Show Notes
In this episode of the Range Podcast, Ricky Brule and James Blankenbeckler discuss their current shiny objects, which include upcoming hunting trips and gear.
James shares his excitement about his upcoming moose hunt in Alaska and the process of choosing an outfitter. Ricky talks about his upcoming deer hunt in North Dakota and the challenges of hunting in that area.
They also discuss the importance of being adaptable and not getting too fixated on one specific animal.
Shiny Objects is all about our current obsession. The Shiny Object could be a piece of gear, an upcoming adventure, a good book, or simply finding better ways to get through everyday life. The sky is the limit regarding an individual's current Shiny Object, and we never know where the conversation will take us.
The Range Podcast can be found on all major platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Video versions of the podcast can also be found on the Vapor Trail YouTube Channel and Wild TV.
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Show Transcript
Welcome to the Range Podcast. I'm Ricky Brule and with me is Jake Hollywood Iverson. Join us at the Archery Range, where we'll tell stories from the hunt, discuss technical bow shooting tactics and gear, and pick the brains of some of the most successful people to ever shoot a bow. Whether you're about to shoot that axe for the win, or send an arrow at a trophy bot, this podcast is for you.
Range Podcast is brought to you by Vapor Trail Archery, makers of the best bowstrings money can buy, originators of limb driven aero rest technology, and innovators of Stokerized Stabilizer Systems. Welcome to The Range everybody, I'm your host Ricky Bruhle and this is our segment of shiny objects. I am here with Mr. James Blankenbechler of Open Season TV. If you didn't get a chance to listen to the previous episode, make sure you head back over there, give it a listen, you'll get to know a little bit about James.
And you'll get to hear some really cool stories and and and hear some really cool stuff that they got going on Coming up here in the future But as far as this episode goes we're talking about shiny objects the shiny object It doesn't necessarily have to be a shiny object. It can be an experience. It can be an upcoming hunt It can be a book a song The shiny object is yours, or you name it. So James. What is your current shiny object man? for me
It is going to be my moose hunt coming up next year. I mean, that's a lifelong dream of mine. I'm not rich. So I have paid three years on it and put money back for three years, like a car payment. I don't have a car payment, so this would be my car payment. And if people say they can't do it, yes, they can. Just keep your car longer and take the money that you were spending on that and start putting it in the bank for a moose hunt. But I'm going to Alaska. I to bow hunt.
They'll have a rifle there, but I'm going to bow on them. mean, and hopefully I'll take my first Alaskan moose, but that is a dream come true. Whether I kill one or not, it's still going to be a dream come true just to be up there hunting there. For sure. Yeah, absolutely. So when you, are you, are you going through an outfitter or are you, how does that tell us about that process? Like getting there and what the plan is.
For me, this kind of money, it is, and I'm sure for anybody that's gonna spend this kind of money in my situation, I did a lot of research and I'm fortunate with my job where I work with outfitters and I work with outdoor companies in the insurance world. got to know a lot, I do a lot of business with people in Alaska and it became friends with them and stuff, but I've researched them a lot and then it just basically came down to.
who I was comfortable with that I believed was gonna give me the best opportunity. And then we talk price. So for me, it was who was the best choice for me, not necessarily the price. If it would have been more expensive, we would have paid that car payment another year. You know what I mean? So once the price was established, but I knew that. So yeah, I'm going with an outfitter. Alaskan Adventures, he's actually a big fishing outfitter, but they do six moose hunts at the end of the year and they do some bear hunts.
So they live on the water fishing on the river systems and stuff. they are, which, which is another thing they're there all year. They're just not going up there for a hunting camp. They're there all, all summer. Once it wants the snow melts and stuff, they're up there in the area, scouting, fishing, everything. So they have a real good handle on what's going on. So that that was part of the, who I felt comfortable with and stuff. And then, he's just a good guy. I mean, he's one, he's one, guy to the year.
three times in Alaska in the last five years. So I mean, it's a top box person. So that's how I got there. Price for some will be the thing, but I knew I was going to do it. So for me, was the situation and the person and the opportunity that I I was going to have. And then the price just determined how long I had to save. then when you go up,
Are you flying in like on a float plane? they gonna drop you off? Will you be solo or are gonna have somebody with you? So I am doing a one -on -one guide. And most of their hunts are one -on -one here because they take so few. They have a few two -on -ones if somebody wants to bring a friend or whatever. But we're flying in a float plane. Their lodge location is a mile marker on a river. There's no other way to get to them but a boat or float plane.
I they're in the middle of nowhere. So we're gonna fly in. I'll get the list here pretty soon of restrictions for weight and stuff like that, depending on who I'm flying with and everything. But you fly up to Alaska, then you take a brush plane out of it, a float plane, and land up there. And then we'll either hunt from their lodge, which they have a lodge, it's a cabins and stuff right there. Or if the moose are in a different location, we'll go up and.
and put up tents and stuff like that. So it's going to be pretty exciting. They film them with their phones. It's like people film with the phone. They're filming moose that look huge with the phone. So they're sub 30 yards telling people not to shoot them. I'm like, how do you tell people not to shoot that? And he's like, well, it's in the river. It's going to step out. We'll shoot it when it steps out. way I don't have to get in the river. Well, you have that many moose. And they're like, yeah, we have that many moose. We're just going to wait for it to get out of the river.
Yeah, no, that's cool. was, moose hunting has always been a dream of mine too. And so. You know, I've had some conversations with people I know years has been up there. think he's been up there twice now. didn't have any, didn't have any luck, but, just that my, my next question was going to be, know, are you going to maybe, you know, put up a spike camp somewhere or something like that? So so you're able to answer that question right away, but, they're just huge animals. And so.
you know, awesome that you're that you're gonna have somebody else that can help you, right? Because I know yours. yeah, I wouldn't have the first idea how to do it on my own. You know what saying? I mean, we all hunt and there's a lot of good hunters out there. So you could probably get an area, find a moose, go at it, have a way but the whole situation of like, how to set up where to put a camp, how to avoid the bears. mean, you know, they got brown bears up there. So
Yeah, I'm glad I'm going with somebody on my first times for sure. I do a lot of hunts on my own and I'm comfortable. mean, we mule deer hunt elk hunt, whitetail hunt, go out west and stuff like that on our own. But Alaska is big. And when you're flying in the middle of nowhere, there's got to be, I mean, you got to figure it out. I can still do it right now. Yeah. And I don't, I don't think I wouldn't either. I'd probably want to be up there with somebody as well. And then even just thinking about the sheer size.
of that animal and having to pack it out, you know, doing that solo and. Yeah, it's not a day. It's day for packing. Yeah. Just that's just, that's insane. How many days are you going to be up there? Seven. Seven days. I can, I can extend it because I'm, I'm the, cause he only takes a very few and he only has for a couple of weeks. So like I'm going at the beginning and if we're unsuccessful, we can rearrange flights and stuff and I can.
you know, pay, pay the daily rate for what it is after that. So, but I'm hoping we're good in seven days. Yeah. No, that's, but I would probably pay the daily rate. mean, it's cheaper than trying to go again. Right. Exactly. You're already there, right? So you already got the transportation, everything done. It's not the same price as the full hunt. It's just, it's just some add on days. but I can go up to 10 days. Yeah. So, I hope we don't need it.
I hope we're like two days in, and then the rest of time I'm fishing. Right. I can get a bear tag too. OK. And so I may shoot a brown bear. That I would probably do with my gun. Yeah. Totally understand that. But yeah, I'm excited for that. When that comes around, keep in touch with me. Let me know how things are going. And of course, if you need anything for that. But yeah, I'm excited to see how that all goes down for you and kind of.
You know, just keeping in touch to hear the stories and find out what's going on. We'll have to do like an encore episode after that. Hopefully I got trophy pictures. Hopefully I got trophy pictures and memories, not just memories. Right. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, my shiny object, I've beat it into the ground. I've talked about it so many times.
but I've got a I finally drew a any deer tag in North Dakota and After it's been seven years since I've been up there I think it took me four years to draw the tag a tag that I used to get every year You know, so it's just it's kind of bizarre now that I have that I have to wait four years to get up there But I'm really excited. I got a lot of history in that area and so I'm super excited to get up there and do that but I would say my other shiny object right now is
is we're getting back, getting close to the school season, starting up again. so kids are going to go back to school. so there will be a little bit of relief there for my wife. I've got a four -year -old. She's going to go four days a week. So that'll be nice. It'll give her an opportunity to get caught up with things. And we can start getting ahead on some stuff. so I guess that's kind of my shiny object, from that North Dakota hunt.
I'm just super excited about just shooting my bow a ton. You know, I've got some new arrows that I'm shooting. I shot the same arrows for probably like six years. So there's something that's exciting about getting a new arrow set up and playing around. Doing the same thing this year. So I got a new arrow set up too. Yeah. just kind of diving into that, you know, it got to the point when my daughter was born, you just get so busy and it's like, okay, my bow is shooting well. It's dialed. I don't want to change anything right now.
But it's fun every once in while to switch it up. you know, I used to be, was the kind of guy that shot a new bow every year, a new, you know, I would always mix it up, change things around, goof around, do the deep dive into figuring things out. And so now it's been fun. feel like a kid in a candy store again. So. you going up and having them in velvet? Are you going to velvet hunt them? I don't think I'll be able to get out there that soon.
I am gonna try to see if I can't get out there to do a little bit of scouting but they they lose their velvet like right with usually within that first week of the hunting season Yeah, if you don't say with like South Dakota and Wyoming and stuff Yeah, so if I don't get up there that first week, which I don't think I'll be able to I probably won't and I've hunted him in velvet, you know in the past I had I do have one buck that I took in velvet and it's it's still a fun hunt, but it's
It's tough in that it's super hot. the, you know, the, I usually go later in the season, I'll usually go like in November, mid November, something like that. And you can, you can get on deer all day long, you know, all hours of the day. early season is just tough because you, know, your peak times are like an hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset. know what I mean? You're out there way longer, but really you have maybe two hours a day of action. Yeah.
early season, that early September, late August. Yeah. It's, it's minutes you're either on them or not. Yeah. You know it, you know, and like you said, you know, you can sit out there all day. You got really long days from sunup to sundown. And then, you know, you know, you can pick apart the woods and, and every once in a while you might get lucky and you'll find a flicker of a tail or, or antler tine or something like that. And then you can kind of start to work your way in, but there's still leaves on the trees. It makes it more difficult to spot and stock. And so,
So right now I just, got to kind of put all my eggs in one basket and, and, and put my focus into a, you know, a 10 day period in November, but I am going to try to get out and, and, do a little bit of what I'll, I'll, just like to call it scouting, but I will have my bow with me. but I also may have my four year old daughter with me too. So I'm going have some limitations there, but I think it's going to be a blast. It's an area that she's never been to. And I think she'll have a ton of fun if we can maybe, you know, tent it for a couple of days, just.
just to get out and do some stuff, maybe find some sheds. I've never, I don't typically see the same deer in November that I do in September. So I don't get too hung up on one particular buck. You know what I mean? I just, you if I see some, if I see a good one, you know, I might try to go after them, but who knows, we'll see. That's one of the few states that I have not put a deer in. It's on my list to do, but I just, or like you said,
takes years to draw certain areas and stuff like that. and when I've been invited or found somebody that, that I could, you know, go hunt with or whatever, it's, it can't get a tag. Yeah. Yeah. It's tough. It, gosh, I used to hunt in there like, think seven, seven years straight. And as long as you put your, you know, put your application in before a certain date, you're pretty much guaranteed to get a tag, but then.
They had the oil boom, and so there was a lot of commotion, a lot of action going on in the area. So that kind of changed the patterns of the deer. And then also, they had some really hard winters. think they even had some blue tongue go through there a little bit. the populations got decimated pretty heavily. then I just think you're getting some more more hunters kind of figuring things out and going out there and hunting too.
I don't mind it. I really don't have any problems with it being harder to get a tag because I just I know now that There's just there's gonna be less hunters yeah, and and so I I like that part of it You know what I mean? Just because like even so when I go out there It's gonna be the North Dakota rifle season, but even for a resident with a rifle out there It takes you know five to six years. I think
To get a tag so you don't see a ton of people running around out there, which is which is kind of nice So I'm not worried about being out there during the rifle season I've very rarely run into any other hunters and when I do everybody's pretty respectful Nobody stepping on each other's toes anything like that In fact, there's a few guys that I've ran into that became friends with on social media And and now I see everything that they're doing all the time, you know that kind of stuff So I've always run into a lot of respectful people out in those areas. So I don't I kind of like what they're doing
And I hope that the population kind of I know it's rebounded a little bit And I hope it continues to do that a little bit just so the opportunities are there more But I do like that it kind of keeps keeps the hunter numbers lower Does they have mule deer and whitetail both yep? Yeah, with that tag that I have so you can get a whitetail tag over the counter But the any deer tag to hunt mule deer is a different ballgame so I can so with
With my tag, I can shoot a whitetail too. And so the area that I'm hunting around Little Missouri, I can hunt whitetails. I will have a tree stand and a saddle with me just in case, because I have seen some really nice whitetails down river bottoms. I may, if we're not seeing a lot of good mule deer, then I may pivot and do that too. So it's kind nice. It's versatile. But yeah, I'm super excited about that. I'm going to hunt with a buddy of mine. He's a giant mule deer, man.
What's that? They got giant mule deer in South, I mean in North Dakota. Yeah, it's kind of a sleeper state, but they're, you know, it's not as well known as other states, but you know, if you work hard enough, if you look hard enough, you'll, you'll find, you can find some really nice mule deer. I made the mistake the last time I hunted was 2017 and I saw the biggest mule deer out there I've ever seen. and I made the mistake of obsessing over that deer and I
passed up, can't tell you how many $140, $150 bucks that I probably could have got within range of. And I was like, no, this is the one I want. And then I came home, tag suit. The first time I went to Utah, I did that. I passed. I saw a giant. And I saw it multiple times. It just was always on the neighbors or just where I couldn't get to even then.
I passed some 160 bucks that I probably should have. 160 bucks that means I should have. Yeah. there's the other time I would have aired them, but you know, got it. And I'm fine, you know, eating the tags, but the reality of it is, is I was probably not the smartest person at that time. And I've killed some big mealers, dude. I've killed a 204, 193. So it's not like I was chasing something I hadn't done before.
Right, you know, you know I've shot smaller. I mean, it's yeah, but I got obsessed with that thing. It was huge Yeah Yeah, I went so far as to I had to this this piece of ground that that this buck was on was Just silly terrain to try to navigate super steep you're out in those badlands and so that you know, you're trying to navigate through that bed night and it's just
it's a, it's a nightmare to try to get through. And so I tried to come around a different direction. I had to cross private grounds. So I knocked on a guy's door. He gave me access. but man, when I got back in there, I. There, I had no, I like based on the map and based on everything that I'd looked at where I suspected he would be at, from that direction or that side that I came from, I don't, I couldn't even really get to, to where he was.
And so I was just just kind of getting lost in there. And finally I was like, OK, I'm just I'm not going to find him. I need to pivot. And I only had one day left. And then, of course, then I couldn't seal the deal. But either way, yeah, I won't make that mistake again. And it's just there's something about matching wits with your quarry, right? So I've always started small and kind of worked my way up. it's just there is.
It is easier, I think, to kill a less mature buck. And so wanting to try to get just up the stakes and increase the challenge is always inherent there. And trying to swallow your pride and get past that and just be smart sometimes is not easy to do. Yeah, we get in our own way. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, awesome. All right. Well, folks, that brings us to the end of this episode.
James, thanks again so much for your time today. I really appreciate it, Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah. Yeah, it was a good time. We had some great, some great conversation there. so where can people find you if they want to get in touch with you? So social media channels, open season TV, and then on personal James Blankenbeckler and then, on Instagram it's BB hunt 53, cause that was my email in.
Marine Corps and it just stuck forever. But yeah, so you can either give me my personal and or open season TV. I answer on both. So cool. Awesome. Well, yeah, make sure you head on over there and look them up. If you have any questions for him, like he said, he's really good about answering them. So feel free to send him a message. And also don't forget, head over to Pursuit Up, look up Open Season TV on there. You can watch some of their episodes. So it's a lot of fun.
to kind of see what they got going on there. Also, don't forget to follow us at the Range podcast on Instagram and Facebook, as well as Vapor Trail Archery and Stokerized Stabilizers. You can find the video version of this episode on the Vapor Trail YouTube channel. If you like the video, hit that thumbs up button, subscribe and hit that bell so you can be up to date on all things archery. And if you're listening, do me a favor, give us a rating, a review and make certain that you give us five stars.
And with that, we are going to pack up our bows and arrows and we're hitting the range. Have a great day, everybody. Vapor Trail is now offering an exclusive discount to the range podcast listeners. Enter promo code TRP15. That's T R P 15 at checkout for 15 % off VTX bowstrings and Vapor Trail and Stokerize branded t -shirts, hats, and other gear.
