Ready to embark on a gripping hunting adventure? We have hunting enthusiasts Ali and Jeff Werning with us, unspooling wild yarns from their hunting escapades.
We've got an adrenaline-pumping sheep hunt on the opening day to share with you, that underscores the significance of preparedness and caution when treading risky terrains. We'll also explore the exhilaration that comes from a successful hunt, including overcoming a blustery day and a daring animal.
Ready to embark on a gripping hunting adventure? We have hunting enthusiasts Ali and Jeff Werning with us, unspooling wild yarns from their hunting escapades.
We've got an adrenaline-pumping sheep hunt on the opening day to share with you, that underscores the significance of preparedness and caution when treading risky terrains. We'll also explore the exhilaration that comes from a successful hunt, including overcoming a blustery day and a daring animal.
Howdy, folks, and welcome to the Hunting Stories Podcast. I'm your host, michael, and we have a great one for you. I'm sorry it's a day late, but it is still a great couple of stories for you. Today we have another couple on. We actually have Ally and Jeff Wernig.
Speaker 1:This is a funny one. This is actually somebody that my mother introduced me to. My mother has no hunting history or background or anything, but she was a school teacher and Ally is one of her students. They stayed in contact and I'm glad that they did, because Ally and Jeff have amazing stories, so I'm not going to steal any of their thunder.
Speaker 1:I just want to say thank you to Ally and Jeff for coming on the podcast, taking the time to meet with me. Hopefully, I get to meet them in person. You know, buy them a beer, dinner or something in the future, but, guys, I hope you enjoy their stories. Also, if you're listening to this, please share it with one person today so that we can get more people, more listeners, reaching out to me with some more crazy stories. So that's it, guys. Let's go ahead and kick this thing off and that Ally and Jeff tell you some of their hunting stories, thank you. Alright, guys, welcome to the Hunting Stories Podcast. How you doing? Good, very good. Well, hey, I'm very excited to have you guys here. I mentioned it before we started recording. But weird world where we got introduced through my mother, who has literally zero ties to hunting, but she's a teacher and she was your teacher, right?
Speaker 2:It was my teacher for three years in high school of home back and sewing and all things good.
Speaker 1:That's right. She makes me call it consumer and family studies.
Speaker 2:Yes, home back is what it is. It's what people understand it to be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she'll probably. She doesn't listen to all of them, but she'll probably listen to this one and she's like that's right, Michael, get it right, get it right. Right, exactly Alright. So let's kick this thing off. Beyond the fact that we were introduced by my mom which is a weird thing to say on a hunting podcast, why don't we let you guys introduce yourselves? And so that people know who they're hearing some stories from tonight.
Speaker 3:My name is Jeff warning, colorado native. We've been generationally here on the front range. I grew up kind of around the Greeley Platteville South Platte area and grew up hunting geese and waterfowl as a kid, you know, starting when I was five with a cap done in the goose pit and then went on to big game hunting, starting in 14 or when I was 14, and then Ali and I ended up meeting at Colorado State University. So our ties are up in Fort Collins and yeah, it's been 13 years ago that we met and we've been hunting as a couple since.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and I'm Ali warning, and I got my hunter safety in 2011, so been hunting a little over a decade and 10 years 10 solid years of big game hunting Like that always kind of a husband and wife crew going hunting and fishing together and finally found somebody that loves the outdoors and introduced me to everything like this. So pretty lucky.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so Ali did you are so just been hunting his whole life more or less. Did you pick it up because of Jeff? Is that what the timing is for that, or was there some catalyst that got you going?
Speaker 2:I picked it up because of him. A funny thing and this is where this is a bit of a small world is in high school. Your mom had us write a letter to ourselves in three years when we were about to graduate college, and one of the pieces that I did- I got to read them all.
Speaker 1:Right Right, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2:I wrote a bucket list of you know things I just in general in life, not that I'd expect to do in those three years, but one of the pieces on that list was catch a fish and one of the pieces on that list was go hunting. So it started when I was just grew up in Colorado and being from from this area and always being fascinated with it, but never really had the opportunity until until I met Jeff and he was. He had duck decoys in the back of his truck the day we met, so it was a good sign.
Speaker 1:So it's just something you kind of wanted to dabble in and never got around to until you, jeff, that's cool. That's awesome. I need to somehow convince my wife to just sit a blind with me or something, because she has no interest for her. She, she, loves that I'm a hunter.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But she has no interest in the death portion of it and that's just too much for her and I respect that. But I hope someday she's willing to come out and like sit or maybe, maybe like a Western big game. You know, hike with my bow. Yeah, we don't have to kill anything, but just like kind of enjoy the experience and hopefully she'll fall in love with the two, because it's definitely for, you know, males and females, yeah, so Okay, well, cool guys. Well, nice to meet you, nice to formally meet you. I guess we've texted a little bit, but yeah, let's jump right into it. I know you guys have some stories for us. I don't know who wants to go first, allie or Jeff, you guys. You guys can pick.
Speaker 3:I guess the setup for this one, the property that we hunt down southeastern Colorado, that's kind of got your dear elk sheep kind of the whole smorgasbord of a big game down there, and so forever I've been putting in for a Rocky Mountain big horn sheep license.
Speaker 2:And your uncle had shot a big horn sheep down there. Yeah, 30 years ago, yeah.
Speaker 3:And so we got his sheep down in the same area and that's what turned us on to it, and so it's been neat.
Speaker 3:We've been privileged to get four or five really nice mule deer in the same right, in the same vicinity my dad, brother Allie, myself, best friend Kurt, and I think that's an area that we've managed to, you know, have some success with elk, and so we're always looking at sheep down there. But yeah, it turns out that the, the access point to this unit, ends up getting cut off when there's a change of ownership and in a piece of property, and so I lost confidence in the idea that if I, if I drew the tag At some point, you know you may not be able to actually go utilize it. So I decided to change and put in for a different unit. We live in love in Colorado here, and so the big Thompson Canyon, headed up the Estes Park to Rocky Mountain National Park is just west of us, and so I put in for the archery only license for the first time last year, and my brother points, yet you went in with.
Speaker 3:I was really really lucky. And then you need three to qualify and that gets you into the weighted weighted points in Colorado and so your fourth year applying as your first year eligible. Yeah, I know a lot of folks that are in their 20s of years that have not drawn guys that get lucky and they get it right out the gate. But I was at three and then eight, or three and five, so eight total years of applying and so I decided to go ahead and put in for this year and it was my birthday morning.
Speaker 3:April 19 is when the draw results came out and I woke up and grabbed my phone and clicked on my emails and I looked and woke her up and I said am I, am I actually reading this right? And I don't know. We checked it three or four times. I send it text to everybody and pictures and my am, I am I don't know, are you sure?
Speaker 2:are you sure I got this?
Speaker 3:So, yeah, we checked that thing, opened up the, opened up the safe, looked at it multiple times to make sure that it actually said my name and have the unit and it was going to happen. So so, yeah, it really worked out good that all of a sudden I switched units and we were on for a December one big horn sheep hunt. That's awesome. You're right next to.
Speaker 2:I think there's. There's 17 minutes away is where where the canyon starts, so being able to scout, as opposed to where it was four and a half hours and then another half hour in and then hoping that you can get through a gate. We went from that to let's just drive 20 minutes up the canyon and go take a look at big horn.
Speaker 1:That's not bad at all. That's yeah, great, All right cool.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, it was. So I work in Alaska Over the summers June and July. We have a business that we commercial fish out of Bristol Bay and Gilnet sockeye salmon up there. So I had the plans once we got back in late July to start scouting and looking and, you know, start tuning in arrows and get everything good to go. And so we spent a whole lot of time going up the canyon and looking and, you know, not seeing a whole lot of sheep, but you know, seasonally they come in a little bit later when the rut starts getting closer. So we had a whole lot of anticipation time and I think a lot of the reason we picked this story to tell is really speaks to kind of the community that you run into. We ran into a guy that's now a really good friend that has been on countless of the sheep hunts up in this unit, helped a lot of hunters, has a lot of knowledge and got to know him and his wife and become really good friends and we were at.
Speaker 2:We were at shields One day, you know, I think, buying our new boots for this hunt and checking out why are you buying the nice crispy boots. And we said, well, he's got a sheep license. And the guy behind us was an employee and he goes Wait, you've got a sheep. You got to meet Tracy. And then his cousin did the same thing and goes, you got to meet this guy, he's the goat guy, he's the, he's the big one guy. And so we got it from three or four different directions of you got to get in touch with, with this guy and I mean we just lucked out of having somebody that's, you know, not only knowledgeable but super friendly and wanted, just wanted to be. He goes, I want to be as involved in the hunt as you, as you're interested in, and he wanted to help scout and and pack and Guide if he, if it was needed, and if not, just come as a buddy and and so it ended at that ended up being a really lucky thing that we got in touch with this guy.
Speaker 1:That's too cool, you know.
Speaker 2:I've heard.
Speaker 1:I've heard in general those like once in a lifetime hunts the car has. When you draw one, you people come out of the woodworks to help. Yeah which is not the case with Elker, mule, deer or those things. Just that this is the way the draw works, like. Everyone wants you to be successful, everyone wants to work with you. I think you guys found maybe someone even better than that who has like the skills and expertise and knowledge, but I haven't experienced that someday.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:I'll have the points. You know, if it takes eight I'll be pretty damn happy. We'll see, but that's, that's super cool that you guys just in a checkout line. Yeah for those that don't know, shields is like what Bass Pro wishes it was. It's the coolest story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a big plug for shields and you know not about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my wife and I, we went to the first time with our kids and we were like this is amazing. They got a giant ferris wheel in there and we're like we should come here to date night and not bring our children. Yeah, just leave them at home so that we can actually enjoy the store, because it's awesome. Besides the point, we'll go back to the sheep hunt. Continue, man.
Speaker 3:So, that said, yeah, I got super excited come August and you went up a couple times to take a look around and you know we saw, saw, you saw some rams and started to kind of really get excited about it.
Speaker 3:And I think that you know, as you mentioned, the folks that come out of the woodwork.
Speaker 3:You know, each time that you go up on these hunts, you know some of me hike into places to glass from some of them you can kind of see him from the highway and the river system, but every time it seems like you do run into somebody that, whether it's a wildlife photographer or somebody that held the license in the past.
Speaker 3:It turned out to be a really neat unit to hunt because it's not one of those where it's a solitary kind of hunt, you have to hide your spot or you know it really did become a community kind of thing and I think that that's, you know, kind of the theme of it, you know. So we met a really neat wildlife photographer named Fred. He ended up I think he probably, when is all said and done, had 1214 hundred images of all the sheep through the canyon. So it really became, you know, a thing of going up to watch sheep as much, to talk to friends as as much as it was to go keep tabs on things. So I guess to that point we end up fast forward that the season.
Speaker 2:And so this was also part of this was you had a bow. This is an archery license. You had a bow, but had never shot a big game animal with a bow before. Is that right?
Speaker 3:I guess yeah, we kind of skipped that part that I decided that my first big game archery hunt should just might as well be a big one. I grew up with both shooting yeah, we would hunt geese with them and small game. So you know shot quite a bit growing up. But yeah, I've always been a rifle hunter and yeah, my cousin's been a big archery hunter his whole life and we've been around it. But yeah, that's, this is my first, first big game hunt with With archery equipment. So let me ask, jeff.
Speaker 1:Did you? Did you deliberately put in for archery because you thought the odds were better, or like why? Why are you like going? I'm going all in with archery on this ram and that's where you're putting your drawing, rather than no, when?
Speaker 3:we, when I decided to change units for the draw and you know, get away from the, the unit that I've been putting in for in the past, I'd heard a couple different folks that have had great Experiences in this unit. My cousin, a good friend of his, a game warden that we're friends with, had hunted this unit and so over about 20 years we knew a lot of people that had had experience here. So it kind of had some history for for past folks that we knew that had hunted it. And you know, this year I've I've got an archery deer tag I kind of decided to transition a little bit into, you know, trying to Try something a little bit more challenging and different. And so now I've I just started my archery quest with the sheep as opposed to, I suppose, graduating to that.
Speaker 1:All right, all right, good answer, all right keep going.
Speaker 2:Half of our scouting was going to the archery guy in Greeley and getting the bow, a new bow, and getting arrows tuned in, and finding, finding the perfect broadhead. And I I haven't even I don't have a bow, I've never bow hunted but I got to learn a lot and and participate a lot in seeing what what the guys were talking about and I mean I just I watched him shoot hundreds of arrows and we've been set up. We've got about 50 yards from our couch In our living room through the sliding glass doors out out through the yard To the backstop that we have a safe lane to shoot. So we've got a couple spots that he was getting 50 yards to be able to practice the, the long, the long end of ranges.
Speaker 1:So that's pretty fun up there in love Lynn. You guys got a pretty sweet free course, don't you? On some I can't lawn Hagler, is that right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a great group of guys. It's the Big Thompson bow hunters association. They Maintain that course in partnership with the Colorado Parks and Wildlife and so, yeah, it's a really good course over there. They hold a lot of different events, competition, shoots. You know a lot of the guys in the industry around here involved with maintaining and keeping that range going, so you know a great group of guys to have met with that. Also, over at Kodak there's a really nice range over on the Puder River that's. That's built, maintained by I think it's the city of Windsor that have that put together.
Speaker 3:So yeah, there's a lot of nice places to shoot around here and you know, short range, 3d, longer range, a lot, of, a lot of areas to practice.
Speaker 3:So so, yeah, but I guess kind of going forward. You know we got into mid-November, you know, when the rut was really kicked in and all the Rams came in and the use settled into a common spot. And so we, for two weeks before season open, you know we're up either morning, afternoon or both, keeping an eye on sheep and kind of seeing what was showing up in which were the most likely candidates that we wanted to take a look at. And yeah, I guess, as hunting luck goes, they pretty much all found their way to the private property for 7 to 10 days before opening day. And so we spent an awful lot of time watching them work further and further away from National Forest land and kind of wondering how it was going to work out. And Again back to friend Tracy that we met. You know he says eventually, don't worry about it, they'll cycle around. But you know you kind of start getting a little bit nervous about you know, all of a sudden, all of the Rams that you've been watching are no longer accessible.
Speaker 3:But you know this being the archery only license, they issue three of them and it's a full month. You get all a December to hunt. So you know we weren't too concerned. But you know, for opening day we kind of at least wanted to think that we were going to have a have an opportunity to get a hunt on without just watching them on the wrong side of things. So we ended up I think I went up in the after morning and afternoon.
Speaker 3:The day before the day before season open and they were in a cliff complex that they hadn't been in, just crazy steep kind of stuff. And it took a while to find them. And we, we made a hike around the backside where we hadn't seen them and Found a set of lion tracks that had headed in right where they'd been and see if they had been in the back that had headed in right where they'd been, and so you know, not knowing, liar right through the snow too, so it's like pristine, like what a what a photographer would dream about finding.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, the the answer to why they got into the real, real steep stuff became pretty clear.
Speaker 3:And so, yeah, we had really no idea what was gonna happen come opening day.
Speaker 3:But you know we're excited that at least we kind of knew where they were and they were edging back towards the areas that we that we were able to to get in on.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, opening morning came and we got Team of folks that were there with us my cousin was there on glass, tracy was there on glass and we got their sunrise and and watch the sheep as the sun came up, and If they were going to the right, as they had been for the last 10 days, they'd end up back over on private, you know, around the mountain, and it was gonna kind of be a done deal for the day. But the use ended up coming out of the cliff and and they started trailing up and left and in the right direction. So it it all looked like we were gonna have a An opportunity on them at least to get in and and see if they made their way over to the right side of the mountain for us, and so I had to drop down off of the near side of the of the River ravine and throw on the waiters and you know it's all Anchor ice and the water running through pockets.
Speaker 2:And with waiters on and a rope around my waist to make sure he didn't slide under something, we made it across the river and through hunting boots back on and Start heading up the hill when we found the use, I think your cousin spotted them and we had the spotting scope and then everybody on on binoculars and they were the things that those sheep can do.
Speaker 2:It is just baffling because we're sitting there watching them and they are just jumping Rock to rock on a sheer cliff face granite wall and he's fixing to cross an icy river and climb up to go harvest one and and I'm just sitting there watching like I'm getting more and more nervous, like we've. We've done we've done some dumb, steep stuff before, but nothing, nothing. Where you're careening, you know, hundreds of feet down into a river at the bottom If something goes wrong. And so I mean it was just to watch to. To be on the part of the watch side, not the the active hunt side of it was, was kind of insane. I figured out from our glass spot to where they were was only Seven, eight hundred yards. It was, but it's, you know, straight down, straight across, and I think it took him.
Speaker 3:Was a couple hours, a couple hours to get around to where we're kind of in position.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so he's he's doing ten feet at a time and you're sitting there doing the math looking at the river, looking at the, the mountain. I don't know about this.
Speaker 3:When I told my cousin Gary, I said I'm willing to do a lot and this is a really neat license. But I kind of told him I said this part of this mountain I don't want to get above it. You know that everything's worth it. But I said that might be riskier than I want to get myself in the middle of. And you know he smiled, nodded and said no problem, and so I had, you know, my glasses and he was sitting at the bottom. You know spotting and giving signals and you know given giving good hand signals for for which direction they were going versus where I was going, and so I was more paying attention to him and excited as I was climbing the thing. And, yeah, I got up to where I kind of thought my elevation was right, and he keeps giving me more and more and so I kept heading up the hill and so At one point, like Scree, or was it big boulders, or what are the?
Speaker 1:what are the mountains?
Speaker 3:No, it's basically you run out of the river. It's just a big vertical granite cliffside and once you get up on top of it then it rolls out to Grass and such. On top, you know, still real steep, but it gets into more just a grassy terrain. That the that the sheep go up and spend their day Grazing and and running up on top outside of the cliffs. But you know, down, like Ali said, if you end up losing, losing traction, it's a pretty Not fun. Fall to the bottom, yeah, pretty quick. So yeah, exactly yeah.
Speaker 1:When I got up to the top, I was more paying attention to.
Speaker 3:Where I thought I needed to go and hand signals and such, and pretty soon I looked down and I realized I'm exactly where I said that I was going to go, exactly where I said that I didn't want to end up.
Speaker 3:Yeah and so I Pop up over a log and figured I have to be pretty close and I end up spotting three use that are grazing up above me. So I was getting right in the middle of it and the side that I was on I had rocks kicking out of belief beneath my feet and, you know, on some pretty steep stuff that I wanted to crown up over the top of. And so I ended up figuring where, where all the sheep were at, they were kind of in two different bunches and I was able to range right there. To start with, I was right at 67 yards From the, from the ram. That was the best in the in that band, and so, yeah, after Counting them in the morning, it was a big group, a lot of eyes.
Speaker 2:We were 30, 34, 37 use and I think there were six rounds in that group and last year, there were you, there were what three solid like if any one of these three walks in front of you, it's a no brainer like size, wise and curl, and that we'd been scouting for so long and like that had the the photographer friend with his, you know, telescoping lens that he was able to get pictures from far and close and we really were able to figure out the, the three choice critters that were. That were the options.
Speaker 3:And with only you know, three licenses that were issued for the, for the unit. You know we knew where the other guy was hunting. Kind of an interesting end of the story when we when, when you combine his hunt. But I'd seen him in the morning and I just told him. I said if we're going to be hunting on the same mountain, if one of us is on a stock list, just kind of, you know, be good neighbors. You know, if somebody's on a stock, let's not get in a hurry. You know there's plenty of time, plenty of sheet. Let's, you know, not ruin something and send them back on to private by by getting into a rush. And so, you know, he ended up being you know good to talk to about that. And he, he says I'm going to go up the, up the West face of this mountain anyway. So he says I don't even think we'll be near each other on on the mountain side.
Speaker 3:But, like Ali said, it was one of those that there was, you know a couple that were a little bit bigger. Yeah, I mean, obviously just blessed to be able to take a sheep was good enough, but yeah, there were three of them. That it was. It was pretty much a shot on any of those three was going to be a really good deal. So anyway, so I ended up, you know, starting at 60 yards and had a log that was laying down in front and then a couple of trees that were up above and you know a few spots that I could pick around to get a little bit closer, but they were not in a great spot to make a move. So I ended up pinned down for and it was probably 30 or 40 minutes that I waited, and then they started to feed up hill and I was able to skirt back around that log and and come up to the West side of them and got to a point where, you know, it was right into about 40 yards and I could see just the backs of sheep and where they were going. It was going to end up that they were. They were going to crest over the top and and get into a spot that was a big flat, and so my chances were going to go way down on that one working. So I started to make a move and kind of sneak around and come back a little bit further west and north of them.
Speaker 3:And you know I, like Ali said, I practiced at longer ranges and can shoot out to you know where guys are talking about, shooting those really long ranges with bows. But you know I really wanted to know that I'd be in. You know, 20 to 40 yards was my ideal shot, to make sure you know, on on on something like this, to be ethical and and make a really good shot. And when it all came together, I was right at 30 yards and got an arrow knocked and thought that that was all going to work out. And it ends up that there's another rock to where all I can see is the top six inches of backs, and so I thought, you know I managed to get to my target range. You know it all worked out and in my mind I'm like you got to be kidding, I've got to get closer.
Speaker 1:It's got a little taller today.
Speaker 3:So I got down and got to sneaking and I look up and didn't realize that there were three use that had fed up a different direction.
Speaker 3:And I look up and they're staring right at me and so I'm in the point of I'm busted.
Speaker 3:Not exactly sure, you know, if everybody saw me, but you know they definitely were in nervous and could tell that they knew something was there that wasn't supposed to be. So, you know, I decided to try to get just a little bit more and get the elevation that I needed, to think if, when they move forward, if everything doesn't bust out, that it's really going to work. And so I made a move, crawled a little bit closer and it ended up being that the Ram that I was after was the first one to go ahead and step forward when they moved up, and the last time I ranged was 16 yards, no way. And so, yeah, it was right there, just perfect. And so I drew and he stepped out in front and let the arrow go. And you know, I've been excited in my life and a lot of things you know. Especially, I think, when you watch friends and other people punt, you get just as nervous as they do. But I was standing there and I was shaking to the point that I barely could hold my bow.
Speaker 3:I ended up setting it down and taking a second and I looked down and you know it's at that point, a half a mile down to where spotters and everybody's at, and I can see people staring at me and I'm staring at them and at that point it's kind of one of those that I was excited. Did it work? You know, they went up over the hill so I didn't see him crash, you know. And then all the you know, hopefully I got him, I know I got him. All that stuff goes in and yeah, I was shaken to the point that I don't think I could have walked for about the first five minutes after the.
Speaker 2:Well, and I think that that was that was the thing for me. I was watching him climb that hill. You know, watching, watching the person that I love climb this thing that if he slips wrong he's at the bottom of a river, you know. So that was terrifying, so I and it's, and it's cold and early and all of those things also, so you're sitting in the snow and watching all this and so I finally, just like, I got to move, I got to, I got to get up, I got to turn around, I get I don't know 100 feet from where the guys are spotting him and they see the use scatter and they I think he shot, I think he shot, I think he hit him. You know, and it was the same kind of assumptions from from our side of the canyon going did he hit? Is it good? Can we get his attention? Is he, is he jumping up and down? You know what? What's the deal?
Speaker 2:And try to find the try to find a white blood on the side of the hill and and I just heard that of of they kind of I think that they were glassing you and finally saw that it was like all good and it's like I don't get all that emotional with, with things like this, but it's like that, that was tears and that was a moment of okay. Now, now is the find him and and all of that, but the the success just happened, and it was. It was kind of unreal to to be on on that side of the hill, you know, close, so close, but so far to not be, to not be right next to him when, when our hunts are our kind of hand in hand and and with each other, and so that was. That was something else of trying to figure out, you know. Okay, well, now what's next?
Speaker 3:So from my perspective I could not see any of this. So I looked down and I noticed that my cousin Gary is headed down and he's crossing the river and he's coming up. And you know as much as I wanted to just run right in and and find out what happened, I saw he was coming up and I knew he had a advantage on the glasses that I didn't have. And he came up and I took a break and realized by this point I had not drank any water or anything else. And so I took a break and grab the granola bar and a bottle of water and and kind of settle. And he came up and he said that it was actually Tracy's wife, helen, was on the spotting scope and she, amongst everybody, says there's a ram down. And so Gary came up and he says they, they saw him what looks like about 150 yards up and left and I'd gone over and found a couple spots of blood right there where the shot was. So I knew that, you know it, it felt good, look good, and we had a blood trail. And so he started up and kind of heading around and I looked and I'll be darn I see a ram and he's walking real slow away and I looked and I could see see blood on his right leg and so Gary and I talked about it fall. The blood trail, you know, confirmed that that was all All right, it was, it was the right sheep, and so we got in and he laid back down by the time we got around the hill and expected that.
Speaker 3:At that point that, you know, he looked like, you know, it was all said and done and I thought I'm I'm going to probably shoot another arrow just for insurance. And we got to 30 yards and he kind of tipped his head up and so at that point I I went ahead and shot one more time and he ended up making a turn. And it was the most amazing thing if you're below, if you're below and didn't know it was happening, it would have been the craziest thing to watch. But he ended up down this ravine and just dragged through the, through the rocks that he jumped airborne with all he had and heard his, heard him take off, heard his hooves hit, heard his hooves hit another rock and then heard him crash and he covered I mean more ground through the air than I realized that they're capable of doing, you know just an amazing, amazing creature their agility.
Speaker 3:And so how far?
Speaker 1:how far, if you give us like a, an estimate.
Speaker 3:No, he ended up, you know from From where he launched off that rock. He was about 50 yards downhill and he touched the ground twice on his way down and I mean it was, it was steep, just unreal. And Fred the photographer we were talking to, he you know, we were looking at the rock from where he launched off of versus where he ended up and you know some of it. Probably he slid a little bit too, but just you could see his hoof marks. You know where he hit the rocks as he was headed down the hill. You know, before, before he expired, and it was just amazing, the agility of what they've got in them, that's. And so we got no visual to.
Speaker 2:He packed himself out. Like this way, buddy, yeah. So we got down to him and you know, confirmed everything was good.
Speaker 3:The first shot was actually good. It was a little bit back but it was, you know, double one shot. You know he was kind of walking uphill and I shot him on a walk and so it was just a couple inches back of where I wanted to be, but it was first one. Would have been good, you know, if a little more time. The second one was, you know, no doubt, really good and you know, like I said, first archery hunt, but I got hooked up with the guys at iron will Broadheads, yeah, shooting their single bevel 125 grain arrow. And the second one it was amazing. You know not to be graphic, but the, the blood trail that that that broadhead produced was just an amazing thing. So it was neat shooting, you know, stuff that you're confident in and that's cool.
Speaker 1:I shoot iron will as well. I don't have the single bevel, but I have the solid 125s and you know I killed a milk this year with it and it was a complete pass through it, like 40 yards through some brush, just awesome. But it didn't bleed at all. Oh, not a drop like it was super weird. Even when it was it piled up. We found it about 150 yards away. It was dead within minutes.
Speaker 1:Wow it ran and we didn't see this. We waited two hours but it was upside down. So it ran out into the field, reared up as if it were in, like you know, you think of the Bronco right, the Denver Broncos, the horse on top of the stadium. He reared up like that and fell backwards and just dug his horns into the dirt, huh, and so it died immediately, but it wasn't. There's no blood, so it was absolutely crazy.
Speaker 3:But it's. I've heard, you know, a few people say that that you know they don't find a lot of blood trails but they don't go very far, on far. I took a photo of the blood trail and this guy took off and it was like a six, eight inch wide red stripe and I said, when he jumped off the rocks that look like rain spots and then a spot where he hit the rocks he was yeah, it was pretty amazing the blood trail that that there was on that one.
Speaker 1:So here's, here's something funny that I just remembered. I had a recap of my hunt and I forgot this story and I'm gonna tell it, for for to be honest, right. So after the first day of hunting we went through a lot of movies. Second day of hunting went to a lot of brush.
Speaker 1:I was like I need to shoot, make sure my my sights still on, and I go windy day and I'm like that's all right, I'm shooting it like 50 yards why, I don't know, I don't feel comfortable 50, but I shoot and I just miss the target all together Just with it, and I just watch this arrow just tumble down. I'm shooting down a road. Basically, I just watch my arrow tumble, walk down, get it. Look at the arrow, it's still razor sharp and I was like, oh, no way. And so that's the same arrow that I ended up killing my elk with. I shot my elk with no wind, at 40 yards, but 50 yards with a lot of wind. I don't know what I was doing, but I whiffed it and man, those, those broadheads are awesome, yeah, so so amazing that I just sent it down a dirt road and it's still complete pass through on an elk.
Speaker 3:Now you you start adding up the cost of shafts and putting them together and inserts and broad heads and it adds up. You know it's not as not it not a cheap kind of a thing. But when you figure you put that much work into scouting planning, you know everything else that goes into a hunt.
Speaker 2:Plus the once in a lifetime license. Yeah, yeah, I figured it's, it's worth.
Speaker 3:It's worth investing in in the best thing that you can put out there.
Speaker 1:Yeah so yeah, I believe it, but I cut you off there you were telling you were finishing the story before I ran off into an iron will tank.
Speaker 3:Oh, I guess at this point it's kind of just the the hero and pack out part of it. But yeah, we got down there and got hands on him and At that point Tracy was already climbing up and yeah, I didn't realize he was coming up to help pack out and I just hear hey, sheep hunter from around the corner.
Speaker 3:So that was a great moment hugs and high fives and you know just, it was a neat deal. Yeah, I mean, it only ended up being from sunrise until the arrow Went off, was two and a half hours about. So you know, total sheep hunt after all that. You know I couldn't be any luckier that that first stock, first day.
Speaker 3:You know everything came together and yeah, so the three of us got him taken apart and and came down the mountain and by the time we came down, you know word was out and you know it's, it's right there, close to home, like we said. So you know, it's kind of a neat deal and part of the reason that we picked this story is by the time we had him Packed down, my, my mom, my dad, my brother, we had a couple other friends that, yeah, the photographers were all there. So you know it was, it was really neat. You know, by the time we hit the road, just exhausted, tired and huffing and puffing, but you know we had, you know, a lot of really important folks that got to share, yeah, sharing the end and in the start of it, yeah, so yeah, we had.
Speaker 2:While they were Caping him, we were just on the spotting scope, you know, watching from the roadside because there wasn't. You know, there's no reason to send more than just having three guys on the side of the hill to to bring the cheap down. And we had a couple in a Subaru headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park and what are you guys looking at? And it's like you might not want to know. Kind of we're like oh, there's something up there, you know, whatever. But like most, most people would understand like hey, is there a hunt going on? And would ask that question if they're Okay with it, and then you hand over some glasses and say, you know, look at this direction or whatever.
Speaker 2:But but those, those gals, I think they understood, yeah, maybe, yeah, and by the time yeah, by the time Jeff and and his cousin and Tracy, all across the river and came out, I mean Jeff was gray and salty and Malnourished and probably 10 pounds lighter than he was when he went up the hill from not eating and not drinking and Realizing that of and so we had had, we bought waters and and this was a tip from from Tracy, he goes when, when we have people just come and volunteer and come and show up for these hunts. He goes just Fill a cooler, put some coax in, put some waters in, have, have some snacks, and so we, we kind of did our normal, what we would have bought for a five-day hunt of Drinks and things to have in the back of the car for everybody once they got down. So I think when, when the boys got down, we made some like cold cheese sandwiches, had had some, some coax on the side of the road and and then had some celebration right there at the there's a little pull-off that we were all parked in and and got to have. That, you know, like he said, with with his parents and his brother and Friends and everybody that you know had wanted to, wanted to participate in and to not have wasted. Like Some hunts go for 15 days and that happens and that is you know, and then people lose interest and fall off.
Speaker 2:But to have this all happen in the span of like a 24-hour period Was really a special thing.
Speaker 1:It's pretty awesome. It's pretty awesome, and I bet that Cheese sandwich was the best thing Jeff's ever had.
Speaker 3:Well, that's a great story.
Speaker 2:That's an amazing story are Are one other side that we did was we started. We made summer sausage out of the bulk of him and we went to the bow hunter association banquet and brought that to share with everybody. And then we sent about 100 rolls of summer sausage to Jeff's business in Alaska for the fishermen to eat, and at the end of the year there were what three or four rolls left over that the Hawaiians just loved. So this Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep traveled from here, went to Alaska and then it was finally consumed on the beach of Kauai with a group of salmon fishermen that live in Hawaii.
Speaker 2:That's amazing so lots of travel on this guy.
Speaker 1:That is such a cool story. I'm jealous. I hope to have that kind of like community on a hunt. You know, I've been on some elk hunts and, like I said, it's private. You don't want people in the you know to burn any spots, all that kind of stuff. This last season I probably had the best community I've ever had on a hunt, but there's nothing, I think, like those once in a lifetime hunts and the people that get involved. And I'm, you know, hopefully I'm as lucky as you, jeff. I think I have five, six points at this point. So a couple more years and maybe, maybe I'll be there, but probably not with my luck It'll probably be.
Speaker 1:I think two years ago I had 95% chance of drawing an antelope tag. Didn't draw it, so that's that's that's where I am with drawing tags, so I'll probably never get to hunt those.
Speaker 3:But as we're talking right now, the hunt just opened on the first and I got an update of the guys that are up and you know we had last year last year the other tag holder that went to the west side of the hill that was kind of the other thing I was going to mention.
Speaker 3:He had the same luck that I did opening morning and so both of those rams we harvested opening morning. Yeah, we're onto the fifth now and from what I know there's not been one taken just yet. But on the draw odds I know that there's a young guy that's really happy up there. He's 16 years old with a sheep tag in his pocket.
Speaker 3:So he drew, he drew on his first year eligible for for the hunt this year. And yeah, so, yeah, that's the other kind of neat thing is, once the once you get involved in in the hunt and these units, like that, like you say, the community becomes. You're not trying to hide spots, secrets, anything like that, but it becomes that this year you kind of get to know the guys that are doing the hunt and and you get to to hear how it's going for them.
Speaker 1:That's cool man. I would love to talk to that kid's dad.
Speaker 3:How fired up is that? Or pissed.
Speaker 1:The dad's probably got 30 points and he's never drawn, he probably does he just un-draws at three and we've met.
Speaker 2:We've met enough sheep hunters like that of of the, the guys in southern Colorado and the friends and all of that that it's such a hard thing to draw that these guys are in their 60s and 70s when they finally do, and then you're supposed to go to places that a sheep can go and we you know that was one of those of of being pretty thankful and lucky that we he got this when he was young and healthy and you know you're not worrying about knee replacements and hip replacements and and all of those things when you have to go climb the side of a mountain, and so that was a pretty lucky thing too, cause we've seen a lot of guys that it's like how, what am I going to do here?
Speaker 2:You know, like I can't go, I can't go across that canyon, and Especially with archery equipment right.
Speaker 1:Like 700 yards if that's for the, you know the guesstimated distance rifle, that's doable. You know you can train for that with archery man. You got to just beat feet, you got to make it happen. So kudos to you, jeff. Man, that's awesome, pretty awesome.
Speaker 3:It's going to be a tough one to match?
Speaker 1:Uh-huh, I bet. And now you got to get another arch. Have you gotten any archery kills since then?
Speaker 3:I'm actually going to be going 15th of this month. I drew a deer license in a really neat unit and so, yeah, we've been putting some scouting time in and a lot of good bucks that we've seen so far, and the rifle season is going to end on the 15th of December, so I'll have starting on the 16th to the end of the year to go try to find a nice buck.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were lucky enough. We managed to get to Elk to this year and we had run out of Elkburger in our freezer, so it was time.
Speaker 1:Oh, perfect timing, yeah Well, okay, well, let's jump into one of those stories. I mean, if you have other stories you wanted to tell, but like you guys obviously are pretty accomplished Elk hunters, so any one of those stories you want to share.
Speaker 2:I can turn the computer a little bit so you can see a couple of the Elk on the wall.
Speaker 1:Those are good, elk.
Speaker 2:What the?
Speaker 1:hell is that? Is that like a 14 point, or am I looking at multiple entries?
Speaker 2:You're looking at two Elk side by side.
Speaker 1:One's a shoulder mountain, one is getting Send me photos of that so I can share it on the Instagram.
Speaker 3:For a second.
Speaker 2:I was like holy crap, I didn't know what was going on. No, so that's also. The funny thing is he got this sheep hunt and then also happened to draw a unit 20 Elk tag last year.
Speaker 1:How many Elk points did you have?
Speaker 3:That's a 20 something point I think they take six or seven points. I ended up spending nine on it. That was that's. The late season starts beginning part of January and so, yeah, that was the question, with the sheep tag in pocket, of putting the time in to to give both hunts their due, and considered turning in the elk license and just focusing on the one hunt. But I thought it'd be a really neat deal to put both of them together in the same unit in the same hunting season and so I ended up. I shot sheep on December 1st and I ended up getting my bull on January 6th, I believe it was, so just more than a month apart, and as the crow flies they were about two and a half miles apart from each other of where I got them. So it ended up a lot to manage but an awfully neat deal that when everybody gets back from the taxidermists that they, they were same calendar year, same unit, you know. Just a really neat kind of end to the to the hunting season last year.
Speaker 1:When that's awesome.
Speaker 2:A funny thing with us is we we met in 2010.
Speaker 2:And in 2012, jeff drew an elk license on the Bosque in Southern Colorado which was, at that point in time, it was a once in a lifetime hunt and and that was when if if anybody knows about that unit is it was in about as prime of condition as it's ever been or going to be that it had been really well managed at that point.
Speaker 2:The neighboring ranches had been really well managed at that point, and so the opportunity for a massive bull down there was really high. And so he's telling me I've got this once in a lifetime hunt, we're going to go down, we're going to scout it, we're going to do all of this, and then the next year his dad draws a once in a lifetime hunt, and then the year after that his brother draws the same Bosque once in a lifetime hunt. And I think in the past decade of us hunting together, it's been about 10 once in a lifetime hunts and and and I think it's just we, you know, we look at them that way of realizing you know, this is it's just a special opportunity of knowing. You know, whatever, whether it's Steve spending his 20 preference points or your dad spending 20 preference points and getting a huge license, or just having an opportunity at a place that you're probably never going to get to go back to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, some of that stuff. Yeah, I've gotten to the point game so late that I'm like I'm just happy to hunt, right? I spent my elk points this year and I got an elk like I mean. I couldn't be more ecstatic. It's not a crazy point unit, but yeah, man, that's. That's, that's awesome. I went from jealous to now hating you guys that you've been a 10 once in a lifetime hunt.
Speaker 2:Well, and he says this to me, I I stepped into this in the. You know, after the 20 years of them putting in their putting in their time and and figuring out the point system and figuring out the units and and doing all of the hard work, and I'm like what, it's not hard, you just put in, you get a license, you go and you shoot one bullet and you get an elk. And Jeff's like that's not how it is, baby.
Speaker 1:I'm with Jeff on this one. I really kind of wish I had her perspective yeah man, I wish I wish it had appeared that way for anyone. I've got a my hunting buddy, his wife's, like so why do you go elk hunting, like you haven't killed anything ever?
Speaker 3:And I'm like oh sorry, bud, like so I think the big thing is, if you're out there in the wilderness just for the, for the harvesting part, that's such a short span of it that you know there's a whole lot more that goes into it and I think you know the fortunate end that you finally get to to shoot or shoot, you know, and be successful is just icing on the cake. But yeah, I think it's awfully neat to be able to spend time out in the, out in the field with friends and family and and then every once in a while it comes together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh yeah. And what's funny is I've heard obviously a lot of hunting stories over the last couple of years. The most memorable ones do not always involve a harvest right. It's whether sometimes it's injuring an animal, which is never good, but a lot of times it has to do with the trials and tribulations getting to the point of actually getting to harvest something.
Speaker 1:So I was on someone the other day like if I had never killed an animal but I'd been on all the hunts and they were all exactly what they are right now, but without harvesting anything. I'd still love every moment of it. It's, it's, it's amazing, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we've. We've talked about that a lot and their days, their times where we go elk hunting and in six days, you know, like that happened this year, you didn't see an elk for six days and we ended up both harvesting and being lucky but we spent six days not seeing an An Elk at all and it was still a fun time. You know, it's still. It was still a good hunt. We still. We met other people that know that know, ted Nugent, you know he's. He's the Kevin Bacon of the hunting world. He'd probably hate that.
Speaker 1:That's funny. Well, alright, guys, we're a little off track. I don't get into this like sentimental, and you know the, the, the Zen of hunting, but we're here to hear hunting stories, do you? Have any more, and we've been here for an hour. I don't want to take up too much of your time, but if you have more stories, I'd love to hear them.
Speaker 3:Why don't you tell them about your deer hunt last year with your dad?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I got my once in a lifetime deer. That is an. I drew on a hybrid tag in a unit that usually takes 18 to 20 preference points, I think, and I drew with five first year my first, first year on a hybrid. Um, okay okay, and that was pretty lucky and this was to talk to you guys once we turn the recording off.
Speaker 1:How to put in for stuff. Apparently I don't know what I'm doing, so keep going and so this was like like you've gone to.
Speaker 2:I grew up in Boulder. I grew up Golfing and we didn't have we didn't have guns in the house. I didn't grow up around hunters and so my dad was, was not a hunter, he's a runner and a golfer, and I drew this license on my dad's. Like it works for me. I Want to come watch you hunt. I want to come, for I've got three days I can come hunt. So said, that sounds great.
Speaker 2:And so he, my dad, shows up. We meet him, meet him down at the camper. We've got a nice little little camper set up and it's just the two of us and our, our black lab pup that was, I don't know, he was only a year old at the time and Am I dad. And we showed up. What a day before season. And this was the same area that Jeff's Jeff, his brother and his dad had all Harvested good bucks out of that same area. And so we had a good idea of where to go, where we wanted to start, which Area we wanted to end up in, and it just so happened that exactly where we wanted to go and when we'd been scouting the wind was exactly wrong the first two days of season.
Speaker 1:So so we go down. That sounds about right now.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's like the wind is blowing out of the west. It needed to be blowing out of the east and or we're gonna blow the entire Canyon Mountain Run everything. So we spent the first day. We went and hunted a different section, didn't see anything. We went and did the same thing the second day. You know, same thing, didn't see anything.
Speaker 2:But we knew this one area was a spot and so we had to wait till the third day of season to go in there in the morning and Meanwhile my dad, who's like 80d hyperactive, like total Boulder Colorado runner, marathoner guy, is like I'm bored, what are we doing? Why are we? Why aren't we hunting? This is boring, I don't know why. Why am I here? I think I'm gonna leave today, it's okay and so. So it was just kind of a funny thing of like, once you've Spent time learning, learning, hunting and all of that, that it's like this is a different thing and you have to have a good level of patience, even though we're not we're not tree stand whitetail hunters that sit for hours and hours and hours being quiet. We, we move a lot and we we seek out the animal a lot, but even at that, my like my dad, was just restless and and so it was like almost pressure to To have the wind to do the thing, to do the right thing, because that was the thing that's holding us up. But so the morning, the third morning, we we had the, the white, the right wind, and so we got up it and got to the cliff right at sunrise and it's December, what third or fourth third and so the deer running, pretty good, but they were.
Speaker 2:You know, they're just kind of starting to come out of the rut, but we see this deer, and we had had had an idea, kind of same thing, we had had an idea of two, two in particular that we were looking for, and one was a Big, wide meal deer that was a little less heavy.
Speaker 2:And then there was this other one that was a lot narrower but he had really heavy brow tines and we had, we had seen him and scouted him and knew that both of those good deer lived right in this area.
Speaker 2:And so we, we get in in the morning and we're looking and always see your does and and always see your these does just feeding, just being do deer in the morning, and I Think we sat and watched them for our an hour and it was like we were about to get up to leave and the sun was just hitting us right where you could hardly see, and all of a sudden this buck comes out from around the corner. And it was the, the heavy, more narrow buck. And it was just like Not only was he there and we found him when we saw him, we know, we know how to get to him and he's still following these two, does as, as hard as a buck does in the rut just he is. He's licking and sniffing and and following these two girls as close as he can and it's just like inappropriate time.
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly, and and he I mean I think we probably could have walked right up to him and he probably been like I'm busy and so he. So we did that. We kind of moved around To where we needed to get down off of the ravine, and where we're at is is rocky, rocky and cacti, and we're both in our like Our hunting, our nice hunting boots and leather and that, and my dad's in Trail running sneakers. So he's getting Mid-mid early December.
Speaker 2:December and he's just like no, these will do, these are fine. And so he's. Yeah, he's getting cactus in his toes and having to, having to look and and all of this and, and, mind you, like, this is a, this is a fit 70 year old guy that still runs, I don't know, 20, 25 miles a week, and and so to have him Trailing behind us, because we, we had the better shoes and we are kind of, we were more, we were more used to Hiking today, yeah, just doing that, and so that was that was kind of an achievement in itself. But we, I don't know we got to the deer and he was just climbing up of a finger of a part of the canyon. Following those two does hard and he was what a? Was he 200 to 205.
Speaker 3:205 when we first ranged him, and once they jumped up over the top of the rim Was he 306 is what I called when you shot, yep.
Speaker 2:And so I was shooting From and I had a I have an odd six that I shoot and I'm shooting from the bottom of the canyon, not far like not far elevation wise up um, and shot him and he he just crumpled and those two does just took off up the up the hill and Weren't any the wiser, and he just laid down um, and it was. It was unbelievable and it was one of those things that it was like the joy of of having a successful shot and having a successful hunt, and then having my dad, who is not a hunter, who's never been been with us on this, be there with us, and he was just like beside himself, jumping up and down. He goes, he goes. This is the most proud I've ever been of you. This is better than the day you were born. All of this, all of this, and, and so it was just fantastic.
Speaker 2:And then, same we, jeff and I, climbed up the hill and you know we had our packs and and everything ready to go, and this was December of 21. It was a hot December, and so we shot it eight, nine in the morning, and it was supposed to get to 75 degrees, and so we had to hurry and Get the deer processed and get him, get him off of the hill, and um and so Jeff and I climbed that climb that hill and my dad was 10 minutes behind us, you know, hiking up behind us, and that was. That was a good feeling of like the only time I've ever beaten my dad at at an athletic type.
Speaker 2:And you know, and and he's never he's never Processed an animal or anything. And so he got to see all of that too, of us caping him and um Pulling him apart and I think dad carried the back straps and the loins down the hill and um, it's pretty, I mean, it was just pretty a spectacular lucky hunt, um. But uh, you know just something completely different than I ever got to experience before bad, especially with a crazy boulder person with you.
Speaker 1:Yeah right, did he? Or has he expressed any interest in going back out as a a sidekick again? Or has he Tried to maybe go get his own points and then go out on his own?
Speaker 2:he Is one year too Young to not have to do a hunter safety, so he hasn't done a hunter safety still, um it's just wait it out.
Speaker 2:Just wait, yeah, wait it out. And and so he um, he's expressed a more interest in in going duck or goose hunting than he has, um coming back, big game hunting. I think that there's. There's that with the people that are. You know, it's kind of the difference between a fly fisherman and a walleye fisherman. There are people that are big game hunters and there are people that aren't. Um the, the learning about the patience and the time and the, the nuances of it. I think that that was one that he was kind of like. I don't know that that's for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah but I think I'd be interested in sitting in a duck blind and having a lot of action Um over the day.
Speaker 1:He's like I'll, I'll wait, shoot some ducks and then I'll go run around the reservoir. Yeah, my trail runners.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Oh man, well, that's another great story. I uh, I wish I could get my dad to hunt with me. I don't think he's ever really gonna make it out.
Speaker 1:Uh, he's just he's not that tight, he's not a runner, he's. He played volleyball, um, you may, may or may not know that, knowing that you know my mom, um, but yeah, no, he's not. He's not really an outdoors kind of guy, so I don't know if I'll ever get to share that same fun experience. But that's cool, that is very cool, and hopefully he goes out and, you know, maybe once he harvests his own big game He'll become addicted, like the rest of us.
Speaker 2:Right, right, and Jeff's dad is looking at getting another elk. He thinks that this coming season. So he expressed interest for the first time. In what? Four or five years?
Speaker 3:So I think we'll get him back in the field again. I hunted with him since I was 12 and he's getting getting older and kind of Thinking that he was done with it. And then this year he says I, I think I'm gonna show up to elk camp this year. So that'll be A really neat deal if he does Does come back and join again.
Speaker 1:Well, that's awesome. We'll have to catch up with you guys after next season and see how that goes. Absolutely, and then hopefully. I've talked to you since then and I've drawn all of my lifetime tags and right have some good stories to share too Get the good juju. Right, well, cool guys. Well, any, any other stories you want to share tonight, otherwise I've taken up plenty of your time, you, but you tell me.
Speaker 2:I think that's all we thought of before we, before we called so okay, perfect guys.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you, I really appreciate. I don't know why you were talking to my mom, alley, but thank you for doing it and thank you for connecting with me. It was great to hear your stories, jeff stories. Um, I don't know if you want to share where the people can find you or not.
Speaker 3:I don't know, maybe not. I only facebook, I am. That's about the only place I'm Locatable online.
Speaker 1:So, okay, well then, uh, you know, walk off into the sunset, I'll, I'll, I'll send me some photos so people know at least what you look like. But thank you guys, I really do appreciate it. There's a lot of fun to hear your stories. Um, I've mentioned this in the podcast before, but I think I'm moving back to colorado here in the next like two months, so I'll buy you guys dinner sometime when I get back there, because I don't live too far from lovelin, so that sounds great, All right guys Well thank you for it.
Speaker 1:Appreciate it Nice to meet you both, and uh we're having you back next season. I want to hear how uh, how dad does good deal.
Speaker 3:Well, thanks for having us.
Speaker 1:Of course. All right, guys. That's it. Another couple stories in the books. I want to thank ali and jeff, of course, for coming on. The podcast could not have Done this without them. Thank you, guys, of course, for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed their stories as much as I Enjoyed their stories and hopefully we get some more from them here in the future. Um, but, yeah, guys, that's it. Um, please make sure to go and follow me on instagram or the hunting stories underscore official. Uh, ali and jeff don't have any social medias. That's why I won't guide you directly to them. Um, but please do follow us. Uh, share the podcast with at least one other person so that we can make sure to keep this thing growing and get more listeners reaching out With more crazy stories. That's it, guys. Thank you so much for tuning in. I really do appreciate it and, of course, get out there and mix up stories if you're wrong. Thank you.