New Mexico Shed Hunt

On this episode of The Nomadic Outdoorsman Dan spends a few hours of his road trip talking with fellow shed hunters Chris Parsons and Brian Krebs as they recap the past few days shed hunting.

Dan, Brian and Chris joined up with Stephen Walker to look for elk and mule deer sheds in Northern New Mexico. These four spent countless hours and put on dozens of miles searching for freshly dropped antlers and the stories that they came away with are amazing. On this episode the guys recap the highs, lows and failed attempts at making bets that this adventure was made of.

[00:00:00] All right guys. Welcome to today's show. And I am so excited for this show because Brian Krebs actually drove down from Minnesota, Madison, Kansas City, and it was me and my buddy Chris, all three of us. We ended up going out and meeting up with Stephen Walker. Now Stephen has been on the Nomadic outdoorsman and on the Western Rookie Podcast, he is a diehard shed hunter, an avid outdoorsman from Colorado.

So we went and met up with him and he took us down to New Mexico for a shed hunting trip that we'll never forget. So we actually did the prequel episode to this on the Western Rookie, and this is the follow up. So if you haven't listened to the Western Rookie episode yet, go ahead and do that. Come back, listen to this, hear how it all turned out.

But we did record this in the truck on the drive home, which means there's some road noise, so forgive me for that. But we had a ton of fun. It was an awesome adventure. Let's jump in. [00:01:00] Like he was doing things that were just badass. That was one of the coolest moments of my life. I was really scared, but knowing that Dan had the gun, I did have the rifle, like we would be okay.

Okay. False alarm. Guys, before we hop into today's episode, I've gotta let you know the YouTube video is live. Yes. You heard that, right? We actually created a great YouTube video. I'm really excited, and this is something that I'm excited to do from now on, is make YouTube episodes of our hunts. Who knows, maybe it turns into a TV show one day, but I'm telling you right now, you gotta go check it out.

If you want to see the scenery, the landscape, the reactions to picking up these sheds, it is up now on YouTube, so go check it out. All right guys. Welcome to today's show. We are. On our way back. We're in Kansas, got like two hours left before we get back to my truck, [00:02:00] but I'm here with Brian Krebs and Chris Parsons getting done with a shed hunt.

Heck yeah. What, uh, what'd you guys think? Dude, it was a blast. I had fun. It was new country to me. Never hunted New Mexico. I untrue to me. I've never hunted New Mexico. I don't think any of us have hunted New Mexico. No. So I've had very limited New Mexico experience. I think the last time I was in New Mexico there was an ice storm and I saw a car fully on fire, like a hundred yards off the road.

That's pretty western. Yeah, it was, it was not fun. I wouldn't have expected that for New Mexico. No, no. I would not have expected that either. Chris, what'd you think? Man, man, it was good. Um, that is some rough country, so I will give it that. Uh, I mean I knew what to expect so it wasn't totally outside of the expectations, but man, it is.

Uh, put some miles in for sure. Yeah, we are currently loaded down with way more gear than [00:03:00] we needed and a lot of sheds. Yeah. We got 23 sheds strapped to the back. Um, I think this was a good market validation test for, uh, free pack list that we'll come out with for people to know exactly what you did. You keep looking at me.

You had, you had as much stuff in the truck bed before Chris and got. Chris and I both got here. True. But I also brought the cooler for our food. Yeah. And the Blackstone. Yep. And then I had one bag of hunting clothes in my pack and like our camp gear, like paper plates and garbage bags and the shitter and yeah, we, uh, I mean we had the tent and then, uh, Dan's king size fold out bed.

Yeah. If you wouldn't have brought the king size, like what is that thing? 72 by 80? Dude. That cot is so comfortable. It is definitely not. I mean, I hope so, cuz I mean, we charted that thing all [00:04:00] the way across the states. It, I'm telling you, it's like a padded, comfortable hammock mixed with a bed. I probably slept better than everybody all week long.

I mean, that's fair. Yeah. Yeah. And, and we definitely needed that sleep. Brian, Brian did not sleep well for totally different reasons though. Yeah. I didn't sleep well, not necessarily because of the soreness or, or the fatigue, but his dog just wanted to paint the inside of the tent brown every night. Not every night.

One time he did it one time in the tent. And unfortunately one time in the truck. Dude, I think he did it like seven times in the truck. One. It's just a one ongoing incident. We didn't close that report out. It was, it was one time, but he did a figure eight in the back seat all throughout that one time. He spun a nice 360.

Yeah, shed do Grizz. Got a little [00:05:00] sick. I think he, I think he had a mix of dehydration, electrolyte imbalance over fatigued. Probably a little heat stroke, probably drank a little bit of bacon grease off the Blackstone. And, uh, it all caught up with him on day three. Yeah, it was, it was not pretty. But let's, let's just break down the whole trip and we'll get to some details about, about him painting the inside of your truck Brown.

Um, but why don't we start with like day one driving out and maybe we'll pick up. When we, when we met up with Steven and then go from there. So we, we were trying to figure out, first of all, we're on the way out. We're like a estate away already. And Chris is like, dude, do you guys know where we're shed hunting?

And we're like, Nope. No, not really. Do you know where we're going? Uh, nope. Not really. [00:06:00] Like even just to meet up with Steven, we knew the general area, but we still didn't have an address. Right. We were talking about that on our, we did like an intro episode over on the western rookie that you guys can check out and then come back and, and hit this one up for like, the outro of the, of the trip.

But we were talking about that on that episode. Like we should probably text this guy since we're like 1200 miles into this trip. And he's, we still don't have his address for like where we're gonna meet him. Yeah. He gave us a couple good food recommendations, which the place we ended up going. They knew him really well, but.

He should have warned us about the chicken nachos because I mean, they were tasty. They were good. They were very, very tasty. I ate a large plate of them, but dude, that messed us both up, man. I was not prepared for the aftermath. No, it was like morning. Chris and I were like moping around with morning sickness the entire next day.

I like how you two get the most vanilla thing you can order at [00:07:00] a Mexican restaurant besides maybe like a cheese quesadilla and it messes you up. And me and Steven both get this like huge pepper fajita mix with steak and rice and beans all mixed together and we're both like, we're fine. Dude. The amount of steak that you had on your plate.

Yeah. Like you couldn't get to the bottom of the plate without running into a piece of steak. Even when it looked like there was noth, you know when you're like going through change, looking for all the quarters? Yeah. And you're like, there's no way. There's another quarter in here and then all of a sudden there's four more.

Yeah. That's what it was like with your steak. Yeah. It's like they took a 24 ounce porterhouse and put it all in there somewhere. It's like, oh, we'll tuck a little under this rice and I'll throw a couple pieces under the beans over here. And I mean, it was, it was good food, but it definitely messed us up.

So we meet up with Steven, he comes in, we kind of had, we were trying to figure out, he's much taller than I thought. How tall he was. You were like, no, dude, he's short. And I'm like, I don't think he is. And he's not, I mean, he's a pretty decent size. I think he was about [00:08:00] the same size as me. Same height as me.

Like 6 1 62. Yeah. Maybe a half inch shorter. But I've only seen pictures of him kneeling with a shed. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's fair. I mean, he's never just like, standing up next to other guys in the pictures that I see. Yeah. So we were just kind of guessing. I, I just look at people and typically I've got a good, good idea.

I definitely messed it up with you. Yeah, you did. You thought I was a munchkin. Yeah. And I thought you were really short. Couldn't be more wrong. No, you're not short. Um, So we meet up with him and he is like, all right guys. So I just live like five miles or five minutes up the road from here. He's like, now get ready cuz it's gonna be a little, it's going to be a little bit western.

I mean it thi this road's the roughest road in the county. I'm telling y'all, I'm telling y'all dude. And we start going out of town and we're already five minutes out of town and we're like, this road isn't bad at all. That's what I thought. I'm like, [00:09:00] he said five minutes we've been going 10. This road's not that bad.

Like, and there's houses all over. One of these is probably just Steven's. We discovered when he tells you how many minutes away some something is, that's to the start of a dirt road. That's like not to the destination from like getting on the main road and get, like he starts the timer when he gets up to speed and he ends it when he slows down.

Yeah. To get on the next mountain road. So then we get on the dirt road leading to his house. And that was what, 25 minutes? Oh, more than that. I think it was a long trek and that road was a rough road. But we get to his place and he is like, let me show you guys something. And so we go into the garage and he just has a pile of sheds and we're talking sheds like he found one one year and it was very unique.

The pedicle made like a 90 degree angle and then he found the next year's and then somebody else he knows, found the year after that. So he has three matching [00:10:00] or three sides of this elk and it's a very unique elk. Like no chance. It's different ones and we're already kind of geeking out about it. And then we went inside.

And just the volume of sheds and big, nasty sheds was crazy to me. That got me fired up. I was ready to rock at that point. Yeah, his house was like the outdoors man's house that keeps on giving that he's got a pile in the garage and we're like, man, that's awesome. Then we go into his house and he's got a bear rug on the wall.

He's got a couple axis deer, two giant elk, his sheds everywhere, and we're like, man, this is cool. And he is like, oh, check this out. And he goes over and picks up a 208 inch set of meal deer. Your sheds. Oh my gosh. From his kitchen. Gosh. And then we geek out on those. He is like, dude, I'm telling y'all you don't wanna see this.

And he, we go up to his, like his bonus room above the garage where someone was growing the devil's lettuce before him, the devil's lettuce. And he is got like [00:11:00] whitetail sheds. All of his archery bowls were up there. He's got a smash set of moose paddles. Like a hundred arrow points that he's found. Oh dude.

That, that Arrowhead collection was pretty impressive. Yeah. Turkey had a false strut, Turkey that Grizz kept trying to sniff couple other fans, I mean, just stuff everywhere. Like enough to fill up a shop. Yeah. Every, every foot of the wall is covered in stuff and he's showing us, he's like, man, this is where, this is where we're going tomorrow.

And we find these big sheds and we find a lot of sheds. And uh, so we all had made that bet. How many sheds we thought we would find, who would find the biggest one? And he came in strong. I thought we'd find like 48. I think I said. He said 49. 49. And he came in with 60. And I was like, dude, that gets my hopes up because you guys were like two thirds of what I guess, and half of what I guess.

[00:12:00] And no, like two thirds and a third almost. Yeah. And so. So I'm, I'm super pumped up. And then we follow him down to the shed hunting spot the next morning. And dude, that place just maces everywhere. And as soon as we got there, I'm like, this is not gonna be easy. I made the mistake of watching like the easiest shed hunting video on YouTube right before this, where they found like 29 sheds by lunchtime, and they were in almost completely flat ground.

And then we get out there and I'm like, this is not like we're walking in and out of oak brush. We're walking up and down muddy mountainside through Boulder Fields, up and down Maces. And it, it was a lot of work, but we found, who did we find that first day you, you found that busted up Elk shed? That would've been a good shed, but he was chocked and busted.

Uh, how do you, how do you judge that? That would've been [00:13:00] a good elk shed because we. There were two points on it because those two fronts were like 15 inches. Dude. It was like you don't have rag horns with 15 inch fronts and a horn. I don't think it was that big. It would've been a big shed. It would've been just as big as like Steven's.

No, no chance. Well hold it up to the the front. We, we will, I'm I, you could just look at the fronts. Figured it, it was a real small four or a real small five or a decent four. I don't, I think you're underestimating it, but, but it was busted off right above the two. He had strong fronts. That's all I'm saying.

Okay. We'll, we'll take a look at it when we get it out. But it was just, yeah, it was not even chalk. It was pink. I mean, it was in really rough shape, which we found a lot of those on this trip. Yeah, it looked like overs smoke salmon. Yeah. So we found that. And then what did Steven find? He found two hard white or like a hard white and a chalk mul deer.

And he walked a long ways that first day. [00:14:00] Oh yeah, man. He went all the way out to the mesa, across the valley. Like Yeah. Side hilled all the way out there and then dropped down and crossed this huge valley. Yeah. Um, like how far away was that point that he went to? A mile and a half, two miles. Like straight line?

Probably. Probably just a mile. I think it looks bigger when you're up on top. Looking down on it. Yeah, I see that. But yeah, he did that. And then while he was doing his walkabout, you and I were glassing and we both glassed what we thought were sheds. To be fair, we looked at yours and we had a one to, we had a two to one vote between Chris, Dan and I.

Yeah, Chris and I thought it kind of looked like a stick. Dan really thought it was a shed. I was probably like 80%. Yeah. It, it was close enough. And I had only found that chalk that I was like, I'm gonna go take a closer look no matter what. Like it's worth it. We've got plenty of time. And so I say, all [00:15:00] right, I think it's a stick.

So I'll guide you in cause I don't wanna walk down there for it. Oh gosh, dude. I totally, and so Dan drops off the face, which is a steep face. Like it's, it's rock climbing. On your way down, he gets to the bottom and he waves at me in this open and I'm like, Hey, I got ya. You're about a hundred yards away.

No, no, no, no, no, no. You never said, I never said distance away. No, I never said a hundred yards. But you were pretty close. Oh. So I'm like, okay, he knows where he's kind of at. And I said, just go like 45 degrees to your right. And I figured you would go like 50 yards cuz you knew you were close and be like, how's that dude?

I didn't think I was anywhere near it. I thought I had hundreds of yards to go still. Well clearly cuz you do that. And I'm like, I haven't heard from Dan in a while. And he, and so I'm like, Dan, where are you at? I lost you. And he goes, I'm right here in the open, waving my arms at you and I'm searching everywhere.

Binos Spotter can't find that. It's like you and Chris both looking for me. I can see you guys playing as day. I can see the direction that you're looking. Yeah, you're like a [00:16:00] little bit to the right, a little bit to the left. I'm like, dude, you're not there. And he is like, all right, I'm gonna climb up on this boulder field and like wave a stick around.

And I'm like, uhoh, there's no boulders around that shit. Like, I don't know what now I'm like looking for boulders and there's nothing. I see Dan on the skyline. He's on a, like 800 yards past his shed on the skyline. He goes, Dan, it is embarrassing how far past that shed you went. And I'm like, from, from the point of view on top, it looked like the shed, or what I thought was a shed was kind of on an uphill deal.

And I wa I was in flat ground. I was going downhill, if anything the whole way until I got to that boulder field. And so I was like, it's gotta be on this face somewhere. I just don't know where. And I definitely did not pick out any good landmarks to try to find. Yeah. I, I was just like, I'm gonna head in that direction.

They'll see me and guide me in. Yeah. So we finally get you into it. And [00:17:00] what were you thinking when I said, all right, you're in the clearing that you shed. I thought, I thought you didn't know where that shed was anymore. I really did. Yeah. I was like, dude, he just doesn't realize, like he took his eyes off it looking for something else, and now he, he thinks it's over here, but I'm actually in the wrong spot.

Well, so I was glassing the whole time you were walking and I actually found something that I was 99% sure was a shed. It looked exactly like a, a fifth, like a five point with his fourth and fifth, and then there was a third like wrapped around. Everything was perfect. I'm like, okay, Dan's going after a stick, but that's definitely a shed.

I'll have him pick it up on the way back. So I was glassing around and by the one you were going after, there was like a root right next to it under a cedar tree that was really white, and it was like an immediate marker. I was like, yeah, I double checked it like three times and you were in that clearing.

I'm like, no, that is the clearing that he said It was a. Dude, I got to that clearing, well, actually you were [00:18:00] walking me in and you're like, dude, just keep going another 20 yards. And I was like, Nope. Like in my mind, I don't know if I said it on the radio or not, but in my mind I'm like, no, I don't need to.

I see the shed. And it was like, I swear I saw a hard white right behind the cedar tree. So I go around the cedar tree to the left, and I get around it, and there's just literally nothing there. I think that was the route I was, and I was like, what the heck? And so I was like, all right, whatever. And the way the sun plays tricks on you, like it hits something a certain way and it looks way different than when it's in the shade.

Yeah. And so you're like, dude, you're right there. Like right there where you're standing is where you said that shed was. And there is, there's nothing that even remotely resembles a shed. It's literally just a, it was like a four foot tall bush with the tiniest like pencil lead size twigs. And I'm like, this is, this can't be where we're talking about.

Like [00:19:00] we all looked at, we all looked at it and you even said, when I left, you looked at it again and you thought it was, it looked more like a shed than when we had first seen it. Yeah. When the sun hit it. Right. I think one of those, or two of those twigs like didn't have bark and it glowed and it was kind of the right shape.

But then when the sun went away, it was like gone. And I think what was happening was like it was a twig on the backside of the bush. So when you were looking at it from that distance, I think what you, your brain was like saying, oh, that's on the ground. 20 yards behind the bush. Yeah, for sure. And so it looks like, oh, that's shed size, but really it's closer.

And then it's like, it's actually a twi kind of like when you see a mosquito flying in front of you and you're duck hunting and you're like, oh hey, there's some ducks. And you're like, oh wait, no. Got some mosquito. I totally understand that. What, what level of certainty did you guys have about your shed or what you saw?

Oh, I was like 99% sure. Yeah, I, I'd probably have to fall into that one too. Yeah. When you sent it to me, I was like, oh sweet. At least we got one shed. Yeah, for sure. That's for sure. We might have two. [00:20:00] We definitely have one. Yeah. And then I get over to it and you're like, dude, it's right. Just look to your right.

I'm like, I already looked to my right, like there's nothing to my right. And you're like, just walk to your right a little bit now walk back to your left. All right. I think it's either right in front of you. Nope, it's right behind you. And I'm like, dude, there's nothing. There's nothing that looks like a shed at all.

Yeah, you just grabbed it and wiggled the whole bush. And I was like, yep, that's it. That was it. That is the shed bush. So that was a bummer. So day one was just kind of, I mean, it wasn't a buzzkill cuz I was like, dude, we are in elk sign, heavy elk sign. I mean, I wasn't necessarily bumping elk the entire day, but I was getting so close to them that their pee was still wet in their beds.

And it was just potent. I mean, you walk around a point and you just smell elk everywhere. Yeah. I mean, I almost, I could have jumped on a bull off a cliff. I mean, I looked right down and there he was bed. Yeah. [00:21:00] So it's like we were in the right spot. As far as elk activity goes, we just were really struggling to find anything.

So we kind of wrap that hunt up. We go back, we meet up with another guy who was like a friend of a friend of Steven's, and we get there and he is all like, oh yeah, check out what I found. Like just came to camp, drove down the road and it was sitting right there off the road. Yeah. And it was this nice brown.

Yeah. And we were like, dude, we put on so many miles on foot. And he just drove his little pink side by side and picked up a shed. Are you kidding me? To be fair, it was a little brown, like a rag horn brown. Yeah. It wasn't a monster. Yeah. But it was still a brown. Yeah. Like we didn't have anything there better than anything I found that day.

So that wraps up day one, we're like, all right, we're gonna get camp set up now we're hanging out in camp, uh, you know, hit the hay, wake up. [00:22:00] Oh, I gotta, I gotta mention this cuz this was pretty fun. We get to Steven's house and we're all about to go to bed and he is like, man, y'all can wake up whenever you want.

He's like, I'll probably wake up at five and plan on leaving by six 15. And Brian's like, that doesn't, yeah, that doesn't sound like we can wake up whenever we want. Like, all right. So we need to wake up before five 30 probably and get ready to go. Um, he's just the jolliest nicest guy you'll ever meet.

Yeah. He had, he had the nicest way of saying, be ready to leave by six 15. Yeah. You can do whatever you want until six 15. But then we're leaving. Then we're leaving. And, uh, so, so, That wraps up day one, day two. I mean the whole time. He's very optimistic cuz he's showing us pins on his map. Yeah. And he has found so many sheds in this area.

Dude. Big brown. I'm telling hard whites, dude. I'm telling y'all dude. He just, every like, at [00:23:00] every turn he is like, man, I'm sorry guys. And we're all having the time of our lives. We're hiking around in the mountains looking for sheds. Yeah. Like, I'm not gonna say it would've been an amazing trip had we found nothing, but we knew we were gonna find something.

Yeah. And it, there are still animals that are unpredictable. Like he could have found a hundred sheds in that same valley in years past. But if they just went up and over the mesa, which they could do in like 45 seconds, then yeah, they shed on the other side. Well, we're never gonna see him. Yeah. And in, in the, oh, backing up again, the kind of in the same context of not telling the camera guy any details about this trip.

We wake up at Steven's house the next morning and it's cold, like probably below freezing. And Chris is like, I don't, before we even got that, but the night before I'm standing outside, you guys are all like hanging out, talking and I'm like freezing at death outside. And I was like, this guy's in a t-shirt.

Well, no, you saw, you saw Brian's [00:24:00] sleeping bag and his sleeping bag is the size of my wall tent bag. Oh, right, right, right. And you're like, dude, what is that? And he is like, that's my sleeping bag. And Chris is like, that's your sleeping bag dude. How cold is it gonna be? And then I sent all those pictures.

I'm like, this is what shed hunting pictures kind of look like. And they're all from like blizzards in North Dakota. And he's like, wait a second. Is it gonna be snowing? Like you brought a zero degree sleeping bag and now you're showing me all these pictures of snow? Dude, he that and then he wakes up in the morning the look of panic on his face multiple times this trip where it's just like, dude, am I not prepared for this at all?

Like we have a full truck bed of stuff and I didn't bring the right stuff. So he goes the, in the softest way, like, Hey Steven, do you like have like a blanket or something? And he's like, well, you, you pointed out like this like storage room full of like camping and, and hiking gear. Chris is basical basically spilling out of there.

And I'm like [00:25:00] standing on the landing of his staircase that has literally five sleeping bags, all kinds of back country blankets. And Chris goes, do you by a chance have an extra like blanket or maybe even like a sleeping bag? And he is like, oh dude, the district grab one of these and he throws one in and saved his i'd.

I'd say that saved your trip, right, Chris? I mean, I didn't use it till the last night, but knowing it was there. Was the bigger piece, but that last night was cold, so I was definitely dropped into it. Was definitely glad that I had it cuz I could, I woke up when it would slide off a couple times. And, uh, it made a difference.

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So, so we sleep the first night, we wake up the next morning, same thing. Like, Hey, let's wake up early, let's get out. [00:27:00] And like, the food was great all week. I mean, we were having burritos, we were having pulled pork burnt ends, uh, pancakes. We wake up, Brian makes breakfast. We all eat breakfast. We hit the road and we drive over to this Mason.

He's like, Hey, I think this would be beneficial to just, you know, look around, look around here, look around this top quite a bit. And didn't really find much. I think didn't, did he find a hard white. No. Over on that he found that big brown. Oh, that's the day he found the big brown. That's right. Yeah. He dropped me and grizz off and is like, Hey, you guys should have walked this bench around.

I'm like, all right, I can do, I can walk a bench. Well, that bench turned into like cliff out rocks and I learned real fast that yellow labs don't go down. Boulders very easy. Yeah. I had to like pick him up and drop him off a ledge and then I had to figure out how I was gonna get to the next spot and if then if I could get him to come off of it.

I mean it was a whole, it was a rodeo getting off that [00:28:00] mountain with the dog. I mean for context, for people who know elk and how they moved through like tough terrain. These elk weren't coming up and over the top all over the place. No. They were picking very specific drainages and paths. Yeah. To get through.

Like there's spots that are impassable for, for elk for sure. There's tons of like one 20 foot boulder cliff, like the one rock. Like there's no way you're getting up or down it. Yep. Without dying. Yeah, so I mean you might go 200 yards around the rim before you get, before you get to a spot where you can go up or down.

And so we work that pretty heavily. You know, he found that shed and then we kind of go, okay, we're gonna meet up because there's just not much, not much over here or nothing worth sticking around for. Definitely not as much sign as we had been seeing. And we move over to a new spot. Well, no, did we go, we went to lunch before that, right?

Well before that we lost the camera guy. [00:29:00] We all met up. We tried to find match up, Steven's Brown. We worked around the limb. I didn't realize. So apparently Chris got sick of walking behind your farts because he's like, I'm gonna go walk behind Steven for a while and get some content. No, no, no, no. So we went, we went back for lunch before that.

No we didn't. We, it was still when we're trying to match up Steven's Brown. And so he went down with Steven and then he came up with me. And then we were, you and I were walking around in that big, open flat. Oh, yep. I didn't realize that Chris didn't have a radio, and so I just go, I'm not used to having the camera guy with me.

So it's just me and the dog. We take off, Chris is kind of over there all of a sudden it's like, okay, I haven't seen Chris in 20 minutes. He's doing his own thing. He probably went back up to find Steven or something. So I get back to the truck, Steven picks me up. I'm like, Hey, have you seen Chris? He's like, I thought Chris was with you.

And I'm like, I thought he was with you. So I, my radio had died. I had Chris's radio because we had been together earlier in the [00:30:00] day. Yeah. So I get a call from Steven on the radio. No, on the phone. That's right. He calls you on the phone. I lost, I lost the radio that I got from Chris. Yeah. And he calls me on the phone and he is like, Hey man, this is where we're at.

He's like, uh, have you seen Chris? And I'm going, dude, like you guys had Chris. What do you mean? If I seen Chris, I mean you guys make it sound like I'm some lost puppy or something. Like wandering around, like crying for my mom with my thumb sucking on my thumb somewhere. That that's not the intent at all.

But it was just confusion on all of our parts. Like we each, because I think everybody thought you were like with the other person, like hunting near somebody else and I don't think anything of it cuz I'm like, well he's got a radio, like what's the worst that can happen? No. Dan has the radio that Chris had.

Yeah. And well, Dan had the radio that Chris had so and so. Luckily you weren't too far behind and we got you on a road the first two days. We had like great cell service everywhere we went. Yeah. And so anyways, we called Chris, he was, he was like Right. Pretty [00:31:00] well near us and we meet up, we go back for lunch.

Find out that these other guys that had showed up at camp, they had found a match set, a brown match set, a big hard white, a big hard white, and a couple small deer sheds. And we're talking like a what, two and a half inch spike mule deer. Yeah, it was, it was the match set to my South Dakota to spike here.

Yeah. Just this tiny little spike. So anyways, we eat lunch and we head back out and we're like, all right, let's go check this area out. Or Steven was like, let's go check this area out. It's pretty good. We're not gonna drop in yet. We'll just take a look. Make sure nobody else is around here. And we find boot tracks fairly quickly.

Yeah. And so we're like, whatever, we're gonna, we're gonna look around for a little bit. You and I kind of get to the end. It's like, all right, this ledge or this bench that we're on kind of narrows. We either have to go down or up. Steven's like, why don't you guys like head up over the top and we'll look.

So we start [00:32:00] going over the top and he is like, Hey, nevermind. There's already boot tracked. Somebody's been here. Shed hunting. Yeah. Those guys from camp probably hit it and then Fallon shed somewhere and then said, yeah, not good enough. Too many boot tracks. We're gonna go 300 miles away. Oh, they bounced out so fast.

Yeah. Like they came back having found more and better sheds than we had in like a day and a half in one morning. And then they were like, yeah, not good enough. We'll see you guys. Yeah. They set up their wall 10, slept in it and tore it down immediately. Yeah. And I was like, I think they got some information from somebody that made it sound like they were getting ready to go on the holy grail of, of, uh, elk, elk hunting.

I wonder if they had like a cell cam out somewhere and realized that a big bull that they'd been watching had just like he walked through without antlers on because they just took off so fast that it just didn't seem like it made sense. And I know they saw some boot tracks, but I mean, they were like out of there.

That guy won a shed trip with Wes MacArthur from Rise and shed a couple weeks earlier and found 10 [00:33:00] sheds with Wes. And Wes found like two and his Wes' buddy found one. So I'm really curious if he's like, oh, let's just go back exactly where Wes brought me. And like hit the same spot cuz I found sheds there.

I mean, I, I could see somebody doing that, but also that guy preached quite a bit the night before. Like I would never go back somewhere that somebody invited me to without them. But everybody says that, right? Well, or just like one canyon over from it. Yeah, I guess that's true. Like maybe not go to the X but go to the general area.

Yeah. So anyways, they left, we went back out and we were looking up on top of that, uh, Mesa. And it was like, all right, we're gonna head back towards the truck. We get fairly close. And I was like, man, I just kind of wanna look down here. Uh, I had smelled bulls or I had smelled elk. And then I heard a bunch take off and Steven came across the bed.

So we're like, okay, they, they've been hanging out up here. We might as well just look around a little bit and then we'll go back to the truck and we're looking for, what, 40 minutes maybe. [00:34:00] Well, you guys called me, I was already at the truck and you're like, Hey, you might want to come over here and like help us grid this.

Cuz there was like a, it looks like. A small batch of group of bowls are in here. And so I'm like, all right, I'll just run over without my pack and check it out quick. Cuz Steven was like, we should go hit someplace else. Yeah. And at the last second I'm like, you know what? Never leave your pack. Never. And even at the truck, like never leave your pack.

Nope, never. And like the way that day ended up, dude it is a really good thing you didn't leave your pack. I grab my pack, I give Chris a little bit more water and we take off, meet up with you guys in the bull beds and then we kind of fan out and I took the rim. I was, my job was to go and like scan probably the 50 to 75 yards closest to the rim peak over, see if there's a bench below that we could possibly drop down to.

Cuz these bulls, they like to drop down into these like choked out benches with a cliff above 'em, cliff below them. And they just kind of have a carefree life on those things. Yeah. I mean, they don't have to really worry about predators. They've got [00:35:00] great cover. Typically there's, there's shade on a lot of these and.

And so I'm like walking around looking and I get a, I get a call from Steven and he is like, Hey, you might as well just head back over this way and we'll go hit a new area. And, or no, it was a text. And so I read the text and I took one more step, and then I was gonna cut to my left to head back to the truck, and I just happened to glance over to the right and there's a brown plane as day just sticking up.

If I had, if I had looked over there a second earlier or a second later, I probably would've never seen it. Well, and that's like shed hunting. Like, I bet you, I bet we all walk by so many things. I don't, let's just not think about that. You look left and take a step and that mega Brown is on the right. Oh my gosh, man.

It does, it, it like almost makes you sick to think about how many you missed by, by one degree. Yeah. On your glance or one second. And so anyways, I, I call Steven right away. I'm like, Hey, [00:36:00] hey man. Uh, let's postpone your plans. Dude, I just found a brown and he's super pumped. I'm super pumped. Go over there.

Pick it up. It's a brown five, not like a giant brown five by any means, but it's, it's a brown shed. Like this is what I came out here for, is a brown elk shed. And so we kind of fan out, look around for a little bit. He drops down to the ledge below me and then we're like, all right, what do we do? Do we want to just head back to the truck?

We didn't find the match set. We didn't find anything else. Maybe we just head back to the truck and then he is like, you know what? Why don't, on the way back to the truck, we just fan out on the other side of the dirt road because the cliff and the road kind of met up Yep. And choked out the ledge that, or choked out the mesa right there.

So he is like, let's just look on our way back. And on the way back to the truck there was just sign everywhere and sign dropping down onto the next shelves. So it was like, no, we're going and doing the, like, we're gonna follow the elk sign. Yeah. And look around. Yeah. And [00:37:00] I would say that was probably the heaviest, most tore up elk sign that we've seen, that we had seen the whole trip.

Yeah, I mean it's right up there that that was some of the best stuff for sure that we saw. And you know, you guys, I was gonna go left, you guys were working right? And then you guys called me back, Hey dude, you should come this way. And I had already cut like two sets of boot tracks, so I was easy to convince.

Yeah, I drop in with you. And then like as I'm dropping in, then you guys start chattering on the radios. Well, he dropped down two levels. I dropped down one level, he went right, I went left. I thought we were both going left and that you were going left up on top. And so I get over, I mean I'm several hundred yards down and I'm seeing decent sign, not like crazy heavy, but enough to keep me interested.

And then he comes over the radio boys, I got a brown. And I'm like, no way. No, actually, I think I was on the phone with him at that point. Yeah. And I was talking to him on the phone [00:38:00] and he is like, Dan, I think you need to head this way. It is so thick, I'm telling you. And I'm like, dude, all right. Like, I'll head that way.

And as I'm on the phone with him, I just hear Brown, brown, I got a brown, Dan, this might be the match set. And I'm thinking, no way, dude. Like we walked for it. It's been an hour and a half to two hours since we picked up mine. We've been walking all over. And it seemed just by our route that we were a long way away from it.

So I started heading his way. I go to drop down to the next ledge, and I plant my hand on this chunk of rock, and I step down, and as I get my feet on the ground, I feel this thing break loose. And it was like 300 pounds of rock that fell right where my leg was. And I picked my leg up. I mean, I'm not saying like it grazed my leg or anything, but it, it'll, it missed me by like four inches.

And that would've probably ended my shed hunting trip head and I got my [00:39:00] foot outta the way. And ours. And yours. So no, we would've still gone. You guys, I would've just hung out at the hospital for a little while. Hospital, you've hung out at the tent until we were done so, so I walk like, dude, 15, 15 yards from that point.

And I find my biggest shed of the trip, a hard white with a busted off two right there. And I'm like, dude, no way. I found a brown. I found a hard white and he might have the match to mine. So we all meet up over with Steven and sure enough, man, it is the match to my brown. Yeah, I couldn't believe I really was in disbelief.

I was like, there's no way. Like the odds of just stumbling across this thing compared to where it was, the other one was. And then we found, we discovered, Steven did a. Line distance, like as the crow flies from shed to shed. It was 470, was it? Yeah, four 70. [00:40:00] Four 70. But like, I'd say 250 feet lower. Oh, for sure.

Yeah. It was, it was like the, the type of landscape that we were on, it made it feel like it was a whole different area. Like Yeah, but that's these elk and those are those elk. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. So we, we looked around a bunch and I don't think we found anything else that day. No. I mean I had like a mile and a half out of great sign and then I hopped up a level and came a mile and a half back and great sign, like plenty good sign to, to find a shed.

And I didn't find one day two either. So I was kind of like, huh, wonder what I'm doing wrong? So what's funny is Steven had prayed that the first morning, right? Yep. Like he's a preacher. He's a preacher. Yeah. He goes, Lord, just, you know, Whatever the prayer was, it was basically like, bless us with some sheds.

Help us to be safe. A few, a few sheds, help us to be safe. That's a key word there. And he found the most sheds. [00:41:00] We found a few out of anybody on day one, I pray, the second day, same type of deal. I find the most sheds out of anybody. Day two, day three comes, Stephen goes, and Stephen goes, Brian, you might wanna pray.

Who's praying today? So Brian prays. I do the team prayer and immediate like, I mean, we don't drop off the mountain. Also, we drove about what? An hour and a half? Well, that was in between day two and day three. We had a fiasco in the tent. Oh dude, yeah. We cannot overlook this at all. We we're about to go to bed, right?

We make dinner. We're about to go to bed. I ask Brian for a nasal strip cuz he's got like a nasal strip. And I'm like, dude, I wonder how that wor, I've never used anything like that when I'm sleeping. And so I've got this thing. Yeah, looks great. You, it opens up my airway nose. You can sleep with your mouth closed.

You quit snoring. You don't wake up as much. We're we're camped in sand and dust. Yeah. Right. I mean, like it's covering everything. Yeah. And so I'm thinking like, [00:42:00] dude, my nose is stuffed. I'd like to have more, like better breathing. And so I was like, I put it on, I'm like, oh, this is great. We all lay down about to go to bed and grizz, we just need to reenact this.

Like we need to reenact the two 30. Like Chris needs to reenact what he said. Oh, we will, we're we're getting there before the two 30. I'm laying there and Grizz bed is right behind my head. Really? Like underneath your head. Yeah. And I just hear but it's like a smack at the end dude. He is. Yeah. And he is just licking and I'm like, all right, whatever.

He is like cleaning his paws off, he's gonna be done. And every like minute it would like, I would hear it. It sounded like it was coming to an end. So I'm like, all right, whatever dude. For 45 minutes that freaking dog sat there and licked and it sounded like he was doing a full 360 in his bed after each lick.

And I'm just like, I've had [00:43:00] enough of this. Finally I fall asleep. Well, Grizz is hurting by this point. Oh yeah. He's had two full days of shed hunting. His paws are sore. I've pulled a couple cactuses out of his paws and I'm, I already knew at this point I'm not, shed hunting him the next day cuz he's sore tired.

It's been a lot. He's not built for southwest United States. Hot, dry climate. Yeah, so, so we go to bed, I finally fall asleep and then the next thing I know I'm waking up and that's where Chris takes over. This is where Chris just takes over everything. This is where I take over. Yeah, but what did you, what did you like, what did you say to me?

What ha Well, no, what happened in the middle of the night? Like, yeah. What happened before any of us were awake? Uh, let me back up just a little bit to give a little bit more context to my thought process before that happened. There were a couple of times that, uh, Grizz was doing something or whatever, and I was like, man, I think, uh, I think he might need some water or something earlier in the day.

And [00:44:00] Brian's like, he's like, nah, dude, I just gave him like two liters of water. He's fine, he's fine. And I'm like, okay, all right. It's fine. And then like later that day, he was doing something and I, I couldn't go with him on the, the second half of it, so I was gonna stay back at the tent. And I was like, I was like, Hey man, G Griz can stay with me.

Cuz I'm looking at him going, this dog's not doing good. Like, he's struggling. You're pulling cactuses out, like, like spine, whatever they are. He's, he's just outta yeah, out of his feet. And I'm like, dude, his feet are bleeding. I was like, I don't know. And he is like, nah, dude, he's fine. He's fine. He's going with me.

I'm Well you make it sound like he was like in terrible shape. Right, right. Well, I was just watching, I'm like, man, I just, he just doesn't seem like he's doing good and he's not, he's fine, he's fine. It's, it's, I say he is fine cuz we do a lot of shed hunting together and it's like, he cuts his paws, he gets kind of beat up.

He'll get like a little slow and moving, but I'm like, as long as we keep moving, he'll be fine throughout the rest of today. Like I kind of know his pain threshold and it's like, yeah, he'll cut his paw and it'll bleed for a little bit, but then he'll like, it'll seal up and he'll be fine. But tonight when he stops moving, then he'll be hurting [00:45:00] and then we'll be done.

Yeah. Yeah. So then we get in the 10, everybody's asleep and I hear him getting up. And I've already been told twice when I mentioned something about Grizz. No, he's fine. He's fine. So now Brian's dead asleep and I'm like, man, I don't think Grizz is fine. Do I wake Brian up and him, you know? Nah, he's fine.

He's fine. Or do I say something? I'm not real sure, but he's going from the door to you said to Brian said he ran like, right. Oh yeah. He ran right into the tent flap, like he was trying to get out and I was like, man, I don't know what he's doing, but I don't think he's fine. So then I, I look over at, at Brian and he's like, panting right by him, and then he walks back over towards the other, the, the door to the tent.

And I was like, Ugh, Brian. I think, and like, as I'm like getting the words outta my mouth, I can just smell this like horrendous. Like, Hmm, nope, that's not a dog fart. That's, that's whole. That's it. And uh, so I was like, [00:46:00] well, Brian, I don't, I think, I think, uh, charisma need to go out. And he is like, oh, why?

What do you think? And I was like, no, dude. He just shit in the, in the floor man. And then immediately like the smell hits everybody at the same time, dude. And I hear, I hear just the last half of that. And mind you, these nasal strips work really well. And I'm breathing only through my nose all night long.

And it just like, just sucks right up into my nose. And I'm like, you've got to be kidding me, dude. And Brian wakes up, he's like, dude, why didn't you tell me sooner? And he is like, well, like as I'm contemplating this and trying to decide if I should wake you up to tell you, like your dog might need something, it happens like I'm in the middle of trying to wake you up.

And he couldn't hold it. Well it probably wasn't my best moment, but I'm coming out like, I'm like, you know when like you see like. Top gun and they're about to crash and they're just [00:47:00] pulling up hard uhhuh like I was coming out of asleep like that. Yeah. To Chris saying, dude, I think Grizz might need to go out.

And I'm like, oh, what? Like what do you mean? And he's like, he literally shit the, I'm like, does he have to go out or does he have to? Shit, I'm confused. I'm still asleep. Yeah. Really? And I was, I, when I said that, I remember thinking like I was talking to Griz. Yeah. Like, why didn't you wake me up? Oh yeah.

Like, because sometimes he'll like, he'll like hit me like, wham. Okay. When he lets you know what he wants. Like when I, when I would sit next to him, yeah. I mean, he's got his head fully on my leg. Like, dude, right now I want you to p like, he's not a shy dog. He's gonna tell you what he needs. Right. So I was talking, but Chris took it as like, I'm pissed at Chris cuz it's Chris's fault, my dog in the bed.

He's like, well, what do you like? What do you want me to do? And yeah, you're talking to Grizz. So then I'm laying there and I'm trying to fall back asleep. But the smell is so potent. I mean it. I'm glad I slept the direction I did that night because otherwise it [00:48:00] would've been right next to my face. Yeah. I would've been cleaning up two messes.

Oh my gosh. And it's like, we were, I'm very prepared for like, basically elk camp. Yeah. But I did not bring like house cleaning, dog mess stuff to clean up your dog's. Crap off my floor, much less in the middle of the night. So I'm going through this checklist really fast. Like, what do I have? I gotta clean this up.

And I'm like, okay, I have wet wipes, I have paper towels, there's a garbage bag outside. I'll make that work. I mean, was it liquid? No. That night? No, it was like, it was pretty solid with a little liquid on top. Okay. So you could, I was like, I don't know. That doesn't look like it's getting better. Yeah. Like, it looks like it's getting worse.

Um, and so I cleaned it up, paper towel first. Pass wiped, like wet wipes. Really hard. Luckily your tent had like a very coated, um, canvas like. Very waterproof coating. So I don't think like anything seeped up. Oh yeah, it all got off. It's brand new, like more if it was three, if it was like three or four year like seasons of use, [00:49:00] yeah, it may have been a little bit harder, but I mean that coating is like, it's like a bounce house.

Yeah. And so you might wanna recoat that then. Yeah. Good way to describe it. So we get it cleaned up and I'm like, all right. He had a long day. He kind of didn't really eat and drink normal on the way home during like at that camp that night. But you know, we fixed it like he went to bed right away.

Usually he goes out and goes number two before bed, but he crashed right away when we got home. So I'm like, ah, he'll be our baby. Fine. He didn't eat that much food today. He'll probably just sleep the whole night. That's what he usually does when we have like a long hunt. He just sleeps the whole day. So I'm like, all right, go back to bed.

Things will be fine in the morning. Yeah. So we wake up, we have breakfast. I'm like, I don't know if I should feed him or not. Like his stomach still might be a little messed up. And so, I don't feed him much, I give him some water, but I know I'm not shed hunting him. The problem is all four of us are going an hour away from camp.

Yeah. To shed hunt this day. And so I can't [00:50:00] leave him in the tent because he'll, he will need to go to the bathroom. But, well, Anna, with no airflow. No airflow, and it by like, we're gonna shed on for eight hours and then we're gonna have like a couple hours at least of travel time. And that's, if things go well, like that's a long time for him to be in the tent.

And I can't leave the door open cuz he's kind of a roamer like we're, he could get lost and we're in Lion Country. Yeah. I mean like pretty, like I found Lion Tracks the first day. I only saw 'em once. But yeah, like we're definitely in Lion Country. That's an issue too. Um, and so I'm like, okay, here's the plan.

I'm gonna let him out. We're gonna get in the truck, drive an hour, I'm gonna let him out again, give him a little bit of water and then I'm gonna roll down all the windows in the truck and just put 'em in the truck. He'll, he should sleep the whole day. It should be fine. We'll get back after like eight hours of shed hunting.

He does that every single day at home. Like eight hours is nothing for him. It'll all work out. Then I'll let him out. We'll go home, let him out at the tent again. Like that was the plan. I've done it a hundred times. Yeah. [00:51:00] Well, we shed hunt the whole day and in the back of my mind I'm just like, I have that worried feeling.

You're just thinking about him. Like, what if he's not fine? Like what if he is sick? You know, we don't have a good plan. Like, I don't like this situation. I'm, I'm uncomfortable. But we get into sheds, but we get into sheds right away. Yeah. So we start hunting. I do the team prayer. Dan flies has drone around a little bit.

We drop on and we basically do like a pheasant line. Yep. Every 50 yards on this face. And we go like a couple hundred yards. And I'm looking at like how to get around and I'm like, man, that looks kind of hard walking down, like lots of thick brush. Like, I don't wanna bust through that. I'm like, Oh, perfect.

There's like this five foot like walking path between two massive boulders, like it's almost like a national park trail. Yeah. I'm like, I'll just buzz right up between those. Sure enough, I come up over the little rise and there's a big six point kind of hard white, it's like bottom sides, brown, top sides chalk.

I don't know what to call that. Yeah. [00:52:00] Um, I mean, for the most part it was hard white, obviously it still had its color. It's cracked under underneath. Couple cracks, but brown on the bottom. Yeah. And so I'm just stoked. I'm like, dude found a first shed right off the bat. Great. First, like first shed was, it's a great size shed for a first shed happened fast.

I do all the filming and stuff. Dan peeks over the rock and is like, dude, that's a wild spot. It, it was a pretty crazy spot, man. That would've been a great spot to find a match set where he just like, because you could tell dude that that's probably a spot where he would just hang out there and pass out.

He's got an easy exit. He has no threat from two sides like. Yeah. No chance of something coming after him. Yeah. That's the kind of spot where like he would know you're walking up behind him, like he can smell a hunter and he still doesn't move cuz it's such a good spot. Yeah. Like he's gonna walk right past and never see me.

So I put that on my pack. I'm like finally got one on my pack. I'm a real shed hunter now. And I walk probably another 200 yards and I glass up and at this point I'm like a little bit out in F like everyone kind of like hits their [00:53:00] easy path and they get out ahead and then they hit a thick patch and they slow up.

And so everyone's kind of moving out ahead and coming back. And I got And you're working slowly into my lane. Well the, yeah. This whole time because the draw is slowly gaining elevation. Yeah. So I have to like gain elevation to stay out of the draw cuz Steven's in the draw and so everyone's gotta start working their way up.

So I'm, I keep bumping into Dan and being like, Dan, you gotta keep moving uphill. Like we're getting forced up. Yeah. And so Dan would be, all right, I'll bump uphill. But it's tough because like we're walking on elk trails. Yeah. Like Chris and I we're on elk trails at this elevation and so then it's like you would come up and I'm like, well, Now I gotta go up and find a new elk trail.

Yeah. And when you found that second one, you were like, dude, Dan, I'm sorry. I'm pretty sure I just found one right on your line. I, and I like walk forward and it's literally right in front of me. I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. So, but to be fair, I was walking the literal rim of like how low I could get.

No, for sure. I free falling, I a hundred percent. And I look up and there's a chalk white, like in [00:54:00] this little beautiful opening from like 50 yards away. I glass it and I'm like, dude, Dan, you're gonna be pissed, but there's a big like chalker Yep. Right on your line. And he's like, why are you looking on my land?

And I'm like, well, I didn't see any posted signs. I don't know. So we picked that one up. It was like, it would've been a good shed. It was a, it had a big frame, but it was pretty chopped up. Oh yeah. Definitely old. And then we keep going another, like you find a second one, 200 yards. Yep. And I'm like, dude, no way.

Another, another hard white. It was in the boulders again. And, and you're like, dude, Brian, I hate to tell you this, but I. Literally just saw that and me and Chris are already working in on it. Like he's got the camera out and everything and I'm like, oh, bullshit. Like I'm thinking like, no, you didn't. And then I look up and you're literally standing on the rock above it.

And I'm like, uhoh. He probably did see that. And then immediately you like, you could have pulled that off. I would've been like, oh shoot. Yeah. But he's like, no, just kidding. I'm just screwing with you. I'm just messing with you. But it turns out to be the match to my other one. They both had like big devil T right up.

Right above their front. Yep. Um, that one was a [00:55:00] little bit worse shape. He had more sunlight. Yeah. It was, I mean, but by this point, that one was also kind of on your line. Yep. Cuz I keep coming uphill. And then I find, I found a super nasty chalk pink. Yeah. On that line. Overcook salmon. Uh, Steven is, I think he, at that point he had found two mules, didn't he?

Yeah. Steven had found he was two mules. He was way, he was working the bottom in the canyon, obviously, like as it goes up, gets wider. Yeah. And deeper. And so like he's way. Around the bend. He really has a way of going, like, you guys should do this. I'll go here. And then all of a sudden he's gone. Just gone.

This guy isn't like Miles illegal. Gone. Yeah. Like way, way gone. And so, I mean, he's found a couple. You found a handful. I've found one. And I'm like, dude, we're having a kill. Like we've found more sheds in the first mile than we found in the last two days. Yeah. I mean, I'm at like, I'm averaging the fir like, well, it's not an average.

Like the [00:56:00] first mile I'm at three elk sheds in a four point deer shed. I'm like, this is an wicked, like even in the whitetail woods, you don't average four sheds a mile. So I'm like trying to gain elevation still. And the top looked incredible, but also we haven't been finding anything on the top flats Really?

And I'm like, dude, I gotta take a dump. Chris has dude wipes. I've got, or he's got dude wipes and toilet paper with him and the camera, so, so I gotta take a dump. Well, the day before, I was not prepared. I went out and I was by myself. Didn't have a working radio at that point, and I had to go so bad. And Chris had followed you guys.

And so I'm like, dude, I knew he had toilet paper and we were hunting together and I didn't think to like take something from him. So I'm like, dude, I don't, I don't know what to use. And then I, in my mind, I'm like, in my Bino case, I think I've got a lens cloth and I pull it out and luckily it's like an eight by 14 vortex lens cloth that I, that came with like my spotting [00:57:00] scope, I think.

And I'm like, this is the best paper ever. Like, this is gonna be great. I can get multiple wipes out of this. It's soft. And so anyways, I had to sacrifice my really nice lens cloth for the greater good. So Vortex is listening. Dan needs a new lens. Yeah, I'm gonna need Nick. Maybe a couple of those things.

Multipurpose. Uh, so anyways, I have to go to the bathroom, I go use the bathroom, and I immediately knew. I'm like, dude, Chris is following me around with the camera and he knows I'm going to the bathroom. And so I'm looking back, I'm like, man, I can kind of still see him, but I'm looking for a tree to hold onto as I lean back.

And sure enough, it was like way later that day, he's like, Hey, check this out. And he is just got a picture of me with my pants at my ankles. I'm like, dude, oh, that's not gonna make it in the YouTube video. Oh, we can put it on your only thing. Hands. All right, guys. If you've been listening to the podcast, I'm sure you've heard me talk about the helicopter hog hunt that I did down in Texas.

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Yeah, but we, we make a stash pile, which felt great to be like, Hey, we don't want to carry these all day long. Let's make a stash pile and we'll come back and get 'em. Well like two hours in, like it's still morning. And we made a stash pile in a great [00:59:00] spot. Like a hundred yards from a road. Yeah. And then we're like, dude, we're gonna pile 'em up today.

It felt so good. It was like, dude, we are in the spot. We're gonna get into browns at any moment. Let's keep cruising. And then it was just dead. I found one little deer shed after that pile. I think Steven was like slowly picking up like a chalk here and a chalk there. We get all the way around this canyon, like we are a long ways from the truck already, and it's a steep down and up, but it looks steep down and up.

Wait before that, before we like fully split you and I, like me, you and Chris were all pretty close together and you had something following you. I just heard something. I mean it Oh, it heard, I thought it was Chris walking behind me, but, but we were like way at the back of the canyon at that point. Yeah.

I was like, you know, let's see what happens. Yeah. Roll the dice. So you never found out what it was. Mm-hmm. Hm, Nope. So then we go, we get a [01:00:00] long ways back. You guys are kind of doing your own thing up high. I find. I just happen to stumble into Steven. We kind of hit an area, mediocre sign, like middle ground, like nothing to brag or ride home about, but we're already away from the truck.

Yeah. And Steven's like, you know what we ought do, we should go down this all the way, hit this open valley and then circle back. And on the backside of that, when we get way out here, it's like a steep, steep scrub oak face that we, there's all kinds of trails and we, I, I'm telling y'all, we found sheds there and, and so we're like, all right, fine.

We'll do that. And so we go all the way out there, we meet up with you guys. This valley looks like there should be 50 meal deer sheds in it. We don't find a single one. So let me back up just a little bit before we meet up with you. Chris and I are walking and like it's, it's some of these ledges are almost impossible to pick any path on.

Like they'll just choke out into a constant boulder field all the way [01:01:00] down. So Chris and I are walking and I'm just like, dude, there is not much sign here at all. Like we've seen way more sign every other spot we've been and I begin to say, dude, I just don't even know where to look. And I go, I just don't even, and I look down and there's just another trashed pink right in front of me and I'm like, well, at least it's something, right?

And then we go up to the top. We get to the point, we figure out where you guys are at, and we kind of make a plan of where we're all gonna meet up. In like an hour or two and, and Chris and I sat down to have like a candy bar or grab a snack or whatever. He's sitting Yeah. There's a nice big rock that sit on.

He's sitting on a rock. I'm sitting on a rock. We're just talking and we finally get done. I mean, we're there for, what, 10 minutes probably. Yeah. Just hanging out rehydrating. And we both stand up and [01:02:00] Chris's phone rings. He's like, he answers it. He's like, oh, hey man. Like, look at that. I've got cell service.

And he looks three feet behind the rock that he's been sitting on for 10 minutes and while still on the phone, just looks at me and goes, oh, hey, and points. And here's a shed literally right behind the rock that he's been sitting on. And we have no idea what it is at this point. I mean, his time is buried.

We find six inches of open antler. And it's just a y like it's, it's the convergent point of a fork. And I'm like, dude, I don't know if this is a mule deer. I don't know if it's an elk. I don't know if this is low on the antler or high on the antler. Like, this could be big, but the whole thing was completely buried.

Right. Except for like, this could be a chalky gray. And I'm like, I don't know what we're getting into. This could be a fork, or this could be like the seventh and a whale tail y. Exactly. And I'm like, dude, I'm, I'm antsy at this point. Chris is just hanging out on the phone talking and I'm like, [01:03:00] I need to get video of this.

I need to get pictures of this. I'm not pulling this out. Cause it's Chris's shed, this first shed ever it his first shed. And so I'm like, yeah. I mean, most of the time I'm, I'm following Dan where, I mean, it's like, chances are if there's gonna be one, he's going to see it. Yeah. You know, and so like little Eagle Eye, Dan over here scouring everything.

It's like, I mean, I, I'm looking at the same time, but I mean, I'm, I'm looking like as a second look to everything that you're seeing. Yeah. So if I'm gonna find one, it's gonna be hidden behind the rock that I'm sitting on. So where Dan cannot see, I'm just like, dude, like I'm taking pictures of the rock and the shed right behind it.

And you can't, it's such a small portion of shed, you can't even really tell what it is. And so I'm waiting and waiting and waiting and Chris gets off the phone and it was just a couple minute phone call, but I'm just like, dude, I want to know what this is. Like, he's got a straight go excavating, like you're digging for dinosaur bones to get this thing out and, and then you walk over and get, [01:04:00] we get some video and then you start digging.

And I'm like, oh, sweet. So it's definitely an elk. Shed like the way that the beam was coming down and I'm thinking, dude, this could be the top to a monster and it's buried, but I'm talking like an inch or so under like pine needles and some like decayed stuff. So we're like, it's dirt. And he's, he's like still digging, brushing stuff away.

And then he starts to pull, well I didn't know how brittle it was. Yeah. Cause you couldn't tell. So I was like, man, I don't want to just like grab it, pull it out and then like bust it off and it'd be like the top of like a really big one or something, you know? Oh yeah. And, and I mean I felt the same way.

I'm like, no, don't pull it out yet. And then I see it start to wiggle. I'm like, okay, so it's not a monster. And he pulls it out and it is just like, what would you say, 14 inches long, like a 14 inch long little four point. And I'm like, yeah, you found your first shed. And it's still brown on Bottoms brown cuz of the dirt.

It's [01:05:00] brown cuz of the dirt. But it's not like all cracked in stuff underneath that part. It's, it's, it actually kind of preserved it being in the ground like that. It's obviously no reflection on Chris's hunting ability, but it is the smallest four point elk antler I have ever seen in my life. Yeah. Like I've seen bigger spikes, like spikes that would score higher with one point.

Exactly. You would think the length of this, there's no way it belonged to like, it should have been a spike that year. Yeah. It just gave me the assurance that I didn't miss as many elk sheds as I think because I mean, if I can spot that little spike, I mean, you know, I didn't walk over or trip over any others.

Yeah, I mean it was, it was very small. So we end up meeting up with you guys. We're kind of comparing who's got what, what, what we've found so far. And then we start kind of making our way through the scrub oak. And Chris, he was on, he was like lower on my level. But the way the scrub oak, like you [01:06:00] just have to go where it sends you.

You don't, you don't have a choice. It's like you might have like, I can go high, I can go low, but typically you're gonna stay on the path that has the most tracks. And Chris, I was like, oh dude, I haven't seen him in a little while. I wonder where he is and I'm talking, oh yeah, I don't know. Off on your level.

We were split up, try to go like 50 yards and just kind of fan out a little bit. Well, in. And I looked at one point and Brian's basically gone. I mean, I'm like rounding a point and you're hundreds of yards ahead of me already. And I don't know if your path was this bad, but dude, we were in a mud slide, like the first half of that phase.

Well, we got into a quick rainstorm. We hit under a rock. Yeah. Not much of a storm. We thought it was gonna be bad. It got windy. It could, it looked like it was going to about to get Western and uh, it wasn't enough to soak a shirt. No, I mean like it was hardly anything, but it's Sure. Soak that face cuz like, dude, anytime you had to, it was like, it was like straight up and straight down.

Even when the trail would go up and down. Yeah. And then you try to step on it, [01:07:00] you would just slide. Yeah. So Chris and I were on a different level. Steven's way ahead. Well yeah, Steven's way ahead. I'll work the top and then he disappears again. Yeah, just go like, I'm gonna work the top. Hey, where are you guys at?

I'm on the other side of the truck five miles away. Like he's just gone that quick. I look and I see you just round this corner, hundreds of yards ahead of me. And I'm like, all right, well, me and Chris are just kind of working this and I'm, I'm trying to scan everything. Like I'm kind of zigzagging up and down wherever the trails cross and I'm like just trying to scan everything, but it's also a tough terrain.

And I'm, I like yell at one point cuz Chris doesn't have a radio since we were together. And I yell at one point cuz I'm like, died again. Oh yeah. And I'm like, I don't know where he is in comparison to me. He might be way ahead of me or way behind me. I just don't know. I haven't seen him. And so I yell and I'm waiting for a response and I don't hear anything.

So I call you and you're like, dude, this sucks [01:08:00] over here. He's like, I, I made it almost all the way to the bottom. Like I slid in this mud. And I'm like, I look over, well they have those washouts where it's like sage brush or, or scrub oak. And then, and then there'd be like just a drainage deal that you have to try to cross, you know?

And there was one that was probably about six feet or so. And, uh, and I, I just didn't make it all the way across before I just sat down. But he is like, dude, I'm all, I was almost at the bottom. I'm like, dude, I'm like 150 feet above the bottom. And he is like, dude, that mud man, it just kept pu like forcing me down.

And then I slid and I'm like, oh dude, that sucks. Cuz I was sliding around, but I had a ton of scrub oak between me and the bottom. Like, there's no way I would make it. Yeah. I would just run into it. And I looked, I just kind of took a peak over this false edge and the angle that you were hiking on was twice as steep as the angle I was hiking at.

I mean, I was just [01:09:00] thinking about it was I, I was like, I've done some sketchy stuff in Colorado and a couple of fourteeners and stuff. You get up there above the, the, uh, the timber line and it's like, it's real, you know those scurry fields and stuff and, and as I'm walking on this, I was like, dude, this is sketchy.

I don't like this at all. I gotta work my way back up. And, uh, and, but I was afraid I was gonna be on the level above you. Yeah. If I went too far up, you know, and I didn't wanna get clipped out if I went too far. Um, but, uh, but I was like, I can't stay, you know, I can't stay here. Yeah. You know? And then, uh, finally got cell service.

Once I got up above that, I finally climbed up kind of a boulderer, uh, face there that kind of had a little bit of a crack in the rock that I could work my way up. And I was like, dude, I don't want to do that again. Yeah. You, I, I mean, you ended up back on my same level. Yeah. Not that high. It sounded like you were high above me when you yelled, but you were only like 20 feet above me.

And so we start cruising and we finally get to the point where I can hear you guys on the radio again. Like it was pretty [01:10:00] choppy for a while, when that point was in between us. But I hear you and Steven talking and Steven's finding, he found like, basically back to back hard whites, like decent hard whites.

Yeah. He found one up high and then he came down and was like trying to work his way out. And then he looked right down below 'em off of Cliff and found a second one. So he's saying that he's telling us to work our way towards him. And I'm walking and I start to tell Chris, like, did I, was I like halfway through the sentence again?

Yeah, you were where I was like, when you found that brown, the one lady, I was like, the one that was leaning, it looked like somebody placed it there for you. Yeah. I was like, dude, there's, I'm like, you're frustrated. Yeah. I was getting frustrated. I'm like, dude, there's not a lot of elk sign. But we could still find, and as I say that, I take a step and there's like a log in front of me and I'm just coming over the smallest little mound and there is a five point, almost six point brown sitting on its pedicle, leaned up against a [01:11:00] rock, like basically behind its second and third and a pair of Kere boot tracks.

Yeah. And a pair of Kere boot tracks that stopped right in front of it where they placed it for me. Now I saw that and I was like, you've gotta be kidding me. So I hit the radio. And Steven was like, do you, do you guys need help? Like gritting the area? Uh, I mean it was probably only what, 200, 300 yards between all three of those sheds?

The two hard whites and the, and the brown. Yeah, pretty much. And me and him are going back and forth. I'm like, dude, if we go, like, we're running out of time to get where you want to go and you've got two here that we could match up. And they already got two guys over there and it's a small spot over there.

So I'm like, I feel like we should just try to match up yours and they can match up theirs. And then we go, cuz if we start backpedaling at this point, like it's five 30 already and he wants to hit a completely different side of the mountain. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, we're running outta daylight. We looked a bunch, I mean it was kind of a one way in, one way out for a couple hundred yards on the ledge that we were on.

Yeah. [01:12:00] And so we're like, we're gonna scan this really well. And then once the trail started like splitting and going up the mountain, down the mountain, there is no way to really tell where we should be looking. And so we started making our way over to you guys. And we meet up in the bottom, fairly uneventful the rest of the day until like you guys, you guys wanted to go past the truck and check the other side of the mesa opposite of where we had found all the ones that morning.

Yep. And so you guys go there. We work the drainage until we basically get right below the truck. And then Chris and I go straight up. At that point I thought I saw like big elk tracks and then I start going up this trail and I found elk tracks that were four fingers wide, not splayed out. I mean just like what an elk track would look like if it was just standing still with no stress on it at all.

And it was six fingers wide with, I mean it [01:13:00] was huge. Yeah, it was huge. And so I was like, dude, I'm following this. Luckily it was taking us back up towards the truck and I'm following it for a couple hundred yards. And then Chris and I like last minute, last what? 70 yards. We decide to split around this boulder field.

Uhhuh and Chris made it up to the truck before I did. Yeah. So I come up and over into this oil flat and Chris, well, they were already on top and, uh, Brian and Steven were already on top and, and over at another area. So I thought they were already at the truck. I thought that when they, when they went to the top, that they'd already been to the truck.

Oh yeah. But they Did you guys go around the face? Yeah. When you flew your drone over that canyon? We were on that other rim Oh, okay. Working around of the truck because we had, uh, uh, the, the, the tailgate was down, uh, and there was like water all over the back of the tailgate and I forgot that it rained earlier that day.

Yeah. So I thought maybe they came and got, you know, grizz water and, and filled up stuff and then, [01:14:00] and then headed back, you know? Yeah. Out to another spot. So when I, cuz when I got there, Grizz was sitting in like my seat here, uh, looking out the window, you know, and the, we had the windows cracked or whatever.

I was like, oh, okay. I was like, well, I'll set my stuff down and, and I walked around the truck and just kind of, you know, it was a, it was a tough, uh, hike, buck up and out, up to that top part. So I was catching my breath and everything. And then, uh, I saw Grizz. I was like, oh, I'll go ahead and let him out. He probably just got out, but we're here now and I'm not going anywhere, so I'll let him walk around a little bit.

I come to the door and Grizz has his look on his face like, I'm in trouble. I'm sorry, I don't feel good. And I'm like, looking at him through the window and he's looking at me like he's glad to see me, but his tail's not wagging at all. He's just staring at me. And I was like, Hey, buddy. And uh, and he just kind of has this look on his face and I was like, oh, I'll let him out.

You know? I mean, immediately I opened the door and that [01:15:00] familiar smell from the night before. Hit me in the face and Chris slowly climbs out of the truck, you know, and then like kinda walks around. I'm like, oh no. I mean, it had been painted brown all over my spot of the seat, the floorboard Dan's jacket.

I mean, just the whole thing. And I was like, oh dude. Oh man. I honestly, at that point, I just felt bad for him. I was like, dude, he had to be sick if he was gonna do that. Yeah. So I get him down and I get him water and everything and, and I'm staying as far from the truck as I possibly can, uh, to try to help him.

And he's just kind of walking around trying to walk it out. And then I see, um, Dan walking towards me. And when I get up over that rim, And I look over at Chris. Chris is like, he looks like he's been crying and laughing. And I don't know if it had just started when you started talking to me, but like you couldn't [01:16:00] even get the sentence out at first.

And you're like, damn, dude, dude, Dan. Just cuz I knew it was so bad and I'm like, I'm like, what? It was so bad I didn't, I didn't get a full look. I mean, you had probably been like maybe 30 seconds after that cuz I got him down and got him water. So like, I hadn't had a chance to really process exactly what just took place.

Well, and you're like giggling and talking to me and you're like, dude, dude griz just like shit all over the backseat and your, your like fluffy sweatshirt thing. And I'm like, no he didn't. And you're like, dude, dude, I'm not lying. I'm not lying. And I'm like, No, dude, you're still, you're just messing with me and you're like, dude, I really wish I wasn't.

And I walk over and I open the door and it's just like smeared on the door on the back of the driver's seat, on the back of the driver's side rear, [01:17:00] rear seat on the floor in between the seat and the door. And I'm like, oh my gosh. Like this is not good. So I get on the radio and I'm now laughing also, and it's like laughing, not because it's like, it's that funny, like much as it's like it's stress reliever, just realize like, this is bad.

Like this is, this is gonna be, we've got an 18 hour drive the next day. And it's like, you're just looking at where you're gonna be sitting and you're just like, it's oozing out over to the, the, uh, the, the seat, uh, the seat belts and down the cracks and the crevices. And you're just like, oh yeah. Yep. And I'm like, dude, I, I'm gonna have to let Brian know right away so I get on the radio.

Chris being so peaceful and conflict avoidant will not, doesn't tell me I don't have a radio. Oh, you didn't have radio. You didn't have a radio. I thought you were just too shy to tell me No. Like I have not had good experiences telling. We're talking to Brian about his dog. At this point I get on the [01:18:00] radio and I'm like laughing, trying.

I'm like, I'm sorry guys. Like I shouldn't be laughing, but Brian like, dude, grizz pooped all over everything in the backseat of the truck. And you're like, oh dude, that, that sucks. I did not say that. I don't know what you, I don't remember what you said. I said some stuff that I regret staying on the same AirWave as the preacher.

So, so you guys, well, Steven makes it back. I see him coming down and he is just like, well, how bad is it? And I'm like, dude, it is not good. And so he's walking around, he's like dropping his pack, doing that stuff, and then he goes to the rear passenger seat and opens the door. And I'm not even close to it at the, I'm on like the driver's side taillight area.

And he opens the door and he's like, oh, oh dude, dude. He's like, it is [01:19:00] running out of the truck. And I'm like, what? And so I walk around to the door and it's literally like a slow moving stream coming out of the door, like off of the, off of GRE's bed, down the floor, like dripping onto the ground in multiple little streams.

And I'm like, oh my gosh. So I go to get a closer look cuz I've never seen this, I've never seen a poop river before. And when I do the, the both rear doors were open and the wind. Just pushed a funnel of air straight into mine and Steven's faces, and we both start dry heaving. I mean, like I'm, I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna be able to hold this one in.

Like I'm about to throw a Well, you're talking to yourself out loud. Oh yeah. I'm literally telling myself like, don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Stop thinking about it, Dan. Don't think about it. Don't think about it, Dan. Don't, don't think about it. Like seeing what I just saw rolling [01:20:00] out of that truck and the smell hitting me in the face at once.

And I mean, same with Steven. It was just too much for both of us. Back it up a minute, when I called over the radio and told you about it, you said whatever you said, and then you finish it up with like, oh, well hey, in the tool, in the tr in the toolbox, in the bed of the truck, there's some wipes and that's how you ended it.

And I'm like, Like, I'm not doing that Well at that point. He doesn't have context. No, no. For what it is. So it's like I we're watching a poop river Yes. Flowing out of the door and he's like, ah, there's some wet wipes, uh, in the toolbox. And I'm like, no, Uhuh, no, no, no. I can't do well. And I thought, okay, like I'm gonna help with it for sure.

But once that smell hit me, I was like, dude, I can't be anywhere near that truck right now. Like, I just can't go close to it. I'm gonna throw up. And it took, it took me a good couple minutes to just get back to the point where I'm like, okay, [01:21:00] I'm fine now. I don't feel like everything's gonna come up. There was, there was three people laughing and one person that was very pissed.

Dude, you were so mad. Oh, I was fuming. I was fuming. You could have boiled eggs on my head. Yeah, I was, I was pissed. And cuz it's like, I'm not pissed at Grizz. I'm just pissed that I'm the guy that's got the dog that got sick. Yeah. And that everyone has to pay the price. Yeah. I mean it at the end, at the end of the day, it wasn't like the wor like it sucked for sure.

The cleanup took a little while. You're gonna have to deal with some of that stuff still when you get home, like your truck cover or your seat covers. Well luckily like, yeah, I have custom fit leather seat covers, so I just ripped off the bottom one. I couldn't get the top one off, but like, so these guys are, by this point, they're like, they've written off this experience.

Like it's just like I'm just gonna sit back and laugh about it and joke about it. Yeah. But I'm like, dude, I have to fix this. Well, we had been there dealing [01:22:00] with like, we had been around it for 10, 15 minutes at this point. Yeah. And so I was like, uh uh it is what it is. So they're cracking like a Dr.

Pepper and just like whatever. And I'm like, I am not taking my foot off the gas. Until this is done. Yeah. Like, I'm gonna, like, now I have to work like, as much as you want to get done with a 10 mile day and just like, relax. I'm like, fuck, I gotta get this stuff cleaned up. So I'm pissed. I'm sure I wasn't like pleasant to be around.

Um, you, you laughed a couple times, which I was like, all right. At he's doing at the end. Yeah, definitely. It was definitely closer to the end. I dropped my pack, I rip out my toilet paper and now I'm like doing this thing again. Like, what do I have to fix this situation? I have some like two year old wet wipes in the toolbox and a roll of toilet paper.

Do I have to take a right? Yeah, you gotta, oh wow. You don't have a K tag. Well, we're gonna figure it out. Um, and so I clean up as much as I can. Like I poke a hole with my knife and a water bottle and use that as a spray. And I do all this stuff [01:23:00] to try to like clean it up, but like it, some of it was dried so it was like not coming off.

Yeah. And I'm like trying to ask these guys for help where like, But I don't want to ask them to do like the, like na, like the nastiest part because it's my dog. So I'm like, dude, like, Chris, can you get like a royal toy paper on my pack? Or like, Hey Steven, can you get my leatherman out of my pack? And like, hopefully like not offending these people to like, help me clean this up.

But I wasn't really asking to like, Hey, can you clean that shit up? I'll clean this shit up. Yeah. No, it, I mean I think, I think we were all willing to help, but I definitely was not gonna be able to handle the, the like puddles or the little like poop pond that was on his bed. Like I just couldn't do that part.

I'm like, dude, I can like wipe the dry stuff off. I can get more wipe. There was nothing dry. I don't know what you're talking about. I saw no dry dude right down by where your calf is. Oh, it's dry now. It's right now, no, right down by where your calf is. There was definitely like a streak on there that I tried to wipe off and [01:24:00] like we, Chris and I were putting stuff in bags, like anything that had poop on it, we were just putting in a bag to deal with later.

Um, And so like we, I think we were all willing to help, but there's certain things that I just, we would've had a bigger mess if I had to touch that stuff. Yeah. And so we were just ripping gear out. Luckily we had garbage bags in the toolbox, like, oh yeah, we have those. So I'm like, dude, just put his, his big dog bed in a bag, tie it off, put my seat cover in a bag.

All the stuff under my seat that I just, I was just throwing stuff out behind me like that got dirty. This got dirty. We found a bottle of an old bottle of dead down wind, uh, scent killer spray. You're like, dude, I don't have air freshener or anything. And it's like, what about the dead down wind? And you're like, if this works, I'm gonna be the first spray ambassador.

Do they have? Yeah. And so Dan coated everything in my truck. It was dead downwind. I really do think it helped quite a bit. I can't smell it today. I mean, I don't smell it. I'm sitting in it. Well, you're not anymore. We definitely, we got, we definitely didn't clean everything out. I mean, there's like, it [01:25:00] went back behind the seats, in between the seats down the door, like on the carpet.

It was. Oh yeah. I'm all over every type of surface, so, you know, it's still in here. Well, that's like, but nice thing about these trucks is they got all these like nooks and crannies to like shove gear in. Yeah. They got all these nooks and crannies when your dog explodes. So I'm, I'm like gonna take the rear.

I'm gonna figure out how to take the whole rear seat out. Yeah. And like start from scratch. I might even rip the carpet out just because I hate carpet and trucks anyway, while I'm at it. But yeah, it was, I couldn't smell it though. Like when I got there, I don't know if it's like you're in the dad roll, so it's like you just gotta buck up and take it.

But I couldn't, like, I didn't really hit me like it hit you guys. Dude, it hit, so like when that wind hit, it was the strongest, nastiest small. I mean, it was just liquid over every, over a lot of, yeah. Square foot. Like there's a lot of poop real estate back there when that door was open and the wind came through, well then I'm in this position like, okay, it's my [01:26:00] truck.

I'm driving. Like not anything in my space got hit. Yeah. In the driver's seat. So I'm like, I don't know. Like, I don't really think we're getting much more progress at this point. Like, I think, like we got as much as I can, but I don't wanna be the guy that's like, okay, good enough. Now sit in it. Yeah. Like, so I'm like, no.

I think, what do you guys think? Like, I You were, you turned into the passive Chris, like, uh, so I cleaned up as much as I could, but you still have to sit in a crap covered truck. And we're like, okay, we open up some garbage bags, we put those down. Everything was good at that point. I mean, honestly, the smell was not overwhelming.

It was like a hint of it. Like maybe, yeah. Every time you would open your window it would just like suck a nude draft in. Yeah. And I'm thinking like, oh, the window open is actually gonna like, yeah, help pull the, pull the fresh air in and the poop smell like the faint poop smell out and the window going down did not help at all.

Yeah. So we, we closed it up hot, [01:27:00] boxed it the whole hour back, and I'm like, dude, I'm just gonna, like, I'm gonna shove those garbage bags of things I have to clean up under my toolbox in the bed and just forget about it until I get home. I'm gonna roll all the windows down tonight and just let the truck air out as much as possible.

But at this point, like I still have a sick dog. Yeah. In my mind, I'm like, I don't know, man. Like, so every ounce of noise that Grizz made that night, I woke up and checked on him, and I think Chris did too. Well, I, we were trying to figure it out, like, what did he eat? Yeah. Because I, I don't think he got a ton of scraps from anywhere.

I think, I mean, I didn't intentionally feed him any scraps. Yeah. And none of us did. I mean, we were all hungry. We ate, we ate and cleaned our plates. Like, did he like get Blackstone grease out of the garbage bag? Maybe like, I don't know. Like it could have been something like that. But honestly, I don't know if, I don't know if dogs get affected by altitude.

It might have people, do you know what I mean? Like, like dehydration, heat, stroke, altitude. He's used to cruising corn fields, [01:28:00] not going up and down boulder fields and mountains and scrub oak and like at that altitude or like stress too. Maybe just like that much stress. I mean he recovered pretty quick though.

Yeah, now he is fine. He's tails. He's like kind of got got his out of his system. Well and what's funny is he was like walking slow limping around, like he was a 13 year old lab and I was thinking, dude, he's just exhausted. But as soon as his poop was solid, he seems like he's moving around just fine. So I don't even know if it was necessarily like that much exhaustion and overworked, but dude, his stomach was probably just tore up and it was uncomfortable to move around.

Oh, I bet. I mean, you don't move around very fast when you get the flu either, so. Oh, definitely Not everything aches and you know, So, yeah, I was just like, God, I'm that guy. I'm that guy that thought it'd be a good idea to bring his dog on the shed hunt. Dude, the first shed hunt I'd do with you. You're chuffing in the woods.

The second shed hunt I'd do with you. Your dog's crapping in the tent. In the seat that I gotta sit in. Yeah. So don't bring your wife, man. Cause she's gonna come down with something. [01:29:00] She wants to come bad too. That's a problem. But we won't. I learned that Grizz is a great dog. He's a great shed dog. He does well on Whitetails and Roosters, but he's just not built for the southwest United States.

Yeah. And like you, there's no good options. Like we went through the checklist, like we leave him in the tent. Well not really, cuz it's gonna get hot. No airflow. We can't leave the door open for him to get out because then he'll get lost. We're an hour away. Can we leave him in the truck? Well that's not great either.

Can you know? Like there's no options if he needs to take a day off unless somebody else takes a day off. And like Chris was like, if you guys wanna walk a little bit on the last day before we leave, like I'm. Probably not gonna go. So I had to hang out with Grid, but we're like, oh, like, yeah, I think we're all done.

I think we were all, I mean, we had a really great final day. We found 15 or 16 the last day. Yeah, we had a good time the next morning, just kind of hanging out in camp, slept in a little bit. Steven was eyeing up my little rear view mirror antler shed that I hang, and he was just loving it. And he's like, I'm like, oh, [01:30:00] you just get 'em at Shields.

And he is like, what's a shields? And so I'm like, well, you can just have that one. He's like, no, no, no. I ain't taken that well. He tells me like, oh, you didn't find a hard brown or a brown, so you should just take my big brown. And I'm like, no, I'm not gonna take that. He's like, I'll trade it for you for that shed.

So I traded him my two inch shed for a, I don't know, hundred inch brown dude that, I mean, that was a lucrative trade in my book for sure. I already decided that I'm gonna go buy a bunch of those sheds for next time and just hang them in my truck when we shed hunt with them. No, he's, you ended up pretty good too, dude.

He's, he's such a good dude. And like at the end I was like, sweet man, uh, I don't have one of those little sheds, but I'll trade you the camera guy. And he's like, I know. All of a sudden I can, he's like, oh no, uh, pass off trade. He didn't even want me. That would've been, he said, nah, nah, nah dude, you can just have those for free.

I don't want your camera guy either. So I was like, I was thinking like, man, if we traded [01:31:00] Steven, that's a, or if we traded Chris, that's a lot of gear we don't have to put in the truck on the way back. And then, and he still didn't want me. Steven kind of did the same thing as, as, uh, Chris did with like that soft glow.

He's like, first he's like, oh, hey, here you can have this brown forkey mule deer, cuz you didn't find a brown mul deer. And then he is like, Hey, I'll trade you that brown elk for your brown thing. And then gave, yeah. And guess what? I didn't, didn't find any mule deer at all. And you still got the brown mule deer from him and, well, it's this big.

And then you got a shed. He gave you the match to yours, which is kind of the rule anyway. Oh yeah. And then what else did he say? He's like, Oh. And if you, I'm not gonna need these deer sheds. You guys want 'em, and he's doing this like flatter heads, who's gonna take 'em? And I'm, I'm never that guy who's like, uh, I mean, if nobody else want, I'm like, dude, I'm not letting Brian snatch all these up.

Like, I'm gonna take a couple for sure. I didn't want to take all 'em either, but no one was moving. And Steven's like, you guys are taking these. I'm like, I'll take this one. And I picked that 1 64 point and Dan's like, whoa, whoa, [01:32:00] whoa, whoa, whoa. I was still doing the Minnesota nice thing. Yeah. But he's like, dude, and he like, I'm probably just gonna chuck all these chalks.

And I'm like, and hard whites. He's like, you know what? You guys supposed to take 'em all? Yeah. Just take 'em all. And I'm like, dude, this is like money. Yeah. Like this is actual money that you would make off of this stuff. Yeah. Are you sure? He's like, dude, I'm absolutely sure. And I kind of had that feeling the whole time because he's just that good of a dude.

Yeah. That he was gonna be like, you guys take everything home. Yeah. So we won't be selling 'em. I'm gonna be putting 'em on the mantle. You got a couple good hard whites. S even camera guy, uh, Chris got a a What'd you get? What'd you end up with? Like a hard white elk shed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A hard white. And then his, uh, toasted Malo, yes.

Toasted elk. Shed the brown on one side, white on the other, the excavated piece. So yeah, man, at this point we're like half hour away from kc. Yeah. It was an awesome trip. That was so, I, I did all my prayers wrong. I prayed for the elk. We had a great day. [01:33:00] I did not pray for Grizz to, to not have an accident in the truck.

He had an accident in the truck that night. I prayed for him to have an incident free sleep so I could actually sleep. And he did. I didn't sleep cuz I was still worried. But he did. Yeah. And so I, I, I should have been doing the right, the right prayer, just very at the right time. Just very, very specific from now on.

Yeah. Oh man. There's gonna be a laundry list. Oh yeah. So dude, it was fun, man. Thanks guys for coming and. I hope we get to do this again like year after year. Yeah. Hopefully next year we hit up like Arizona or maybe even Colorado and just do something. We'll have to figure out a way to get Steven on something cool out here that he wants to do and kind of, uh, return the favor wrapping up our two bets.

If you listen to the Western rookie, which you should have. Yep. I was way off on my number. Right. So it ended up being 26, total 23 total, I think 23. And Steven found one he didn't pick up. [01:34:00] So 24, 24 total. So I had to carry a deer shed in with me everywhere we went. Yep. The hotel, restaurants, gas stations. I had to, I carried it into the bathroom with me when I had to go to the bathroom.

Yep. And, uh, so my bet that I kind of came up with backfired on me and then I came up with a bet, whoever I like to like . Do like whoever shoots the biggest or whoever finds the biggest has to buy lunch or a meal on the way back. Cuz it's kind of like that bittersweet, like I won but I also gotta pay for winning.

Yeah. And so I'm like, whoever finds the biggest shed has to buy dinner And it came close. It was like if I had a two, if my two wasn't busted off, it probably would've won. So yeah, we had to hold him up and let Steven be the judge since he finds more than both of us combine. And he's like, yeah, that one's gonna have more masks.

So I had to buy dinner. That my bet backfired on me. Just as bad. Yeah. But it was, it was a good trip overall. [01:35:00] And um, yeah Arizona next year hopefully, hopefully we can get into Browns cuz I totally see what he means. Like once you start getting into him, it can get hot in a hurry and you might just find a whole pile of really good sheds.

Dude, I'm telling also be on the lookout Ram Sack nation's gonna come out with shirts that just have a flat bill hat. Black rim glasses and it just says, dude, I'm telling you. And that is gonna wrap it up for today's show. Man, I had so much fun going out and hanging out with these three dudes, and I absolutely love getting to share these stories, these experiences, the knowledge, and just the, the passion for the outdoors that other people have.

I love getting to share that with all of you guys, and so hopefully you guys are enjoying it. If you want to go and see the video from it, go check out the Nomadic Outdoorsman YouTube page and you can see the entire shed trip [01:36:00] video. It is live now, and please leave a review and a rating on any of this stuff, whether it's the podcast or social media, or YouTube, if you guys are enjoying it.

I want to hear from you. I want to hear what you guys wanna see too, so leave a comment. Thanks again. Until next time, always choose adventure and God bless.

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