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 143 The Hunting Stories Podcast: Weston Homa
When Weston Homa drove 33 hours from Pennsylvania to Idaho for his meticulously planned solo mule deer hunt, he never imagined wildfires would close nearly his entire hunting unit. Standing at the trailhead with his camp already six miles into the mountains, most hunters would have given up and headed home. Not Weston.
This episode chronicles an extraordinary journey of resilience as Weston transforms potential disaster into the adventure of a lifetime. Refusing to accept defeat, he reaches out to a hunting acquaintance in Colorado and pivots his entire plan - ultimately leading to his first archery elk harvest at 12,000 feet. Listeners will be captivated by his raw determination as he stalks herds of elk through high-country basins and ultimately processes and packs out an entire elk solo over three grueling days.
Beyond the hunting story itself, Weston shares profound insights about the mental fortitude required in western backcountry hunting. His philosophy of embracing challenges instead of surrendering to them resonates throughout the conversation, especially when he discusses how this mindset has transformed other areas of his life - from running ultra-marathons to building meaningful connections with fellow hunters.
The conversation takes a powerful turn when Weston delivers a moving message about pursuing your passions wholeheartedly: "We all get to live once... whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might." His journey reminds us that often our most memorable adventures come from adapting to circumstances beyond our control rather than being defeated by them.
Follow Weston's future hunting adventures on Instagram and YouTube @WestonHoma, and submit your own hunting stories to be featured on a future episode through the link in our show notes.
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Howdy folks and welcome to the hunting stories podcast. I'm your host, michael, and we have another great episode for you today. I'm gonna keep this short and sweet, but today we have Weston Homa. Weston gave us a great story. It's an epic tale of perseverance. You can actually watch the entire thing on YouTube. He's got a clip for that. I'll make sure to put a link to that in the show notes. But thank you guys for tuning in. I really do appreciate it. Make sure you follow us, hit the subscribe button, give us a review, all of that stuff. Thank you guys very much for tuning in. Weston, thank you for coming on the podcast. Now let's go ahead and kick this thing off. Thank you, all right, weston. Welcome to the Hunting Stories Podcast. Brother, how are you?
Speaker 2:I'm doing good, man. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1:How are you, dude? I'm excited to talk with you. Thanks so much for coming on. You're another individual. I believe that filled out my little form and I'm really trying to get a lot of people to do that, so I'm mentioning it here at the beginning, but I do have a form for people who wanted to come on and tell us some stories, weston. Thank you for doing that, man, I really appreciate it. And you talked to my buddy, jared, who kind of is like an unofficial producer on the show here, and he says you have some pretty awesome stories. So I'm pretty excited to connect with you today, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm stoked. I've been invited on to do a few podcasts now. The more I put myself out there on social and definitely after starting my YouTube channel after filming my hunts this past fall, gotten to be invited on a few more and someone across your podcast thought it was really cool and saw you guys throw that up and I was like I don't know what, I'll fill this out. I got my YouTube videos behind it. Maybe I can come on and tell it and people want to go watch it.
Speaker 1:They can connect it with Jared. And then here we are. Yeah, here we are, man. So let's do this. Why don't you introduce yourself Kind of who you are, where you come from, how long you've been hunting, so that people know kind of who they're hearing some stories from today.
Speaker 2:Yep, so my name is Weston Homa. I'm from Pennsylvania, southwestern PA, out around Pittsburgh, grew up hunting, doing all that very outdoorsy, typical Pennsylvania deer camp kind of family and yeah, for me hunting's been a huge journey as far as like personal development and things like that. It's a huge passion in my life. I grew up hunting white tails. Like I said, For me it was like hunting a lot of private. I did grow up.
Speaker 2:My dad had a few acres enough for us to like get out and bow hunt definitely get out doing it and we go hunt public come rifle season and always enjoyed it and everything, but didn't always have the best attitude like yeah, kill a lot of deer and everything, but like my passion for it and everything that like I feel like I live for now, I train for every day I think about all the time is when I started hunting the west, about four years ago yeah, it'll do it to you.
Speaker 2:That'll do it to you oh my gosh man, the mountains, everything. It's just. It's really changed the whole direction of my life. I've implemented more discipline in my life, just training and just getting so infatuated with it, and then it's actually helped me back home here, to where I love to challenge myself even more and I hunt my whitetails on public, kind of like mobile hunting style. So it's just really done so much for me and I love it.
Speaker 2:I hunt the West every year. I love just the the hard do it yourself hunts, backpacking in it's what I think about all year round, man, and plan to do it forever hell yeah, hell yeah.
Speaker 1:So okay, what? What have you, what states have you hunted out west?
Speaker 2:let's start there yep, so I've hunted colorado a bunch of times, let me think I guess three times over the counter elk basically okay uh, mule deer I got.
Speaker 2:I did. I punched a mule deer tag in 2023 on a four by four buck. And then the story I'm going to get into last year was archery elk. I've right, I rifle hunted the first couple years going out west, but now, um, I mostly just really infatuated with bow hunting and I find that I'm gonna start getting a lot of these tags purely just for the archery season going forward yeah, that's awesome and I've hunted idaho and let me think and then this year coming up, it should be colorado and idaho again.
Speaker 2:Um, I got my idaho elk tag already, but I'm waiting here back from the draw. I just put in for a colorado mule deer, archery deer.
Speaker 1:So yeah, nice, good luck. Um, I had a question for everybody. I forgot oh, what was the catalyst that took you from like okay, I kind of dig hunting a little bit here in pennsylvania and then being like I gotta get out west and see what that's like. Like what was it just something you've always wanted to do, or was it a friend plan a trip? Or what was the moment where you made that happen and then fell in love with it?
Speaker 2:Always something I wanted to do for sure, I grew up watching a lot of hunting shows and everything, like my family does. The Outdoor Channel was just always on but I never really took to it. When I was watching Lee Lee and Tiffany hunt 200 inch whitetails in Iowa, like that's really cool, but like yeah. I can't really relate to that. I don't have that property, or?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you don't have 700 acres that you feed steroids to the deer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I didn't even really I wasn't even drawn to it really that much anyway, but like watching something like meat eater, where it was more of an adventure. And you now, I now see the passion and everything and I'm still a huge fan of steve ranella, so something I always wanted to do, for sure. And then my dad had started going out west a couple years with some guys and then he did ask me to go for the first year and I said, you know, hunting for me was always just this fixed ladder stand on a field edge on some private and the deer were either there or they weren't. And I had fun doing that, I had some success doing that, but like never really felt like I could do something. You know what I mean? Yeah, and I was like man, the mountains, the like you get up and you can actually move, like go make a play.
Speaker 1:every day you walk 10 miles.
Speaker 2:Yeah, move, like go make a play. Every day you walk 10 miles, yeah, yeah, and uh, the whole physical fitness side of things, that's really when I started running. I'm huge, like, like I said, it's changed my life man. I'm a huge um into the endurance of it. Now, over the years since I started going out there, I've kept up with running ultra marathons, marathons. It just might like my thing now, but anyway, that's what really tricked for me and I was just like, maybe out there, like I could have, I get, like make something happen. And then, um, I remember we back, I, backpacked, wyoming, I. We did that, my dad, my brother and I in high school I just loved the west.
Speaker 2:It was a eight day backpacking in the wind river and uh, fishing, um, and just purely backpacking, and I always thought, like man, if I had a weapon like this.
Speaker 1:I just feel like this would be my bread and butter, and sure enough, we got these elk tags.
Speaker 2:And like ever since that first trip, man and I didn't punch that tag but saw a bunch of elk had the bugles I mean. I hate being that guy that you know everybody has it. 90% of elk hunters are unsuccessful. So everybody comes back saying, yeah, we saw some, just couldn't get it done. Blah, blah, blah. And that just like whatever dude, that's cool but it drives me nuts, dude, I just like.
Speaker 2:I hate losing but I also embrace, like learning and always trying to get better, so I've just kept up with that, and then the success started to finally come a little bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, that that story adds up. I think it's. Uh, your story is unique, don't get me wrong, but it is a story that happens to a lot of hunters, where that's like I didn't even hunt but I all of a sudden I'm in the mountains. I'm like man, this is hard, this is fun. Like you just fall in love with like the, the effort you have to put in and the adventure and all of those things. So it's very true to people listening. You know you got to get out there and try it once. Um, yeah, man, that's, that's cool. I like hearing someone as passionate as you. It reminds me of, like, when I started elk shape kind of got me into that with all the fitness I never got into running. I never will get into running. So good on you for that. Uh, not Not for me, but yeah, the fitness part of it, the whole thing, it's just this whole thing. It's a lifestyle. So that's very cool. But we're not here to talk about that shit. Weston, all right.
Speaker 2:So let's get that out, let's hear some stories, man.
Speaker 1:I want to hear about some of your adventures.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you're gonna start with a particular one that I'm pretty excited for, but you set the stage.
Speaker 1:Where are?
Speaker 2:we going. So I do. Yes, I do have a direction here and I think this is going to be worth the worth the listen, so perfect. I will preface and say I do have a YouTube channel now. I didn't know what I was doing to start my fall 2024 hunting adventures. I just was out there with a Sony RX 100 with a little external mic clipped on and I've made some hunt films now and like they've started to get some reach.
Speaker 1:So the story.
Speaker 2:I'm about to tell it is on my YouTube channel, Um, but here I'll just. I'll just dive into it.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, so the plan for 2024 for Weston originally looked like this I picked up an Idaho mule deer tag in December of 2023 for the 2024 season, so I buy this mule deer tag to hunt solo by myself. I had two weeks to get it done. That included three, four days scouting on the front end and it was going to be just me. So that was the plan and, like I said, dude, I absolutely love this. I train all year round ultra marathons, all this stuff, so plan for it all year. I've done solo trips in the past, extended weekends like back east, just to get used to it. I did a five days scouting in colorado no, it was like six days scouting in colorado solo again, just like building the skill of solo hunting. And then I was like I'll just go scout, scout the unit.
Speaker 2:Then I'm gonna come back and hunt with some guys. I did that, but this was the first um extended solo hunt in the mountains by myself backpacking in. So season starts to come around and this is archery season. So it's the end of August. I'm out here in Pennsylvania. I got a 33-hour drive ahead of me. I'm so obsessed I got, yeah, but I got everything planned out. I'm e-scouting like a madman, like my hunt plans, everything.
Speaker 2:So as the week is starting to come, I am watching on X and everything and I see these wildfires start to pop up, and the unit that I was hunting wasn't necessarily a big unit anyway. And Idaho's deer tags are different from their elk tags to where your deer tag is only good for one unit as a non-resident. The elk tags are a zone. It's like multiple units. They have elk zones and um, but I was just stuck to this one unit. It was a very small unit. So I see this fire pop up and it's starting to grow about just about every day leading up to when, like, I'm trying to leave after work on a Friday or whatever it was. But I'm like you know whatever.
Speaker 1:Like I'm going, you know what I mean. Like whatever.
Speaker 2:So got the truck loaded up as I'm driving out there like it took me a couple of days and I'm just by myself sleeping in the truck, clipping off as much driving as I can do, and I get there to scout for a couple days early. So, as I'm going and I have a hunt plan of, like you know, hunt plan a, b, c, d and I tried and I wanted to set myself up to maybe bounce around a couple times during the three, four days of scouting I had, okay, as I'm going out there, this fire starts to get so big it literally takes out my plans A through D, like I'm on plan E and I had only A through E plans.
Speaker 2:So, I'm choked down to this one area of National Forest that's still open. Everything else is closed because of these fires and I'm like this is just unbelievable, but I'm like I just need, but I'm like I just need one, like it just takes one. So, um, I get out there and now my plan is actually I can't even get to this little area that's still open from my unit. I had to park outside of the unit and hike in six miles into my unit to the unit border and then start hunting. So I had a six mile hike in before miles into my unit to the unit border and then start hunting.
Speaker 2:So I did six mile hike in before I could do anything yeah, then I got into my unit and then it opened up to where I had some square miles of openness and it was some high country. It wasn't, like I said, my top plan, but it had potential, I figured. So I get up in there and I spend the first and I just bring like three or four days of food. I leave my bow in the truck because why bring, you know everything? I just want to scout. I'll come back after the few days of scouting grab more food and the bow and I'll come back for opening day.
Speaker 2:So, as I'm going, there's this big shift in the winds and I think what it was was yeah, we got these north winds that came through, and the day before opening season I'm out there by myself no self-service, nothing. And um, this smoke is really rolling in, and now I'm about 10 miles from my truck. So and I'm from Pennsylvania, I don't know much about wildfires or how much smoke is too much smoke or anything. Again, I don't have cell service. You can watch it in the YouTube video. I'm kind of just sitting there like I don't really know what to do. I don't know if, like you, can fall asleep out here with all this smoke and plus, I'm by myself. I have to. I'm over rationalizing everything. I can't bounce an idea off anybody.
Speaker 2:Um, it's like am I gonna be okay? Seriously, I, I didn't know. I didn't know how close the fire was either. Um, so there was a point to where I couldn't even glass. The last evening, before my plan to pack down the truck, I was up high in this basin at like 10,000 feet, and the smoke was so bad I couldn't even. I was like I can't even glass. I can't even see down to where my tent is. So I go back down to my tent and it's the day before.
Speaker 2:Let me think, yeah, the day before the opening season, and I decide, okay, the smoke's getting really bad, but this is the only area I have left to hunt. Tomorrow morning I'm going to wake up, pack the 10 miles because I'm six miles in to start hunting. And then at this point I was at the furthest spot I could go, which was four miles past that. So I woke up and I said, okay, I'm going to pack back down in the truck, I'm going to leave my camp, I'm going to cash camp on the unit border, basically on top of the mountain. I'm going to cash camp and then hike down to the truck, grab my bow and more food and come back up Again.
Speaker 2:It's smoky as all hell. I don't know how I'm gonna do this and, to make things worse, I really only glassed up some does. I didn't even get on like any good bucks or anything, like you can see in the video. So, but at this point, uh, during the archer season, for that tag you could have took a doe, and I was really thinking about it because I didn't know what this fire was gonna do, or anything, so yeah, it might blow through and burn the whole unit down yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So here's what happened. I spent the entire day hiking back down in the truck Again. I leave camp up on the mountain because I was going to be coming back up to hunt. I get down to my truck, I'm at this trailhead and there was a map there from Forest Service with everything X'd out that said all these trails are closed, this whole area is closed down. They had a map with the unit, the hunt unit in it everything closed yeah crossed out like everything.
Speaker 2:So I dude, i't hunt, I can't do anything. So I'm sitting there in my truck, my camp is back up on the mountain, six miles in about 3,000 foot climb or whatever. It was Okay and I'm sitting there and you can see it in the video and I'm just like. I am so screwed. I'm screwed, I don't know what to do and, again, don't have cell service.
Speaker 2:I did have an in reach, but it's hard to get information from your dad. And trying to explain the situation, yeah, so I uh it's probably like four o'clock in the afternoon and I was like, all right, I'm not going to just sit here and cry. So I hiked back up to camp and I showed my phone at the end of that day, because now it's dark, um, and I decided to just sleep out in, I guess, the closure, um. But I had hiked 21 miles that day and climbed moly I forget a couple hundred floors is what my phone said because I was so far in had to hike back to the truck and then back up the mountain. Yeah, it was tough, and this whole time I don't know what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 1:So this is the day before. This isn't even.
Speaker 2:This is day before opening opening day yep okay so now I go to bed, I wake up my voice is so hoarsed because all this smoke and all the hiking, I'm just screwing myself up, basically, okay, put my camp in my pack, pack down the truck. I got a good hour drive of this, driving through all this smoke to even get cell service. So I'm driving out and I'm like dude, this is just. This is in the thing too for the listener, like this is my life, this is what I do. If you see my social media pages and everything I share, whatever these backcountry adventure hunts, it's my life, it's what I train for.
Speaker 2:It's what I think about all the time, like I'd love to do it for a living one day, kind of thing. But you know, I just I get four weeks of vacation for work every year and I think the last three years every single one of those was spent like in the mountains. Yeah, this is just what I do. So this was my first solo extended hunt out there and I'm just the whole time just feeling sorry for myself. Being like this is so unfair, blah, blah, blah. So I get into town and I go and talk to a Forest Service ranger and then I call Fish and Game and I'm explaining the situation Basically.
Speaker 2:Fish and Game told me well, I'll start with Forest Service. Forest Service said hey, buddy, I don't know what to tell you. We're going to be fighting these fires for months. People come here and backpack they're screwed. I don't know what to tell you. We're going to be fighting these fires for months. People come here and backpack they're screwed. I don't know what to tell you. It's only going to get hotter. We're not getting any rain.
Speaker 1:We're getting more of these winds.
Speaker 2:Like tough, yeah, shit out of luck. Welcome to Idaho. So I then go there was a Forest service office there. I went and talked to them in person and then I called Fish and Game. So Fish and Game was like yeah, we've been getting calls about that unit with that fire and everything. And I said what can I? Can I get a different tag? Can I exchange my tag? Like what can I do? Like I'm here, I just drove 33 hours from Pennsylvania, this is my vacation, this is everything. Um, and they said we do usually have the option for people to exchange tags in situations like this, but since the season had already started cause I packed out, basically on opening day- yeah.
Speaker 2:Since the season had already technically started, I wasn't allowed to exchange my tag. Oh, that's okay's, dumb, but continue, yeah. So I was like you gotta be kidding me. Like what can I do? And she's like, well, we're gonna have meetings about it. Um, next week we're waiting for emails from our supervisor. I want to say this would have been I think it was friday, august 30th, that was opening day in idaho. And she was like, well, and it's at the end of the day and and she's like we'll probably have more information come like Monday or Tuesday. And I'm like, lady, I, um, I just drove days from Pennsylvania, like I'm not just going to stay in town here. Like is it? What can I do? It? Basically, everybody just told me you're shit out of luck, buddy.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I refuse to have a negative mindset. I feel like the younger me probably would have been just upset, said I'm unlucky, drove home. And if you really think about it, I probably would have drove home, told the story and everybody would have said like, yeah, you are an unlucky son of a bitch Like you are.
Speaker 1:They wouldn't have blamed you.
Speaker 2:It would have been the end of the story, game over. No, and that would have been my identity. You know what I mean. And then I'm just a miserable, sad sack of shit, like you know the rest of the rest of the year. You know what I mean, so it's like I'm not.
Speaker 2:that might be a little far taken a little far, but okay, no, you know but like it's just like you know you are what you tell yourself, all these things. So, um, I'm like no, I refuse to tell myself that I'm going to write the story that I want to tell. So, all this being said, during this time I had been talking to a buddy who I just met on rock slide. Don't know him personally at all. He's uh, um, older than me. I'm in my later 20s, I think he's in his younger 40s, whatever we were. Just we met on rock slide talking about mule deer hunting. He was from a different part of pennsylvania, I don't know, just real cool dude and we were just bsing about mule deer.
Speaker 2:I was picking his brain because he'd been hunting the west for a long time and he had told me he was going to go and hunt mule deer in colorado with a couple guys this year, um, during like the same time the archery season. So I get out of town and I call this guy and he's like why are you calling me, aren't you hunting? And I told him the situation, everything, and I said, look, dude, I just love these mountains and these hunts and everything so much like. Can I just be like, come and just be like camp mvp, like I don't want to go home and I was like here's the worst thing.
Speaker 2:I'm with guy, more experienced guys, I learn more about mule deer. Uh, like you know, I just love like taking pictures, like everything, like I'll do that, I'll pack meat out, like I'll just do whatever, like I just love being part of it. And he was like sure, dude 100, you're more than welcome. He was like we'll be here in Colorado. Like he sent me an OnX pin, we'll be there tomorrow at noon and I'm like perfect, that's like an eight-hour drive. I can get a hotel tonight, get up and I'll meet him there. And that's what I did. So that's my new plan. Again, this is all, and I'm filming this for a YouTube hunt, thinking I'm going to go and kill this massive like moon and crocket like mule deer solo.
Speaker 2:And none of this is working out. But I was like I'll just keep filming. So now, at this point, I'm driving down there and then I thought, dude, wait a minute, what are the odds? Where they're hunting, is an over-the-counter elk tag like? What are the odds? Because you have to draw mule deer. Everywhere in colorado there's only so many over-the-counter archery elk units.
Speaker 2:Well, sure enough it was yeah and I'd ask that guy I call him back in the morning and I was like hey, dude, I don't want to take away anything from your hunt, uh, but do you guys have elk tags? And they were like no, uh, we just got.
Speaker 2:he actually didn't have a deer tag, he had a bear tag and he was kind of like guiding his two buddies and they had the deer tags and I was like, well, I promise I won't be a burden or nothing, but do you care if I get an elk tag? And he was like hell, yeah, like go for it. Oh, my God, like I'm the hunts back on Like I'm hunting again.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, the hunt's back on. I'm hunting again. All of a sudden, I'm hunting again. What was really cool was my whole, and I forgot to mention this at the beginning. My whole fall was supposed to be this Idaho archery deer hunt and then late.
Speaker 1:October. Over-the-counter rifle elk in Colorado. Now all I'm doing is basically buying that elk tag now yeah, it's getting a couple months early, or a month, that's all yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:So I'm like okay, um, and so I buy this elk tag. And then, quick little side note, the idaho deer tag is good for the whole fall, it's not just the archery season.
Speaker 1:You go back there in october.
Speaker 2:There you go so I'll tell this at the end.
Speaker 2:But real quick, dude, all I did I didn't waste any money or time or nothing vacation, I just flip flop my hunts like, just like that for all things considered, that's pretty damn convenient yeah, I did think I was like the only thing that wasn't foreseen was like the drive from idaho to this part of colorado, which, like, wouldn't have been really part of the plan. But I was like the drive from Idaho to this part of Colorado, which, like, wouldn't have been really part of the plan. But I was like, with all things considered, what's another couple of tanks of gas? But literally that's all. It was just flip flop, my hunts. So, um, I was like this is this is crazy. Uh, like, I'm like let's go.
Speaker 2:So now this is like the first time I'm archery elk hunting. I've rifle hunted elk. A couple of years I went and hunted mule deer late season with a rifle, but now I'm elk hunting with a bow. So I get to this trailhead. There's three guys and again the one guy I don't really know I've just talked to on the phone. I meet him in person and then his two buddies um, I don't know at all and and when I were gonna go share a camp together and it ended up being the most fun group, guys just with the best attitude, and the one guy that I'm saying like I kind of knew on the phone. We talk every day now like fast forward, like he's like kind of like my mentor.
Speaker 2:We're actually hunting. So I said we just, I just put him for the Colorado deer draw. Um, I'm going with him.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So he's like my new hunting partner, yeah, so that's amazing, man.
Speaker 1:I'm a big fan of that. I've done that a few times where I showed up and do it, and I still am in contact with at least one person from every one of those camps. It's, you know, it's uh, it's just a bunch of people hoping for a really good time. So they're. They're, in general, great places to be and great people to meet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's uh, it was awesome. So, everybody a good attitude. Um, everybody was like all in and it was great. So, um, I kind of want to, um, I'll start jumping ahead here a little bit. So we pack in and again, this is all. Just, I'm just filming all of this. I'm like holy shit, I can't believe this is all happening. We pack into this basin, we get there.
Speaker 2:So now Colorado's opener is a few days after Idaho, so we get there and we pack in the day before we get to scout into this basin and, yeah, we glassed up some bucks. We actually saw a sow with some cubs. I glassed up some sheep. We actually saw a bear, uh, a sow with some cubs. I glassed up some sheep. And then I said, hey, I'm gonna go way up here, up over 12 000, climb into this other base and just to glass in this other basin.
Speaker 2:And I glassed up this herd of elk, um, and one like he was. I think he was only a four by four, but he was the big. He was like the herd bull of an over-the-counter elk unit. He was like chasing off this like little raghorn, and I was like that will be plenty for me. So we got elk, we got deer night before the opener and I'm like let's go, so get up. The next morning. I get up at like 3.30 in the morning to pack into this basin because I'm like it's happening. Well, long story short, I uh, uh, basically blew that stock. I got on that herd, uh didn't get it done. I was up at like 12 5 chasing these elk. They were way up high and I actually clipped myself out, couldn't get any closer and they were about. That bull was like 114 yards, I think it was god that sucks I I went in on.
Speaker 2:I went in on a stock yeah, thinking like oh, I'll get to that rock. And then I'm like shit, like I learned so much, like what I should it was range that rock, range them. And then realized, did the math should have did to something different? But I make this stock and I'm like damn damn, I can't go any further.
Speaker 2:So blew that stock, um, but I'm still chasing these elk. Those guys chase some, chase deer Um, I, uh, we just had, we had some fun for a couple of days but then we decided to split up. They were going to go to a new spot, a different mountain, and I said, hey, I glassed. Uh, we, we had glass elk on this other mountain. And I said, hey, guys, guys, I'm, I'm just gonna go chase these elk. Uh, and they were like all right, sounds good.
Speaker 2:So the rest of the week I spent by myself chasing elk with my bow, um, at 12 000 feet, um, you can see in the video, I got on stocks on a couple other herds and then, um, the end of the week it was thursday, um, again, I, I'm going in, I'm trying to kill bull. It's really tough in the early season. I've learned like they're herded up, they're not really really, you know, rutting hard or anything, like they're elk or being elk, like there's some bugles, like the bigger herds, like they were, you know, just elking around, but uh, the, the matriarch cows and the calves, like they're kind of like on the perimeter patrolling and that's kind of how it would always like bust me and then, um, just just learning, just trying to be a better, uh, bow hunter, just with, with, with stalking elk and um. Then, finally, I got to this other spot. It was one of the deepest, nastiest drainages I've ever seen, and, sure enough, there's a bunch of other out there. And I get there towards the end of the one day and I said, uh, you know, I, this is where they are. I don't know how I'm going to get one out of here, um, but this is, uh, this is what it's going to be. I'm like four miles in, I'm like 4,000 feet from up, from the truck running around at 12,000 by myself.
Speaker 1:Yeah and uh, yeah, and it's like how that altitude treats you. I know that you were in Idaho before that, but did you get affected by going up that high? A lot of people do when they come from lower, lower, lower ground.
Speaker 2:Even since my first year man, this is be honest never really has been an issue. I do say I know, I know it can affect anyone, but I really try to do a lot with my endurance, um and everything, and I like. Obviously I'll be breathing heavy like you're sucking wind at some points a little bit but never really made me.
Speaker 1:There's no loss in sleep or dizziness and okay good no, yeah, I know some buddies that like as soon as they hit like 10k, they're like can't't do it, like I, just they have to hunt under that line. Um, doesn't bother me. I got my moose this year at like 11, five, so I don't want to get up there. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if I uh, I mean, I think being hydrated is a big part of it too, but you'll see in the video, there was a day or two I was running around up there, I had to pack, um, ran out of water for a good day and uh, that's, that's um. Those are feelings that are tough to explain. Like I ran a? Um, I try to do these ultra marathons and these hard things to prepare. Like I ran a 70 mile ultra marathon this past year, I'm going for 100 chasing you.
Speaker 1:Why would you do that?
Speaker 2:I know. Well, this is kind of like how what I found that's kind of helped. Like I'm going for a hundred miler this year and like doing those hard things, pushing your body getting really comfortable with being uncomfortable, super dehydrated I can kind of leverage that when I'm out there, like I can kind of be like well, dude, I did that right, I ran for 15 hours straight, I think. I can make it here another night without you like Cam Haines, don't you?
Speaker 1:I have a feeling you like cam haynes. He's a good. I think he's a great influence.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, okay, all right, well, cool, let's go back to the story. Sorry, sorry, anyway, but yeah, so, anyway, we're um. So I'm like, okay, uh, I'm gonna go chase these out, but I know, you know, um, I don't have the wind right. Um, I'm better off waiting in the morning, waiting for that sun to come up, heat up everything, get up above them and creep down. So I spent like all day stalking down on this herd and I'm now getting down like in the timber a little bit and I'm like they got to be here. They got to be here. I heard them all bugling last night. There were dozens of them and it's all on video and sure enough, like things open up and man dude, it was like I'll never forget.
Speaker 2:I did take a moment of presence. I'm in this basin. It looks like a Bob Ross painting. There's no other hunters Over-the-counter Colorado, no other hunters by myself. A couple dozen head of elk Bulls bugling way down kind of in the bottom. These cows and calves. The calves are bedding, the cows are feedingding, the cows are like feeding. And I'm like this is just unbelievable. And then I thought I told myself the night before like dude, these cows keep busting you and it's an either sex tag. Um, if I get an opportunity to cow, I think I'm gonna take it and uh, sure enough, I did um have.
Speaker 2:She was good size too. Um, she was right on the outskirts and I'm like if I go anywhere she's going to bust me. Um, and I said you know I'm going to ranger and I feel like I can really make that shot. And when I ranged I was thinking like did that open country and elk are so big. I was kind of taken back. I was like oh, 53. And I ranged and it said 69 yards. I'm like oh my God, but I was like I know I can make that shot.
Speaker 2:I felt so confident. She was a touch quarter and away and I flung an arrow man, and I'd heard it hit. She ran up in these little like jack pines and then these calves got up and they were all running back the other way and I'm like what's going on? And then I just watched that cow just roll right over that's awesome.
Speaker 1:She didn't go more than 20 yards and I had no blood, no blood trail, nothing.
Speaker 2:She was right there and the whole herd blows out. I'm just standing there being like I can't believe everything that happened, like between idaho and then I'm out here just getting after it by myself at 12,000 feet running around solo.
Speaker 1:Now I got my first archery elk down 400 pounds of meat to get out of the mountains. Dude, I am so stoked.
Speaker 2:I didn't mention this in the video, but I'll tell it real quick. So I tried to also be smart. I mean I'll do whatever it takes to obviously get an animal out, but I did have service on this mountain and I had called around for just a packer.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I did talk to. I found one guy that said, hey, I can't get horses in there, but I might be able to give you two guys with backpacks. And I was like that's great, because this drain is just so steep, like that's even better. Um, so I arrowed this cow and I call that guy back and I'm like, hey, I got a big cow down. Like he's like congrats man. Um, let me call those guys. I, uh, I'll give you a call back. And I was like, all right, I got work to do, like sounds good. Um, and I got this big north slope creek. It was like it was getting into the 30s at night. I knew that would be good. Get it in the pines, this creek should be all right. Um, he calls me back that night and says, hey, I can only get you one guy.
Speaker 2:Um, and I was like, well, here's what I'll do, I'll get. I'll take a one lighter load like neck meat back straps, you know, 10 or one, all that. I'll take that to camp tonight. Um, cause I had to debone. I did everything myself, deboned everything, hung everything in meat bags, and then I was a good mile or two from camp and had to climb out of this hellhole. So I was like, all right, I'll take that light load up to camp, wake up in the morning early and then pack camp in that lighter load of meat down to the truck, meet that guy and then we'll both come back up for the heavy loads of like each having a front and rear quarter deboned, and then come back down. And I was like, that won, that won't be a horror, like you know, definitely doable. Yeah, um, I wake up in the morning. Um, just on cloud nine. Um, I wake up and that guy calls me back and says dude, I sorry I can't get you any help.
Speaker 2:Oh damn it, I was like I was like you, like shitting me, um. So then I'm like well, what about those other guys I was with and I had already in-reached them, dude, because they didn't have cell service, but I did. But we had in-reaches like the Garmins, and I had obviously told him, dude, I arrowed a cow, and he had told me at literally the same time, dude, I just shot a bear, and he had told me at the same, literally the same time.
Speaker 2:Dude, I just shot a bear like he had. Yeah, he picked up this bear tag thinking like I'll just bring, I'll just get something yeah, because the other guys had the deer tags, so he kills this cinnamon bear, which was like unreal.
Speaker 2:So at this time now I'm like, well, maybe he's in town with that bear. So I call him and I was like hey, dude, like what are you doing? And he was like I'm at you, like what are you doing? And he was like I'm at, you, know, I'm in town. Well, he's like. He's like I'm over an hour away, I'm getting this bear checked in all this stuff. And I was like dude, listen, I tried to get a packer and I don't want to take away from your hunt or anything, but I got this elk down and like can you help me?
Speaker 2:And he was like dude, I listen, like I got like it's, it's going to take time here. I still got to go to the taxidermist and I have the inreach, the guys. I left them on the mountain. I don't have a way to communicate with them, I don't want to leave them overnight. And I was like listen, no, don't even worry about it. Like that's like a safety thing, like no hard feelings, don't even worry about it. And then I there's no way that Creek gets above 50 degrees, it freezes overnight, basically that meat. I said, um, I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 2:I just you know yeah, um, I can, it just gonna suck, yeah, A lot. Yeah, it's going to be really hard, um, but you know I'm gonna, you know, screw it. I'm, I'm doing this.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And um. So I packed it on the truck with with all my camp and that light load turned right back around, grabbed that next load, come back down to the truck. And then by that time it was night and I was like, well, I might as well sleep a couple hours, like I'm not going to make it. And then woke up the next day, got the last load and back down. Each one of those full trips took me seven hours each one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, basically a full day of packing, 21 hours yep, so let me think I arrowed her thursday evening thursday night, you know went to bed, woke up friday morning, took that light, load down rest of the day. Friday back up, back down, slept in the truck, got up super early saturday a couple hours of sleep, yeah went back up and then back down and by saturday by lunchtime, yeah, I got back to the truck. I had felt like I ran an ultra marathon. It literally felt like the same thing, um, like a big one too, um. But then I, uh, it was perfect. I called those other guys and I was like, hey, I just got this help down, like what are you guys up to? And I knew their plan was to leave. And they're like, hey, we're packing out right now. We're gonna be in town in 20 minutes. You want to meet for a burger?
Speaker 1:and I was like that sounds tremendous yeah, I bet you like calories.
Speaker 2:I just need calories you'll see in the video I filmed also the pack out and me back in my truck. Dude, my eyes are like glazed over, but I'm happier than all hell because now I've like built this confidence too, like to be honest with you, like I just packed an elk out by myself, like you know, if I ever need to do that, like I know, I can do it. So I, we go into town and we are just. I wish I took pictures of this part because it's like you know it's it's four guys in sitka gear, all bloody.
Speaker 2:Um, everybody's got an awesome story to tell because the guys was their first like mountain western hunt with the deer tags and they both had stocks and the one dude did fling an arrow but he's they're confident he uh, he's shot under it, but they had stories and the other guy had killed the bear and I killed my elk and people in there like oh, you like you guys, like you guys had any luck, like yeah, those little mountain towns, man, they love it, they love talking, they loved it, yeah and um it was like just the best man and um.
Speaker 2:So it's all on youtube. It's called A Wild Turn of Events, because that's what it felt like it was. Then don't have to go too far into it or whatever. I know I've been rambling here, but that deer tag was still good. I had this crazy experience, or whatever. I come home and then I actually go bear hunting. I arrow a bear and I'm keeping an eye on these fires In Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1:you shot the bear.
Speaker 2:New Jersey.
Speaker 1:New.
Speaker 2:Jersey's got a pretty big bear hunt out there now.
Speaker 1:Per capita they have the most bears of any state I heard, which is crazy to think about.
Speaker 2:Pretty crazy Let me think I think I threw a couple white tail sits here in pennsylvania, keep an eye on these fires and everything. What am I going to do with this? Deer tag went, hunted bears arrowed. A bear came home and then I got an email from idaho fishing game that said, hey, with the whole fire and everything, you can get a refund. If you want to. We'll give you a refund Because most of the unit, the fire, was gone now at this point, like we're in mid-October, but you know a lot of it burned and but it was up to me, like you know, wanting a refund or not.
Speaker 2:But I slept on it and I decided you know I'd regret not going back, so I go back. I literally get that bear taken care of. Um, this next weekend rolls around. I keep that pto just like in in uh the pto uh bank at work and I still took it. And then I go back to Idaho by myself and now I'm hunting late season mule deer and that is on my YouTube channel as well, that hunt film and that kind of blew up a little bit um, but that was a late season hunt by myself rifle in all the snow and in the, the suck of the, the weather and everything yeah and yeah, that was awesome too, that's great.
Speaker 1:Did you harvest an animal on that trip? I hope.
Speaker 2:I did not. It was extremely tough. I did pass up some smaller bucks and I saw a lot of does. I was still really pinched down in just a couple areas. I was fighting pressure um, obviously the weather, but that's not an excuse and then, um, I did the only. It was just also a general deer unit, it wasn't anything special but, um, I did kick up a couple really good bucks, still hunting. That seemed to be the only thing I could do to turn up a buck, because when I was glassing evenings and mornings it was just a lot of does with fawns like just coming out in the open. So still hunting was the only thing that kind of worked. Blew out a couple good bucks.
Speaker 2:One buck I still dream about like to this day he was huge, four by four deep forks, um, and he, uh, he gave me the slip, but um, no man, it was tough and I gave that trip my all dude up like everything I had but I believe it no, it definitely made me a better hunter. I'm glad I went that's awesome, man.
Speaker 1:Those, that's an amazing story. I would say I'd have to guess like 95 plus percent of people when they were in that burn situation wouldn't have even hung out in the woods as long as you did, let alone jumped out and then gone to a different state, bought a new tag and hunted something else. So good on you for that. That takes a lot of. I don't know what the word is, I don't know. Willpower, I don't know, but like just a kick-ass attitude.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, uh, I'm huge on like the mindset stuff and the personal development stuff and I just felt like this, this trip really encapsulated that, because it truly was like I just I kept at every turn, I kept getting like my butt kicked but you gotta just keep a good head on your shoulders. You don't know what's going to happen and you just got to just keep a good head on your shoulders. You don't know what's going to happen and you've just got to keep going, man.
Speaker 1:Hell, yeah, man Hell yeah. Well, cool man. Do you have any other stories you want to share, or is it just that big epic one there Up to you? We have about 10 more minutes before we've got to wrap this thing up. What do you say?
Speaker 2:I'll touch a little bit on like how uh idaho went um when I, when I came back, um, yeah, so I this video on my youtube channel. It's called fear and the reason behind that was because the whole time when I was debating on not going, I had every excuse like to not go.
Speaker 2:I easily could have took the refund, banked, the work vacation yeah, I knew it was going to be a crappy hunt, like, honestly, um, with everything, with the burns and everything and um. But it just came down to like well, what's stopping you? Like you're you're afraid of not punching the tag? Like are you afraid of what other people will think of you if you don't punch the tag? Like that's all a bullshit, excuse you know, what I mean.
Speaker 2:Just go and bet on yourself, and who cares? If you give it 110%, which you have to be tied to the truth, to that, then do it. So that's what I did.
Speaker 2:I got out there I knew that, uh, it was gonna be tough because there was no water, like up high, and their season runs from in this unit it was october 10th through the 31st and I elected to hunt, basically the back back half okay I think in hindsight, after talking with my buddies that live out west and one buddy I know out there in Idaho he kills some pretty good bucks I said maybe if I was to do it all again I'd hunt the beginning part of the season because I found that I didn't really get many benefits of hunting the end of October because there was no sign of the mule deer rut whatsoever. The bucks were definitely bumped around from being hunted and also elk hunters in there and everything. So they're by themselves, they're in the timber, you're fighting the weather and I was thinking like man, maybe if I was to do it again, since that season ends on Halloween, if it was to give me some days in November, maybe, um, closer to the rut, but maybe that beginning of October where you're not fighting the weather as much, and maybe you're getting them not as uh um, like jazzed up maybe in their September patterns a little bit more. I don't know. That's something that I learned and he did agree with that. Um, that's what he does out there. I was like I wish you would have told me earlier. But no, I was hunting those bears at the time anyway.
Speaker 2:But I got out there and I realized that high country. There was no water at all but access wasn't quite like the big national forest I'm used to hunting in Colorado. I could really drive my truck in a good ways to most areas and after two, three days have these basins pretty well glassed up. So that was my plan and that way I could pack in water and be able to like hunt effectively. So that's kind of what I did. You can kind of see that in the video. I would spend a couple of days just bouncing around being up high and it consistently was man, I'm a big. You know. If something's not working, you know change like the like. There's that episode of Seinfeld where George Costanza is like I'm just going to do the opposite of everything and see, like, what works.
Speaker 2:So I try to maybe even do that when I'm hunting, like know, like I was up high, these like north basins, like north facing timber, I was like maybe they're just hiding in there and I was seeing a lot of does, like I said, like every spot, I felt like you know I was, I was playing a somewhat right of a game, but just not getting on the box, and then I'd go bounce to some lower country glass, up some some South slopes and then I'm like no, I'm just going to still hunt during these um kind of like, at these last light um kind of moments and uh, that had worked. But you know, still hunting, even a successful still hunter, it's not a hundred percent. Um, you're still going to bump deer and it's worked for me in the past. I got my colorado buck in 2023, still hunting, but uh, that uh, yeah, I bumped a couple good bucks doing that.
Speaker 2:The one, like I said, was real nice and I was probably within 50 of him, but I came in a little high and he was right below me in the timber sun going down, so those thermals just went right to him and he started hopping before I could get him in the scope. But weather was tough, man. I've hunted Colorado late season in snow and really cold, but sometimes it's not too bad. By midday you get that big mountain sun.
Speaker 2:You can at least get your stuff dried out and it's not too too cold. But this part in Idaho, man, it would just snow like squall all day most of the days, and, um, it was like a wet snow too and like so it was just a lot of. Uh, I was wet, boots stayed wet, things freeze you just yeah, hips start to ache high stepping through the snow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, and then um big snow too, which, um, it just it's just tough man. So I was up there. I didn't have a hot tent, I was just in a hillaberg, uh, nyack. So, um, yeah, it was, uh, it was pretty tough and um, but definitely tested my mental and my physical. I feel like I learned a lot more about deer. I got into an area the last couple days where I mean I was getting on a ton of elk.
Speaker 2:I saw like a bunch of herds coming down and everything but some lower country I got into, got into some more deer and I'm like maybe could have spent some more time here, but again, it's definitely a lot of lessons learned.
Speaker 1:Hell yeah.
Speaker 2:And glad I went. But that was that hunt.
Speaker 1:That was definitely a tough adventure too. That's cool, man. That is cool. Well, I actually want to do something unique that I've not done before. Um, but you, you've inspired me. Uh, cause you came all the way from the East coast to come hunt Colorado and you just fell in love with it. Like, I want you to wrap up. We're going to do a little bit more. After course, you can tell people where to find you and your youtube and all that stuff, but I want you to do a motivational speech, firing up my listeners to go out and hunt west. I'm putting you on the spot. Do you got one for me?
Speaker 2:absolutely dude. I knew you would. Let's go. No, in all seriousness, I, over the last like few years, just really pursuing these things that I really wanted to do, like take my fitness more seriously, do big endurance races and do big backcountry hunts and all these things, and what I found is really, like you know, I think we all deep down know what we want to do. Like sometimes I just want to tell people I talk to do, like, what do you like what? Like sometimes I just want to tell people I talk to that are just they're just going through a lot or whatever, and I'm like well, what do you want to do? What do you spend time at night watching on YouTube?
Speaker 1:Like what do you think Like?
Speaker 2:man, that's cool. I wish I could do that. Like pursue that thing, like that is your thing, it's gonna be. It's gonna take 10 times longer to get good at it. It's gonna be 100 times harder than you ever thought. Um, but I am the most average high school athlete. Um, just by having big dreams and consistently showing up every single day, um, I've been able to be like qualify for boston and marons. I've been able to even my family, like when I started saying like I want to go hunt solo, like they didn't really believe in me. Like they told me, like they kind of like freaked out. Like I put in for this like leftover deer tag a couple of years ago and I'm like I'm going Um, but I didn't get it. And they like I don't blame them because I didn't give them evidence that I could do that, right, um, but they were like you're crazy. Like no, you're crazy. But I was like I'm I'm, you know, I'm an adult. You can't tell me what to do.
Speaker 2:Um, but you eventually yeah eventually just worked up to it and they can tell this huge part of my life. And now it was like, yeah, good luck, like go get them. But anyway, my point is like you just got to do it, you just got to commit to it, work at it every single day, whatever your goals are and this might sound a little extreme, but, dude, we're all going to die like one day. You know what I mean. We all get to live once and I really, like that doesn't freak me out.
Speaker 2:That thought, I mean it is a fact. It actually excites me, cause it's like I, you know, I I wake up every single day and I'm like just going to pursue these things I want to do. And, um, I even have this tattoo on the back of my arm here Um Ecclesiastes nine 10, and it says whatever the hand findeth, do with all your might, because where you are going which is the grave there is no knowledge, nor wisdom, nor plan, nor device. So to me, that is God's way of saying, like YOLO, you only live one time.
Speaker 1:That's God's YOLO. You only live one time, that's got YOLO.
Speaker 2:When you find your thing, and I truly think I have. I'm not saying I have it all figured out, I'm 28. I haven't lived a long life or anything, but I think I found my thing and I've been pursuing it wholeheartedly and I've built a lot more self-esteemesteem and I'm a lot happier with it.
Speaker 2:I don't know I think that's so, if that's what you want to do, if you keep saying every, every year, like man, I think I'd want to hunt West, I think I want to hunt out, like that looks cool, or I want to get more fit, or I want to anything like make more money, like all these things, like just you just have to do it and it's going to be hard, but that's okay, it's going to be hard, and that's okay. Just keep going, that's it.
Speaker 1:And, to add to your point, it's only going to get harder as you get older and as it becomes harder to draw tags. So get out there and do it guys. Weston man, this was fun. I appreciate you for coming on filling out the form, getting out here and sharing your stories, your stories. It was really fun to hear it, kind of that epic saga of a whole season and not giving up. That's what we all need to hear. So thank you, man, I appreciate you. Let's do this. Let's tell the people where they can find you, tell them your socials, your YouTubes, whatever you want to share.
Speaker 2:Yep, so I'm pretty active on Instagram. It's just my name at Weston Homa, W-E-S-T-O-N-H-O-M-A. Youtubet? O N H O M A. Uh, YouTube, same thing West and Homa, so I have my hunt films on there. Um, this is something that I'm going to do forever. I have a pretty diversified portfolio of points and different species and states.
Speaker 2:So that's a lot of that's going to come. I also just like to share all the training and things I've learned. I'm never going to say like this is the only way. I just you know, I'm more just like, hey, this is what I do, it works for me. I'm a, I love learning from other people and all those things and just going to share also, I think, these big endurance events and stuff like they just helped me a lot with these, with these hard hunts too. So share a little bit of that and then that's all to come on the YouTube. And then I'm also on Facebook West and Homa same thing. So I love connecting with guys, helping guys get going. I have that hunt film of my Idaho hunt Dude from Mississippi reached out to me.
Speaker 2:He said, hey, I'm going to go hunt Idaho next year First time I'm from back east down south. I don't know what I'm doing. Can I just pick your brain? I gave the dude my phone number. Yeah, I was like sure man, and we were just bsing and again I told him like what works for me and things to expect, and I was like you just, you know, call me anytime. So I just love, you know, connecting with guys, learning from guys, helping guys out, and yeah, so that's where you can find me and, um, yeah, sweet man, sweet.
Speaker 1:Well, I will put uh links to all that stuff in the show notes to make it extra easy, so people don't even have to google you, they can just click on. You know the the notes to what we're already listening to. So, weston man, thank you again. I appreciate you. It was a lot of fun hearing your stories and I have a feeling we're gonna have you back here in uh in a couple years with with a handful of more stories for us man.
Speaker 2:So thank you I love it, man. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of course. All right, guys. That's it. Another couple of stories in the books. Again, thanks to Weston for reaching out. He's a listener went online, found my little form, I guess, is what you can call it and filled it out saying, hey, I've got some stories to tell. So, if you have some stories, check out the website, check out the Instagram, whatever it is. There's links everywhere. I believe there's even one in the show notes. Just click on it, fill it out. We will be in touch and hopefully get you on the podcast here shortly. That being said, guys, thank you very much for tuning in. I really do appreciate it. Please share the podcast with one person today and other than that, get out there and make some stories of your own. Thank you.
