Being A Great Hunting Mentor w/ Chad Grauel

On this episode of GOHUNT’s  Western Rookie Podcast, Brian has Chad Grauel on the podcast to talk about helping others get into hunting and being a great mentor!

In this podcast, Brian Krebs and Chad Grauel discuss the challenges and considerations of starting out in hunting, particularly in the Western United States. They emphasize the importance of pacing oneself, being realistic about physical abilities, and adjusting plans based on conditions and elk behavior. They also highlight the value of mentorship and sharing knowledge with others who are new to hunting. Overall, the conversation provides insights and advice for those interested in trying new hunting experiences. Breaking into a hunting group can be challenging, but it's possible by demonstrating value and commitment. Good hunting partners are highly valued, so showing that you bring something to the table, whether it's physical fitness, calling skills, gear knowledge, or cooking abilities, can increase your chances of being invited. Being eager to learn, putting in the work, and being a team player are also important qualities. It's essential to show that you're willing to contribute and be a valuable member of the group. 

In this final part of the podcast, Brian and Chad discuss the importance of camaraderie and teamwork in hunting. They share stories of hunting trips and the memorable experiences they've had with their hunting buddies. They emphasize the value of having fun and creating lasting memories, rather than focusing solely on success. They also discuss the importance of sharing knowledge and helping others get into hunting. They encourage hunters to be open to new members in their hunting groups and to support and inspire each other. Overall, the conversation highlights the importance of community and the joy of hunting together.

Takeaways:

• Pace yourself and be realistic about your physical abilities when starting out in hunting.
• Adjust your plans based on conditions and elk behavior.
• Seek mentorship and be willing to share knowledge with others who are new to hunting.
• Start with shorter trips and gradually build up to longer and more challenging hunts.
• Remember that hunting is not just about the kill, but also about the experience and time spent in nature. Demonstrate value and commitment to increase your chances of being invited to a hunting group.
• Show that you bring something to the table, such as physical fitness, calling skills, gear knowledge, or cooking abilities.
• Be eager to learn, put in the work, and be a team player.
• Show that you're willing to contribute and be a valuable member of the group. Camaraderie and teamwork are essential in hunting
• Having fun and creating lasting memories is more important than success
• Sharing knowledge and helping others get into hunting is valuable
• Being open to new members in hunting groups can enhance the experience
• Supporting and inspiring each other is crucial in the hunting community

https://www.instagram.com/chadgrauel/

Connect with Brian Krebs
https://linktr.ee/thewesternrookie

Have Questions or Comments? Send an email to Brian@westernrookie.com!

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Brian Krebs (00:45.012)

Welcome back to another Western rookie podcast brought to you by Go Hunt. We've got another exciting conversation geared up for you guys tonight. But before we dive in, if you've been listening to the podcast and you've been liking it, you've been learning some things, picking up either some tips or tactics or just enjoy the conversations. I'm going ask you to please take a minute to go give the podcast a rating or a review on whichever platform you're listening on.

It really helps the podcast grow. really appreciate it. And it's the number one way we can help more people learn about all the opportunities that are out there across the West. So I promise you, we'll still be here when you get back from that. And with that, let's kick it off tonight. We've got Chad growl on the podcast. We're talking a little bit. First of all, we're talking just recently that you guys are needing some life jackets. You guys are getting monsoon season rains.

Chad Grauel (01:35.12)

Yeah, yeah, it's a monsoon season out here. So if they call it so it's no joke, man, it roads are getting washed out and you know, two, three inches of rain every 30 minutes, just every afternoon, just bam, you get hit by time you rebuild the chicken coop goes again. So it's happening.

Brian Krebs (01:52.736)

Dang, that is, I didn't really realize it was that bad. My, my brother was in Zion a couple of years ago, like the day before Zion flooded. I'm like, geez, that's like once in a lifetime. And then you hear more, you know, just talk to more people. Like I've always lived in Minnesota and we, we don't really have a wet season and a dry season. You know, sometimes August it's a little drier, but you know, pretty much consistently can get moisture at any time in the year. And so like,

Chad Grauel (02:20.335)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (02:20.586)

you know, out west you get dry seasons and wet seasons and it's just crazy to me.

Chad Grauel (02:25.712)

Yeah, this is our, our second August down here in Utah. And I guess last August, it was pretty dry. So they're like, yeah, this is normal. Just every day about two, two 30, three o 'clock, you get a little notification that there's a flash flood warning coming. You just see a big thunderhead roll right through and it's like, it's good. grew up in South Dakota. So I grew up in the black Hills and I'm used to those super cells coming through and stuff. And it was, you know, that was a highlight of, you know, being in the Midwest that was.

Brian Krebs (02:41.568)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (02:54.628)

you know, every summer, every afternoon, seemed like there was a thunderstorm.

Brian Krebs (02:59.018)

Yeah, well hopefully nothing got too tore up. would not, to be honest with you, if our chicken coop got washed out by a thunderstorm or a big cell, I probably wouldn't fix it. I'd just be like, well, we tried. We tried chickens, it's not for us.

Chad Grauel (03:12.688)

The wife won't let me do that, man. She's gonna make hold me to it.

Brian Krebs (03:19.892)

Yeah, well, we'd probably end up we I mean, we'd have to take care of the chickens unless they blow away too. But no, we were talking, you know, right before we kicked off the podcast about just interesting different ideas to kind of dive into. And we came on one that I do think is a really, it's a really good topic. And I feel like it doesn't get a lot of visibility in, you know, hunting culture. But that is, you know, when people are trying

to do something new and I wouldn't say it's always like, you know, just starting hunting. It certainly can be a lot. think a lot of people are interested in that, but even somebody that's like, you know, like myself grew up in Minnesota and you're like, want to, I want to try elk or I want to try animal, but I want to try mule deer and you don't really know where to go. You don't really know how to start. You look for information and there's a lot of information out there online, but I think there's also a lot of like resistance online too, where, you know, I think it's

pretty common to hear like, stay in your own state or don't come to my state or don't, you know, it's already too packed, you know, do your own thing, you know, leave us alone. And it can be really hard for people to, you know, kind of get their roots established in, you know, hunting or Western hunting, either one. I think it can be really, it can be a challenging thing to really start.

Chad Grauel (04:38.222)

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a, it's a really kind of an unspoken thing that happens in hunting. You know, hunting is so much more like if you're looking at preparing to go hunting out West, right. It's more than just East scouting. It's more than just getting your bow prepped. Like there there's a lot of work to go into it. Right. And I think that, you know, it's as archery seems to be blowing up because, know, guys like cam are blowing up, you know, Joe Rogan's into it. You know, it's starting to

expand out. And I don't know if I think, you know, there's, there's pros and cons to everything, right? More hunters, you know, you're more crowded in the woods, whatever, but you're still like, you're not seeing the percentages of successful archery hunts either increasing or decreasing. They're hovering around that 10 % usually. So it doesn't mean that just because more people are going out there, they're not necessarily all of sudden we're at 40, 50 % success rates, right?

I think that the issue is that people that want to get into hunting, say that, you know, they're looking for a hobby. They're looking for something that sparked their interest and they want to experience something of it. seems like the people that are, have grown up hunting seem to kind of put them at like a second tier and the, they kind of distance themselves, shun them. You know, they, don't really.

Brian Krebs (05:58.398)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (06:03.428)

If I have, you have to understand like someone that if you've been hunting your whole life and you got to learn from your father, you know, that that's a blessing for you. But people that maybe didn't have that walk of life, but somehow archery still cross their path and it intrigued them and they want to start. You almost have a responsibility as an ambassador for hunting to share your knowledge. You don't have to share pins or anything like that, but

You know, it's your opportunity to share your knowledge with someone else and help them to understand, you know, if it's something as simple as how to shoot a bow, right. And it doesn't mean trolling people online. Right. You see a guy who's learning how to shoot punching the trigger. It doesn't mean, you just talk trash to them. No, you, you use it as opportunity to coach someone, you know, and I'm not saying that I'm perfect or anybody else is perfect, right? Everybody has opportunities to learn, but it's just one of those things where.

You can help them. Hey, you want to go scouting? Go out there. I have guys that because I'm so obsessed with bow hunting, there's guys that this year I have two friends that one's a neighbor. They're the guy I work with. Both of them. They bought a bow for the first time in their life this year and they both got elk tags and they're going to go hunting. And I've spent time with both of those guys going out scouting in Utah and

teaching them, trying to teach them how to use a diaphragm, teaching them how to, just helping them. Like if they're gonna text me, and these are guys that, a lot of people, even if I have people on Instagram that ask me a question about what bow I prefer, what anything, I'm always willing to share some knowledge or what experiences I've had. And I feel like that's something that everybody should, it should be a brotherhood, regardless of your walk of life.

Brian Krebs (07:33.146)

Mm

Brian Krebs (07:57.012)

Yeah, I think that's really important. We get a ton of questions and I've recently been doing a better job of telling people like publicly on the podcast. You can reach out. You can ask me anything. I'm not probably I don't know everything, but you can certainly ask anything and I'll I'll give you something and reply. You know, it might be like, hey, I've never thought about that. I have done this, which is kind of similar. And this is what I thought about it. Right. I get people are sending me pins like

Here's where I want to hunt. This is where I've been scouting. Here's six pins. You know, this was my plan. What do you think? And I'm like, well, first of all, you're very forthcoming. know, most people aren't doing that. Second of all, and you know, the question was, you know, and we can answer it because I need to answer it anyway. I usually do try to answer them on the air and I just filter or bleep out any of the units. I don't want to burn anyone's spot, even if they are sending me the pins.

But it was like, hey, this looks really steep. We want to get five miles back. I've hunted the West, but I've never hunted terrain like this. You know, what's your advice? And I'd say, it's good to make a plan. Like I like the fact that you have a plan. I would just double the time that you're planning to execute that. Right? Like if your plan is to hike five miles into some nasty stuff and you want to hunt that afternoon, I'm going to say like, why don't you, you you're backpacking it anyway. Like your plan is backpacking. I'd say go in two miles.

Set up camp, hunt that evening, sleep, and then do the next two miles or three miles, right? Just take more time than you think, like an absurd amount of time. We had John Barclow from Knowledge from Storms on the podcast. And I think he's got probably one of the best lines I've ever said where he says, doesn't weigh anything. that's a good, mean, knowledge is free weight when you're in the back country. And he always said it's...

Chad Grauel (09:33.359)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (09:42.426)

I'm that.

Brian Krebs (09:50.324)

I think one kilometer per hour off trail and two kilometers per hour like on trail in the mountains in steep country. You start doing that like, you know, that's not much, right? I mean, that's like two thirds of a mile an hour. Most people are like, what do mean? I walk four miles an hour. Like we should be there, you know, before lunch. I'm like not, not off trail going up and over ridges. You know, so that's my, that's always been my advice.

Chad Grauel (10:03.908)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (10:15.364)

Well, and that's that yeah. And that's a big thing is that there's it's almost like you have to switch gears, right? When you're scouting, hiking, you're just trying to get to a spot to glass your height. You're, moving fast on trail when you're hunting, when you're hunting, it's every step. You don't know what's around the next bend. Right? So I, that's one thing I've had to like really hone in on, like my first few years of hunting out West. was like,

Brian Krebs (10:28.744)

Mm -hmm. Yeah, you're on a mission.

Chad Grauel (10:43.844)

let me get to that ridge and that's where they're going to be on that next drop. And I would be head down, just trucking it through and I'd burn elk would just blow out. And I'm like, man, if I would have had my head up, I was walking slow. I would have seen them possibly before they saw me, who knows, but I'm definitely not going to see them first. When I'm just trying to race through the woods to get to a spot where I want the elk to be the elk are where they are and you need to go where they are. You can't, the elk are never going to be where you want them to be. They're always going to be somewhere else, right?

Brian Krebs (11:05.345)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (11:13.012)

Yeah, you, it sounds like you've got that Randy Newberg line, LR, where you find them, right?

Chad Grauel (11:13.635)

And I've learned.

Chad Grauel (11:21.801)

yeah, the elk are where you find them, not where you want them to be or something like that.

Brian Krebs (11:24.938)

when they always fight over like their elk are either where you find them or you find them where they are and they kind of fight about it. But it's either way it's the same point like they're not where you want them to be. They're not where you drop that pin e -scouting. They might be on that mountain but you're like they're gonna be right here and then you you know you walk past a whole herd or two getting to that pin.

Chad Grauel (11:30.724)

Yeah, and that's,

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (11:44.176)

yeah. Yeah. If you're in the woods, you're hunting, right? So like the second you break out from camp in the morning, you're hunting whether, mean, I've had a few years back, there was guys that were, there was a guy that, you know, he was drinking a little heavy at camp and no one else was. So everybody got up early, headed out for a morning hunt. He was too hung over, didn't want to go, rolled out of bed at like 10 30 in the morning.

Brian Krebs (11:51.361)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (12:11.248)

walked out to a ridge that was maybe 200 yards away from camp and dropped a bull, right? Like they, as soon as you get in the woods, you're hunting. mean, the rest of us were like miles away and this guy only had to go 200 yards from camp, but it's one of those things where your mindset has to change, right? So it's right when you get in the woods, you got to realize you're hunting, walk slower, listen more. You know, it's not just let me get to that next ridge. Let me,

Brian Krebs (12:24.072)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (12:35.201)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (12:40.292)

do this, it's just listen. The woods are talking the whole time. know, birds are the biggest snitches. Like those guys will tell you what's anything's moving anywhere. Most of time they're letting everybody know where you're at, but you know, it's, fun to be out there, but you just take it slow and listen.

Brian Krebs (12:47.784)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (12:59.348)

Right, exactly. That's the key. I'm trying to find this comment because I forgot the gentleman's name, but I wanted to give him a shout out since they took the time to write in. let's see here. I don't know if I'm going to be able to pull this off as fast as I want to. I can't remember where they sent it in. There might have been an email too. But yeah, it's just I apologize. I think you know who you are.

But yeah, that's my advice is just take it slow. I think it's easy. It's easy to come up with hardcore plans when you're e -scouting. Right? You've been there. You're laughing, which means you've been there. You're like, this doesn't look that steep. And I can get from here to here to here to here to here. You know, I'll have this five miles hammered out before lunch. man, if it even looks like if you're saying it doesn't look that steep, it's way too steep or it's way steeper than you think.

Chad Grauel (13:38.872)

All the time.

Brian Krebs (13:58.592)

Right? You know, the only time I think of like, that's not too sleep is when it's like, that's flat. Okay. That's not going to be bad. Right? That's flat. I can do that. Right? Usually it's like, you know, yeah, this is a little spine ridge and it's that looks passable and it's usually steeper than you'd like it to be. And then you get into something, you're like, this kind of looks steep, but I really, need to, I need to tell myself it's not that bad because it's a real key part of the plan. Right? Is getting over that.

Those are the places when you're like, it's not that steep. It's really steep guys. So be prepared. Just that's my goal. Like it's cool to have plans. It's cool to have a pin marked five miles back in new terrain. I think that's great. I like having a plan. I'm just saying like, don't be afraid to take two days to get to where you're going, especially if you're already banking on backpack hunting, like go halfway, set up camp, hunt that evening. Maybe you don't have to go five miles in cause you found those elk at one or two. You know what I mean? And so take that time.

Chad Grauel (14:43.855)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (14:52.75)

Yeah, absolutely. That's, that's the other thing is if they're new to backpack hunting, the, the, the benefit and what a lot of people say is that backpack hunting is a, it's a night nighttime hunt and a daytime kill. Right? So if you're out there backpacking at night and you set up camp and you're in the woods, you're going to hear.

Brian Krebs (15:06.07)

freedom. Yeah. Yeah.

Chad Grauel (15:17.444)

Bugles at night, you're gonna hear it. And that benefits you so much. And it's not every night, right? But if the elk are fired up, you'll be out there and you'll know, okay, I heard bugles all night over in that draw over there. So when you wake up in the morning, you know to go that way. If you hike in one or two miles during the day and then go back to base camp and you're hanging out in your trailer and stuff.

Brian Krebs (15:25.696)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (15:40.394)

You might hear some eagles, you're not out there in the woods. So the next morning you come out, you don't know which draw to go to. You're hoping you can get something to fire off in the morning to give you a sign or locate. But other than that, you know, you don't really know. So you can go in two miles and sit there. And if you don't hear anything that night, okay, well, then you can move in another mile or, you know, maybe pick a different direction. But backpack hunting is really is beneficial because you're out there.

Brian Krebs (16:02.315)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (16:09.264)

all night and I mean the elk move around at night and the elk are always in my experience the elk are always where you don't want to go like the steepest deepest stuff yeah you're like you go you look down you're like that's a 1300 foot drop in like half a mile down into this thickest of stuff and you're just you don't want to do it but that's where the elk are gonna be you know and then it's they're not just hanging out off the top I mean everyone sees some YouTube videos of those

Brian Krebs (16:18.476)

They're never on the trailhead.

Brian Krebs (16:33.046)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (16:38.998)

opportunities that people get. And that's, that's a flash in a bottle. You know, that's just one, one opportunity that happened out of the millions that it's no, you're down in the deepest, thickest stuff that that's where they hang out because it's safe to them. They can hear anything come in. You know, I spent a lot of time hunting up in Northern Idaho and it's a young man's thing. is a, I'm usually the

Brian Krebs (17:05.3)

Ironically, that's where the comment was from was Northern Idaho the question. Yeah, they're like I'm going to this spot and they I didn't I didn't even want to tempt myself with actually pulling up their pins because I just like I don't know you might be like, this looks like a good spot and also now I'm stealing their spot, right? And so I just took the I took what they were saying between the lines, you know, I got a spot It's five miles in Northern Idaho. I know enough about nor I've hunted northern northwestern, Montana to know what Northern Idaho looks like, right?

Chad Grauel (17:08.45)

Really? Yeah.

Chad Grauel (17:34.457)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (17:35.37)

And I can answer your question based on that, you know, but yeah, that's, right. It's not it. Northern Idaho gets wicked. I mean, that is not the black Hills in South Dakota anymore. You're a long ways from home, Dorothy.

Chad Grauel (17:41.923)

It

No, that's, that is the Northern Idaho. And the thing is, I mean, I have a great group of guys that we hunt up there with. And some of the guys, you know, I was blessed to be brought into that camp with those guys that grew up hunting out there in Idaho. it's an amazing time, but man, those guys, it's a different breed. And those, mean, we have guys come from Minnesota, they're camping down the road and they're going to film. They're going to do this hunt. They're going to.

drop in on these elk, two days later, they're packing up. They're like, there's no elk here. This place sucks. And they're going to leave. You're like, we're going somewhere else. But it's, mean, that place is so thick that I can't tell you how many times I've had bulls within 20 yards and you don't even see them.

Brian Krebs (18:20.108)

You

Chad Grauel (18:34.382)

You just feel the bugles and you're just like, man, if you could just see something, you're moving around, your buddies behind you calling and they're right there in front of you the whole time and you just can't see them. But that's where they want to hang out, especially in Idaho where all the wolves are, you know.

Brian Krebs (18:37.258)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (18:49.208)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's some nasty terrain. And one thing I didn't mention, but I think it's important when people, think a lot of people spend 90 % of their planning on the hunt, right? And what I mean by that is that, this person's, they're looking at their plan and like, want to hunt this area. And they're trying to get five miles in and they're asking about, you know, how to do it.

I'm not saying you always have to plan for success. Like you could definitely just go on a hiking trip with an elk tag in your pocket and be like, eh, we're just going to hang out in the woods for seven days. But if you, if you remotely like serious about punching a tag and I think a lot of people are, well, I think a lot of people want to, some people don't care as much. Like I have people in our group that are like, this trip is about hanging out with my brothers in the mountains, like literal brothers, like, you know, same family.

Right? Like we don't see each other anymore. We all live in different towns. Like I don't give two flying ducks if we actually shoot an elk or not. I mean, I will if one steps out and we're going to try. But the point is the time with the family and that's fine. But if you're like, yeah, I want to go kill an elk. Okay. Well, you're thinking of your plan on how to get into five miles in this rugged terrain by yourself. Keep in mind, if your plan works, you're going to be trying to get an elk out. And that is a whole different.

Chad Grauel (19:59.694)

Right.

Brian Krebs (20:14.464)

game you're playing now. like, just don't forget about that, right? Like, doesn't mean you have to change your plan. Just make sure you're thinking about this. You know, you can't be hunting until last light on your last day, five miles back when you got to be at work tomorrow morning, you know, solo, you got to hunt your way out to you got to be like, all right, I got three days left. So I got to get a little bit closer to the road today and I got to get a little bit closer to the road tomorrow. And you know, the last day you're hunting a mile or two away from the road, because if you shoot a bowl, you got to get it out of there.

And no one's getting a bowl out from five miles back in northern Idaho in one trip.

Chad Grauel (20:49.9)

No, not even they'll take at least a day, maybe even two. If you're by yourself, I mean five miles, five miles. And it depends on what day you like, what time of day you shoot them, right? You, by the time you locate and you get them dressed and everything and quartered out your.

Brian Krebs (20:55.404)

Two probably. Yeah.

Brian Krebs (21:04.874)

Yeah, I mean, it's I'd say you're probably lucky to go out with a load and back in in, you know, in some of the rugged stuff in a day by yourself. Right. Like you're probably going to have what a hundred pound pack out. You're going to go slow. It's going to take you six hours to go five miles or more. You're going to take a break and then you're going to go back in and you know, you're like, OK, do I come back out? mean, my recommendation would be light and easy during the daylight if you're by yourself. Right.

Chad Grauel (21:15.693)

yeah.

Brian Krebs (21:34.316)

You don't want to be doing, you know, exhaustion, you know, middle of the night, super heavy solo. You twist the knee and man, now that's a whole different, you know, so just keep that in mind as well. When you like, think when people make plans, I think it's so exciting to make a bad ass plan on paper. I just, I don't know. I hear it a lot. Do you hear that a lot with people that are getting into it and they're like, Hey, I'm to do this 12 day backpack hunt. You know, what do you think? And then to me, I don't want to cut you out. I'll let you answer. But to me,

Chad Grauel (21:34.511)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (22:03.724)

that it's like that's the preamble, that's the intro, right? And then they asked me some super detailed question that I'm like, wait a second, we skipped like six phases here. they'll be like, and this was had this happened, a coworker came up to me and being, hey, I'm doing a 14 day backpack hunt, know, archery elk in Colorado. I got my spot, I got everything. And the question, I can't remember the details, but it was basically on par with like, do you prefer like a Jetboil or an MSR?

backpacking stove and I'm like, well, hold on. You're doing what you have. You ever hunted out West and they're like, no, I'm, this is like, I got everything planned out first time I'm doing it. You know, I'm like, I don't know how to handle that. I don't want to kill their buzz and I don't want to kill their mojo, but I also like, don't want to just like gaslight them into thinking like, yeah, go for it. You'll be great. Like, cause I know what's going to happen and you, you kind of alluded to it too. Right.

Chad Grauel (22:49.06)

Yeah, there's...

Chad Grauel (23:02.064)

Yeah, there's, well, there's, there's guys that, mean, what I think, what I have learned in my experiences is that you kind of, if you're going to be out for two weeks, right, you got to pace yourself, right? A lot of guys get out there day one, day two, they're putting five, 10 miles on, and they're trying to cover so much ground at one time that if you're out there for 14 days straight, nine out 10 guys are going to be hunting.

or just give up and not even last that 14, they're gonna back out if they're not finding elk every day, right? My experience is you wanna have a good solid base camp where you can refit if you're gonna be out for a few days. You also, you know, pace yourself on cover ground. If the elk aren't there, don't waste time there, right? I've learned that lesson that just because you want the elk to be there,

Brian Krebs (23:43.146)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (23:55.692)

If you're bugling and you're not seeing fresh sign, you're not putting eyes on hair or anything like that. Just go, don't waste your time. You have a limited amount of time. You just get out of there. Go check another drainage because you never know what's right around that corner. And there's times where we've had plans to, we're going to spike camp. We're going to drop in. We're going to set up and do a five day or

rainstorm comes, we're like, we'll wait till this rain blows out. So we go back to camp, right? A few hours goes by the storm settles and we were like, well, we're going to go a different way this afternoon and just check something out. went completely opposite way from camp by like six miles and started a little cow party. And within two hours, one of my buddies dropped a bull. And it was like, we, if we would have gone that other way, you never know.

Right. You make one decision that takes you that direction. One decision that takes you the other. You never know. You can always play the what ifs, but really you never know if you made the right or wrong decision. You don't know if you see me, you should have zag type thing. but it's pacing yourself is just go out there for a few days. Always make sure you give yourself a few days to rest. Right. Now, if you're only going to go out for like a four or five day hunt, yeah, you can probably push yourself the whole time on that.

Brian Krebs (24:56.118)

Right.

Chad Grauel (25:21.424)

But if you're talking 10 to 14 days, I mean, would say hunt hard for four or five rests for one. And by rest, it's like an active rest day, right? So you can still get out and hunt, but you're not going to be doing any heavy drop -ins. You're just sitting there. If anything, you're glassing, trying to locate something that day. And unless you got something that's just firing off that you're going to drop in on, there's really just give your body a rest. Cause then on those later days,

Brian Krebs (25:33.749)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (25:49.838)

You're going to have a better chance of if you do get something fired off, now you're not too tired to get down there. You're not too tired to make the best shot that you can make. You know, I think pacing yourself is a way to really, you know, doesn't matter how hard you train. You're out in the woods in the back country for that many days straight living off jet boil food. You're going to get weak. Like you're going to get tired. It doesn't matter. That's just me.

Brian Krebs (26:18.312)

Yeah, and that's what I struggle with, especially when people tell me they're doing it solo, right? You know, first trip out west, I got two weeks off, I'm doing a solo backpack hunt. know, I see Kayam Haynes, I see Aaron Snyder, I want to do that. And I don't know. I try to ask questions like, have you thought about this? Have you thought about that? You know, just to kind of gauge like how much they've really scrutinized this plan, not, know, themselves.

Chad Grauel (26:25.316)

you

Brian Krebs (26:48.618)

You know, I want them to do it. really do. But I know that it ain't going to work. being alone is not easy for most people, right? It, it, it's hard. Like go do a three dayer and see how messed up you are mentally, you know, by not, you know, truly alone. Like can't text home, can't text your buddies, can't check social media, can't, you can't do anything. You know, it,

Chad Grauel (26:59.044)

dude.

Chad Grauel (27:14.803)

yes, especially if you have a family, you know.

Brian Krebs (27:17.352)

Yeah, if you got kids too and now you're like, man, you know, kind of feel guilty leaving my wife with all the kids and you know, Timmy, you know, he was sick when I left and bawling his eyes out and yeah, you know, I should probably get back, you know, there's some things I could do at work and you know, I just, hate, don't want to, I don't want to rain on anyone's parade. I want them to go do it and I want them to be better than myself and actually, but I've done that to a degree. I've done like a seven day rifle hunt in the Alpine by myself.

And that was still base camp. Like I was still going to town every other day, you know, getting a subway sandwich. I got a hotel one night. But even that is like, you're still alone. Like these 30 ,000 people have no idea who you are and you don't know anyone is like, you can't, it's not like you're connecting with the gas station clerk when you get fuel, right? You know, you can't, you know, yeah, you can send one or two text messages home, but you're not sitting around texting. It's like, okay, you know, I'll get a response tomorrow when I come down, but.

Chad Grauel (28:05.791)

yeah.

Brian Krebs (28:15.828)

It's hard, you know, it's just really hard to be alone.

Chad Grauel (28:16.132)

You know, there, there are guys, there are guys like that though. There are guys that can go out for, you know, a week straight hunt hard every day and they enjoy the peace and quiet and they have no thoughts in their head to deal with. You know, like they, there are guys like that.

Brian Krebs (28:33.024)

But they, I think that's, I think it's a muscle. really do. I think, and I think there's genetics that play a role. I am not a genetically muscular dude. I have been lifting my whole life. I played football. You know, I don't get stronger fast. usually, you know, it takes everything I got to just kind of maintain. And if I can add a couple more bumpers every now and then it's like, okay, finally, right.

I'm not a strong dude. I don't have muscle genes. My wife is the opposite. I mean, like between how strong she is and all of my dislocated knees, we can share a barbell, like a squat rack a lot of times. It's, you know, it's really impressive for her and really sad for me. Right? But I can work on it and I can make progress. And I think the mind is the same way. think some people, like you said, are born that way. They love it.

Chad Grauel (29:19.557)

Dude.

Brian Krebs (29:26.604)

But they do it a lot and they probably did not start with a 14 day, right? They probably grew up, did a weekend with dad, did a three day, did a four day, you maybe they're in the military and they did a lot of stuff, a lot of training there and you know, maybe it's more used to, but it's a muscle and they use it all the time. And that's why they're good at it. And I think it's important for people, especially when they're new is to understand that like you didn't fail because you didn't make it 14 days, right? Like everyone starts somewhere.

Chad Grauel (29:32.111)

Right, right.

Chad Grauel (29:54.202)

Right.

Brian Krebs (29:56.51)

and you tested yourself, you found out where your limits are. And now you can go back and you can do the game plan. I would just, love to encourage people like, hey, start reel it in just a little bit. If things are going well, you can always, you know, go harder, but like start with a base camp. Do like one or two spike nights and then come back to base camp, then do two or three. And then, you know, maybe the last one you really found where you want to be. now you're going to go in for the last four or five. Right. I just, I want to, I want people to be, I want them to

Chad Grauel (30:17.114)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (30:25.47)

want to go back and I feel like when you try to sign up for something too brutal right out of the gate, you're like, I didn't really like that. I don't think I'm an elk hunter.

Chad Grauel (30:32.848)

Yeah. Well, I mean, there's, there's, it's so easy when you solo hunt. So I, I went solo hunting a few years ago for 14 days in Washington, over by Mount Adams. And I thought I had, I thought I had the game plan. wasn't even that I had planned to go solo, just things changed up my hunting partner. His dad flew in. They ended up hunting in Oregon. I'd already made my, taken my time off and everything. He had to use my PTO. So I went out there.

Brian Krebs (30:45.963)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (30:52.384)

Mm -hmm.

Chad Grauel (31:02.582)

The wife came out and hunted with me for a couple of days and she is a legit bad ass hunter. Like she's down more elk than I have in her lifetime. She is, she's a serious, like she will quarter and quarter everything and do everything on her own. She, I mean, she shot an elk last year in Northern Idaho, brought it back and she butchered that whole thing over like three days. Right. But she came out for a few days, under with me and left and I'm telling you,

I was out there for probably 10 days straight on my own. And it is so easy to get into your own head. I mean, and I was in the military, I was in second ranger battalion and I thought, you know, mentally tough, right? No, you get out there and it's like, man, if you, you're, you're not finding like, there was like four days straight where I didn't hear a bugle. I'm just like, man, what am I doing wrong?

started getting into my own head, started like, should I even go out? Maybe I need to rest a day. Am I really hunting that hard? I mean, it was, it's so easy to get in your head and start doing that when, you know, there's, there's pros and cons to hunting solo versus hunting with someone. Sometimes your hunting partner will talk you out of an idea that you had that would have worked, you know, like you're like, I want to go check that Ridge out. And then maybe you should have.

Brian Krebs (32:11.339)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (32:19.98)

Yeah, like that is too far. Like we've only got 30 minutes, man. Like let's do it tomorrow. Yeah.

Chad Grauel (32:23.824)

Yeah, they'll talk you out of something. But then also having someone there to bounce ideas off of is a real, mean, after 10 days, you're talking to trees, you know, just, Hey, what are we going to do? What, you know, it's like, have you seen anything? I didn't see anything. It's you want to, there's pros and cons to both. And like you said, there's, there's people that, that are, it's like, like you said, they're, they're just geared for it. And they started out, they've spent so much time in the back country. It's their second home.

Then there's these guys that day one, their first year of hunting, they're like, I'm going to go do a two week back country. It's like, no, you're not, man. You're not going to do it. That's not what you need to do. You need to take it easy and spend more time. You're going to learn a lot, but I doubt you're going to last 14 days. Right? I mean, I could be wrong and I hope that I'm am wrong, but it's, I've never seen it happen on a first time. One guy is just like, yep.

Brian Krebs (33:09.652)

No, right.

Brian Krebs (33:15.254)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (33:19.568)

Miss my first time hunting. I'm going solo. I'm going back for 14 days. You know, they come back within two.

Brian Krebs (33:25.258)

I think you could, I think there's an opportunity to do it. You know, new hunter with no prior, I would say like extreme uncomfort skills, or experience tough. I'd say like some of the stuff that you might've done, right? Could you, I could see that right where someone's like, you know, I was in the seals or this army Rangers and, know, I had, I was over

I you know something happened. I was basically you know doing my serious survival. You know for real right? I was by myself ten days trying to survive You know I could see that person being like yeah, I think I can do this and I'm like yeah You might be able to like you've done some stuff you've you know stress is relative right suck is relative to what you've done before that sucked and and if you've done some stuff that really sucked you might be able to pull but

Chad Grauel (34:10.479)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (34:18.892)

You know, a guy that's used to whitetail hunting and sleeping in his own bed with his girlfriend or his wife every night, it's hard. It's different. I don't want to like sugarcoat anything. It's difficult to be out there by yourself when you're just not used to being alone with your thoughts. You haven't fixed all the shit in your head yet.

Chad Grauel (34:38.154)

That's, that is, that is the worst. Cause you can train. Like I train a lot for hunting. I like physically I treat hunting. So in high school and stuff, I was in sports, right? And to me, I treat, I treat hunting like I do football, right? Or like I did football. So, know, you September, that's when football starts. That's when, you know, that's when hunting starts. So you want to be in prime. Yep.

Brian Krebs (34:51.274)

Mm -hmm.

Brian Krebs (35:02.312)

Mm -hmm. Yeah. You're doing those double headers in August, the conditioning, getting the muscle. Yeah.

Chad Grauel (35:07.8)

So you want to be in top shape in September. You get back from hunting, you you hunt say September, October, November, you get a couple of tags and you're busy through November, right? Well, then Thanksgiving hits, Christmas hits, you just need to recoup and let your body rest. It's perfect times, you got the holidays, right? So you can still stay a little bit active, you know, this is how I treat it. At least I'll stay active. I'll still go to the gym probably.

Brian Krebs (35:27.547)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (35:36.804)

twice a week, but I'm enjoying the holidays with my family. I've been gone a lot, so I'll enjoy the family time. And I'm not going to skimp out on the desserts and everything. I'm just enjoying myself. And then probably, I make it as pretty much a hard date, right around the day after the Super Bowl. So the Super Bowl is like the last two raw, where I'm like, OK, after the Super Bowl, no more junk food, no more.

Brian Krebs (36:03.978)

That's the last day we get chips and queso.

Chad Grauel (36:06.904)

Yep. That's it. Like after that, that's the last time I'm just throwing all caution to the wind. And then that Monday is when I start and I'll start doing, you know, getting back into it. So I work out three days a week. I'll do Monday, Wednesday, Fridays, and I'll do those. I use a Garmin and so I track my HRV status, which is a high, it's a really good indicator for stress and how your body's reacting to the stress. So I'll do those three days a week until my body's fully adjusted to that.

Brian Krebs (36:27.297)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (36:36.728)

and then I'll incorporate four days a week. So then I'll go Monday, Tuesday, rest Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And then by the time summer hits, I'm doing, you know, Monday, Tuesday, gym Wednesdays a run Thursday, Friday, gym Saturdays a run. And so then I'm full force. And then by the time like this time of year right now, I am dialed in physically and ready to go.

And then I'm just going to destroy my body in the woods for the next few months. Right. It's all that training is just going right out the drain. Like it, there's nothing, no matter what you do, there's nothing to prepare you for the mountains. Like it.

Brian Krebs (37:15.718)

Except being in the mountains, I think that is the only thing. And you you live there, so that's a huge leg up. Yeah, it's there's so many things that you can do to get better. And it all helps. It really does. But the mind is one of the hardest things to truly improve upon in the offseason for like that style of solo back country. Like, there's not a good way to do that.

Chad Grauel (37:17.688)

Yeah, that is.

Brian Krebs (37:42.444)

throughout the winter or the spring and the summer, other than doing, you know, getting out solo in the back country. And, you know, let's face it, most people aren't doing that, right? Most people aren't going out on like a snowshoeing five day, you know, back country trip in March, you know, so that's, it's hard. And, and there's a big difference, I think, between saying, God, this sucks to yourself on a 10 day hunt.

Chad Grauel (37:55.576)

Right.

Brian Krebs (38:07.702)

versus looking over at your buddy and being like, man, this sucks, doesn't it? And you're like, yeah, this does suck. Let's keep going. Right? mean, that's, well, it's the same, it could be the same exact suck, but when you got someone to look at and share it with, it just is different. Right? It's, you got that counterpart and that when you're solo and you're saying it to yourself, there is no smile that sweat dripping off the forehead grin looking back at you.

Chad Grauel (38:13.69)

But it's that fun suck, right?

Chad Grauel (38:24.688)

Right, you're 100%. 100%.

Brian Krebs (38:37.45)

Right? That you're like, yeah, he's feeling it too. Like this is kind of cool, but it does suck. You're by yourself. That's just like a downward spiral. Right? Like that. Yeah.

Chad Grauel (38:37.796)

Right. that's the...

Chad Grauel (38:48.616)

100%. That's the biggest thing. Like when you're that it's that that's that fun suck where, you know, the next year or for the rest of the year, you and your buddies are like, dude, we did that dumbest thing. And it's like, it's that worst. have a guy at camp up in Idaho. He has he hunts extremely hard. And there's two results to his hunts. One is every this is every day, every night at camp.

It's either we were so close in on these elk, was, you know, almost had a shot, da da da, or that was the worst idea ever. I never doing this again. I'm never dropping in there. That was the worst. You know, it's either the best or the worst. Right. It's, but that's because he's in there. But then if you're with him and you hunt on it, what hunt went to that day, it's like you, those memories are made. You can't make memories by yourself. Right.

Brian Krebs (39:28.588)

Just highest of highs, lowest of lows.

Brian Krebs (39:43.254)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (39:45.604)

But when like you're packing out an elk and everybody's sucking and falling over and it's just miserable that you look back at it and you have so you're just, everyone laughs about it. Right. But like you said, if you're by yourself, there's no one to look over to. You're just in your own head. Like, I'm, I'm an idiot. This, this, this sucks. Why am I out here? This is terrible. And it's so easy that that's like, you're talking about training for that. You know, I guess if

Brian Krebs (39:46.177)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (39:52.138)

Mm

Chad Grauel (40:14.106)

There's guys that could prep mentally if they were to go out and start scouting and just every go out for like an entire weekend, take a Friday off work, leave Thursday, go spend Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday in the woods all by themselves and start prepping and, and do a five mile hike in and just do that. Just a weekend camping by yourself. You know, it could, I think it would help you, especially if you're out there and

Brian Krebs (40:26.378)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (40:38.7)

certainly.

Chad Grauel (40:40.112)

You know, you're doing it, you know, every other weekend or something like that. And then 4th of July weekend, there's a lot of sacrifice in that because, know, it's one thing to sacrifice physically. like for, for myself, at least with my family, I go to the gym, I wake up and go to the gym at 4 a Right. Because my wife and kid are sleeping. And so I'm not that way. When I get home from work, I don't have to leave and go to the gym. When I come home from work, it's family time. So it's easy to sacrifice that.

Brian Krebs (41:05.994)

Yes.

Chad Grauel (41:09.796)

but to sacrifice your mental toughness, you would have to sacrifice more time with your family, right? So you'd be like, I'm not doing anything with you guys this weekend. I gotta go build mental toughness and roll out and go live in the woods for three or four days by yourself. And I think that's a hard part. Right, yeah, it's counterproductive then. So it's, mean, not everybody's David Goggins, right? Not everybody is just gonna...

Brian Krebs (41:27.264)

Yeah, it doesn't work if you bring them. Yeah.

Chad Grauel (41:38.468)

have that mentality of running out like that.

Brian Krebs (41:42.464)

Well, I kind of want to send the opposite message that most people aren't and that's okay. Like most people aren't Cam Haines. Most people aren't Aaron Snyder. Most people aren't David Goggins. And there's nothing wrong with that. Like that doesn't make you less bad ass. It doesn't diminish your experience. It doesn't make your hunt not cool enough for the Instagram. It's okay to base hunt. mean, I

Chad Grauel (41:48.314)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (41:55.619)

No.

Chad Grauel (42:04.4)

100%.

Brian Krebs (42:05.964)

I shot a 354 inch bowl that I'm super proud of. And then I went back to our Airbnb cabin and made mac and cheese. Cause I, that, that's, that was my cheat meal. Like I love mac and cheese that much that after a full summer of doing the scouting and the 4 a workouts and double headers. And I think I cut like 60 pounds that year, you know, and I, I got lean mean, you know, machine.

Chad Grauel (42:28.57)

Damn.

Brian Krebs (42:29.356)

and I had this once in a lifetime hunt, I'm like, I'm gonna make some motherfucking mac and cheese when I get this bowl back to, and you know what I mean? Like it was a sweet hunt, but that doesn't mean I was in the back country for 10 days, surviving off of elderberries and mountain ops, right? it's okay. Like you don't have to be Aaron Snyder. You don't have to be David Goggins to still have a cool hunt. You know, you don't have to go solo.

Chad Grauel (42:33.37)

You

Chad Grauel (42:38.084)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (42:52.256)

You don't like find a guy. It's that part gets really tough. I don't want to sugarcoat how easy it is to just find a partner to go out coming with because it's not easy. But you know, there's probably someone in your life, like if you are, if you truly are like someone that wants to out -cut, there's probably someone else in your life already, you know, because you kind of maybe grew up in a cunning culture and you have a buddy that also wants to out -cut. You either probably have that person or else you could probably find one, right? You start going to the archery shop.

start shooting leagues, talking to some people, you could probably find someone that does want to go. And that's a game changer too, if you can just share.

Chad Grauel (43:27.053)

You know what else is really, it's interesting you brought that up because what I found and it's been, it surprised me. So there's been a couple of times where I'm like a newbie, a new guy who's just in the archery. Like this year I told you I have two guys that I'm gonna be hunting with, right? Their passion, their drive is contagious to where they're just so.

Brian Krebs (43:43.606)

Mm -hmm.

Chad Grauel (43:55.424)

optimistic about it. Like they're like, I'm going in first day and I'm going to get one. And they're always willing to go to that extra rich. And they actually push me sometimes like when we're scouting, it's like, I'm like, yeah, I don't really think anything's good. Let's go check it out. Let's just go, you know, because they don't know any different from like that. But so we end up going right with the, actually push a little bit further. And so I don't, I don't know.

Brian Krebs (44:04.746)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (44:14.006)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (44:19.108)

There's you want to have a really good hunting buddy, right? Guy that reads you, knows you and understands how to hunt guy you can rely on and all that. But some of these guys that are new, they're so like just eager to learn that they're willing to do what sucks. Like you can tell them we got to drop in here and I have hunting buddies that are like, don't look at me. I'm not going down in there. You know, they're like, I'm not gonna, I'm not dropping it.

Brian Krebs (44:26.838)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (44:43.818)

Yeah, those are not the right ones that bring.

Chad Grauel (44:48.314)

Those, well, I mean, it's just that day. I'm like, dude, it's exhausting. We've dropped in every day. They're like, I'm just not feeling today. Maybe, you know, they just slept bad or whatever. They don't feel like dropping in. I'm like, all right, but these guys that are fresh, they don't know that suck yet. And they're so eager. Like that's part of hunting is that suck, right? Like experiencing that with someone, right? It's not part of like tree stand hunting.

Brian Krebs (45:10.528)

Yeah, well it's part of elk hunting. Antelope maybe not so much. Yeah. Yeah.

Chad Grauel (45:18.371)

But yeah, that's like there's there's so eager to drop in and like, man, like I really want to experience this and it's it's contagious because it makes me feel like, man, OK, let's go do this because I want to see what it's more of me wanting to see how they're going to react. But I'm like, yeah, let's go. Let's drop in because I'm telling you right now this is going to be the worst decision you've ever made. And they hated it. But you know, like they were like this sucked, but it was so fun to them because it's so new.

Brian Krebs (45:27.019)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (45:47.16)

And that's what I like that I actually do. I don't mind hunting with someone that they might not be the best hunter. We might not even be successful. But to me, it's that brotherhood of like, I'm getting experienced. This was some guy. It's his first time. These are memories he's always going to remember. I'm always going to remember. And whether it was successful or not, this guy now understands what it takes to like drop in and like, you know, it

Brian Krebs (45:50.155)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (46:16.196)

To me, it goes back to that original thing of like sharing those experiences with people and becoming an ambassador to that Western hunting, you or not just Western hunting, but just hunting in general.

Brian Krebs (46:27.124)

Yeah, yeah, I like that. sometimes you just got to do it. You got to learn on the way. I mean, no matter what, wisdom's not free, right? Somebody paid for it. If you listen really well, sometimes it can be really cheap, but it's not free. Someone paid for it. And I unfortunately probably don't listen very often to get it on the cheap on sale. I usually got to figure it out the hard way myself at least twice. And then I'm like, yeah, they were right.

Chad Grauel (46:36.485)

Right.

Chad Grauel (46:41.581)

You

Chad Grauel (46:54.5)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (46:56.242)

One thing I wanted to ask you about, and it kind of touches on this topic, kind of breaking in, know, breaking into hunting, breaking into Western hunting. A lot of people, they've got their camp, they've got their crew, they've got their guys, you know, we've got a group, our group's actually kind of big now. Sounds like you got a group in Iowa. want, or sorry, Idaho. I wanted to kind of get your thoughts on, on what someone can do, right? Cause it's hard to break into a group.

It's hard to break into hunting, you know, group sizes are kind of sensitive. They can be, you know, this spot's not that big or, know, we've got, you know, a lot of states, can only apply in certain size groups. Montana, it's five, Wyoming, it's six, Idaho. I don't know what the application is, but like the over the counter, it's very hard. So it's basically like, you know, everyone try to get a tag in this unit and we'll see who's got, you know, who's hunting this year, who's not. Either way, it's hard, right? And they're, they're not notorious for being open arms to new people.

Right? It's usually the opposite. Like, hey, I got a buddy. like, our group's already full. Sorry, guys. Right? Like, can't. But I do think that's it's it's not going to be easy, but I think there's ways you can do it. We've added people to our group over the years. I think a lot of groups have. Right. That's how you whoever you are in a group. Eventually, you got added somehow. It might have been your dad's group that you kind of got grandfathered in. Maybe it's buddies. Somehow you found a way into a group. So it's possible. And so I wanted to hear your thoughts on.

Chad Grauel (48:16.868)

Right.

Brian Krebs (48:23.212)

you know, what makes what can someone do to position themselves really well to get that invite? Right. You know, for example, if you come, man, I'd love to go out. Can I join you guys? Right. Like, you know nothing about me. I pretend we haven't been talking for 45 minutes. Right. You're like. I mean, that's an automatic no or not now, at least. Right. It's like, do you do count? Do you have a bow? Like, have you ever done it before? Do you work out?

Chad Grauel (48:47.696)

No.

Brian Krebs (48:52.78)

You know, maybe you're already taking visual cues like this guy's like 250 pounds overweight and we hike in five miles, right? Or flip sides like this. I don't know what this guy's story is, but he's jacked. Like he's ripped. He's thin. He's lean. You know, maybe we're at the gym. You've been watching him work out for the whole year and you're like that guy busted. I don't even know his name, but for some reason, like you're pulling information right off the bat, but you don't get that person a lot to go on. We're like, man, that sounds fun. Can I come?

Chad Grauel (49:21.828)

So yeah, so I think the like for the group that I told you, you know, I'm not part of that original group in Idaho. Those guys, actually, it was crazy how they formed a few years before I joined up with them. But one of their buddies is one of my really good friends and he asked and I actually met those guys through.

through him and we did some 3D shoots together. think if what I always tell guys that wanna join my group or wanna, like this year in Utah, I have a few buddies that they're new, they wanna get in. I've told all of them, I'm not even gonna talk to you until I see commitment.

Brian Krebs (49:48.128)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (50:09.39)

Right? Like you, can hit me up and say, yeah, can I come hunting with you? Well, how often have you shot your bow? Do you know how to help call? Have you been working on that? Have you, are you in shape or you, do you have the right gear? Like, and I'm not saying you need to have, you know, the most expensive gear, but are you self sustainable? Like, am I going to have to babysit you the whole time? It's just, I don't mind. in.

bringing people in because what's going to happen is, you know, people like in Idaho where it's really steep, nasty, thick stuff, those people weed themselves out, you know, and it's, they'll come out, say they hunt for a few days, they're, they're exhausted. They don't like it. They'll weed themselves out. Right. So I don't care. Cause they're not going to come back here because they hate where we're hunting. Right. They're like, this is just terrible hunting. We're not coming back. So I'm not worried about it.

Brian Krebs (50:52.256)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (51:00.395)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (51:02.692)

But there's, I have to see commitment. Like don't tell me that if you're not shooting your bow, like, and so I have guys that we just went to tack up here at a solitude and Brighton. These are guys that, you know, I'm watching them shoot. They're, they're fully committed. They just, they don't have any direction, but they're there, right? They're ready to go. And it's, they they've invested a lot of time. So I have no problem.

Brian Krebs (51:25.375)

Right.

Chad Grauel (51:30.786)

allowing someone into my camp like that because either they're going to work out or they're not because I actually prefer maybe I'm backwards from everybody like your typical guy. And I've learned that it's, better to have more than just one or two guys in, in hunting camp. If you're, if you've got eight guys in camp and you break off in pairs or six guys in camp, you break off in pairs, it actually helps you out because you're covering more ground. Right.

And so I can go check out this draw. This guy goes over to this draw and we split up in groups. Everybody has garments. So if someone gets a bull down, everybody just drops what they're doing the heads over to help them. Right. But you're covering ground. So then we come back to camp that night. There's a, there's a, like a report is put in and it's like, Hey, what'd you guys see? we didn't hear anything today. Okay. Well, no one needs to go over there for the next few days. Maybe they'll fire up later, but we're not going over there. Someone's like, we had eight bulls piping off in this game. Okay.

Brian Krebs (52:17.131)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (52:23.873)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (52:27.866)

Well, let's go check this out. We're not going to do it together, but maybe one guy drives around or hikes to one side. One guy group goes in on the other side, you know, it's or someone's like, I had really good success over here. I got really close. Okay. Let's not go over there. Let that place settle down for a few days before we drop back in, you know, and you also have to be with people that can, I've hunted with guys before where it was, it was, you know,

They're so almost taken it to where they're selfish. Like every day they want to be the shooter every day. And I mean, they're, standing behind you with the arrow knocked on. Like, dude, don't even be near me. Cause you know, there was a story, I don't know if you've heard about it, but there was a couple of guys in Washington that were best friends. And one of them, you know, they saw a bull run across the road. They jumped out together, knocked arrows and they were walking one behind the other.

Brian Krebs (53:04.352)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (53:28.292)

the guy in the front saw the bull stopped his buddy was looking off to the side and walked right into him and put the arrow right in his back. Right. There's and so that's the scenario is like, there's always one dedicated shooter. That's that one day case you were for the day and you can alternate from day to day or you know, however it's going to be, but you don't want it. You don't. Yeah.

Brian Krebs (53:49.1)

We do setups. Some days you get a magical day and you get 14 setups, right? And then the next day everything shuts up. You're like, well, shit, like that guy got 14 tries. He blew it every time. Right. Or who knows? I mean, we don't really blame people, but the thought is it's like, you know, that's why we do setups. Like, Hey, this setup you're on next up. I'm on. If you shoot a bull, like my brother's shot so many now that he usually just kind of calls for like the first two thirds of the week.

Chad Grauel (53:55.61)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (54:02.468)

Right.

Brian Krebs (54:18.048)

is he's like, shot a bunch of these things.

Chad Grauel (54:18.448)

You and you know, you can never, you never know. That's the joys of hunting. So my buddy, Eric, he's Eric Berglund, right? This guy, he won the world out calling championships in 2022. So I don't even know why I try to bugle around this guy, right? Because it's, it's pointless, but he, we were up there. We, we took the whole month of September off a few years ago and he,

Brian Krebs (54:25.365)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (54:37.11)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (54:47.472)

was hard set on getting me a bowl and calling in his first bowl like that. And he was hard set on it. And for 14 days straight, he called for me all day, every day. I never even carried a tube. And then the one day that someone called for him, he got his bowl. Like it was his one opportunity for 14 days. Dude, if anybody deserved a bowl that year, it was him.

Brian Krebs (55:07.269)

my gosh.

Hey, he put a lot of karma in the bank.

Chad Grauel (55:17.2)

You're talking 14 days straight of just following me around in the woods, locating elk, dropping in. I mean, nonstop, never a complaint. Just, Hey man, don't worry. We'll get them next time. You know, just constantly optimistic about it. And day 15, he was his turn and he capitalized on it it worked out for him. That's the karma. Like, so it doesn't matter if it's your day or if it's not your day, it's going to happen no matter what. Right? So you just,

Brian Krebs (55:31.681)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (55:47.62)

That's one of the things with the group of people, you got to be eager to help, not just eager to, I'm trying to get a bowl this year, but hey, I want to join the camp. You know, I've been working really hard and guys will see that guys will see if you're, know, you, you hang out with the guy and he's like, and that, comes down to, you know, the Hunter's also being open about, yeah, if you want to come to camp, you know, if you're trying to get on, you know, Hey, I want to go.

hang out and can't run a hunt with, you know, Aaron Snyder, he's probably gonna tell you no, because he's already got his stuff going. But if you find a guy, your neighbor, he's been hunting for four or five years and you see that he's got some bulls, if he sees you putting in the work all the time and you're constantly, you know, trying to get involved with stuff, not just, hey, can I come with you? But like, hey, just bought this, can you show me how this works? And like you show that commitment to the hunt.

They're going to be more eager. Hey, this guy's been talking to his camp. He's going to say, you know, this guy's been putting in a lot of work. You know, he's a good guy. I think we should give him a shot.

Brian Krebs (56:57.546)

Yeah, I like what you're saying and we kind of did the same thing over the years. And I just think you can do it. mean, anyone can do it. There's such a premium on good hunting partners. And that doesn't always mean like one guy is like, there's a perfect mix, right? Like a good hunting partner for Chad could be a drastically different person than a good hunting partner for me, right? But there's such a premium on good hunting partners that almost everyone

Unless it's just not a good person that you probably want to hunt with anyway, right? That they're always going to look for other people to add. And there's so many things about it. Like you said, we can scout faster, we can cover more ground. You know, it's, I would rather not pack bulls out by myself if I don't have to, right? Like I will gladly pack a quarter of years out knowing that when I shoot one, I don't have to pack all four quarters of mine out, right? That's a different level. And so there's such a good

you know, it's so valuable to have good hunting partners. And so if you can become that good hunting partner, you can get into groups like you people will want to bring you on board, right? They will be like in so the groups like, you know, hey, Chad's like, Hey, I got I know this guy's from Minnesota. name is Brian. He's kind of weird. He's got a beard, but dude, he's a killer. Not to you know, this is a different Brian.

They get the dudes jacked, runs ultra marathons, he's, you know, he lifts, he's, you know, he can squat an entire bull elk. He's packed them out before he's, or maybe he's never elk hunted before, but I've, I've done, you know, I've met them here, there, the other place. Like, you know, this dude's going to help. Like this dude's going to lift up, you know, the rising tide lifts all the boats. Like this dude's going to bring up the group average in some way, shape or form. It might be with jokes. It might, he's a phenomenal cook. He's bringing out all the food. He's

Chad Grauel (58:40.986)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (58:46.198)

you he's bringing his horses, you know, whatever it is, this dude's going to help us out. That's how you get in. I think you just got to lead with that value. And if, if you've been hunting your whole life, maybe that looks different. If you're new to it, maybe it's like, Hey, this guy's new to hunting. He's never called an elk before, but you know, he's been sending me videos of him, you know, is this the right call? And you know, and doing all that stuff. He's like, he's, he's actually pretty good. Like he, he went down, he took that, you know, that excitement that you talked about that, that, like that eagerness that just like,

Chad Grauel (59:07.109)

Yep.

Brian Krebs (59:15.756)

blind enthusiasm and he listens to 16 hours of Corey Jacobson a week and he's pretty good. He can call and he's been working his tail off in the gym like this dude can pack some elk. Let's give him a chance. Let's see what happens. He never know but I think when you do those types of things, you lead with value, bring something to the table. I think it's a lot easier to get in some of these groups that you run into, a neighbor, a church member, something.

Chad Grauel (59:44.368)

Right, 100%.

Brian Krebs (59:44.522)

And that's how I think you can really turn the tide in your favor of like trying to get out. might take some time. mean, the point rotations and drawing and you know, it might not happen this year, but that doesn't mean you can't start, you know, start working.

Chad Grauel (59:59.108)

Yeah, I think it's something that, you said, bringing that value and there's so many different ways you could be, you know, a really good shot. Maybe you, maybe you're really good at working on bows, right? The guys want to have that. Or like you said, like my, some of my ends is my wife is a phenomenal cook and she will make, she'll create an entire.

chest full of meals, right? So anytime that I go hunting with anybody, have gourmet meals set up that you just throw them on the, on the, you know, Blackstone and you're good to go. Right. there there's that there's maybe you have, you know, you're like you said, really good at calling or anything. There there's so many different things like you're you're in shape. You're eager to drop in. You're really quiet in the woods. You know how to be really quiet and patient.

You have that blind enthusiasm where, you know, if everyone else wants, doesn't want to drop in, you're the one that's like, yeah, I'm willing to go wherever, whenever doesn't matter. You know, like it's not about having the best gear. It's not about having money or anything like that. You want to bring that value and it's what can you bring that they're missing or that they want more of, you know?

Brian Krebs (01:00:49.078)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (01:01:15.776)

Yeah, we had a buddy in our group and I don't want to name drop him, but he is, he was a later addition. think he was, you know, the core group. was a brother of someone in the core group, you know, so three, four years down the road, he starts like hearing about his brother's elk hunts. He's like, I kind want to do that. He went through all the foops and phases and he grew up hunting and, know, eventually he worked out. We added them to the group and you know how, when like you're talking to your buddies and on like a plan, you're like, I think we should run up here and go do this and that. And you know, that.

to run over here and check this out. That's common thing to say, right? And, you know, maybe I'll say like, what do you think that meant? Like, we're just going to kind of go that way with maybe a little urgency, right? Like, he like takes his like, okay, and just runs straight up the mountain. Like literally running like rock. I'm like, holy shit. And I just looked at his brother and we like looked up at him. He's gone, like hundreds of yards ahead of us. Like he took off running.

Chad Grauel (01:01:58.734)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (01:02:15.668)

Not jogging, not quite sprinting, but running. And so we finally catch up to him and we're like, okay. I mean, there was elk in the area. Like it was good to be urgent. So we were like, okay, maybe it's just really eager. Right. Well, then we get into the setup and I can't remember all the details, but the herd kind of blew and now we're like in the herd and the herds around us and, they're moving and, and so we're like, Hey, we gotta run up there and get set up again. And so he just takes off running again.

Like he's just like, okay, you tell me to run, I'll run. How fast? And all of sudden he's running and he looks beside him and there's like cows and calves running with him. Like he's part of the herd now just running along, looking at it. And we just, and you know, was his first year elk hunting with us and we're like, hey, you know, like we don't actually have to run. Like we just got to like kind of move. Like, cause there's a point, like you can't just run everywhere. Then you can't breathe and you're trying to shoot, right? Like that.

You gotta maintain your heart rate. And he is in the military, he's a phenomenal athlete, like the dude just does not stop. And maybe that's just his sense of humor. yeah, he's just like, we're like, hey, let's run up there. And it was literally like, you tell me to jump, I'm just gonna say how high, right? And he just takes off and I'm like, this is the kind of dude you want in your group, right?

Chad Grauel (01:03:31.342)

Yeah, we have we have guys like that that some are just mountain goats. Like, I mean, dude, you there's no way you're keeping up with them, you know? And it's like, man, this guy, you know, he's gonna be good for packing, but he just leaves you in the dust, you know, all the time. And you're just like,

Brian Krebs (01:03:36.747)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (01:03:49.77)

There's a... go ahead.

Chad Grauel (01:03:53.232)

No, no, I was just saying it's just those guys are just, you know, they just take off and you're like the bigger guys, you know, I'm, I'm like 225, right? And I got my buddy Eric, he's, you know, run around like 250 and the bigger guys like that. And you get these guys are like a buck 75 and they just fly up a hill. You know, like, man, like you wish you could have that, but those are the guys that are going to be packing out forever.

Brian Krebs (01:04:18.796)

Like 62175 is like a dangerous elk hunting partner. That dude just does not stop walking. Yeah, I'm like the 62275 and so I can throw two quarters on me and it barely even is like a double digit percentage of increased weight, right? I mean, I just, I can pack weight. That's my go -to. Like I'm not a mountain goat, I'm a mule.

Chad Grauel (01:04:23.76)

Those, yeah. Those are the guys that will kill you trying to hunt elk. Man.

Chad Grauel (01:04:41.976)

Right.

Chad Grauel (01:04:47.375)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (01:04:48.544)

But yeah, no, we have a, will throw this guy under the bus, Stephen Walker. He's a, he's a repeat offender on the podcast. Great friend. He lives in Colorado. He shed hunts. I think he does like hundreds of miles a year shed hunting and then probably another couple hundred miles a year, you know, elk hunting. And he just lives in the mountains. He's a big dude. Nothing's crazy. Nothing. You know, he's not David Goggins. He's not, you know, Ronnie Coleman. He's just a guy just to, you know, about my size.

About my height. He's not as heavy as I am and we go shed hunting with them and then I'm like, hey I think this like we're looking at Colorado this year. This might be the unit we want to hunt, you know with points of stuff He's like, hey, I'm telling you he's from Hughes, Virginia from Louisiana. I'm telling you it's a good area around here And if you guys come out this way, I'll come out and hunt with you. And so I'm like, sweet So we do that first day shows us around and we get hunting

And he's like, yeah, if it were me, I'd dive down here and go up there. And so we kind of do his plan. Like he knows everything. And I can't keep up with them. The guy that I'm hunting with, who's one of the brothers that's just a fitness freak also like can barely keep up with them. And he's really respectful and he'll wait for us and everything. And then we start hunting and he's like, man, I wish I could hike like I used to, but I got COVID like six months ago. My lungs still aren't.

I'm like, you just buried me for four straight hours. Well, then we're trying to climb out of this hole at night. mean, some of our guys are like riding the red line, like seriously riding the red line. Like, hey, let's slow down. Like, I don't want you to, you know, I don't want you to die. Right. And one of the guys fell in the river trying to cross it, so his boots are wet and he's really good and he's really fit. He's like, hey, guys, like.

I don't want to be a dick, but like I'm, think I'm to go like faster because I, want to get these boots off. I want to get the water out of them. I want them to start drying off. It's day one, right? Like he, his boots are soaked day one. So I'm to go a little bit faster up to the truck. So he takes off and Steven, like he can tell he's first now in line and he, you can tell he's, he's like wanting to, he's like a puppy that wants that treat that you left on the counter, but he knows he shouldn't, but he's sniffing it, right? He's like, how close can I get? We can end. So eventually, you know, maybe 20 minutes go by.

Brian Krebs (01:07:07.436)

And we're like, Steven, man, if you want to go, like, if you want to go catch up to him, like you, like, don't, don't wait for us. We'll get there, you know, just hang out in the truck. Here's where the keys are. So he's like, all right. And just runs straight up this mountain switchbacks and it's dark. So we can see his headlamp. Like he ran the whole way to catch up to the guy that left. Right. Well, then later on the next day we hear the story. He's like, yeah, did you guys know Steven ran all the way up to me? Like I was like 500 yards.

uphill from you guys. And we're like, yeah, we saw that. Like we could see his headlight. He's like, he didn't even stop talking. He didn't rest. He just ran up to me and just started blah, blah, blah, blah. Like he just started going again. Like he didn't even need a break. I couldn't even keep up with them. I'm like, he's talking the whole time. I can't even catch my breath.

Chad Grauel (01:07:57.2)

Dude, there's guys like that, man. And I don't know if it's just being the bigger guy and stuff, but man, you just gotta catch your breath. And it's been changing. So I live right at like 5 ,500 feet. And so I moved here a couple of years ago from Washington, where I was at like 600 feet elevation. just walking up my hill when I first got out here was a struggle at best.

Brian Krebs (01:08:12.235)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (01:08:25.712)

It was hard and now I'm getting used to it and it's, good, but now I'm going be hunting at like 9 ,000 feet elevation instead of, you know, an Idaho I'm at like 5 ,500. So I'm still going to suck. it's.

Brian Krebs (01:08:38.764)

Yeah, and that's the one thing he also lives at. think it's like he lives in Colorado, but then up in the Moen, like he lives on the Moen. I don't know how high it is, but you know, it could easily be that 5 ,000 feet or maybe even higher. All I remember is he would say like, I just live like 15 minutes outside of this town, right? Well, that's where his driveway starts.

He doesn't include the 45 minute driveway when he talks about like how far away his house is. Right? Because it's like a regular old shitty mountain road for 45 minutes. Like potholes. He's like, didn't he tell us it was 15 minutes from the restaurant? I'm like, yeah, he did tell us that. And it's like, isn't that where we left the tar? And I'm like, yup, that was exactly when we left the tar. He just didn't include his driveway that was like three and a half miles up into the mountain.

Chad Grauel (01:09:33.57)

Really? Yeah.

Brian Krebs (01:09:34.44)

Yeah, it's hilarious. He's like, well, it's not always this bad.

Chad Grauel (01:09:40.634)

Yeah, there's that. That's I don't know. Like I think with, that hunting stuff, I everyone brings something to the table. You don't have to be the fastest guy. You know that we have a guy at camp that he is just, he's, he's pretty lazy as far as like, he's not, he's a good hunter, really good hunter, but he's not, he'll be the guy that's like, I'm not dropping in down there. I'll see you guys back at camp and he'll, he'll head back and pour a glass of whiskey. Right? Like he's, he's maximum effort. Right.

But he, he's definitely like the life of the camp. Like he is the, yeah, dude, but he is so funny. Everybody. mean, I hunted with him a lot last year. We paired up a lot because what we'll kind of rotate guys in and out and him and I hunted a lot together and dude, there's not a dull moment with this guy. Like he, he was there. He was trying to record when I shot my bowl last year and

Brian Krebs (01:10:10.848)

You

Brian Krebs (01:10:17.548)

That's because he's half tuned up by the time you get there.

Brian Krebs (01:10:28.672)

Chad Grauel (01:10:39.128)

He was recording with the phone. He was shaking worse than I did. You know, like we're trying to like play the video back. Yeah, it's just shaking the whole time. Like who recorded this? This guy got Parkinson's, you know, he's just shaking the whole time. He's like, yeah, it was just, it was, but he's one those guys that like, it doesn't matter. That guy is just you, one of those guys. It doesn't matter how hard he wants to hunt or not. Like you just want him at camp because he's so fun to have, you know,

Brian Krebs (01:10:42.636)

Check it out. I got it on film.

Brian Krebs (01:10:48.972)

Take an edible, Timmy.

Brian Krebs (01:11:07.434)

Yeah, and I think that's important to kind of stay too. Like you don't have to be an Olympian to be a value to the camp, right? Like you can don't impede someone else's hunt. But you know, if you want to say like, dude, I'm just not I can't do it like I I can't go in there and hunt the way you want to hunt or I'm not. I don't want to, but you should or you two guys go in there, but don't I'm not going to hold you back like I'm going to be here if you shoot one. I'll come in.

you guys go in there like that that's okay like you don't have to be if you go like if you're going all the way cross country with two guys then you kind of do have to be able to go everywhere together right like that's the plan but no kind of style like where people kind of just hunt on their own sometimes hunt together sometimes it's like it's okay to say like I'm gonna I'm gonna hang back today we've had that too we've had a guy life of the party not didn't really care to be the fittest in the in the party and

Chad Grauel (01:11:45.17)

Right.

Brian Krebs (01:12:04.044)

did not break in his boots, did not get new boots, got two massive blisters on both ankles, like half dollar blisters. And so the last day he's like, I'm not going guys, like you guys go in there and kill him, right? And it was fine, the other three went in, my brother shot a bowl 530 in the evening on the last night and they're like, we gotta leave in the morning.

Not like we got to break down camp and kind of start packing up. Maybe we can hunt for a few hours. It's like, we got to go. We got to hunt. We had to be at work at 8 AM the next day and it's a full day drive home. Right. And so one guy comes back to camp, you know, seven 30, eight o 'clock at night, the bonfires go in. He's wearing Crocs all day because he can't put his boots on. Right. Cause of those blisters to get the pack frames. Dean shot a bowl, you know, sure enough, he puts, I think this, I think that I wasn't there, but I think the story was.

He slammed the rest of his drink and then put his boots on and went in and packed that sucker out, you know? And so it's like, that's, those are the, you know, everyone brings their own things to the table. Just bring something, you know, have something you can put on the table and be like, this is my contribution to the team.

Chad Grauel (01:13:10.52)

yeah.

Chad Grauel (01:13:14.798)

Yeah. And, and that guy is he's, he's a stud. Like he, he's a great guy to have around. He always keeps camp. You know, the morale is always up. He's always got something just, and it's just natural for him to everyone's laughing and having a good time around him there, but he can be a bad influence. You know, there was, there was a couple of years ago where we were sitting there and he's like, you know, tomorrow was supposed to rain. Let's just have some drinks tonight. Him and I ended up finishing off this fifth and

Brian Krebs (01:13:33.792)

Yeah

Chad Grauel (01:13:44.504)

The next day they're like, we're going hunting. So we ended up splitting off and the two guys are like, we're dropping down in and him and I were like, we weren't feeling it right. We're like, we're just going to go over here on this ridge and we're like, there's something over here. We went down the ridge a little bit, the bull stopped talking. So we were just like, you know what? Let's lay down. We'll just sit there and be quiet. So we lay down, I'm laying there and I'm

just I don't drink like that. This guy, he's like, it's another day, you know, me, I'm, I'm smoked, right? And like, you're such a bad influence dude. was like, shouldn't have done that. I'm laying there. I was like, you know what? Just leave me here tonight. And cause it was like a two mile hike back to the quads. And I was like, you just, I'm just going to stay here and you guys come get me in the morning. And then like 10 minutes later, I get the Garmin. It's like bull down. It's like, no.

Brian Krebs (01:14:17.062)

Yeah

Chad Grauel (01:14:37.594)

That's the worst. So we had to pack. It's like, was like, Dylan, I'm never drinking with you again. Like that, like we got hammered that night. And then, yeah, I was like, ended up packing out a bowl. That's that next day hung over. And it was just a gnarly pack out. Cause by the time, I mean, we got clipped out, we were hiking up. There wasn't a flat spot to stand on that entire pack out.

Brian Krebs (01:14:38.028)

Lord, why are you doing this to me?

Chad Grauel (01:15:03.28)

And we got split up as we were cutting through the woods. So two guys. All you can see is headlamps, like 100 yards over there. And my buddy and I are hiking up this way and I'm following him. And all of a sudden we just come to this like 12 foot cliff. And we're like, dude, if I fall backwards right now, it's I'm not I'm rolling at least 200 yards like this is not going to be good. And so we actually scaled that cliff up. I don't know.

It was so sketchy because I, you know, everyone's kind of a mess when you're trying to pack stuff out. Cause I was hauling a quarter and two bows in my hands. I guess the other guy in front of me, he had like neck meat or a front shoulder, and then he had the head. So it was just, everybody's just sucking wind and hating it. But when we got back to camp, everybody was happy. Dylan's like, let's have a celebratory drink. And like, I'm not touching it. Like that was the worst idea.

Brian Krebs (01:15:44.886)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (01:15:56.574)

And you're just over there,

Chad Grauel (01:15:58.536)

Yeah, dude, it was not for me. mean, but that's the thing is like, you know, that that's what builds those memories and that brotherhood is like, you always remember that stuff, you know.

Brian Krebs (01:16:09.952)

Yeah, that does sound, that's hilarious. I love that guy. just saw, I think it was a TikTok actually, it looked like it was the same, sound like the same dude, or there's like two guys at the liquor store, and they're like, you guys, you find something? And he's like, I think this fifth of makers better, will cheat us right? And then the other guy's like, well, how about this half gallon? He's like, David, what the fuck? And he's like, what? thought you wanted to sit around by the fire and have a drink. And I said, yeah, sit around the fire, not fall on the fucking fire.

Chad Grauel (01:16:30.138)

Dude, you...

Chad Grauel (01:16:36.048)

You have no idea that that guy in that video I sent that exact reel to the group thread and I was like this is yeah I was like this is Dylan I was like 100 % because he looks just like that got the mullet and the mustache and everything I was like dude that is him 100 % dude I sent that to the group thread and said this is him and everyone's laughing about it yeah that's yeah that's those are those are the good times that that's

Brian Krebs (01:16:39.254)

You

you saw it too? Daryl what the fuck?

Brian Krebs (01:16:50.796)

Yeah, sit around the fire, not fall in the fucking fire.

Brian Krebs (01:17:00.256)

Ha ha ha!

Chad Grauel (01:17:05.84)

That's why I think it's, you know, if you're going to go hunting and you want to go solo more power to you, but I have more fun. Like if I'm not going to be successful, honey, I'd rather at least have the memories to go with it. You know, like, yeah, honey, I didn't have anything, but dude, I had a great time with these guys. I'd rather have that rather than I didn't see anything and I didn't see anyone for 14 days and it was miserable. You know, I'd rather

Brian Krebs (01:17:21.14)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (01:17:33.728)

Yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you. I will gladly trade a couple points of success rate for those laughs around the bonfire and the memories.

Chad Grauel (01:17:34.872)

rather have the group.

Chad Grauel (01:17:44.912)

Yeah, 100%. That's if you can find a happy medium in there somewhere.

Brian Krebs (01:17:46.582)

I'm not gonna trade them all, but I'll trade a few of them.

Brian Krebs (01:17:53.26)

Yeah, I don't really need to be more successful than 20%, right?

Chad Grauel (01:17:57.454)

Right. This. Yeah. No, it's, it's, it's good though. I think that, I don't know if there's going to be like what we were talking about earlier with the hunting with guys, man, I, I would encourage people that have groups or have experience hunting to establish groups or get, you know, be more open to getting guys out there. I think it's, it's a big thing. That's not really encouraged a lot.

Brian Krebs (01:18:20.225)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (01:18:26.478)

and it should be. Now it's not saying every every Tom, Dick and Harry deserves to be in the group, right? It's just if you see a guy that's putting in the work, there was a point in time where you were that guy putting in the work, earning your spot. And I think it's, you know, sometimes you're like, this is this is my area. It's like there's elk and there's more public land than you could ever walk in your entire life. So, you know, it's having another guy is not going to make or break your house.

Brian Krebs (01:18:32.671)

No.

Brian Krebs (01:18:36.075)

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (01:18:56.418)

If you're good at hunting, they're not going to make or break it.

Brian Krebs (01:19:00.492)

Yeah. And, you know, just being open and willing to take someone new. the, mean, I kind of, I see why some people want to say that, right? Like, yeah, there is pressure and it's a bummer when there's 19 trucks at your trailhead. And I get it. I do. And I, I've been there and I will also throw a couple of new French words out every now and then when my spot gets too overcrowded. But, but I also like, as far as things that people do in their free time,

Chad Grauel (01:19:21.968)

for sure. 100%.

Brian Krebs (01:19:31.124)

I think I want more people to be chasing elk, right? Like I want more people on my team. I'd rather that than, you know, I don't really care what you guys do with your free time. As long as it's legal and ethical, if you want to be the world's biggest video game, Fortniter, I don't care, go for it. But the person that wants to, you know, try to get into hunting and be an elk hunter, I share a lot more ground with that guy or girl, right?

Chad Grauel (01:19:55.888)

Yeah, 100%.

Brian Krebs (01:19:55.978)

And when stuff comes up, I like having more people on my team when we're talking about whether or not to transfer public lands or whether or not we should, you know, outlaw hunting in Colorado or all these topics. It's like, I, I, could use a couple more teammates and the only way you can really get more teammates is, you know, helping them out along the way, right? You can't just ask for their help when you need it. You got to be able to give someone they need it to.

Chad Grauel (01:20:18.18)

Yeah. And I don't have any problem. I find happiness in other success as well. Right. It doesn't matter if I shot the bowl or my buddy shot the bowl. To me, it doesn't matter. Right. Just sharing that experience and finding success and building those memories that I feel like some people are just like, like there's guys that you'll drive by a hunting camp where they see a bowl in the back of your truck. They're pissy. Like

Brian Krebs (01:20:46.836)

Yeah, those guys shot. Yeah.

Chad Grauel (01:20:47.156)

They're not happy. It's like, dude, you should be congratulating them. Success, we're all in this together. So why does it matter if you get one or I get one? Next year, if you get one and I don't, everything happens, guys, even on hunting pages, right? If they don't draw a tag.

Brian Krebs (01:20:52.17)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (01:21:07.265)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (01:21:08.922)

They're upset about it because they didn't draw a tag. The system's rigged. I haven't drawn. It's like, dude, just be happy for the guys that did, you know? And I, I posted a thing in one of the pages where I was like, I didn't draw a tag this year. So best of luck to everybody. Godspeed on your hunts. Like I hope you find success, you know? And everyone's like, that's the most adult thing that's been said because there's so many people that are just pissy about stuff. And it's like, dude, like.

Brian Krebs (01:21:12.884)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (01:21:17.483)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (01:21:27.798)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (01:21:36.576)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (01:21:36.878)

I get it. There's only so many September's in the man's life, but you, you can't, why would you wish someone else to not be successful? Why would you even put that in you, you know, to like have that in your head, just hope that they do as good as you. Like there's more, there's enough food for everybody to eat, right? It's, I want everyone to be successful and I want a guy that's new. I'd love to be there for the first time he shoots a bull, you know, it's, it's like, dude, like,

Brian Krebs (01:21:48.545)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (01:22:06.478)

That's a, if you're such a good hunter, would you not want to teach someone everything that you know? And then they become successful. And that's like, that's like a stripe on your chest, you know, like, dude, I just, I just taught this guy so much and he became a successful hunter. And I take pride in that, you know, helping people become successful. I don't take pride in.

I don't know how anyone could take pride in being like, well, that guy shot one. He doesn't deserve that bull. He's only been hunting for two years. I've been doing this for 15 or you know what I mean? Like that bitterness, that, that pettiness is.

Brian Krebs (01:22:45.536)

Yeah, that is, and it's so transparent. Everyone knows what you're doing. And I think Rogan said it good in a podcast, it's like everyone knows what you're doing. It's a sign of weakness on your own part. And everyone sees it, except you. If I was like, hey, Chad, these assholes down the road, they shot a bull. What you're thinking is not about those assholes. You're like, why does this guy care? What's this dude's problem?

Chad Grauel (01:22:52.803)

Mm

Chad Grauel (01:23:00.111)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (01:23:13.818)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (01:23:14.048)

Good for those guys, right? Like you see right through it. You always do. Everyone always sees right through it. Right. It's just. Yeah. Yeah. I'd rather be, I'd rather them out here shooting that bowl than doing a whole host of other things they could have been doing in town that are not helping our community or not helping the town or their country or, you know.

Chad Grauel (01:23:19.48)

Yeah, you should be happy for others success.

Chad Grauel (01:23:36.484)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (01:23:36.53)

Spilling up to the bar drinking all night and then running someone off the road on the way There's a million things I could have been doing that are way worse I'm glad they're out here chasing elk because that's also what I love and now we have something

Yeah, I agree 100 % not a better way to end the podcast go out and help someone else

Chad Grauel (01:23:54.436)

Yeah, definitely take the initiative, man. If you're good at hunting and it's your passion, share that passion with someone. If there's someone that's interested in it, you know, just share it with them. Teach them that. Like you said, knowledge isn't free. Any knowledge that you've had to cash in, you can hand off to someone else.

Brian Krebs (01:24:05.078)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (01:24:14.538)

Yeah, no, it's, Imagine helping someone feel like you'd make a change in their life forever. And that's something you can really be proud on. Like, yeah, I got shot a bunch of bulls, but I taught a lot of people, you know, and changed their lives forever. That's some powerful stuff.

Chad Grauel (01:24:32.804)

Yeah, I think like if your legacy is and I'm going to say legacy, I don't know if that's the right word. But when people remember you, they remember you as someone that shot a bunch of big bulls or there's a bunch of people that remember you as you. I learned from this guy and he taught me these. He's the one that got me into this. You know, you don't like it and use campaigns. For an example, so many people.

Brian Krebs (01:24:54.656)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (01:25:00.748)

aren't remembering cam for all the bullseye shot. A lot of people know cam Hanes as the guy that got them into archery. know, exactly. You know, it's.

Brian Krebs (01:25:09.258)

Yeah, or fitness or you know, that's the guy that I got inspired to go change my life and go for a run and you know, quit, you know, eating out fast food every night and that, you know, changed my life. Wouldn't be alive today. I would have died three years ago or whatever. You know what I mean?

Chad Grauel (01:25:22.372)

Yeah.

Yeah, it's no one, he will be the first to say, it's not about all the bulls, right? He's inspired so many people, not from the bulls that he shot, but by all the other stuff that he does. And that's, you can do the same thing. He has a contagious attitude about him. I've hung out with him a few times and it's contagious and he's just a great guy. He doesn't ever sit there and...

Brian Krebs (01:25:35.488)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (01:25:48.792)

like rest on his accolades of, I shot this bull and I shot that bull. He doesn't even mention those. He's just like, yeah, man, like so many people he's changed their lives just by inspiring them, you know.

Brian Krebs (01:25:59.542)

Yeah. Hopefully, hopefully one day I'd love to inspire a fraction of the people he's inspired. Yeah, that'd be a good life.

Chad Grauel (01:26:05.712)

Right? That's it is. Yeah. Just got to get out there and start putting in the work, man. That's all. That's all anybody's got to do is you're doing this right now. This podcast is great. You know, you know, it's in.

Brian Krebs (01:26:17.472)

Yeah, yeah, hopefully we can hopefully we can keep helping people out keep answering their questions keep showing them the ropes. I don't think I'm gonna be sending anyone pins but we'll see. Maybe I'll get to a point where I'm like, you guys can have all my pins.

Chad Grauel (01:26:26.255)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (01:26:34.51)

Yeah, it's, it's, you can help them out. Just, Hey, you know, like I said, at the beginning of the podcast, like I'm out, know, if you see someone online and you see them doing something, it doesn't mean troll them, dude. can give constructive criticism, you know, you don't have to just do your, your shit bag. You don't know how to shoot or that's terrible for him. You know, they never say that to never say that to the women, right? There's a girl shooting a bow.

Brian Krebs (01:26:47.264)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (01:26:54.08)

I did that.

Chad Grauel (01:26:58.96)

She gets a million likes and everyone no no critics whatsoever. You could have a guy drop. You don't even know where she shot the bow. You just see her draw a bow back and shoot an arrow and she'll get all those likes and then the guys just hate on each other. You know, you'll see a guy drop bombs at 70 and have a four inch group and they'll say, he punched the trigger. It's like dude, just let that guy be.

Brian Krebs (01:27:20.925)

I did a video series this week and it was scripted right like I was like hey Abby asked me this question now when I answer it I The way you do that it for the engagement right because it sounds like there's a conversation people want to hear it if I'm just out there Posting my thoughts people like yeah, this guy's an idiot. Well, they said that anyway, but I was like, you know, she's like hey What's the best overall? Western caliber and I was like, ooh, that's a good question. I mean I think hands down it's two seven

Right. Cause you can, you can do antelope, you can do elk, perfect for deer, got all kinds of stuff. Doesn't kick as much as the thirties for people that are new, you know, solid caliber all around. Can't go wrong. Right. Man, does people just like, the 270 socks, it's a woman's cartridge, you know, out here men shoot three 38s.

Chad Grauel (01:28:00.175)

Mm.

Chad Grauel (01:28:07.76)

What do you shoot with a .338? Man, no, I'm a 7 mag.

Brian Krebs (01:28:12.428)

people are like, I, yeah, I mean, there's nothing wrong. mean, there's no right or wrong answer. And then she's like, well, why everyone said 30 at six and 30 at six is a very versatile caliber. But she's like, why 270 over 30 at six in the next video? And I'm like, why? There's nothing wrong with it. But I just think a lot of people probably end up shooting more antelope and elk or antelope and deer than elk. Right.

And so if you do 270, you don't have to deal with the recoil. It shoots flatter. It's a flatter trajectory. unless you're shooting more elk, then I'd do the 270. And if you are shooting more elk, personally, I like a 301 make. So that's my answer. then people, boom, 270. I was cutting chicken while I did it. Like, this guy can't even cut a chicken breast. What does he know about cartridge? I was like, whatever. It's fun.

Chad Grauel (01:29:02.448)

man, there's always critics out there, man. There's always critics. Like, it is, there's, man, there's so many things out there that the good thing is, as long as it's in like good fun, I think that's good. I think some guys just take it too serious.

Brian Krebs (01:29:17.708)

Well, and it's TikTok, so you kind of, I'm opening myself up for it on purpose, because then that's part of the algorithm, right? Yeah, if I was talking to someone in real life, they'd be like, I don't think there's anything wrong with the 270. mean, shoot whatever you want to shoot, right? That same person would probably say that. So yeah, and I think that's the key.

Chad Grauel (01:29:23.332)

The engagement, yeah. Yeah.

Chad Grauel (01:29:31.504)

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, they'd sit there and say, yeah, 270. Yeah, that'll do good. They'll agree with you. But you know, just, just for the sake of like entertainment and likes, they'll post this guy's crazy. You know, this is no good. And then they type something up just to get likes on theirs and becomes a competition. It's, it's fun. Sometimes I troll sometimes just to have, you know, just put my two cents out there.

and knowing that I'm just adding fuel to a fire.

Brian Krebs (01:29:58.572)

and sometimes I'll throw something out there like, I think I really liked the 270 Win Mag, right? And then everyone just is like, this guy's an idiot, doesn't know what he's talking about. Then there's everyone's like, is that a new one? I haven't heard of the 270 Win Mag before. It's not, it's a 270 Winchester, right? Or Winchester Short Mag. So every now and then I'll throw a little Easter egg out, see if anyone catches it.

Chad Grauel (01:30:05.988)

you

Chad Grauel (01:30:14.542)

Yeah.

Chad Grauel (01:30:22.736)

I seen something like that the other day. Some guy posted some video about putting fletchings on backwards to make the bow fly faster. Did you see that?

Brian Krebs (01:30:30.668)

I've seen that too and I'm like 60 feet per second, huh?

Chad Grauel (01:30:36.632)

It's like someone's gonna do that. Someone's going to do that. It's, man. No.

Brian Krebs (01:30:43.244)

And well, I got, used to get it because I, my quivers upside down on my bow and people used to be like, this guy's just a troll. He's trying to like get people to put his quiver upside down. I'm like, no, that's actually legit. It's because I have a 30 inch bow and a 32 inch arrow. So my fletching stick out. And so I put my quiver upside down. So if I set my bow down on the ground or on the boot, my knocks don't get filled up with dirt. And they're like, that actually is a good idea. I'm like, yeah, I'm not trying to be a troll always. Like I'm not always a goof.

Chad Grauel (01:31:05.902)

Yeah? Makes sense.

Chad Grauel (01:31:13.072)

Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.

Brian Krebs (01:31:14.521)

So yeah, awesome. Well, Chad, it's been an awesome time having you on the podcast. I think it was a great conversation. I think it's gonna be really powerful for people out there asking some of these questions like how do I get started? How do I find my way into a group? What can I do to get that invite? And talked a lot of good ideas along the way, had some laughs, told some stories. I really appreciate you taking some time out of your night to be here.

Chad Grauel (01:31:39.13)

Yeah. Thank you for having me. It was great. You know, this is the first podcast I've done and I enjoy, I enjoyed it. Yeah. No, I've, I've been offered or asked or whatever a few other ones. And I just, I, know, you and I tried to coordinate this for what? Like a month or six weeks or something like that.

Brian Krebs (01:31:44.842)

No, you're lying.

Chad Grauel (01:31:59.936)

And so I'm usually just so busy. just, it's not on my priority, but I really, I'd like where this is going. And I liked your, your setup and what you wanted to talk about. And I aligned with some of this stuff that I've been wanting to put out there a little bit more. So I'm glad I got this opportunity with you. thank you.

Brian Krebs (01:32:00.117)

Yeah.

Brian Krebs (01:32:18.728)

well, you were natural. couldn't I would have never guessed this was your first podcast. So I appreciate you being on here for your debut appearance. It was a great podcast and I appreciate all of you guys listening as well. Thank you for being here,

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