The Hunting Stories Podcast
Elk. Bear. Hog. Turkey. Deer and More. Hunting Stories that will make you laugh or maybe cry; real life chronicles from the field.
The Hunting Stories Podcast
Ep 134 The Hunting Stories Podcast: Evan Williams
Evan Williams, an influential figure in the archery community, shares rich hunting experiences and tips for bringing new hunters into the sport. The episode highlights memorable hunts, the beauty of shared experiences, and the importance of positivity within the hunting community.
• Evan's journey from rifle hunting to bow hunting
• Passion for introducing new hunters to the sport
• Heartwarming story of getting his wife into hunting
• Memorable hunting experiences with friends
• Importance of camaraderie in the hunting community
• Thrilling encounters and the spontaneity of hunting
• Celebrating the achievements of fellow hunters
• Encouraging positive interactions within the community
Evan's Instagram
https://hoyt.com/
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howdy folks and welcome to the hunting stories podcast. I'm your host, michael, and we got another good one for you today. Today, we're actually connecting with someone that I've been following on social media for a while. He does a lot of really cool hunts and he's pretty influential in the archery industry specifically, uh, we're talking about evan williams, who works for hoyt. Uh, if you've listened to the other episodes, you know I shoot a Hoyt, and so I was super excited to talk to Evan, and he didn't disappoint with some amazing stories today.
Speaker 1:So, evan, thank you so much for coming on the podcast and to you listeners, thank you guys for tuning in. I really do appreciate it, as always. Please, whatever you're listening to us on today, make sure you give us a review, give us a review, give us a follow and subscribe all that stuff. And then everyone, yeah, go ahead and share the podcast with one person today, and that way we get more people listening and more crazy stories sent our way. But that's it, guys. Let's go ahead and kick this thing off and let Evan tell you some of his stories. Thank you All right, evan.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Hunting Stories Podcast, man. How are you Good, mike? How are we doing today I am doing great, man. I'm happy to have you here. I don't think I told you this, but I think I heard you on the Elkshake podcast a long time ago, and so I've been following you for a while, man, you're a monster, you like to work out and you like to hunt, and those are some of the best people in my opinion, and I'm excited to have you on the podcast to hear some of your stories, man.
Speaker 2:So let's do this man.
Speaker 1:Let's let you introduce yourself so the folks know who you are and who they're hearing stories from today.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I mean I like the Burt Storin route. So yeah, my name is Evan Williams. No, and I don't want to get too in-depth real, simple and basic. I'm now out in Utah. I work for Hoyt Archery. Getting into this industry, coming out of college, I took a job in a pro shop. I got my feet wet as an archery tech and got trained in that route and built bows and teched and did that whole thing for almost 10 years and had the opportunity to move out to Utah and make a career here with Hoyt, and September will be 10 years out here. So no shit, wow man okay, well, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Um, you said, I think, before that you've been hunting. Basically, at seven months old you went out in a backpack, so you've been hunting your whole life, right and how long of that was bow hunting. I I gotta ask I.
Speaker 2:I actually didn't pick up a bow until it was my fifth year. It was my fifth year senior year in college, so 22. Okay, Just before my 23rd birthday. So bow hunting for 19 years now.
Speaker 1:Specifically, Got it. Yeah, I've only been bow hunting for like six years, five, six years. I do own a Hoyt and I love it Awesome. But yeah, man, I just was like hunting in November with a rifle in Colorado and I was like this sucks. It's so cold, it's so windy.
Speaker 1:I was like I want to hunt in September. How do I do that? And so that's why I started archery hunting and I've just completely fallen in love with it. And in fact I don't know if I've killed anything with a rifle, a muzzleloader. I've killed an elk, but all my kills have been with bows. I still go rifle hunting occasionally.
Speaker 2:I just never have any luck.
Speaker 1:Oh, I did kill a turkey with a 270 one time.
Speaker 2:That's another story. Was there anything left? You'd be surprised it was actually.
Speaker 1:It didn't ruin any of the meat. I hit it high back. The breasts were fine.
Speaker 1:I did blow out the back wing, but in general, yeah, I got all the normal meat that you would get out of it. I was surprised, but it was one of those desperation things where I like I had my bow at full draw and it was behind a bunch of brush and I was like I just don't feel confident enough at like 40 yards that my arrow will get through that and actually hit that bird. So I set my bow down, looked up and he was gone, probably got my slate call because I can't mouth call, which makes it hard to archery hunt turkeys.
Speaker 1:So I bring my slate call because I can't mouth call, which makes it hard to archery hunt turkeys. So I bring my slate call out, you know, and he just pops up and I bring up my 270. And of course I wasn't thinking and it was dialed 10. So I couldn't find it, so dial that thing back down to three and just there you go. Turkey dinner.
Speaker 1:Winter turkey dinner. Cool man, but we're not here to hear my stories. Everyone's heard my 15 stories 100 times. So, Evan, why don't you set the stage? Man? I think you got a couple maybe in mind, and you know, set the stage for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know picking out, you know a good hunter, you know something like that is always hard because I've gotten to do so much and one of the big things I like to do is, you know, getting getting buddies out and having them experience, you know, their first elk, or something like that. So, um, you know two, two of my buddies I've, you know, gotten to call their first bull in in Colorado. Um, I've got another buddy that you know grew up in Colorado, had never whitetail hunted, and I was able to get him on his first couple of whitetail hunted and I was able to get him on his first couple of whitetail hunts and experience that with him. So I mean, I really liked that new hunter aspect. Um, even if it's not, you know, a new hunter in general, it's new to a specific aspect, whether that's I've never elk hunted or I've never whitetail hunted or or something like that. You know, introducing my wife, who comes from a non-hunting background at all, into the sport, I guess that's really where I started getting that passion.
Speaker 1:You know what, Evan, if you don't mind, I'd love to hear the story of how you got your wife into hunting Cause. Like my wife not interested, right, and so I'd love. I've actually asked this question to Ted Nugent and he gave a pretty great answer, but I'd love to hear kind of how it went for you and how you got her in Cause. Yeah, I started hunting with her father, but she has no interest in coming along and I'd love to get her out because our kids are getting quickly to the age where I want to take them out and I'd love the whole family to go.
Speaker 1:So would you mind sharing that story?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so cool. We we started dating in college. Um, she was a freshman, I was a junior and she came from Florida and her parents grew up in Chicago. So, like no firearms background, nothing, not outdoorsy at all. And the way my NCAA competitive season worked is as an NCAA athlete. I was showing up almost two weeks before school started to go through all my athlete orientation and start my training processes, but our championships weren't until March, so we had one of the longest running seasons in the NCAA. And then we had about a three week, maybe four week off season and then, if you had qualified to make the US on the international travel team, you were right back into the World Cup circuit in April. Yeah, no break. So trying to make international travel teams and do all that, I didn't really get a break other than spring break if we didn't make the NCAA championships.
Speaker 1:Let me stop you real quick, Evan, just because maybe everyone doesn't know what sport you were involved in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I was a competitive Olympic rifle shooter? No way.
Speaker 1:That's cool. I had no idea. That's pretty cool Okay.
Speaker 2:Yep. And so the first couple of years we had a very good team. We were on the cusp, but they only take the top eight teams and we were consistently in that ninth or tenth position. So we kept just missing. And then, on the individual side, because every team competitor gets to compete for an individual championship, because they're already there, they only invite four additional individuals and so it's very, very limited.
Speaker 2:Um, I was never able to make one of those individual selections. And so when I finally had spring break, she, the first year we were dating, was like, well, let's go to Florida and do the beach thing. And I was like, nope, I'm going turkey hunting. I'm sorry, I, I haven't been able to, yeah, touch a shotgun. I haven't been able to go hunt pretty much all year, um, other than, you know, opening weekend for pheasant quail, okay, and how'd she take that? She goes, okay, well, I'm, I'm gonna go home. I was like, okay, all like, okay, I'm going turkey hunting. There you go.
Speaker 2:And so, you know, I had one of the guys I graduated with was a big time NCAA wrestler and my brother was playing football at a Division II school, and so two of his buddies from the football team came back. My buddy came back from playing ball and wrestling it was just a huge athlete get-together and we went and chased thunder chickens for the entire break. We didn't see parents because we were up under a roost tree before the light was up, and we weren't back until almost two hours after dark because of oh, let's go travel over here to this other county and go check out this pocket, because we haven't hunted that in a couple of years, and so I mean, we just had a good old time with the boys.
Speaker 2:And so the next year, when it came back up, we again didn't qualify, and so I'm throwing a pissy fit. I had had it with a bunch of my teammates. I'd already had a conversation with my coach about um, a possible red shirt and and what that could potentially mean, because I could redshirt the next year, then finish my degree and be able to start a master's program and still have eligibility and um, we were going into a new olympic cycle. So there's there's special considerations for um incidentally, athletes in an olympic sport where you can actually take a redshirt year and an olympic redshirt year and extend extend your eligibility is that for all olympic sports like, if someone like, basketball is what?
Speaker 2:I'm thinking I'm not sure how basketball would work. Um, I don't believe it is at that level because of the professionals that are allowed to compete in that sport okay, what about like wrestling?
Speaker 1:so?
Speaker 2:so wrestling um, rifle shooting, bullshooting, swimming track and field, potentially volleyball, lacrosse, field, hockey.
Speaker 1:I had no idea, yeah.
Speaker 2:Those would be major ones I can think of off the top of my head. Okay, hockey ones I can think of off the top of my head. Hockey, again. You'd have very few winter sports because you don't have a ton of winter eligibility. As far as NCAA-recognized sports In fact, hockey might be the only one that comes to mind because I think any of the skiing events are club I don't think there's any NCAA-recognized downhill or cross-country skiing as far as the NCAA recognition. I could be wrong. I could be wrong in that, so don't quote me, but Okay.
Speaker 1:Well, I was just curious. That's interesting. I had no idea, so, um, but continue. Sorry, I was uh. You just got me with an interesting little fact there.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep. So the the second year we were, we were dating, she brings up the beach again. I was like you don't understand.
Speaker 1:Like I have a bloodlust right now.
Speaker 2:Like I need to go kill something. I said you are more than welcome to come back and spend the week with the family and either partake or not, but I'm going that direction. You can come with me or you can choose to go back to the beach. And so she was well, I'll go spend some time with your family. And she had just met, like my whole family, over Christmas. So this has only been three months, and so you know, we, we go back and first couple of days boys are doing their thing, and then she's like, well, let me just go.
Speaker 2:And so the first year she spent about three days going with us, and at that time I wasn't bow hunting turkeys yet, like we were still doing the run and gun shotgun thing, yeah, and so it was very, very active. Um, get on a bird, he works, holds up, leaves, move, reposition or leave the area all together and go, you know, try and hit another pocket. So I mean, we were very, very active, as you know, most turkey hunters are. And in the third year, right before I graduated, that last spring break in college, I actually got her to buy a tag and we put the gun with her, and so my brother and I spent our entire, you know, spring break just trying to get a bird in front of her and get her to kill one, yeah, so that that was kind of the start of it. Um, she had fun doing that.
Speaker 2:Didn't ever really enjoy like the white tail thing sitting in a tree stand and just waiting, yeah, which I don't honestly like. I'm not, I don't have the patience for it, like if I, if I had my choice between a spottum stock, whitetail hunt or, you know, sitting in a tree stand all day, I want to be on the ground, I want more things in my control. And so, you know, we did the whitetail thing a couple of times and I remember we were watching a Primos video and and it was a bull moose hunt and she was that that's something I think I could do, like just that big bull moose coming in slow and lumbering, and so so fast forward 20 years and this September we just finished that bucket list item for amazing so where did you hunt?
Speaker 2:So we went to Alberta. Okay, I've got a, I've got a couple of buddies up there that Canada finally reopened to the non-residents coming into hunt and so we've been trying to plan it for a couple of years and when they shut down with COVID, we just kind of waited to see what was going to happen and they finally opened up and we got all the planning taken care of and so we went up and did a, did a bull moose hunt with them, and they got Yukon moose up there. Right, they're the Canadians, so it's, uh, it's their. Their body wise is bigger than a Shire's. Um, shire's tend to be larger in the antlers than than what the canadians are, at least in the area that we were in.
Speaker 2:Okay, um, but but yeah, um, I, my goal going up was I was going to pick up a bear tag and a wolf tag and I would have the moose tag just to have tags in my pocket. But I really wanted to focus on her. But the way the hunter host program works for alberta residents is it's really like a one on one. They have to be within a certain proximity of you for the whole time. Well, because I had tags in my pocket. My buddy kevin was my host and his wife heather was kaylee's. Okay, their goal, like they had a competition between the two of them to see which one of us would kill first.
Speaker 2:And so, and part of that conversation was does Heather host me and Kevin hosts Kaylee? And we kind of do that route is like heather's a better caller.
Speaker 2:So that potential is going to put a bull moose closer, so I have the ability to shoot with more confidence at a longer distance than my wife does. Okay, and so kevin's like I'm going to take you, we're going to work. You know bigger open areas because you can shoot a little bit farther. So they're going to do a lot more of the you know, tighter timber cover and, um, kind of focus on trying to get a bull in closer. Yeah, a lot of calling we're going to be, you know, covering more ground, light calling and moving and we're going to see who kills first. And I mean it went down to the wire. It was the last morning, um, and I, unfortunately, was able to harvest and she was not. So we did the hunt of her dreams and I was the one that shot a moose and harvested a bear and she didn't even get a draw about it.
Speaker 1:Brown or black, I'm assuming black. You can't shoot brown bears up there, right, right, black bear. Okay, very cool man, very cool. I shot a cow moose this year here in Colorado, so that was a fun hunt, oh, awesome. Yeah, I just went out with some buddies but we didn't know what we were doing. I was like I don't think you can call in cow moose. We didn't even try calling, but in a good unit, and on the first day, opening day, I actually put the cow down. After four blown stocks I finally made it happen. But it was funny.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you this story. I've told it on the podcast before so the listeners may have heard it, but you haven't. So here we go, um, but yeah, we're it's. We hunt real hard, like we probably do 10, 15 miles just the first half of the day, like we're just going after stuff. We're constantly moving, we're running because we see moose, we're trying to get around. Nothing pans out, so that, like the second half of the day I'm I'm just tired. And so I pick a spot where two people, one hunter, I chat up, every hunter I run into and he's like, yeah, there's moose over this bend, so I'm like, okay, interesting.
Speaker 1:Another buddy of mine, jermaine Hodge I'm not sure if you're familiar with him. I know Jermaine really, really well. Yeah, jermaine's great man, him and I hunted the year before and so we knew this area and I was like you got any spots you think some moose might be? And he gives me a pin and it's the same spot that that other hunter had been in.
Speaker 1:So I was like all right, let's go in here. Um, thinking no, you know, it's probably not going to be very lucrative, but let's, let's go. So me and my two buddies go up. We're just hiking in and at the top of this draw, exactly where that pin jermaine sent me, is we spook a cow moose, like in the exact spot. And I'm like damn it, like why did we come in, just stomping, kicking rocks and sticks, and like we should have been quieter. Why, what are we doing here? Um, so I sit down and my buddies are like, well, I'm like I'll sit here and I'm gonna, I'm gonna hunt this draw. Like a moose might come in, like that one's gone but maybe another one will show up. They're like we're gonna go check. There's a drop above. So they kind of climb up above. And I don't know if you know this, but apple has has satellite texting now, so we're satellite texting each other and I keep mine open so I can make sure the communication line's there.
Speaker 1:My buddy goes we got a cow moose Get up here so I send a text back, satellite text. I'm like, okay, I'm coming.
Speaker 2:Nothing back to me.
Speaker 1:I send another one being like where should I go? What should I do? I'm coming, nothing, I'm in nothing. I send probably like 10 texts as I'm just like scaling this hill, probably going up 300 feet in elevation, up to this other draw. I get up to the top, to this other big opening that kind of wraps around another hill, and the first thing I see is just a giant mule deer shed and I'm like hell yeah, like I don't care if there's no moose up here. Look at this thing. So I'm like walking around with my RX-7 Ultra in one hand, with my RX-7 Ultra in one hand, I'm walking around, with a mule deer shed in the other hand, and I'm just like, well, whatever, like five minutes of light, I ain't got time for nothing. I don't see anything. I don't see them. They're not responding to the texts. I don't know what to do. So I'm just walking and all of a sudden I just hear blah and I'm like duck down, pull my pack off.
Speaker 1:I'm next to like the only big tree, so I'm like I don't need to drop a pin. I know my back's here Drop the antler.
Speaker 1:And I start kind of I mean, you know how the territory that they hang out is like marshy with tall brush, but there's usually veins through it like where you can kind of crawl. So I just start crawling. I'm like I'm not, I don't have time to go slow, so I just book it. I got maybe five minutes of shooting light and I'm just going in, going in, and I spook her and she runs maybe 10 yards and I'm like, well, I don't know if she saw me or not, so I just keep going. And so I get to this. I see this like small opening and like if I get to there I can kill her. And I get to that part and I'm like, yep, okay, there she is 38 yards. And I stand up full draw or not full draw. I stand up and I realize that I'm I'm a tall guy. I'm like, oh God. And now we're staring at each other and I'm like, okay, so I just keep staring at her. She's pointed direct at me, like not quartering it at all, and I just start walking slowly trying to get around this brush. And I get around the brush and she's still staring at me, just looking right at me. So I range and I'm at 32 yards and she starts to kind of get a little like I don't know about this right, and so she eventually turns. If we're looking at a clock, she's 7 o'clock so she's still quartered hard and so I just pull back and I just hold it there until I think she's about to move and she goes to maybe 8 o'clock and I let her rip and it goes. You know how, like right below the shoulder blade it goes in and there's that, that triangle in the in the arm. It goes right in and out the other side and I was just like, yes, and this whole time I know my buddies are there and I assume that they're watching this whole thing and they're gonna get like a video from like the side of me just with this epic moment of me shooting this moose. Oh, also, my luminok went off so I've got like a glowing red face as I'm holding my bow off. Nice, yeah, right, um, but I I shoot her again. It's like last possible light and I see her make this big loop as she's running and I think I see her bed down right by this tree and I'm trying to range her to see where she is, but I can't get my range trying to work, cause it's too dark. So I just basically pointed to the ground and range up until it makes a big leap from like that's like 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 115. I'm like, okay, that's probably the tree right behind her. Put a pin.
Speaker 1:We look no blood, not a drop of blood. Like I don't know what happened. It was a QAD exodus, full pass-through. We saw my arrow covered in blood. No gut smell Like. We're like this is a dead moose. We know that, but we just couldn't find anything. Not not a drop. So we look and then a huge storm rolls in and we're like, oh, let's just get the hell out of here, we'll come back in the morning. So we come back in the morning. Um, when we get back, the first thing we see is a coyote. And my buddy's like, oh, that's so cool. And I'm like, no, it's not cool.
Speaker 1:Like there's not, not at all yeah, especially not within 100 yards of where we think my moose is. So we shoot him off and then we go into the draw again and there's a giant bull moose just ripping trees out of their roots and we're like what the?
Speaker 1:hell is going on here, and so we just wait there for half an hour while this moose is ripping stuff up. And to wrap the story up, the moose was sitting there laying there exactly where I put my pin, so, like I got lucky. Um, we were probably 30 yards from her and she had died immediately I was. It was a heart shot, so I just clipped the heart, got both lungs and um, yeah, we've been eating good for yeah for a few months now, so that moose meat is so tasty but I'm I'm looking forward to getting into it.
Speaker 2:We honestly like I. I had a. I had a banner spring, um and fall, so I haven't even dove into my moose meat yet whoa, what else did you?
Speaker 1:what else you put down this year?
Speaker 2:um, so I actually I took two black bears, I got a. I got a spring black bear in ontario and then I took a fall black bear on that moose hunt in Alberta, got that moose and then also tagged a general elk tag here in Utah. Hell yeah, 19 days before I killed that moose Jeez.
Speaker 1:That's a good year. Yeah, I had two axis deer in Hawaii my cow moose and then the pronghorn antelope. You can see over my shoulder there that guy.
Speaker 2:That was one of the hardest things I've ever done, done.
Speaker 1:I don't know if I want to do that again because I love it.
Speaker 2:I love antelope hunting yeah well.
Speaker 1:So I tried sitting in a blind and I was like three hours of doing that. I was like, nope, we're going after this. But you know you, just you fail enough. You learn what you're doing wrong and eventually you find one that's made a mistake and that's all there is to it. So I got lucky and I shot my first, my first antelope with a bow. So um decoy on antelope man I, so I had a decoy. It is the one that sticks on the front of your bow, yeah, the ultimate predator.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they had no interest, not the ones I was dealing with well and keep in mind if, especially if you're in that first couple weeks, like if you're still in august, they are not going to actively come to you. Yeah, they're early enough that even a dominant buck is just going to look at you like it's too hot, it's too early, yeah, but it also like they will recognize you're there and accept you, kind of moving in to a degree.
Speaker 1:Yeah so but yeah, yeah, it was fun. I've never spent so long just face down laying down in sagebrush. But we got it done. Maybe, maybe when next season rolls around I'll be fired up about it. But at the end of the season I was like I'm just glad that's done. Yeah, um, but what other stories you got if? If you don't mind, I'd love to hear kind of what was the catalyst that moved you from a rifle hunter to archery?
Speaker 2:So my last year in college so it would have been my fifth year after my red shirt I had made up my mind that I was going to put a lot more emphasis into my training and so I was a. I was a Dean's list um on the academic side, like there was. There was no chance of me not graduating my last semester. I only had to fulfill I think it was seven, 50 hours a week. And that year over Thanksgiving break when I went home, my brother had picked up archery and he was attending a university in Kearney. He was playing D2 football up there. He was fairly close to home and a bunch of buddies on the team were big time bow hunters, so he had access to ground Um and he was, you know, 15 to 30 minutes away from you know, basically where we grew up in Nebraska before we moved, and so you know he's hunting with old middle school and elementary school buddies and he's going to class, going to practice and then leaving and going and sitting in a stand all night and then just doing that seven days a week and I'm like, are you kidding me? I was like I, I am in the wrong spot. And so when we went home. He actually fixed up my dad's 1988 hoyt rambo. Uh, he had it restrung, had it taken care of. And he's like, hey, I got a release, I got arrows, I took care of dad's old bow, Like let's go get a deer tag and let's go hunting, yeah. And I'm like okay, so let's go do this. And I just absolutely loved it.
Speaker 2:The fundamentals between archery and rifle are so close, the mental aspect and the training you have. The physical side, that's different, but the mental side and the cross-training ability between those two were absolutely what I needed. I could train 50 hours a week and, just, you know, mentally and physically exhaust myself trying to make an NCAA championship and a U S national team. Or I could train 30 hours a week and, you know, go shoot my bow for 10 hours a week and I'm I'm honestly getting the same amount of training in Um cause, again, it's, it's the fundamentals, it's the basics, it's the shot execution, it's the mental focus. But because it's not what I was training for, there was an, there was enough separation that, like mentally I was going through a different routine and so, like there was, there was a just an enormous amount of crossover that helped me really elevate my game on the rifle side, Um, but it was more fun and so I didn't feel that exhaustion.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so after I graduated, um, I had, I had saved up a bunch of money and I went and I bought my first compound setup and after that I moved out to Colorado and had the opportunity to train at the Olympic Center as a resident athlete or on a facility use status, which means I had access to everything but had to go find a room to stay in off complex, which means I had access to everything but had to go find a room to stay in off complex.
Speaker 2:And to supplement everything, I got a job at the local pro shop and so now I'm, you know, up at five o'clock in the morning, I'm training from, you know, six to 10, I'm getting four hours of training and then I'm grabbing lunch and, you know, go into the shop and you know, working 10 hours a day at the shop and just had a blast with it and, you know, being able to do both.
Speaker 2:I finally just transitioned to where I saw the writing on the wall with kind of the direction that the IOC or the International Olympic Committee was taking the sport sport and just realized that I probably wasn't going to fulfill my dream as an Olympic athlete and it was time to make a decision as to what I was going to do and how I was going to support myself and a family in the future. So you know, I went to the pro shop full time and it was probably one of the best decisions of my life. Sounds like it, man, that's a cool story. It was probably one of the best decisions of my life Sounds like it man.
Speaker 1:That's a cool story. So Well, thanks for sharing, man. I was curious. Obviously you have such an impressive background with shooting. What takes someone with that background to archery? I was very curious, thank you, thanks for sharing, yep.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:What other stories do you have for us man?
Speaker 2:Anything jump to the top of mind. Honestly, the most memorable one that I can think of through everything is the mule deer that jumped the fence, and I say it that way because… Sounds like a kid's book. We've been trying to video and do some stuff for a lot of years. Yeah, self-filming is extremely tough, especially spot and stalk. And I had found a piece of property it's a square mile and I had had my buddy go out and look at it. It was like is this worth trying to get access to Go out and take a look at it? Give me your thoughts.
Speaker 2:And on the way out there, half a mile from the piece, he's got a 150 whitetail run across the road from his truck and he's like, okay, that's a good sign. And pulls up to the property he's kind of looking over is a square mile of nothing. It is a couple of ravines. There is one tree on the end well, two trees technically on the entire property, just in the middle of mule deer country last mule deer buck and he calls me, he goes. I've seen two bucks and a half mile one mule deer, one whitetail, both in the 150 range. Um, yeah, I think this might be something to take a deeper look into. Yeah, so I did and you know we ended up getting access and first try I go out there. I literally walk onto the property. He had seen a buck and so I went to go make a play on him. And walk in, look off to my right and 36 yards away is a 30-and-a-quarter-inch-wide buck that ended up scoring just over 185 as a typical Bedded 36 yards. I'm like okay, wow.
Speaker 1:If only it was always that easy right.
Speaker 2:Right, okay, wow, um.
Speaker 2:if only it was always that easy, right, right and, and I had been I had been in this state for a total of about seven hours at that point it was the first day I was in there, um, and tag was filled, fast forward a year and he had bought, had bought a new Canon video camera and he wanted to test it out. My brother was coming back and I'm rolling in from Utah and we cross the state line at like 5.30 in the morning and we get to town and I had called my buddy. I was like I've got a go bag packed, town. And I had called my buddy. I was like I've got, I've got a go bag packed. I said so, meet me in town and I will literally throw my boat and my go bag in your truck.
Speaker 2:Kaylee can finish driving to my parents. It's 20 more minutes and we can head out. And he's like, well, austin wants to go too. I was like, okay, well, is he taking, is he taking my sister and all that? He goes, yeah, so we're gonna have to pick him up. I was like, okay, well, is he taking my sister-in-law out? He goes, yeah, so we're going to have to pick him up. I was like, perfect, figure out what spot they're going to be at. I'll meet you here at 6 o'clock. We'll do the transfer. I'll change in the truck, let's pick him up and let's go out to that spot that killed that buck in last year.
Speaker 2:And so the three of us get out there and it is just the heaviest fog you can imagine, like we can't see 10 feet in front of the truck. Yeah, and I'm like, oh, like, let's do, let's do a loop around this section, let's get back on the highway, um, and let's just like, let's just give it 10-ish minutes. We'll drive real slow and see if stuff you know kind of starts to clear off. As you know, the sun comes out, and so we go around this whole square mile, get back on the blacktop. As we go to make the turn off blacktop to go back into this area, sun comes out, stuff starts to lift. We get a quarter mile up.
Speaker 2:I look over 200 yards off the road there's a catch pen, and so the catch pen is where, if ranchers have cattle in a pasture, they will herd cattle into a catch pen where they can now load them in a trailer and you know, either move them, take them off pasture, put them on stocks, you know, take them to the home place, whatever they're going to do. And inside this catch pen is like a 170 class muley I just penned up for you and I'm like, I'm like dude, like you, you can't. You can't get any better than like he has nowhere to go. Yeah, you can go wrestle him down.
Speaker 2:Yes, and there he's. He's going into a catch pin that there is one way in and one way out. Yeah, and he's deep enough in that, if I make the right move, even across you knowness, if he goes to come out, I'm already inside a bow range. And so I start making phone calls trying to get permission, and I can't get a hold of the lady that owns the property. And so I was like, well, it's three-quarters of a mile up, let's go up to the corner section of where we want to be and let's just see if we can get a hold of.
Speaker 2:If not, like let's go take a look at this. Like there's a, you go across the top of this piece and there's a little dip on the first ravine at 200 yards, and then you come up on top of this hill, like let's go on top of that second hill because now we can see down into this whole piece and we'll just glass. This wind is bad but it's, it's slow enough. If we stay back off this corner, like we can, we can pretty much glass this entire section and see if there's anything in here to to make a move on or, you know, rework yeah so we don't get permission.
Speaker 2:I was like, yep, let's just, let's just go take a look at this. We go walking in, we get to the top of that ridge and my brother starts to flare off to the east to go look down into the bottom of the draw. And in the bottom of the main draw on the east side there's a stock pond and then just down from the stock pond, about 100, 120 yards, is a round trough, so a round water trough on on solar. So they've got a good water source and there's like five ravines that come down into the bottom of this draw. So he's going to go look up into those fingers and I'm going to look out to the north and he gets about 10, 15 feet from me and I look over onto the neighbor's property, yeah, and like we are five feet off the fence line and 300 yards away in the bottom on the neighbors is a mule deer with two does and I immediately start going to my knee. I've got a, I've got a deco on my pack. I'm trying to pull that and I'm trying to snap my fingers and get his attention and my buddy Troy was just far enough behind me me, like I immediately start going to my knee and he hit record and starts videoing this hunt. And brother comes over, pulls a decoy out, hands it to me, starts getting some stuff ready.
Speaker 2:And I never take a grunt tube with me when I'm hunting. Muller. Yeah, just just isn't one of those things in my mind, that that's one of my necessity items. And I never take a grunt tube with me when I'm hunting Mueller, yeah, just isn't one of those things in my mind, that that's one of my necessity items. But I specifically remember, before I left I had my pack there and I was like you never know. And I remember grabbing my Primos rubber neck and so it's about a six, seven inch long call, all rubber Um, and it has a strap that you can put on your forearm so if you're in a stand and you draw back like you can turn your head and you can still grunt at full draw. And I put that in my pocket and I start to pull it out and my brother's like what is that? I was like it's a grunt tube. And he's like are you freaking, kidding me? He was, you brought a grunt tube. I was like, yeah, it's not gonna hurt us. He's like no, hammer him. And so I just and it's again, it's a short call, you know, it's it's not made for wide open, yeah. And so so I got on it pretty hard because the wind was moving, luckily, from him to us. And he picks his head up and looks and I just, we just hold that decoy up and it's a it's a mule deer doe decoy. But we're on the top of this ridge and he kind of looks again and I was like, do it again. He goes, he's looking, do it again, like we're far enough away, what's it going to hurt? And so I grunt again and he just starts slow walking right to us, leaving, leaving two does in the middle of a cut cornfield, and so he starts coming.
Speaker 2:We slide up this fence line so we can see down into this uh, bottom ravine a little bit better, thinking he's going to take that lower um ridge around because of the terrain, um, and he goes down into the bottom of this big CRP draw in this cornfield and we lose them all together and I'm like, dude, you know, and we're having the conversation, do we slide up? Do we stay here? And we've been busted so many times, you know, doing the fanning styler or decoy running gun on a bow with a decoy for turkeys and we're like dude, we've been busted so many times. Like let's just, let's not. Like let's just let this play out. Like hold on to the grunt tube. If we don't see him in the next like three to five minutes, let's give him another grunt. He's got to pop up. Either he's going to be straight down in the bottom we're going to see him or he's going to just pop up right here to our uh left. Yeah, and we're gonna see him and won't have an opportunity because he he's got across this fence.
Speaker 2:So we're waiting and we're waiting and about 50 or 55 yards down in front of us, on the neighbor's side, is a plum thicket in the middle of this crp grass and all of a sudden, like I just see grass and dirt flying from the other side of this plumb thicket, okay, and this like so. So pull up my binos and I'm trying to focus and this buck is destroying this plumb thicket and it's. It's not a small thicket we're talking. This sucker is 20 yards in diameter across, it's probably 10 feet tall and it's just clumps and and gobs of dirt and grass and and thicket going everywhere. And I'm like dude, he's pissed. That's so cool, okay.
Speaker 2:And there is a tiny gap between the edge of the plumb thicket and the fence line and all of a sudden he's coming up in that gap between the plump thing and the fence like he's brushing the fence posts and the wire as he's coming up to us and I'm like dude, this is not like he's going to come all the way up to us and we're going to literally be able to punch him in the nose across this fence and aren't going to get an opportunity. And I look, I remember looking at my buddy and I'm just like he's, he's right here and he, he had been trying to pan and find him in the viewfinder for 15 minutes and he never even saw this deer. What? Okay, yep, because because he's, he's just like right on top of the ridge or slightly down, and we've moved far enough down off this ridge that he's trying to scan over and the terrain falls down hard enough that he's scanning the corn, he's scanning the crp. He can't find this deer.
Speaker 2:And all of a sudden that buck stops and starts smelling a fence post at like 35 yards. I'm like this, is it right here? And so my brother is in front of me holding the decoy. I am off his left or his right shoulder, like literally the base of my hand is on his shoulder with my arrow knocked. So we're forming this little L and I'm tucked in behind him using him as a shield, and all of a sudden this buck comes down. I lift my bow, comes over the fence and as he comes over the fence, come to full draw, hits the ground, takes about three stutter steps and is perfectly broadside and just looks at us. And I'm like 35, and so the first time you see this deer on video is you just kind of see his nose over the fence line and then all of a sudden, boom, he jumps the fence and he's right in front of you yeah I don't even know how to describe the neck of this animal because it didn't exist.
Speaker 2:It wasn't a mule deer that jumped this fence, it was a freaking horse. That's amazing. So so I shoot, he drops um. So instead of hitting him on the you know lower third, I hurt I I mean dead middle of the body, right in the pocket. He runs off, makes it about a hundred, probably right at 100, 115 yards, and I mean on film stutter steps, coughs up along and then sideways and down that's amazing so.
Speaker 2:so we celebrate. I am shaking so bad like I'm trying to stand up. My legs are going, I'm stepping backwards, you know. I'm giving my brother a hug. Troy has got the camera set up on a tripod, left it running and he just bolts in. All three of us hug. We call my wife. She's pissed because I killed another deer and she didn't get to be there for it Because we cross state line at 530.
Speaker 2:It is 8 o'clock in the morning and I've already filled my tag and we go down, recover my arrow. We're at the buck and we look up and here come two guys from the north end of this property walking up to us and I'm like, oh crap, this may not go well. And they had been watching the entire thing. They had been under a cedar tree in the bottom of that draw. They'd been hunting that buck for five days. Oh man, and stand on the north end in the middle of a drilled wheat field and it was past legal light. And they're like, okay, well, he's gonna be in here, we just gotta find him in the morning, we'll get a get a crack at him. And then here comes three jokers and basically like literally shoot him from out, from underneath him because they were inside of 200 yards watching all this go down oh no way.
Speaker 2:and so I mean we, we shared stories, um, we got to, we took a bunch of pictures with them. There was another buck. As we're standing there, there's another buck that starts showing up real, real, similar configuration, um, in the way he looked and and um, how he had some unique points and I was was like dude, grunt, tube, decoy, go after him. Like what I was, like he literally he just kicked up those two does. The two does had come across the top, where we had come in, and went down into the bottom draw where I killed my buck the year before, and I was like I guarantee you, if you can get around this point, you should be able to spot him, give him a grunt and bring him right in. And so we ended up dropping all of our stuff and we go with him to try and and kill this other buck. He ends up disappearing and we, we get back and I was like you guys just take the decoy, like my tag is done if you've got time to hunt.
Speaker 2:And so they're. They're part of a group that was renting a small house in one of the um neighboring towns and we dragged my buck out and we had a run in with the guy that owned the private side that we didn't have permission to hunt as we're, you know, dragging him out. We're still quarter mile or so from the truck and he drives out across his cut corn and looks at the buck and he goes you're, you're the kid that shot that big buck out of here last year too, aren't you? And I was like I was like, yes, sir, and he's like is that the one that's got a Trident on his back, g2? I was like, yes, sir, he goes. So you shot my buck two years in a row, god, and he goes. Well, congratulations, have fun. Dragging him out, jumps in his truck and just gone. And I'm like I'm not making any friends on this one.
Speaker 2:And so we get him back. And that night I get a phone call and I'm like what's, what's Randy doing calling me. So I answer it and he goes.
Speaker 1:I want to hear your side of this story. Oh, that's how he starts the conversation.
Speaker 2:I'm like, uh well, what did I do and whose side did you hear first? And he goes well, I heard you shot a buck today and I'm like I have not. My dad knows, my wife knows, my brother and my buddy that were there knows my buddy's wife who's in camp knows and the two guys that watched it happen, know, and the landowner and and him, and I'm like I did, I said I I haven't posted anything about it.
Speaker 2:He goes, no, he goes. But I know the two guys that were hunting that deer and was like, are you hunting with Travis and Jeff? And he's like yeah. And I was like oh, yep. I said I skunked it right out from underneath him and he goes dude, that is so awesome.
Speaker 2:I was like what would have made it even better? Because they had a vortex spotting scope. I was like if they had had an adapter and videoed it from their end, I said that would have topped. I said, because we got the whole thing on video on our end, yeah. And he's like, oh, that would have been epic. So so I got to reconnect with a buddy from the industry through that.
Speaker 2:And then uh, and and like that hoyt did a small piece on that. We took some of the footage and we did a short clip on that and then at ATA show that January we're going in, I've got a, I've got a dinner with, um, some partners of ours from Realtree, and I remember we were, we were walking into Doc Crow's, we go up the steps and I just hear, there's the mule deer killer and I and I turn around. And's the mule deer killer and I and I turned around and Randy and Jeff are sitting at a table with a couple of their uh corporate sponsors and partners as well. And so we got to relive it again in January.
Speaker 1:Are we talking?
Speaker 2:to.
Speaker 1:Randy Newberg. It's the only Randy.
Speaker 2:I can think of no, no, uh name's Randy Hines, okay. And uh, no, his name is Randy Hines, Okay. And then March. So two more months go by and I'm in an elevator in I believe we were in Cincinnati, no, it was Louisville. So NFAA Indoor Nationals for Target, louisville. So. So NFAA indoor nationals for target.
Speaker 2:And we're in Louisville at a convention center and we had just finished up for the day and I was going up to my room to change, to go grab my workout stuff and jump in the elevator and a guy comes on with me and I mean I've got a Hoyt shirt on and a and a Hoyt hat and he just kind of looks at me and doesn't say anything. And we, you know, we passed the second floor and and he looks at me again, he goes. You're that guy, aren't you? And I'm like I I mean I've, I've been told I have one of those faces. Yeah, he goes. No, he goes, he goes. No, you're the guy that killed that mule there, that jumped the fence. And like, literally, I have never met this guy. He doesn't know any of my friends or contacts. He's a bow hunter that shoots a Hoyt. So he had seen the video on YouTube and he was there for a work event, didn't even know that he was staying in the hotel, the host hotel for a national tournament for archery. And so you know, we had a good conversation and and the next day he comes down to the convention center and there's, you know, 2,500 archers and you know all the manufacturers and vendors there and he's just like holy cow. I was like, well, the holy cow event is, you know, in vegas in february. You know that one's almost 6 000 archers and even more vendors. Yeah, and he's like I didn't even know this side of the sport existed.
Speaker 2:So, again to go, you know, going back to getting to introduce people to a new aspect of the sport, um, it it's, you know, that hunt has just really come full circle. So that's that's probably like my most memorable because of bringing so many different people together from, you know, some industry contacts that I hadn't had gotten to talk to in a while, and and their hunting buddies and and it created just this waterfall effect to where, before I even leave to go home and hunt Kansas every single year, I'm texting that that group of guys not even my hunting team, it's that, it's that group and going are you? You guys all have tags.
Speaker 2:Who has tags? Where are you hunting? What have you been seeing? And the entire time, you, you're, you're bouncing things off of each other and uh, jeff, one of the guys you know, three years later took like 168 inch, uh whitetail off a piece of public ground that, um, they had found. And I was like, uh, yeah, you know, you know, focus on this spot and and just getting to share some of the information that's so, man, that's very cool, especially the man.
Speaker 1:I'm glad that you got these good relationships because that could have gone either way, right like you could have.
Speaker 2:You could have had some bad times as, as they're walking up and and I'm the small one in my group, like my buddy troy is oh, six, six, three ish, um, my, my brother is just over six, two and and again with you outside linebacker at a division two football school and big fella, so so.
Speaker 2:So I'm the the you know little big brother going hey, if we have to throw down, you guys jump first right, like like here's just one of those weird and we were joking around about it.
Speaker 2:But you seriously don't know how some of those interactions can go, cause you know you've been around the industry long enough.
Speaker 2:You hear interactions can go, cause you know you've been around the industry long enough. You hear you hear the good and you hear the really, really bad, yeah, and, and something like that, the way hunting has gotten like you'd never know what to expect. So you know, luckily, you know greet everybody with a smile, say hi, wave, and that first interaction is really what's going to make or break you, and I have had so many positive interactions on, you know, meeting random people at trails and you know interactions like this that you know it's really formed a lot of opinions in my head that every interaction is going to be positive, because I'm going to make sure that I do my best to be as joyful and happy and engaged as possible. And if the individual that is having that engagement on their end doesn't want to be that way, then hey, we can amicably just part ways and walk other direction, but it doesn't need to escalate. We can have words and just separate, yeah.
Speaker 1:No, I've actually. This story has similar parts to another story that I've recorded with someone. I'm actually not allowed to share that episode, so I haven't published it. I just have it kind of sitting there because it went the opposite direction and it has blown up, and so we recorded it. And then the day after it blew up and he was like I need you to not publish that. So it can.
Speaker 1:It can go either way, like he doesn't. Like people's jobs are getting it's getting, it's getting bad. So I'm glad it worked out so well for you and that's the perfect attitude. I think so too. I've had people um shoot things that I was stalking in on, and I'm not a good hunter, so I'm just happy somebody got it done right, right. So I show up and I'm like hell yeah, I had an antelope shot right out from under me one time and I was like hell yeah, you guys need any help cutting it up or backing it out or whatever. And they're like nope we're good.
Speaker 2:So, um, I think having that attitude is really important. Um, that being said, evan man, oh, go ahead, our freezer. And so I would much rather enjoy in the celebration and of somebody else as much as it was my harvest, you know, and that's, that's one of the big things that my my buddy and I, when, when we go out to Colorado, because we've started our annual tradition of we're hunting elk every single year, where are we going to do it at? And we've met guys from New York and Pennsylvania and West Virginia and locals and you name it. And those guys that we've met on the middle of a mountain in nowhere, bfe, colorado, those have become, some of you know, the closest friends that we have.
Speaker 2:Uh, you know, we met a guy from Boston that we, we were hunting this unit and I I had hunted it for about seven years and we had we had put a bull down that afternoon, gotten the first load down to our hanging tree and we're going back up in and it was I mean, it was pitch dark and my headlight hit something reflective and I'm like there's nothing, like it's gotta be a Mylar party balloon that has come down, and I was like I, I know we need to get that last load, I said. But I want to go check this out because if it is, get another one, clean it up. Yeah, I'm an Eagle Scout. Like you, leave it better than you found it, yep. And so I go walking over there and it's a tent and I'm like why is he camping here? He literally he's in a north-south facing ridge, at the intersection of two major hiking trails hiking trails, or like game no no two, two major hiking trails.
Speaker 2:Okay, got it. Um, and I'm like, literally there was elk piss on that trail that morning and as we're walking, of course both of our headlights hit it and I hear the slide rack and I'm like, oh shit, I'm like hey coming into camp and he goes, okay, well, I saw the flash and I heard the crack. He goes. And I ran into a bear earlier today so I was freaking out and of course it's this, it's and and gary doesn't have a very, very thick accent, but it's enough of an accent. I was like I I bet it was scary for you. And and he comes out of the tent and introduces himself and I was like I'm not telling you to move. I said, but we've got a bull down about 400 yards from your tent, um, and this is one of the biggest areas that I've seen bears in in this part of the, the unit that we're in. Yeah, I said so. Do you want to pack up and come join our camp for the night? And so he goes. No, he goes, I'll be okay. And I was like, all right, well, our camp is straight down the bottom of this ridge. You go through this meadow in the bottom and if you look off to your right, when you hit that open meadow, there's the little knoll and we are a yellow tent on the backside of that knoll. You won't be able to see it unless you go up to it. And I was like, if you need anything, here's our number, cause we're in a, we're in a spot that has cell reception on that face and I said here's our numbers, call us. If you need anything, you just bust ass down and you get down to our tent. He's like okay.
Speaker 2:And went back on a hunt later that year, same spot, texted him. I was like hey, are you, are you hunting this week? And he was yeah. I was like where are you going to camp? At Same spot. I was like where are you going to camp at? He goes, same spot. I was like okay. I was like I'm going to be up there. I said I'll be down there in about 10 hours. I'll come in and meet you. He goes okay.
Speaker 2:And we have done that a couple of different times where it's like hey, are you hunting, are you hunting that unit? He goes yep, I'll be in. You've hunted it for a long time. And I just kind of stumbled on. I was like that's how public land works and so, like that's, that's moved on to other relationship with that individual because he's in the fitness space and so am I and, and so just just hunting has introduced me to so many people from so many different areas and given me so many opportunities. Like why would I ever either take it personal if someone is offended by something that I did or allow someone to leave an interaction with me on a negative basis? Hell?
Speaker 1:yeah, hell. Yeah, evan, that's a great attitude and I hope everyone listening takes that into the field with them, because I think we need more of that. So, but hey, I want to be respectful of your time. We've gone over a little bit here. Do you want to tell any more stories? I'm not going to stop you, right?
Speaker 2:Honestly, I have so many good ones Well we can get you back, man.
Speaker 1:We can get you back on another time. How's that sound? Perfect, okay.
Speaker 2:I mean first, first ever bear hunts, and just yeah. Okay, and and and, some, some aren't mine, but I guys, they, they deem to be told.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, hey, pass those people my way, we'll get them onto. Um, well, let's do this. Man, why don't you share whatever you want to share, if you want to share socials, or if you want to walk off into the sunset, I don't care man it's your call and we'll wrap this thing up yeah, um.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I you know I'm usually not big on sharing socials, but you know, if you guys, you know, want to interact or hear more stories or if you have questions, again, um came from a shop so I can talk shop. On the archery side, I love doing fitness stuff, so you can find me on Instagram. It's Evan E-V-A-N. Underscore R, underscore Williams.
Speaker 1:So there we go. And to all you listeners if you don't have a bow yet and you're buying one, buy a Hoyt man. They're awesome.
Speaker 2:They are amazing.
Speaker 1:I went to the shop and shot everything they had. Well, I'm a lefty, so I shot them all righty, which was weird to begin with, but your bow and one of their bows stood out, and then it was the grip that I was like, well, that's the straw that broke the camel's back. Man, this thing shoots money. I even actually blew it up this year, just dry fired. It was chatting on a range and didn't put an arrow in. Idiot, I know, but the chatting on a range and didn't put an arrow in idiot I know, but the coolest thing, man, real quick, is just.
Speaker 1:I went to two different bow shops just being like did I, did I just blow my bow up, is it gone? And they were like nope, you have a hoyt, you're in good shape. They're like if you had a I won't even say it another bow, they're like that thing would have shattered but your bow's fine. Like you bought a tank and so I appreciate, uh, the money I put into it. Man, it's awesome, I love it. It's like my favorite possession.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and really I really view archers in two camps. You are either someone who has or someone who will eventually dry fire a bow yeah, and I've seen guys who've been shooting a bow for 30 years do it and you get into a conversation or something happens, or— Triple check your range Well and knock fit. If your arrow doesn't fit on the string correctly, or if you let down a bow and you go to redraw it again, maybe during that letdown you have a short enough D-loop that the head of your release makes contact with the back of that knock and you just decede it just a millimeter yeah well, all of a sudden, that arrow can't absorb all the energy from the propulsion of that string.
Speaker 2:So guess what that's? It's a partial, because the arrow is there, but it's still a dry fire. So you know, once you are in the camp of yep, I've done it, you start. Okay, if I let down, I'm going to pull that arrow back on just to make sure it seats, and I'm looking and I'm a little bit more cautious about things. So it's a hard lesson to learn. But you know, one of the things we pride on ourself is the Hoyt Tough product. Yeah, you know our engineering team. They're not just someone who went and got an engineering degree and ended up at hoyt designing bows. Every single one of our engineers is a bow hunter first. Hell yeah, they had a big enough passion. They're like I want to do something, I am mathematically gifted or inclined. I'm going to go do engineering. And all of a sudden it's I'm a bow hunter and I have an engineering degree. What are my options? And so you know, for a long time, when I first got here, we had one, two, three, three.
Speaker 1:We had, we had four, we had four engineers that put themselves through school working in pro shops. Hell yeah, that's awesome, man that's too cool, so like I said I I love the product and I don't know if I'll ever shoot another bow and the fact that I made that mistake and the product was like no, we're good, that's. That's good enough for me, man Well thanks.
Speaker 1:Evan, I really appreciate it. It's been a pleasure and we'll definitely get you back on if you've got a bunch more stories for us. Yeah, absolutely, send some people my way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, looking forward to it All right man. Thank you, see you, mike.
Speaker 1:All right, everyone. That's it. Another couple stories in the books. Again, I want to thank Evan for coming on the podcast. It took a while for us to actually get connected, but I'm very glad that we did. Thank you again, sir. I really appreciate your time and I love your stories. And, who knows, maybe we'll get out to Kansas sometime and hunt some deer together. But for you listeners, thank you guys. Right, I do this because you guys keep tuning in. So thank you very much. Otherwise I would have quit a long time ago. And, if you don't mind, give us a review, give us a share, give us a follow, whatever you think will help us grow. I would appreciate that. I say us, but it's really just me. So, thank you guys. That's it for now, and go out there and make some stories of your own.
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