film, but it also was filmed at the end of the hunt. So everything was conclusive. No other distractions. No other real thoughts that you had. Other than your own. And that's what we saw there was just pure honesty. And it didn't take much coaching whenever we were out there. We were hoping to get more of that throughout, but at least I was, but we finally got there and it made the film just that much more special. I do. Uh, looking at the, the background of that shot, it's pretty funny that I'm like, oh, I know every inch of that. Oh, you did. I'm like, I, oh yeah. I'm like glassed every centimeter of that space, uh, for eight hours a day for eight days. And you still didn't stop even whenever giving your commentary to us. You didn't stop. It's a, it's an addiction. Yeah. Okay. And it was ever changing too, right? I mean, we were seeing so much wildlife. Oh yeah. Moose and bear and bird. Caribou. Caribou. We didn't see any wolves, which is, I know something that you said you may have seen. Oh, on the flight in. Yeah. But we didn't. the first pilot to come in and, and sat down so that there were basically wolves on the airstrip. Yeah. Oh, but we never saw them though ourselves. No. And that's the problem is like, typically it's like, it's better not to see them when you fly in because that means they could show up anytime. Whereas if you see them on the flight in and they disappear, they probably went and did a big loop and there'll be back in a couple of weeks. Yeah. Good for us then we had enough predators anyway. I don't need more. I don't do any cool. Yeah. Okay. So you want me to read the first question? Do it. Okay. Real quick, Phil question for you. When the clips are playing, can we commentate or? Oh yeah. Yeah. Have at it. Okay. Yeah. I'll keep the mics hot. Okay. Okay. Okay. So Jacob S T 54 wrote, I really appreciate Cal's honesty or honest commentary after harvesting the bear talking about some things. A lot of hunters tend to skirt around great episode. Cal. Um, I'm not sure if that's, if that's something hunters skirt around or if that's just how most TV, uh, makes it look like got to, um, got to, uh, put the positive spin on everything. Everything here was totally positive in my mind. Um, you know, it's just like, you don't get a practice doing once in a lifetime hunts. And I had a, you know, I really, really wanted to get like that big, massive bear, uh, preferably, with, with the bow, um, to like absolutely knock this one out of the park. You know what I mean? Um, all right, next one, Skylar Burrison, Burrison seven or nine, seven, six, four wrote curious how the guide felt about advising you to shoot the bear and then having it come to short of the expectations of your hunt. I'm sure he wanted to make sure you got a giant, um, knowing the hunt would be viewed by so many people. He, he probably wasn't too happy either. Uh, still a beautiful animal and a trophy experience, beautiful country and well put together video that captures the rollercoaster of the hunt, beautiful animal and trophy experience. Okay. So that was just, yeah. Um, yeah, this is a, uh, interesting one for me because I think, um, and I'm not dogging on you at all Skylar, but, um, you know, uh, the old outfitter that I referenced in the show, he, I always used to say, yeah, you're a hero one minute and a goat the next. And that is guiding and you have to make, you know, tough decisions all the time throughout the course of a hunt. And I will tell you that, um, Kyle and Brando, uh, I truly do not think they, if they could have waved a magic wand, snap their fingers, all the camera equipment would have been broken. Yeah. They, they, they did not care about, no, they didn't care about the, the being on TV part at all. They were accommodating. They definitely were like, okay, yeah, that's totally fine. But were they excited to be in front of it? No, it wasn't on their mind at all. No. And the only reason these are two season guides. The only reason that there were two of them is because there were three of us. Yeah. And you know, they want to maintain a certain safety ratio. Um, cause we were surrounded by bears. Oh yeah, for sure. But everybody was, that was out there on the pencil and those are one-on-one hunts, right? True, true, true. Um, the, and so, um, I do, the reality is like the, the true reality of the situation. If you are the hunter, you are the only person whose decision matters at all. And everybody else can be screaming in your ear or crying in your ear or, or, or, or, You know, whispering sweet solicitations. And none of that matters. Like it is up to you. Like hunting's the ultimate responsibility sport. Um, uh, it was ultimately my decision to go like this. And, um, yes, there were lots of factors that went into that decision-making, but it was my decision. And, um, uh, Phil, you pull up those two pictures. Which one do you want to pull up first, Cal? Um, the two guys behind the bear. Okay. So this is Brando, uh, lookers left. And we're looking at a big monster, Alaskan brown bear from this spring, um, with, uh, his client. And this bear is the new, uh, number 70 of all time brown bear. Um, which is super cool. Nice Brando. Yeah. And then the next one, uh, so Brando would have been the dude on, on my left during that scene. Uh, this is, uh, a bear that was taken with Kyle, also a big monster bear and show the skull on that, that thing, right? Wow. Um, nice Kyle. That, that was this spring. And that was this spring. Yep. Look at that. Uh, facial hair too. No boys got, Oh, serious. Oh, that's massive. Wow. Yeah, bad. So again, it's like, hero man, a one minute goat. The next was, it was kind of my point with that. So I will say when that happened, when that grizz came out of, you know, in that kind of went slow motion in those moments. Yeah. It looked as big as those photos, you know, when you're out there, it was like, if I could have said anything, I'm trained as a cameraman long enough. I don't speak. I would have said, shoot that sucker. Uh, I don't know. I mean, when you guys came back, uh, to the cabin, cause you guys shot and then you guys came back cause it was getting dark. You guys needed to get some, you know, more equipment, getting to get your headlamps. And then I came out to join and, and help when you guys came back, you were all just like in awe of like what just happened. That thing looked big. It could have been bad, but it didn't. So we're very fortunate, but we got minutes before things get even more intense with the low light, a carcass out there that other bears are probably aware of now. And that's what we try to build out and the intensity of that moment to like, we're down to minutes now. So who knows? Like it could have been. Yeah. We tried to, uh, we were hoping the ideal scenario would have been to get that bear on a sled that we had and try to get them out onto the gravel bar. Oh yeah. And out of those willows for, for safety. Yeah. Uh, and there was just no way to move that. We broke it. Didn't we? So I don't think it just was too dense and the bears too. Yeah. Too heavy. Um, it says here that you're supposed to comment on the vibe after the kill Garrett. Oh man. Um, you got, I actually, I will say I've, I hunt with Ryan outside of filming too. And, um, I was definitely probably the most shook up. I feel like out of you and the two guides, I felt like I had, cause I had chosen not to have any defense. I think maybe I had bear spray and that camera, that plastic camera after that whole deal, it went down and then it was in the woods. I felt very, um, I was, I was like, that was intense. And it was again, the, the, the shot makes it look like it's further than it was. It was, it looks like more of a casual situation. Well, yeah, you only took your 12 to 24 or sorry, your 24 to one Oh five. Yeah. And at that point it was such a quick reaction. You were more wide angle, which made everything look further. Yeah. So it was, the vibe was, uh, Ryan Brando and Kyle were very decisive on next course of action. And I was like trying to catch my damn breath. It felt like, yeah. And then going into the willows in the rain and the light reflecting back off your headlamps. And, and I, you know, that was not a shot that I was anything other than a hundred percent on. I'm like, Oh, this is a dead bear. Yeah. Um, and the sound was perfect and totally and everything. Um, and then Kyle got an extra shot off and I tried to just kind of follow through with another shot. Um, which there, which is interesting to me because you have, um, I think it was a three 38 that Kyle was shooting or it could have been a three 75. I can't remember. Um, but he did get like a low brisket shot. Um, on that bear would have been like a non lethal, non, um, uh, no vitals, not even like a incapacitating shot, you know? So not like breaking down big bones or anything, but that bear disappeared in the willow so fast. It was amazing. He got another round in it and, you know, I cycled that gun as fast as I could and got another shot and didn't even touch the bear. Yeah. And I think that's like bears now got two shots, two shots in it and still moves fast enough. Oh yeah. In that little burst of adrenaline to make, I mean, he made it the full distance that it would have taken to get to us in, into the willows, uh, before expiring. So, and I mean, the other thing with going into there, not, not to interrupt, sorry. No, go for it. Well, we had been, the whole party had been watching how many we had seen 20 bears at that point prior. I can't remember more than that. Oh my God. So many. This was day four of hunting. of hunting so plus no two days sorry two days of scouting one day of hunt this was day four total second day of hunting or third second or third day of hunting so we've seen a lot of bears in that yeah in that period from the glassy knob so is that all it was i feel like it it was more because we did that big long hike up to the other ridge and that hike all the way out to the first glassy knob where he almost died on he almost died sorry he got a little winded got a little overheated uh kyle got stood up on by that yeah exactly yeah but i mean essentially like that was the other thing in my head where that bear exited out of sight into was we had watched a ton of bear activity and it's like you don't know if you're going in what you're going into in the dark and the rain you know hunched over in the willows but it all went good did we hear a death moan i can't remember no not really so yeah there's a little something i think but it's even audible in the that's what episode there could be that could be the death moan but i don't know hard to tell um the vibe was the vibe was high energy i mean and it's just hard you know you got three big guns uh in the dark and close proximity yeah like the the risk there was way higher than uh with the bear on on on hoof in a lot of ways um especially had that bear been been alive it would have been bad news i mean that is why i didn't bring a gun too we talked i was like yeah there's enough just stay behind yeah the people with guns do you want to read the next question oh yeah where are we at right here uh at six nine nine wrote i'm doing this hunt next fall it seems so surreal that i'm lucky enough to even get the chance heck yeah good luck good luck nate you'll love it uh aka arminius man this is a great video father-in-law is knocking on heaven's door needed something like this um yeah man that's you know transport you is what these boys did with their lenses so um uh best to the father in law as well let's jump over to the next clip phil a lot of people would agree that this is a pinnacle type of hunt it's a dangerous game hunt it's a big deal to come out here on the peninsula my hunting culture within my family was very social very recreational or waterfowl hunters my mentors at that time were like outdoor life and field and stream mom for my birthday every year would get me those subscriptions you'd have a lot of that big wild adventures these big alaskan hunts so in that way alone it's pretty interesting to me that's a big deal to come out here on the peninsula it's very interesting getting up here my uncle texted me and was like you got a bunch of social hunters that aren't very happy with you right now because when i was like yeah that's how i grew up like that whole hunting circle um the uh uh sorry uh tyler bell 877 no there's one before oh wait yeah listed it for instagram what was it like on the ride in knowing you were about to actually hunt brown bear and how was it like on the ride in knowing you were about to actually hunt brown how big of a team did you have with you oh the flight in is always the same i'm like mental checklist do i have this do i have this do i have this what did i yeah yeah um and yeah i mean the three of us plus brandon and kyle that's it it was it was five of us yep not much i mean when you consider it's a big deal to come out here on the peninsula it's a big deal to come out here on the peninsula it's a big deal to come out here on the peninsula you know sometimes steve's projects that has seven you were a small crew small crew yeah relatively and it's a luxury for me to come along otherwise would have hired another camera operator probably would have had longer or better long lens no he's a great but i'm very appreciative of coming out there to see you in action and get to be involved um and it was such a gorgeous day like you just couldn't it was amazing like it was so awesome so a really fun thing here too is this flight um so i had i had i have a five-month-old human child right now um like two weeks before this hunt uh my partner sam is like hey we're pregnant and so it was way too early to be telling people yeah i didn't know you didn't know did you know no and so i had a lot of that on my mind too going out there to the alaska peninsula i'm like oh man well what are all the things i gotta do another checklist yeah another another thing and then uh also you know this is the the same time that uh ranella and i are talking about um no bha yeah moving on to bha full-time from uh being at meat eater full-time and this is like one of the projects that we were wrapping up you know so like typically in this perfect world scenario you have this dream hunt and you do nothing but focus on all the odds and ends and just dedicate hours every day to go out and shoot and and be prepared in every way um and i truthfully couldn't i didn't have kind of like that luxury and in fact i was wrapping up all of these responsibilities because i didn't want to leave a bunch of loose ends here um and i was supposed to travel to the east coast for like a week and then come back to my already packed bags and hop on a plane and head to alaska and um that we had a really nasty wind storm here in the gallatin valley and it was spitting rain um like a day before i was supposed to leave on this other trip uh i grabbed my bow and i went out to this really exposed chunk of state land uh out on the madison and started shooting in this high wind rain scenario um which i knew we were going to encounter out on the peninsula and um that i started noticing that my arrows were not flying right i forgot about all that all this we were talking about you practicing more practicing more practicing more like he needs to stop traveling and and i yeah so i was like oh god yeah i need to really fix something here and so i i called and canceled half the trip and didn't you also call your archery mentor or uh yeah i called my buddy brian uh day six archery and and we did some 11th hour uh fine tuning which we were able to work through so thank you mr broderick i'll tell you one thing that binds together all of the vehicles in the ranella fleet at my house they all have weather tech floor liners when we get a new car the first thing we do out with the junkie factory carpet mats in with weather tech they really are the best they're indestructible you can pull them out hose them off it doesn't matter what happens on the floor of your rig if you got weather tech you're going to be covered i love weather tech love these things if you're looking to get a great gift for someone especially if they're a big time outdoors kind of person like if you really want to do them a favor get them some weather tech floor liners for their truck or car they'll have a way easier time keeping their rig nice and clean and they'll get years and years of use out of a set visit weathertech.com for your holiday shopping today when you're outside cleaning fish working in your garden or just grinding through a long day of work your hands take a beating dry cracked hands can be brutal when you need to get work done o'keefe's working hands hand cream get your hands back and work in order this stuff is the greatest stuff in the world like most hand creams you put them on and then you're all kind of greasy and slime and you can't grab stuff you put the stuff on your hands are ready to get back to work it absorbs fast creates a barrier to lock in moisture and doesn't leave your hands greasy at all do yourself a favor next time your hands feel like dried out fish scales get o'keefe's working hands i'm telling you this stuff is amazing go to o'keefe's company.com to get yours today that's o-k-e-e-f-f-e-s company.com for guaranteed relief o'keefe's working hands it works good you guys have heard me talk all about montana knife company for a few years now on the podcast hands down these are my absolute favorite hunting knives every blade they make is a high performance durable tool that you can rely on whether you're a professional or a professional you're butchering hunting working on the farm out in the field doing chores whatever and i've got a massive update for you people have been asking for this forever mkc finally did it i've been asking it forever the wait is over they're launching their very first folding knife it's called the montana it's going to be dropping very soon i'm telling you right now these things are going to sell out fast if you aren't ready the moment they go live you're probably going to miss out so here's what you need to do get over to mkc.com right now make sure you sign up for their email and text message notifications so you get the alert the exact second the knife drops montana knife company working knives for working people head to mkc.com today that's mkc.com i can't wait to check out one of these folders next question is uh from tyler bell 877 asking about the waiters with that we were wearing uh which are the forge waiters and i will tell you they held up amazing um they're pretty darn good to get uh aired out because you open them up pretty well with that front zip um that boot is not built to be like a sneaking around boot no um i put some insoles in mine for hiking and they were were actually great but you know it's like a moon boot when you you want to have like a moccasin when you're trying to sneak in on something um so i mean man if that's what you're invested in i wouldn't go buying a brand new pair of something else to go up there and do that hunt um but if you have uh that old pair of stocking foot waiters that you can slide into uh yeah tie high or a pair of boots you know yeah that'd be great yeah yeah um next question we got any more well there's another gear question uh on the rifle that was a 300 wind mag uh in a sawtooth configuration which is like just their lighter version the whole idea with that rifle was the ultimate goal here was to have a bonfire scene on the beach which would have been a challenge in and of itself and roast a hind quarter of uh a wolf and a front shoulder of a grizzly bear that was like my whole whole deal and that's the rifle was definitely for the wolves and the idea was to uh only get a bear with that bow which was close to happening that yeah man scene it was promising and when after that hunt that first stock i thought you were going to actually succeed in getting your trad bow bear oh yeah man it was high likelihood yeah uh uh that is a bob lee bow out of texas and we just covered that i was shooting day six arrows and broadheads uh what deterrents did you guys carry pistols bear spray atlatl catapult cannons bear sprays bear spray and camera 10 pound camera we didn't have any bear spray because you can't fly with that you can't fly with it and that's a 10 pound camera yeah garrett had a 10 pound camera the guide also told us that it was going to be gnarly weather so the bear spray was going to be practically ineffective with the amount of wind that we were going to have yeah luckily we had pretty good weather stick it in their schnoz right um which you're well within grabbing distance if you can do that uh i had yeah a 300 wind mag um which was on the backpack 99 of the time so that would have been a complete waste so really i had that recurve bow um and jason what did you have yeah say i had my p320 10 mil nice me chest chest mount ready to go baby ready to go but she's my first gun so i did practice with yeah you did your diligence for sure and none of you brought any pistols and what happened whenever you guys had to go number two in the middle of the night you grabbed karen karen yeah karen yeah just say it just be proud yeah karen karen i haven't i haven't i was glad for karen yep jason named his pistol karen yeah the sixth member everybody should right yeah is that right the sixth member yeah numbers six out karen went with us in the dark every time yeah yeah every time i didn't leave that cabin without that that little pistol and then um and you can't i don't know uh you know it's probably not that noticeable in the film but kyle and brando they went everywhere with their rifles all the time all the time yeah they're the biggest deterrent well yeah but also like set the tone like they're they're like there are bears everywhere here yeah yeah they really don't care about us that much and another reason why we had two guides we're distracted we're focusing on what you're doing yeah and how the film's coming together brandon was was focusing on safety a lot of the times yeah kyle was focusing on guiding yeah so it all so explain that uh the two camera dynamic right long lens and then uh in my pocket so to speak so right so i stuck on long lens um the glassy knob whenever we did go out hiking i was still on long lens and uh that's mostly just to be prepared if something were to happen where we saw a bear i've got my long lens already mounted and can get a shot whereas garrett can then have his wide angle lens to focus on what the people are doing yeah and that way we just are set up for the best chances of covering the scene successfully and basically set up to split up so and set up there's going to be a guide with a gun uh nobody nobody left behind defenseless yeah yeah um heritage tradition 1134 what are the nerves like hunting a seven foot aggressive bear fortunately we never ran into a seven foot aggressive bear uh they're all bigger than that and that one was less i mean that one that stood up that sow was yeah curious more than aggressive she was nine plus right she's she's probably right in there at the same size i bet little little under nine um but old bear you know her face was all scarred up great looking great looking bear for sure paid no mind to you with the yawn leaving oh man yeah uh but everybody should know that was jason riggs long lens shot there well and i also want to say it's shaky not because of my crappy camera moves wind it was wind yeah i was on i was actually on a swarovski scope with the adapter on an fx3 so not an iphone not an image stabilized lens a scope so when you're up there on the glassy knob and you get some wind even the slightest wind it shakes so i was trying my best and you were a little nervous weren't you yeah my heart was racing i was nervous for you guys going down there and whether or not i was gonna as the producer i'm thinking of what's the risk right what's gonna what is my response to an emergency if something were to happen right or wrong so my heart was racing for all those other reasons i mean you should have just been like just kick back and relax because there's nothing you could do yeah what do you mean i'm wolf or trained i could you know cauterize um but yeah then looking through those lenses right it compresses everything yeah so it probably made it look like the bear was right on top of us the whole time no that was a great shot for sure when it when she stood up it looks like you guys are within five feet i mean it was what did we figure 13 yards or something i mean it's close yeah i mean it was under i thought she was gonna step out at 20 but she actually turned closer and stood up to look over that bush which was a bad well actually that's that's one of the listeners questions when the bear stood up how this is from instagram how good of an angle did you have down below it seems like you didn't want to take a shot but you did have a camera guys stay more behind you too um so that was let's take a look at this clip first because i we're breezing over clips here i just want to make sure that we uh because i think this might show some stuff yeah oh there we go thank you phil big old girl damn shakiness we're just out of now in this frame you can't see you guys in the bottom right but nice butt shot cow my specialty this is a good one too though because it's like not every old bear is a big old bear i mean she's she's big in her own right but she's like oh there's the shot right there yeah which again in that angle looks feet away yeah yeah so this this person asks how good of an angle did you have down below it seems like you didn't want to take the shot but you did have a camera guy stay behind you too so i'm confused by that uh yes i well i think we covered it we got one guy up on the original glassing knob jason with the long lands and then garrett's right in the pack i mean i could have reached out and and whacked garrett with my bow real easy but garrett shot's not in that in the film just to prep like clarify well your shot is in it but you don't actually get the bear standing you actually duck down oh i got the head you got the head barely but you didn't get her standing up completely because you were right behind cal you got the head barely but you didn't get her standing up completely because you were right me and the editor worked really closely on how to best present both angles what i got on the glass versus what you guys saw but you're at this moment i feel correct me if i'm wrong where you were like he's he may take a shot i need to get into a better position for a hunting shot rather than focusing on who knows what the bear was gonna do yeah yeah you're focusing on cows um yeah from a killing perspective the i guess here's the the fun thing about traditional archery is you can't pull back and hold forever uh i certainly can't um and so you have a shorter window to draw your bow get your uh get anchored right which is your your full draw full tension find your spot release the arrow so um watching that again um i should have popped up drawn as soon as uh she started to drop down which happens extremely quick yeah and then when she hits all fours on the ground that arrow should have been in the air but i can tell you like my mental picture is like that would have resulted in a uh arrow in the guts of that bear because she got out of there pretty dang fast looks like there's time right there but you know hindsight um this is also day one or no day two this is day two of hunting yeah and we had a week yeah so it was also so that i mean that would have been a great great bear no matter what it's a ideally a dry sow uh we can say sow with confidence because we did watch her pee a couple of different times and it didn't come out of a penis okay so um and the and then when she stands up um yeah i i said it on film like i'm just not that confident on that standing shot like like where exactly it is and um that recurve has killed a bunch of people elk big tough elk um and i like my double lung shots man i want i want exposed ribs and putting an arrow through through both lungs is my ideal scenario um all right so that's that's the shooting scenario right there um but it was awesome i mean just incredibly awesome to have that bear stand up oh yeah and like you know it's it's it's when she stands up you have just enough time to like look at her face and go oh man look at all the scars on her face that is an old bear yeah she's really cool gary you were there what'd you think oh it was amazing and i do remember like we which you can't really tell from the clips but we were expecting like you said for her to pop out slightly yes slightly in a different zone and when she did pop up she was like right right off there was no question in her mind that something was there oh yeah right yeah she was coming in to yeah check it out that was that was amazing and um yeah kind of set the pace for what lay ahead really yeah and a little confidence boost was like oh man we can't get up on these things which is great yeah and we can't film the whole entire thing yeah that was yeah great couldn't have asked for better coverage no um let's see do we have clip eight phil or no we got clip seven we can roll here and see what that is which i do like there's this thing called the lost wallet technique where the deer are all visible they're out in the wide open there's no approach so your approach is the no approach approach where you take a bunch of off angles and you don't pay any attention to the mule deer and you act like you're out there looking for a lost wallet and eventually your off angles take you within archery range of the deer and you shoot one it's kind of what we're going just like that easy just like that which that was not the first was that the first stock that was the first stock first arrow yeah first stock first arrow no more after no two you got no we hit a couple more and um i'd say there was an unfortunate catch and release incident out there ptarmigan why do i not remember the ptarmigan well i didn't go out there whenever no it was too rainy for you jason yeah yeah well also it's bird hunting more people the more spooking yeah yeah one lost wallet not uh yeah i guess just background on this as far as i know like this was really explained to me by this dude who was uh he lived in the frank church wilderness was a caretaker in there um and yeah he talked about this and did this bha member too um and really what you what you see is how it works man it's like everybody's happy until somebody's like hey i feel like this guy's watching me that's weird yeah uh all right next one i think is the bear shot if you get all right yeah let's do the the the scene it's a horror film it is a horror film i see that yeah still moving in there yeah and you didn't you didn't you didn't record anything before things really got intense the moose we got the moose and then cut and then literally and it's great you can hear that yeah did you yeah you heard the yeah um so yeah the the scene like we are underneath a tarp for eight hours in wind and rain and it just it sucks and you couldn't really see a lot like fog moving through and um and then it kind of lightens up at the end and then we see these birds blow up and the birds had been a good indicator of when bears were fishing um and then we see these birds blow up and the birds had been a good indicator and we're like okay well let's go down there and try it and we have this discussion of like here's what i don't like about this we're going to be putting ourselves in a situation where we don't get to judge we might have to react and then we get down on the river but everybody wants to walk around including me yeah that was yeah you just wanted to mobilize yeah sitting on that glassy knob is is nice but it's also you're missing out on all the action yeah so we get down in there and it is like the little side channel that we want to look up where we see the big bear on the very first hunting day it is so foggy and and misty that you can't even really see in there and immediately it's like okay this is stupid yeah but now we're down there so we're just gonna like kick rocks for a couple of minutes before we call it quits and that whole time everybody's thinking the same thing we should probably just get out of here yeah yeah but what if type of thing right i'm sure part of it too was like as you could tell from the clip i was like we can't it's too dark to film yeah like we're kind of wrapping up the day i'm so glad that you did though that you did roll yeah yeah yeah even if we can't see much you can at least it was it was late yeah yeah we were kind of kind of like encouraging things along like okay let's yeah let's wrap up tomorrow's a new day yeah tomorrow's a new day yeah and then so here comes this crashing and splashing and and people are oh my god what is that and here comes this cow moose ripping across the river ultimately she's being chased by this bear but we don't know that it's just like your brain and you're trying to be a smart person out there um do what you can with what you have anyway and uh she sees us spins around runs back across the river things are kind of quiet and then it's flashing and crashing again and then all of a sudden here comes this bear that's going right on her scent trail and ultimately does like right right before he gets there and there's this talk you know got kyle on my right side brando on my left side of like oh it's a bear oh it's your call it's your call it's your call better shoot that bear all right well okay and uh and yeah man i mean that's that's how it all went down that but and i made the choice to bring that rifle down there because i was like this is stupid yeah and you brought the weapon necessary for the conditions yeah yeah yeah um but you also tell me this did you know because i i know i don't know the answer you did you know kyle was going to shoot as well i it did not surprise me at all that he shot like that that that scenario right there really is perfect for like it's a follow-up shot yeah you know well i remember you guys having a conversation beforehand if this were to happen i'm going to take a shot kyle told you yeah it was coming but maybe yeah it's like dark the bear is going into the brush we have to take a shot yeah it's like dark the bear is going into the brush we have to track this thing it's raining um like the chances of recovery go way down if you can't see the thing in those conditions right so um very appropriate uh shooting scenario and truly like there's nothing to lose right yeah it's like we weren't going to be setting a world record right there right and have some question about like well who shot yeah um there there you know wasn't a pope and young archery situation you know yeah there was just no reason not to and and i yeah absolutely have no him taking that shot still was barely on my radar don't care do you do you know your shot placement oh yeah i knew 100 well i knew you you hit but do you know i can't remember where was yours and i mean that's i mean it was like a 40 some yard shot yeah okay you know 300 wind mag travels real fast so it's yeah it was right i i mean literally like his shoulder opened up and yeah shot him right behind the shoulder so i mean it was i was very very very confident and then where did kyle hit do you know uh under low yeah just yeah right on that brisket yeah you know it wouldn't be like a grazing brisket shot it would have been like punching into the brisket and then back out and in a little tiny bit of the the opposite leg i think if i remember correctly um but yeah going in after that bear that's when i was like okay now we need to like now things are very serious for me yeah now i need to like because there's no walking away right like you are tied to that critter yeah um and there's no excuse of like well it was raining and dark so yeah and if you did use that excuse no one would respect you afterward well man it's like there you punch your ticket when you pull that trigger right uh-huh follow it's like that there's no backing out right there's lots of backing out before you pull the trigger yeah once you pull the trigger like that is commitment with the bank i'll tell you one thing that binds together all of the vehicles in the ranella fleet at my house they all have weather tech floor liners when we get a new car the first thing we do out with the junkie factory carpet mats in with weather tech floor liners and we get a new car the first thing they really are the best they're indestructible you can pull them out hose them off it doesn't matter what happens on the floor of your rig if you got weather tech you're going to be covered i love these things if you're looking to get a great gift for someone especially if they're a big time outdoors kind of person like if you really want to do them a favor get them some weather tech floor liners for their truck or car they'll have a way easier time keeping their rig nice and clean and they'll get years and years of use out of a car visit weathertech.com for your holiday shopping today cold morning spent outside and long days of hard work can really take a toll on your hands whether you're outside cleaning fish digging around in your garden or grinding through a long day of your day job your hands take a beating that is why o'keefe's working hands hand cream is an essential part of any daily routine it provides guaranteed relief for extremely dry cracked hands with a concentrated formula designed to deliver serious hydration where it's needed most here's the best thing about this stuff it doesn't leave your hands all greasy i've been using it it's like i've always looked for sort of the right hand cream my hands get kind of cooked at our place up in alaska for some reason this stuff you put it on and your hands are ready to work your hands are not greasy they're not slippery it works really good a little goes a long way making o'keefe's working hands hand cream effective dependable and economical for hands that work hard and every day it's great to have something that works hard for them o'keefe's working hands it really does really work keep your hands hydrated comfortable and smooth all season long visit o'keefe's company.com that's okay e-e-f-f-e-s company.com for guaranteed relief o'keefe's working hands it works for real you guys have heard me talk all about montana knife company for a few years now on the podcast hands down these are my absolute favorite hunting knives every blade they make is a high performance durable tool that you can rely on whether you're butchering hunting working on the farm out in the field doing chores whatever and i've got a massive update for you people have been asking for this forever mkc finally did it i've been asking it forever the wait is over they're launching their very first folding knife it's called the montana it's going to be dropping very soon i'm telling you right now these things are going to sell out fast if you aren't ready the moment they go live they're going to be selling live you're probably going to miss out so here's what you need to do get over to mkc.com right now make sure you sign up for their email and text message notifications so you get the alert the exact second the knife drops montana knife company working knives for working people head to mkc.com today that's mkc.com i can't wait to check out one of these folders cooking yeah cooking this bear the hide smelled very very fishy uh but the meat and uh the fat right now it smells extremely neutral yeah actually and one surprising yeah one of our like traditional meat eater meals with bear is rendering fat and then frying the bear in the fat almost smell it i feel like i can smell brown bear meat mildly and kyle and brando were skeptical okay team you want me to go first i'll go for a big one we're both covering this right i'm in the bunk oh that's right top side there is like a little kind of riffle your mouth fish there very subtle comparatively though it's like nice long grain very clean the editor almost cut that last shot by the way but we kept it nice um it is gorgeous meat yeah it is it is gorgeous meat there's no you don't look at it and go oh this is not good i will tell you my spring season out there back in 2011 i looked at that bear and i was like man that that that could be tough to eat that thing yeah um but it was you know very very different condition it was still like winter out on the peninsula they hadn't been out and fattening up uh they were still kind of in that emergent phase um this bear you looked at you're like oh that's beef it's amazing like big gorgeous white fat beautiful red meat um the context matters right like everything smells like rotten fish it's wet you don't you know no real way to feel clean that smell inside an old guide shack is just layered on there and mildew and mold and all the farts yeah man there wasn't that much farts it was actually the three of us did good man grease um and uh on top of that right next to this cabin there's an old uh outhouse yeah and that's where we hung all the meat was inside this outhouse that some bear had dug out which we were not using said outhouse for its intended purposes correct yeah just specifying that but you know you don't go a bunch of people have pooped here right that like it's kind of hard to get that out of your mind yeah you know that's when you're hanging your meat in there um and the fat does have a real smell to it um garrett did you even try it oh yeah you didn't try it yeah i wasn't as enthusiastic yeah no i didn't have the the breakfast burrito with the bear meat you didn't no because i forget i was like you know well i think we were having some post like effects of having so many dehydrated meals and then all of a sudden having grease for the first time in a long time that caused some digestive some gi issues yeah um i do remember that that's true or yeah because we did we talked about man maybe the water is getting to us yeah oh yeah there is something you i don't didn't make the episode but the theory the theory with that with your bear was because it was kind of its prime and it was chasing that moose maybe it wasn't eaten as many although you did say fish the either you said the hide or whenever we were whenever we were butchering it that it did smell like salmon oh yeah for sure but not as much as like the meat unless like apex bear would be eaten just rot fish if he's just laying there on top of a dead fish pile this dude was out and around in the rain chasing chasing moose and yeah so it could be a total you are what you eat scenario um i uh got this sucker back sam is in the midst of morning sickness and very sensitive to smell and she was like i will never eat that thing that is horrible this is disgusting yeah and you had the hide oh yeah too and you have multiple things and all your gear just reeks yeah you know it's it's it is bad and it falls year-round and um yeah and the and i i will tell you like i had i had traded a shotgun for a fancy arcteric ski jacket and that was the only rain gear like bomber rain gear that i had uh when i went out there and worked in 2011 and from skinning those two brown bears that we got on that trip um people people would smell fish on that jacket for the entire life of that rain jacket still have it um and so i mean it's it's definitely real but i made um so i've made a stir fry which everybody loved and it was fantastic and it's beautiful like mongolian like kind of like uh kyle said in there it's like kind of the grain on it is just a it's it's a perfect stir fry meat um what did he say mongolian beef yeah he said mongolian beef yeah um and uh i used one of chef linda's uh stir fry chef linda from dragonfly right hummingbirds hummingbirds yeah uh birds dragonflies and then um the and then yeah i i did like some skewers at a like bha staff event that sucked because i just didn't have enough time to do anything and so i was just making sure it was cooked and it was chewy and not not you know not throwing it away but it's not great so a little more special care with the bear meat well yeah so then i took it and i rubbed it down like you would like a rack of lamb or uh leg of lamb like rosemary and lemon and garlic and olive oil and uh put that on out on the pellet grill and and cooked it just to medium and then sliced it really thin and made euros oh and sam was like this is amazing i'll eat grizzly bear no problem yeah yeah i mean even the i didn't get to have all the fancy recipes you made with it but even the bear that you made out in camp was still really good yeah i didn't need all the fancy and that like seasoning so we get weathered in planes can't fly too much wind yep and um we're still eating freeze-dried food and we're kind of like scratching the not favorites and i'm like this is so stupid and that the loin on the bear was delicious so you know we were limited in how we could cook but i just started making bear steaks and they were awesome i thought yeah mixing them in with some of the freeze-dry yep and you you liked it so much you actually would not stop harping on it because it was so good and i was like oh my god about how you wanted to go back and get more yep but you couldn't yeah why could you not because another bear had already eaten that thing yeah big bear yeah yeah the thing yeah the bear that ate this bear uh when it came out of the brush was like like a uh opportunistic van um so you've already answered a couple of these questions from four eight and then rsa 9082 oh he just said good to see you well he said good to see you and he says what what do you do if you can see the parasite in the meat do you cook it away and eat it so the like most uh carnivores are gonna have some sort of parasite for sure um depends on the density of the parasites like the canine cysts are what we see a lot um and they can look like little grains of rice and they can look like little grains of rice and they can look like in the muscle fiber they can be sporadic or they can be like you can't cut a muscle without cutting a parasite um and i'll let you be the judge of what you would do with that so yeah you see a parasite just to me i'd like i'm all right yeah but all that you know i have a whole hind quarter with with the bone in which that was a funny thing because when we were hiking away from we had a lot of meat and yeah uh you know you gotta fly all this stuff out and weight's always a concern and i was immediately guilt-ridden because i was like oh my god we didn't get enough meat we didn't get enough meat to get enough meat and my backpack doesn't even weigh anything and i was i was just going through it emotionally we could have taken more but and then um every time we had to move that freaking dry bag that i had that yeah i was like oh this is 80 pounds just the hide and the meat that hide was more than 80 pounds hide wet hide is is heavy yeah it was lightened up quite a bit by the end there yeah um hold on i got one more yeah so about the meat because you tagged me in your instagram post danny bolton put a question in there he says how would you compare black bear to brown bear i'd say very very similar totally similar yeah very similar yep okay yep um like i mean this is it's it's a phenomenal eating meat it's great to have it in the freezer um why do so many people sorry i'm just going to keep asking you questions um a lot of people that i know that hunt bear automatically go to processing it into chorizo yeah is it just because there's no flavor or or no i think i think it's good i think people are scared about trichinosis and i think um you know you end up with like a bunch of like ultra lean red meat that you have to cook to medium right and it's like you kill an elk you can eat that stuff raw right and it's ultra lean you know you have just more stuff that you can do with it that's my i mean black bear roasts are fantastic you know yeah you brine them and make sure that um you cook them gently to where that you're not once you lose the moisture out of a black bear roast and i would assume this grizzly bear roast you may as well just like keep going into beef jerky yeah yeah yeah okay we got two more questions you want to read it uh at hunter presley six eight five one hey cal as a huntsman what aspect of hunting would you say had the largest learning curve or barrier of entry from your experiences largest learning curve we're lucky to grow up in montana or barrier of entry yeah what i mean those are when to walk and when to sit still still gets me you know well what about barrier of entry like has there ever been a hunt that you had difficulty like for access purposes or for equipment reasons oh cost i mean cost is is a huge deal right and you know it's like all the way out there in the peninsula um we kind of piggybacked like the um village that we were based out of they as soon as they heard there was a bear down somebody wanted um a ham off of that thing and then um and the paws and the paws and fat um which may be super cool maybe that's something also to preface you're talking about difficulty of logistics getting out there it's also difficulty of permission to get to these areas because the locals are kind of the reasons why we have permission not permission exactly but a better logistical hub yeah right and so like the closer that you can get to your hunt area the better edge you have on changing weather systems is really what it comes into like we could have gotten to that spot from a couple of different airstrips But it would have been further flights and things changed so fast. But we were, we were happy enough to, to build a relationship with those people because they were also helping us out too. Totally. Oh yeah. You know, there's a reciprocal. Not just the remoteness of flights, but also the remoteness of just making friends and being a good person. Oh yeah. Yeah, man. Does not pay to be an asshole on the peninsula. That's for sure. Um, so, but what was the rate? Like flying back that, you know, the rate of cargo was what? Four bucks a pound or something like that. I think. No, it was $15 a pound. Really? Yeah. Minimum. I thought over, yeah, actually you'd probably know. Wait, for getting, for the super cubs to get out or? No, no, no, no. For the. Get off the peninsula. Oh yeah. Um, I don't really remember. I just handed him my credit card. So it, right. So, I mean, that's, it was probably closer to 15. It was 15 bucks a pound. I'm pretty sure. Over a certain amount. Right. Like each person was allowed a certain weight. Yeah. And then after that it was all. It was very. Extra. Very expensive. Because these planes aren't just used for hunting access. They're also for the locals mail and their groceries. Yeah. You know, so. Yep. Parts. Yep. All parts. All the stuff. Yeah. So, um, yeah. No, one more Jason. Okay. Uh, Andrew Cotter, Cotter, real six, two, five. One. I have a question for Cal. What, what is it like being a dad? What happens when the baby grows up to be an anti hunt or yeah. What if anti hunting any meter with Cal in a, in it is a awesome day. I see. I can't read. I was in special reading classes as a kid. That was a tricky one. Well, yeah, I mean, I, we should ask Bill what it's like being a dad. He's got a hell of a lot more practice at than I do. Oh, my, my killed. My kids killed two more deer than I have. Yeah. So I, I don't think if, if my kid's out there shooting deer, I don't think Cal has anything to worry about. I didn't know that. We got to catch up. Um, so yeah, man, if this kid's anti hunting, he's just going to be anti me and that's where he's going to come from. Um, so I, I'll just own that right now. Um, and being a dad's great, man. I'm watching the, I mean, it'd be great if he slept through the night right now. That'd be special. In and of itself. But you know, you're watching this little human evolve and every single day is brand new. And, um, I, uh, he's been sucking on, uh, all sorts of wild game for a while now. Yeah. Um, and this morning I put, I made a nice, uh, cassoulet, uh, our buddy Jesse Griffiths has, um, a technique for killing. You're wearing turkey legs and putting them on the smoker. So you're basically making a ham hock out of a turkey leg thigh quarter and, uh, put that in the crock pot just with water. Let it get down to where, um, you can shred it and then put it in there with your white beans and start building up that fancy French peasant dish. And, uh, oh my God, that's a killer. Winning. Winning. It's a winter cold weather meal. And, uh, so I just put a scoop of that in the blender and hit puree this morning, made a, you know, beautiful light brown goo and the kid just hammered it. Loved it. We're a little guy. Loved it. Yes. Yeah. And that's pretty darn fun. Oh, that's awesome. I know I missed out on, I should have taken a bowl or something. I'll cook all the time if somebody likes it. But this year, I mean, as your producer, you've had a lot less hunts. A lot less time out in the country, in the back country. Yep. So you really had to work around being a dad and hunting while also being a new CEO. Yep. Yep. All those things. All those things. Yeah, man. I mean, I'm not like, there's never. Even when I was primarily living in the woods, there was never a time where I was like, oh boy, I've had enough of this. Yeah. Right. It takes about a week for you to be like, oh my God, I need to get back out there. Yeah. Um, and so, yeah, there's definitely a big part of me this year that where I'm like, oh my God, I need to get outside. I need to get outside. Um, but it's, you know, we're definitely all hands on deck at, at five months. You remember what five months was like, Phil? Sorry. What was that, Cal? Raising, raising your, your boys. Five months. Five months. That five months was five and six months. If I feel like as a turning point for sleep schedules, I'd say on average, I'm not saying that you're going to be that so lucky. But, um. Um, but yeah, you're, I just, I just kind of scrubbed the first eight months out of my memory. Um, it, it, it, I was living in a, in a haze. It was a lot of part-time jobs too. It was, it was, it was that sort of thing. Yep. Um, yeah. I mean, you're just burning the candle at both ends, man. It gets easier. Yeah. I mean, it is, it is wild. I mean, I've always kind of been this way, but man, if I get, I, I'm very capable of getting things done if I can just get three hours of straight sleep and we're at like three hours of straight sleep. Three hours. Two and a half right now. It's like, even three hours sounds miserable. Uh, I think I got nine last night. Yeah. I'm like an eight, eight to 10. Yeah. Well, just break that up though. Right. So there's intermittent sleep, but no, I mean this, uh, yeah, it's pretty wild. You know, there, I guess you don't get a practice doing a once in a lifetime hunt, right? Like that is the, the moral of this story. Um, I think being out there on the. One of the things that didn't make it in the film, which was really, uh, cool just for me. And I'm not saying it should have is there's like a big flock of Mallard ducks, like drinks out there on the peninsula. And I thought that was so just, it's interesting that it was very impactful for me because I was like, these ducks are part of the Pacific flyway. They're going to end up at my buddy Sean's place in California. Yeah. In rice field. In rice fields, getting shot at, uh, and I hope I'm there when they show up. Um, and it was really neat seeing them all the way out there on the illusion chain, basically. Yeah. I'm like, oh, this is real. This is where it happens. And so part of that, just that duck experience, I was like, people need to have access to these places. Um, so they can connect the dots, slow learners like me, right. You gotta be like, oh my God. They're actually. They're actually here. This is worth protecting in the world of conservation. Um, and I also thought a lot about how, um, nobody else is going to go out there and sit on the Alaska peninsula for 10 days. Right. It's like, unless you are hunting, which, you know, you have got to be very observant to be good at it. Um, like nobody could just goes out there and sits. Yeah. Underneath. The tarp and watches the world for 10 days at a whack. And then you start stringing those seasons together and you have this running history. Of seeing the trends. Of seeing the trends and what are the trends. Right. And, um, it's something I, I talk a lot about when we travel these days is like the canary in the coal mine of like people who spend time outside. It's not something AI is going to fix for us. Right. But like, and throughout history, it's always been the same is like hunters go, oh my God, something is changing here. Something doesn't feel right. What is going on? Yeah. And it could be a positive trend. It could be a negative trend. It could just be the way the world works, but without people on the landscape, like we're going to miss a lot of things. Yeah. And so having this overlapping system of access and trying to do things in a responsible way, a stewardship minded way, making it renewable, like somebody can go out there and do that hunt. I did, uh, 50 years from now because we paid attention and we managed it well. Um, like that's just gotta be baked into us. And I don't think the world gets better by just removing people from the landscape. Yeah. Being like, oh, okay. We got to totally preserve it because like, we're not going to know what is going on out there. And we darn sure know all this stuff is connected. Um, so we will lose something if somebody is not there. Um, you know, boots on the ground, spring season, fall season and connecting them all together and maybe throw some paddlers out there doing some first descents and some skiers out there doing some first descents. And you get to look at these areas through all these different lenses. And then you put together this story of what that trend is. Yeah. Right. And, uh, we know we can love this stuff to death, um, pretty darn fast. I mean, we damn near killed off all the grizzly bears in the lower 48. Um, and it's because we made these hard choices and we're observant that we made the decision to, oh my God, we got to bring these things back. We got to stop issuing tags and hunting them even in really remote places like the Bob Marshall. Um, because they are, as it turns out, they're not going to be able to do that. turns out a low fecundity species. and it takes them a long time to come around and they have a big home range because they got to eat a lot um and we're just seeing the effects of turning the hunting spigot off um really right now like in the last five to ten years where we're like oh my gosh there's a lot of grizzly bears what do we do now yeah so yeah what do you think guys wrap her up great trip yeah great trip life changing great trip killer life changing for me for sure being so far away from home the furthest i've been not from home but from a walmart civilization well i mean that's a pretty wild trip to do as far as um if you don't have the real back country we don't don't have to go down that road right we don't have to go down i mean really prior to that what's the most nights you've done someplace no i i spent i did a whole uh backcountry ecological trip whenever i was an undergrad in arizona um going from the oregon pipe uh national park to national monument national monument yeah to we did like a little road trip slash hiking trip up to the grand canyon but we were also in a van we didn't shower i mean it was just yeah yeah yeah but yeah jason's face i do remember when he's like oh this is what a super cup is yeah well like you were like oh i didn't expect it to be saran wrap yeah it's a sand rail with with wings it's a sand rail with wings yeah yeah yeah it is it's pretty funny this is what costs so much really it's a sand rail with wings yeah yeah yeah it is it's pretty funny this is what costs so much really and you're gonna expect me to get in this coffin with wings yeah oh yeah i mean it's funny to like it's like this is a plane yeah that like one of you could tip over if you really wanted to i'd do it again though i think it'd be cool to get a pilot license oh yeah anyway no great trip great being on there with you uh that is i don't know if there's something in the i don't think there is anything so this is uh we'll recap here a uh companion podcast to uh pursuit of brown bear on the meat eater youtube channel uh is a 12 and 26 episode so i hope you liked it um and there's more coming i'll tell you one thing that binds together all of the vehicles in the ranella fleet at my house they all have weather tech floor liners when we get a new car the first thing we do out with the junkie factory carpet mats in with weather tech they really are the best they're indestructible you can pull them out hose them off it doesn't matter what happens on the floor of your rig if you got weather tech you're going to be covered i love these things if you're looking to get a great gift for someone especially if they're a big time outdoors kind of person like if you really want to do them a favor get them some weather tech floor liners for their truck or car they'll have a way easier time keeping their rig nice and clean and they'll get years and years of use out of a set visit weathertech.com for your holiday shopping today when you're outside cleaning fish working in your garden or just grinding through a long day of work your hands take a beating dry cracked hands can be brutal when you need to get work done or keeps working hands hand cream get your hands back and work in order this stuff is the greatest stuff in the world like most hand creams you put them on and then you're all kind of greasy and you can't grab stuff you put the stuff on your hands are ready to get back to work it absorbs fast creates a barrier to lock in moisture and doesn't leave your hands greasy at all do yourself a favor next time your hands feel like dried out fish scales get o'keefe's working hands i'm telling you this stuff is amazing go to o'keefe's company.com to get yours today that's o-k-e-e-f-f-e-s company.com for guaranteed relief o'keefe's working hands it works good hey let me tell you when the hunt is over the work isn't over you've still got all the grinding stuffing slicing and sealing turning your harvest into meals takes the right tools lem products offers grinders stuffers slicers dehydrators vacuum sealers and more for hunters and home meat processors for more than 30 years lem has been helping people bring their harvest from field to table visit lem.com for more information and to learn more about o'keefe's products.com and use promo code steve15 to receive 15 off plus free shipping that's steve15 at lemproducts.com this is an iheart podcast guaranteed human