← Live Wild with Remi Warren
Live Wild with Remi Warren
Ep. 238 | The Next steps after securing a tag
01:06:58
This episode covers the essential steps for successful hunt planning after drawing a tag, including research, e-scouting, and connecting with experienced hunters. Host Remi shares practical tips on how to maximize your hunting opportunities through detailed preparation and community engagement.
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Foreign. I'm Remy Warren and I've lived my life in the wild as a professional guide and hunter. I've spent thousands of days perfecting my craft. I want to give that knowledge to you. In this podcast we relive some of my past adventures as I give you practical hunting tips to make you more successful. Whether you're just getting started or a lifelong hunter, this podcast will bring you along on the hunt and teach you how to Live Wild Podcast is brought to you by Mountain Tough and Yeti. If you really want to utilize a lot of this information from the podcast in the field, one of the best ways to do that is to be physically ready for the hunt. And that's really why I've partnered with Mountain Tough. So if you aren't familiar with it, Mountain Tough is an online training app designed for hunters with a ton of added benefit. In addition to the fitness programs built for that backcountry hunting, you also get access to nutrition and recovery guides for on and off the mountain mental toughness training and this really great in app community that connects you with other mountain toughers and coaches. This app is packed with value to help you stay ready and right now Mountain Tough is giving our LiveWild listeners a free six week trial when they sign up for the monthly plan using code livewild. To get started in the journey, go to mountaintough.com that's m t n t o u g h dot com when you're out there doing it the hard way, the right way, you need gear that shows up every time. That's why I trust yeti. Whether it's keeping meat cold for the trip home or your coffee hot before daylight, Yeti just flat works. Built Tough. No shortcuts. Check out their full lineup@yeti.com and see why it's become a part of my system season after season. Well everyone, welcome back to Live Wild Podcast. It is go time. Okay, a lot of tag draw results have been coming out. This past weekend was actually a really big, big draw result weekend for me for where I live in Nevada because it's a completely draw state. There's no over the counter tags except for upland bird or waterfowl unit. In general, licenses for for birds. If you want to hunt big game you have to get in on the draw and you have to draw something. So if you want to hunt your home state, it's it's all based on a draw and they can be pretty tough odds. So it's a big deal. It's a big deal for Us growing up, tag draw, posting day. I mean that's you're either celebrating or crying. It's one or the other, right? And so this past weekend was that. And not only just for you, but for your friends and family and whatever. Sometimes you aren't the one that gets a tag, but someone else might draw the tag. So we just celebrate in that and start making plans and, and figure out hunt strategies and all that stuff. The planning really starts to begin now. So we're going to be talking this week about planning, preparation and that hunt strategy. You know, head's just been spinning over the past weekend is, and week really as I just start to sort through the plans, connecting with people and preparing for what's coming up. Not just my tags, but other people's tags as well. So today we're going to look at that. What now you've got a tag. So we're going to look at research, e scouting and then connecting with past tag holders as you start to plan. And this doesn't matter the season, whether it's general tag in an area that's really easy to get those tags or a super special, very limited entry tag, maybe a once in a lifetime tag for sheep, moose, goat, something like that. No matter the season, we're going to be looking at those next steps and making the most of your plan. So on this episode, I genuinely have a ton to unpack, so we're just going to dive right in. Before I dive into all our tips and tactics today, I do want to mention an incredible supporter of this podcast, Montana Knife Company. They have have a big drop right now. This is, this is big news because if you're a fan of Montana Knife Co. Or maybe you're just like, I've been wanting to get a knife but they didn't have a folder knife. You're the type that likes that folder. Pocket knife. It's here. The Montana is dropping today. I love talking about it on drop days because for those of you, the majority of you that listen to this podcast are, this is your, this is your reminder. This is the drop you want to get in on. I, I got one early and I've got to mess around it, test it. I love having it's like my everyday carry a few of the features that I love about it, like the precision and quality of it, I think is if, if you aren't familiar with the Montana knife story and what they build, you know they're using the best materials out there. They're incredibly tight tolerances. It's. They're they're caring about precision and other things. And it's a made in America knife. American jobs, American manufacturing. They've got like this generational guarantee of just they're building something that you can pass on. And this folder is no different. A few of the first things that I just noticed with it right out of the gate, I mean the smoothness of the opening and the closing. The liner lock, like there's zero play. It's super tight tolerances, like everything is just like, it opens like butter. It locks stronger than you could ever need for a folding blade like that. But it's super easy to close and open even once it's locked. Easy to close, but just no slip in that blade at all the materials they used. It's like very durable but very lightweight. Highest grade materials. The blade is Magnacut steel. If you aren't familiar with Magnacut, I've talked about it a lot on this podcast, but it's just got those high scores for durability, edge retention, and then corrosion resistance. Another thing about I like about the folder is it just got like this deep pocket clip so it slides in easy. It's just so ergonomic in your hand. They really thought of everything. And honestly, I, I, I mean, I've just been enjoying the crap out of mine. So I'm excited to, you know, I'm excited for people to be able to get in on this first drop. It's gonna, it's gonna be a popular drop, but I do know, like, it's one that you're gonna want to get it on. Like, I got, I got sent one early, but I'm jumping on the drop to buy one for my dad. Like, I just want him to have one of these. So I'm gonna look, we're all getting on the drop. I'm gonna be fighting for one of those knives as well tonight. So I probably shouldn't mention the drop and maybe increase my odds of getting another one. But look, I, I think this is like, it's an absolute home run. I'm super excited about this knife. And if you've been looking, maybe you're a fan of Montana Knife Company. The drop is happening for this folder. Or maybe you're just gonna the way that it works, get on the website. You got to be on there before the, the thing goes live and then rush to the cart. It's like, that's all I'm gonna say. So I'm excited about this drop. I know they have quite a few planned and available to, to sell for this drop. So I definitely encourage you guys, if you're, if you're looking for that knife, today's the day. Let's do it. Now we're gonna talk about today. We're diving into this idea of hunt planning and that the research that starts with it that I drew a tag. Now what. What do I do? I think that this, this portion of the year is huge for me when it comes to hunt planning. A lot of the hunts that I go on or maybe plan each year, a lot of it is based on draws. A lot of it might be in places I have never been before. Some of it is in places, you know, I try to hunt places that I can get tags year after year, general areas. But, you know, with the way that draws work is sometimes it's not. It's not possible. You know, I got lucky this year and got a tag that I, I picked up kind of like a leftover tag in an area that I hunted last year on one particular deer hunt. But I've also got my tag that I drew. So. So for the Nevada draws this year, I got. I got a deer tag. I got an archery deer tag. It's like my third choice. You know, put in a party with my. Some. My family, and it's an area we've never hunted. I've been in the area. I've. I've had friends that have hunted in there. You know, it's not like a. Any. Any particular unit to write home about. I didn't draw like the best tag in the state or anything like that, but it, It's a hunt that I'm really looking forward to. I love that early archery mule deer hunt. Absolutely one of my favorite hunts of the year. And so I want to put some time in and do the best for it. I also have, you know, this year, like elite. I've talked about this, but a late season archery elk tag, like a November archery elk tag in Arizona, actually cashed in my points. It's like, all right, I've got not enough points to draw something great, but maybe I can hunt a great unit late, right? Using my own tactics and strategies that I talk about on this podcast to get into a unit sooner and, and hopefully have a good hunt. So those are a couple of the kind of bookend ones. Honestly, like, I like this year for the Nevada draws. For me, like, I, I drew a deer tag. You know, my family members that were a party with me drew. But my wife drew nothing. Al kind of expected. She has drawn three great draws in a row. Like, she's, she's burnt out all her luck. I think I did have a couple friends of mine, you know, draw like, some. Some tags. And then I had one. One friend that drew a Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep tag. So, like, a lot of my focus has been on thinking about that hunt, you know, texting back and forth about other things. I've never hunted this particular area for sheep. Actually, I've never even hunted this area. You know, there's a lot, lot to unpack on a hunt like that. And the, the stakes are like, this is you never get this again, right? Like, I don't know how many points he had. Not as many as me. You know, I was a little jealous. I think I. This was my 29th year of applying for that tag or ate that species. But that's neither here nor there because honestly, like, the odds are so low for some of these tags that you probably never draw it in your lifetime. And when someone, you know, does, it's like you get the opportunity to potentially experience that hunt with them. And that, to me is as. As good as it gets. Is like, I mean, yeah, of course I'd love to have the tag in my hand, but if I can go on that hunt or a hunt similar or a certain kind of hunt like that, it just gives me more experience and is also something like you get to help in that person's success. I think that that's one of the things that a lot of people that aren't familiar with, like sheep hunting or western big game hunting culture, they. They might see like a video. It's like, oh, there's a bunch of people there. That's not a hunting experience. You should be out there by yourself. This, that and the other thing, I just don't think they understand that the rarity of it and what it means to everybody within that person's circle that hunts because they actually get to go experience that kind of hunt that they may never get to do in their entire life. And so for that reason, like, that's one of the reasons that you see these photos or videos of like a ton of people on Behind a Sheep or something like that, is because everybody wants to go do it and experience it. And it's super cool. I. That's just like, we grew up with that, right? It's not strange to us because we understand what it means to get invited and be able to go on those hunts. You know, my, like, one of my sheep hunts, one of the things that I just. The only regret that I have on One of my sheep hunts was that I. I was actually. I was solo. I was by myself. It would have been cool to have some other people there and get to experience that. Like, I had friends that came out and scouted with me, and we still to this day, like, talk about those areas in that scouting experience. And that was my plan, was to just have time scouting on that particular hunt. I put in, I don't know, a lot of time scouting. And my goal was to shoot a ram on opening day and it worked out and instill even just the scouting portion of, like, whether I can make it or not on some of these, just to be a part of that hunt and the scouting and what have you or the hunt planning even. It's fun. It's all part of the experience and all part of the getting to do it. And then you're getting in your reps. So if I ever draw XYZ tag that I haven't drawn yet, you know, maybe getting in and getting in the field with someone else might be a really good way to learn it and have a little bit of knowledge on the species, the unit, all that kind of stuff ahead of time. That's a little rabbit trail. But I just thought I'd touch on that because that was kind of some of the stuff that, you know, I've been looking into very recently. But what we're going to talk about today is just like that, okay, I've got the tag. You know, the last month or so, we've been talking about scouting. We've been talking about, you know, all these things, these little pieces to when you get that tag and planning and prepping for the season. But I think there's that one. There's that research for the application, which is one thing. And, you know, for me, that's generally looking at where can I draw draws, what kind of access is there? It's very surface level. Because I don't have that tag yet. Whether it's an easy tag to get or not. Like, I always also make up backup plans for myself. I've got a few areas that if I didn't draw, okay, I've got this over the counter or easy to draw tag that I can now put a lot of focus on and. And do some more research and whatever. I've got those as far as the tag application process. But once I have that actual tag in my pocket now, it becomes concrete. I have permission to go hunt this unit. These certain dates. It's on. It's game time, baby. Now I gotta figure out What I'm gonna do, where I'm gonna hunt, especially if it's an area that I don't know or a very limited entry tag where it's like, okay, now I got to make the most of it, because it's a rare opportunity. And what I'm going to talk about isn't just for those rare opportunity tags. It's for every tag. And I kind of go through the similar process, whether it's a crazy limited entry tag or sometimes just, you know, hey, I picked up this over the counter kind of thing, or pretty easy to draw. Let me go through this. I go through the same process. I think that one of the first things, like now is when the real research starts. So let's start looking at a little bit of the research aspect of it, and I'll talk about it in different ways, too, of, like, the research as far as maybe it's a real limited entry tag, and maybe it's more of a general tag. What kind of research am I doing? I want to learn as much about this unit as possible. I want to know quite a few things about it. Like, what kind of animals are in there? What can I expect? When is this season? And what kind of, like, what kind of unit is it? Where are some places that are popular and have harvest? Where are some places that maybe aren't as popular, maybe get overlooked? Is there a reason that those areas get overlooked? What do the animals look like in this area? Especially if it's like, let's say it's, you know, limited entry tag. My buddy that drew that Rocky Bighorn tag, It's like, okay, here's some pictures of Rockies that were taken there in the past. What do they look like? Okay, what do they score? All right, let's go through the record book. Let's pull up some photos. Like, there's not a lot of info online, but we can get. Pull out the Nevada record book. And here's some past images of, like, Rockies taken in the state that scored this to this and this to this, right? I, you know, I'm sending pictures of other Rockies that I've taken on other hunts. Like, okay, here, you know, like, look at this ram. Here's the shape of this. Here's what this one I think would score. It's all about that base. It's all about that. You know, here's the length. Here's some trail cam pictures from somebody else that got in this particular unit. Okay, what, like, what do you think the curl looks like on this ram? Right? Just like diving in and understanding what we're looking at. Maybe it's a. Maybe it's the first time you've drawn an elk tag. Maybe you've hunted elk before and you're like, this is the first time I draw an elk tag in a limited entry area that has potential for giant bulls. Look at some pictures and videos of what a giant bull is, right? You want to know what you're getting into and you want to do a little bit of like that kind of research. Maybe it's a top end tag. What like look through some record books and pull out a few names of places where animals have been taken. I will say that I would separate like research based on the two types of tags. So the first would be very hard to get. Limited entry tags most people are never getting again. And they're more apt to share information tags where it's like anybody can get it. That information is going to be a lot more tight lipped. So the kind of information you can expect from people and in research, you know, can be different between the two. As far as specifics, okay, but we don't necessarily always need specifics. But like record books and those kind of entries, you can look and be like, oh, sometimes they just go like in general areas. It says the county right? In a tag you draw once in your life and you're never getting again, it says exactly where in the drainage. Half the time it'll be like this guzzler, this northeast side of this drainage, this. Because it doesn't really matter. Like you're probably never going in there again. And if somebody else has a great hunt because of what like it just, it really doesn't matter. It's like there's less secrets. But maybe it, maybe in some ways it kind of helps you identify areas to kind of look at. The other thing that I found a lot of great research on is just you can find like depending on the unit. I think that there's like good research on state websites that I think a lot of people don't dive into. There's some reports from biologists that's all public information that you can read. You can do a surprisingly good dent of research based on just reading through reports, reading through counts, pulling up like data, all public data that involves like surveys, involves any studies that are open in that particular area. Even like studies that might be funded by other organizations and have published the data on it. There's a lot of ways that you. And not just your area, but maybe like a surrounding area. State websites on harvest statistics, there's some surprising amounts of stats and other things that I just don't think people dig into that can be kind of buried on websites. It can be, you know, hard to find in some ways. There's like a lot of states have even just one sheets on the unit that kind of describes the unit as overview. This is a migration area. Like the biologists have to justify why the tags are the way that they are. And that information is generally public in nearly every state I can think of. It's like, well why is there a tag? And like why do we issue tags in this, like season setting dates? What, what is the recommendation? Why are we recommending? Well, we're recommending because the buck population is high. The buck to do ratios, this, that and the other thing we're also recommending in this time because it's a migration area and we extended the season because we haven't hit our objectives in harvest. And all this stuff is out there. You just have to find it in that stuff. I have utilized a lot of that stuff. I've, I've gone on between even in general type areas. I've gone on state websites. I've had an idea of where I want to go. So I'm not just going like carte blanche, just like throwing it. Like I've, I've got, I've done some e scouting, like looked at areas that I want to go go to and then I've gone on to certain state websites and narrowed it down to these particular areas and found a lot of data to support what I was thinking or discourage what I was thinking and pinpoint me and push me and the right direction. When it comes to hunt planning, I've done that a lot in a lot of places and you'd be surprised what you can find out there. But I think like that initial research can really help. Okay. I think that some of the most beneficial information you can get is talking to people that have been in the area or had the tag before the pick up the phone and call. I am a big proponent of this and I think that like I, I mean literally just today I spent a good portion of my day talking to, to somebody that actually had a tag in my area. One of my late season hunts that I have that I didn't even really know they like it was somebody that, it's a friend of mine and I, I didn't know that they'd hunted in there and they're like, oh yeah, I have all this, like I have this. I've hunted in there and so, like, the. The pieces of information that I could glean from that were beneficial. I think one of the things that, like, in the hunting world, right, and I'm very much like this as well, is like, there is that I'm not gonna. I don't want to give away my spots, right? Especially in, like, those more general areas. Like, I. I try to keep it pretty ambiguous to that. I don't. I don't want to tell somebody exactly where to go for a couple of reasons. One, I mean, sometimes I'm like, oh, yeah, here, check here, you know, whatever. But, you know, in a lot of ways, right, like, their hunt style might be different, whatever, you know, maybe. Maybe it's an area where people can get tags easily. And it's like, man, I'd spend a lot of time working my tail off to figure this out. I don't want to just give you the secret sauce, but I do want to help you, right? And there. There you can be. Somebody can be extremely beneficial in helping you without giving you their exact spot. I think that that's one of the things that gets misconstrued is like, talking to someone doesn't mean that you. You're sitting there like, where should I go? Which, man, if somebody wants to give that information and make some recommendations, I will absolutely use that. And I think that it can be very like, man, it puts you in a. In a great spot. And I. On a lot of limited draw tags and other things, people are very apt to share that kind of information. Or, like, I would avoid this place, you know, here's what we did, whatever. But I would say that the majority of the information that I want, there's more information that's more beneficial than particular spots in a lot of instances. And I'm going to explain. I think the best thing that you can do when you talk to someone is have them share their hunt story. There's a reason on this podcast that I see this as an educational, informational podcast. Okay. I'm here to make you, like in the title says, more successful. That's my goal. And it's not by. It's not by telling you where to go. I mean, I think that, like, very rarely do I even mention the states or whatever when I share stories, because I don't think it matters. I think what matters is is the information shared within those stories. I'm very intentional about sharing a lot of stories. This podcast, like, this episode aside, the majority of the podcast, there's a story, and then there's tips and tactics and I do that because the story portion, I believe, is hugely beneficial to the learning aspect of the hunt because it describes the hunt in a way that's a fresh memory of the hunter. And what you can glean from that is almost more beneficial than the, in my opinion, than the tips and tactics portion that follows. Now, I. I feel like I. I like to break down and. And do that, but there's a lot of hunts that I've researched or gone on and been able to talk to people. And I'm like, straight off the bat, I'm like, half the time I might not ever know that person and they don't know me or they might not know me. And I'm like, hey, I'm not here. Like, I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me. I drew that, you know, particular tag that you had. You know, really, I just want to hear, like, your experience on the hunt and kind of, you know, hear, hear how the hunt went for you. Like, tell me your hunt story. That's how hunters communicate. We communicate through our hunting stories. When I get back from a hunt, it's like I call my buddies and we share that hunting story. And in their mind, they can, in some ways, hopefully relive that story, and I get to rel. Relive their stories. But also, I'm learning so much about that particular hunt. I'm learning about the weather. I'm learning about the struggle. I'm learning about their. Their particular style of hunting. I'm learning about what they saw. I'm learning about, you know, the. The mistakes that might have been made and the things that, you know, might be looking for. And I'm. I'm able to pick up, like, the things that worked and the things that didn't work without someone telling me exactly. Like here, here, here, and here. Pins are awesome. I like, look, I love. I love me. I love getting me some pins. Okay? Like onyx pins, not the pins you wear on your shirt. I like getting some onyx pins as much as the next guy, especially if it's someone that I know knows what they're talking about or has a similar hunt style. But everybody has a different hunt style. I've talked to guys in units that, like, you know, I had one tag a while back and I talked to guys, a late season mule deer tag. It's like the guy was like a tried and true road hunter, man. He's just like, cruising around this and the other thing. Barely got off the road. Not my hunt style, but I learned what he saw with that Hunt style and like how, you know, okay. He was like, oh man, there's just so many people and God, it was really, you know, not a great hunt. And I, whatever, right? And I, and I just attributed to like, okay, well that's telling me. What's that telling me? That's telling me there's a lot of roads in this unit. There's a lot of people driving around and maybe I should focus on the opposite of this. Sometimes it's not even saying here's a spot, but it's saying like, here's what to avoid or here's what the conditions look like in this particular area. Right. You know, through that trial and tribulation, I was talking to a buddy today and he's like, man, I spent the majority of like a lot of days what he said was like wasted doing this. Like, you know, it was slow. Everybody was saying it was slow. And he's like, I just went in like bombed deep and it was phenomenal. Like the exact opposite of what everyone was saying this hunt was. I'm like, I didn't, I don't need that spot. I just need to know like the kind of things that you encountered out there. What, what did it look like, how many, like, you know, you're turning up a lot of elk that are of this big caliber or you struggled to turn up a bull. What kind of like, what kind of hunt and what kind of experience did you have through that hunting story? It's a much better way to learn and it's a great way to understand an area. Now if somebody's willing to dive deeper into that. This, like, check out this area. Here's what I thought about this area. Sometimes I'll talk to a guy like, I've got a late season hunt. They had an early season hunt for elk, right? They're like, yeah, the bulls are screaming. Super thick country. That's not going to be my experience on a late season hunt. My late season, I need open country that I can glass and is stalkable and hopefully south facing slopes or bulls are going to be bedded out in the open and what have you. Right. That's what I need. But it tells me like, oh, you saw this kind of bowl that kind of like it really starts to get your wheels turning and understand what that area looks like. And of course, if you can get like real life information of some places to check out and that, this, that and the other thing, that's super beneficial. I mean, right? It's, it's very beneficial. But I'm Old school. I love to talk on the phone about this kind of stuff. And I. Look, I am the type that I do not like. Like, I love hunting public land because I just don't like the, like, asking, like, hey, can I hunt your place? And then, though, I just like to do my thing where I'm allowed to hunt without having to ask permission. I have, like, asked permission a few times and even had friends be like, yeah, you know, go up there. That's fine. It's all good. Like, go. Go talk to that guy. But I just. That whole, like, experience of asking for permission somewhere is just uncomfortable for me. I just don't like to. I'm just like, I'm just not gonna mess with it, right? I'm just gonna go hunt on the public and don't have to deal with that. Even if I. Even if I could, I have. I have got permission on some places over the. You know, like, recently, over the years. And, like, sometimes it's just. It's not for me. But to call a stranger and just ask about their experience on hunt. I've been doing that my whole Life. Like, I'm 100% on board with that because it's a. You're just having a conversation about something you both enjoy. And. And I found that, like, a lot of people really love sharing their. Their hunting story. You know, as an outfitter, like, we would give people references to clients, and I was like, look, if you. Before you book with us, talk with other people. That. Because I can tell you what I. You know, like, I was always the opposite of the typical outfitter out there. Like, I would tell. I try to, like, under sell because I don't want, like, I don't want to give expectations, whatever. I was the opposite. And also, like, you know, we had a great list of repeat clientele, so never really had to push that. The fact. But I would always give people, like, references of, here's somebody that, like, was successful. Here's people that weren't successful. Talk to them. Don't take my word for it. Just see what their experiences were like. And I have no clue what those people would like. The ones that I would give were not prepped and planned. They got nothing beneficial. But a lot of them just loved sharing their hunting experience. And it was like, that's. That's what I wanted was people to understand what the hunt was like, what they saw, what they encountered. Like, was it a butt kicker for. I imagine everybody that's ever hunted with me is like, yeah, we hiked our asses off, right? Like, that's a pretty standard story with people that have gone hunting with me or we just, you know, we glass forever. I don't know. But I think that, like that, that the sharing of that hunting story is huge. And talking with people that have had boots on the ground is the number one. Like that is my number one research tool. Now you're probably thinking like, Remy, I'm talking to myself in third person. But like this question, Remy, how do I find these people? That's a great question. I think like in your home state, there's kind of a network of people, right? Like, if you have hunted a little bit or like associate with hunters, start getting word out like, hey, I'm looking for somebody to talk to about this unit. I, I have found people as well. Like I go online and I'll, I'll like go on forums and research about like, what people are saying about this area. You'd be surprised. There's a lot of forums out there that have information on there and you could just ask, hey, do you mind if I like, connect with you and ask you a few questions about the unit? I found, like, I've gone on quite a few hunts recently where I like found people in, in like they'd hunted in an area that I've never been in. They were like, yeah, cool. I, I wasn't like, you know, I, I don't know. I mean, some, some people, you know, probably like, oh, it's a lot easier for you because people recognize you and want to tell you, like, no, I, I mean, half the time I'll be like, do it through a buddy or something just to kind of, so it doesn't, you know, or it's like a username that nobody knows about, right? I' or whatever because I like to keep that stuff on the down low a little bit. But I, I, I've had great conversations with people that I've never met that are just like, share your hunt story. You know, like, what are some of the things that you think about this unit? What was your experience in there? You know, a lot, a lot of times a lot of people would just be like, yeah, man, I, you know, like, I, I ended up hunting all these areas and, and ended up killing over here and, and it completely changed whatever. And I've been that person too, that shared my hunt experience in different units and with, with a lot of people. Because that shared information I think is just, it's beneficial even just the storytelling of just understanding what you're getting into. Because now you can start to build your hunt plan based on those things that you find important. And it's not necessarily tailoring it to. It's like more tailoring it to your specific hunt style, but understanding what's going on in the unit. What's going on. So before I talk to people, I like to have a really good. We're going to like E. Scouting would be a step before I talk to people. But I do think talking about talking to people is because that's the most important in my opinion. When I'm like the knowledge that I can get from others, it just, it catapults my ability to find animals and have a successful hunt way faster. It hones in what I've learned and reaffirms maybe some things that I've made notes on in my scouting. So talking to people I think is very beneficial. Whether it's online, whether it's somebody you know, a friend of a friend of a friend. I've had a lot of those conversations. Like this guy had it, you know, and I'm like, hey dude, I got your number from so and so. You mind talking about your hunt? Yeah, absolutely. You know, like most of the time people are apt to talk about it. I will say that I know one thing. Like I know people like that get tags. Like calling and talking to a biologist is something that people do. I don't recommend that. Not because I don't trust biologists. I would recommend it for like leave that to the once in a lifetime stuff that like the real specialized, super limited entry. Not a lot of people with this tag kind of thing. In those cases, I think the biologist is a great person to talk to. I think with like those gen like elk and deer tags where there's a lot they only have so much time. Right. They can tell you what they're going to tell you. But a lot of that they've already written and is on those is the research that you're going to find on the website. So it's like you don't have to wait for a callback. You can save yourself a little bit of time and energy in and save them maybe some time and energy because they can't talk to every hunter. Like you're going to get a, in some instances like a boilerplate now if you have specific questions about the herd and that kind of thing. Absolutely, by all means. I know like a lot might be apt to it. I know some are just overloaded. Like they have huge areas they have to cover. You know, a lot of them might Even be hunters themselves that like, to hunt that unit. Like, there's all this. This other stuff. I don't. I think that, like, the work biologists do is absolutely integral. And I don't necessarily know if I think that, like, bugging them with some of the stuff is necessary because I think, like, a lot of the stuff you can get outside of that. I do think, though, unlimited, like, if I drew, you know, a tag in an area that's like, there's one tag in here, the biologist is the person that got that tag issued because they know that area and spent time, like, rebuilding that herd, this, that and the other thing, like, they are going to be your absolute best resource. And a lot of them in those instances are very apt to share because, like, like, they live and breathe that unit, especially if they're hunters, you know, and like, want to see people succeed in there. So I think that it's like, it's good on both ends to have information, but I don't necessarily think, like, you know, a general area tag in that particular unit may or may not, like, they can tell you, you know, they're going to give you broad terms that I think are good, maybe points any direction. But also I think that it's like, they've already written that stuff. It's on the website, it's in their report. It's in, like, they're just rehashing the information that you can go find, like, save them some time. That's all I'm saying. I'm saying, like, ease up on the biologists a little bit. That's like. Because if I sat here, I was like, yeah, call the biologist first. Call, dude, they're gonna get overloaded. Nobody's gonna get the information they need. And maybe there is one person that drew that one tag that, like, I think that it's. That person needs to talk to biologists. So that's my thought on that, but do as you please. Now, I. I do think that before you talk to people, hugely beneficial to have done some. Some E scouting. And so let's go. Let's just now switch our focus from talking to people to escouting. And then we'll kind of go back to the. Some of the things that we're gonna highlight when we're, when we're talking to somebody that's had that area before. So when it comes to E scouting, a lot of this, if you listen to this podcast all the time, I hope some stuff starts to sound like a broken record. Like, man, the stuff that I really pound Home. There's a reason. The reason that I do that is because it's so dang important that you need to hear it over and over and over. And also, you know, I, I do a lot of these podcasts. Like, I might forget what I said last week, but if it's important for when I'm talking about this week, I'm going to talk about it because it's that important. But when it comes to E scouting, the first thing that I do when I sit down is I'm really looking at broad picture. Like I look super broad and then start narrowing in. We're going to look at the unit boundaries and access points. We're talking about roads. I'm throwing on the road layer. I'm looking at like access points, highways, dirt roads, trail heads. I'm looking at all those things and then I'm looking at the kind of habitat, like matching habitat and hunt style to what I see on the map. Let's go. Let's run through examples. My late season archery elk hunt. I've got a tag. There's potentially decent bulls in here. It's going to be late season, like bulls. What is an elk doing late season? It's eating and away from cows, like mature bulls. So I know that. But how am I going to find them? Like, they're, they're going to be bedded most of the day. I need to be in places that are glassable. So what? Where's more open country? If this unit is full of timber, you know, I'm either gonna have to start a still hunting strategy or I'm gonna have to find somewhere where I can do some glassing. The more I can glass, the more bowls I'm gonna turn up. Might not be possible. Maybe I just gotta run ridges and like do a lot of still hunting. So if that's the case, I'm gonna look for. Where do I think this betting areas? Maybe it's like a. It's late. It could be weather. I think it'd be cold. There's going to be less feed. I want south facing slopes that are open. Let's highlight that stuff. What are like, that's my hunt style. That's what I'm looking for. Early season meal hunt. Maybe I'm like, I want a backpack hunt. Okay, what are some areas where I can do that? Or it's like, okay, here's where I can get away from those. Maybe it's like, man, I just want to cover country and I just want to day hunt. Okay, where's places that I can match my hunt style to what I see in this unit. Now I'm going to start to pinpoint those things. Then, you know, the other thing I might look for is like, what's getting what's. What might be popular based on my research. Say I'm doing that initial research, that online research, that learning about the unit. And I find all these articles or biologist reports about the units. Like is a migration unit. Here's where they like to migrate into. Here's popular areas that harvests come from, yada, yada. Okay, I know that now. Like what's somewhere that might get overlooked? Or what do these popular areas look like? Oh, dude, I see why. I see why they say the majority of the deer are here. Yeah, it's absolutely beautiful meal deer country. It's got mature sage. It hasn't had a burn in X amount of years. It's got like not a lot of encroachment from pinyon juniper. It's absolutely beautiful winter range. Stellar. I see why they're. The majority of the deer in the unit are in this particular area. And there's something to be said for that. Like it's known information. There's a lot of deer there. The odds of turning up the deer that I'm looking for are probably going to be higher in the places where there's a higher percentage of turning up deer. But where are some areas that might not. Might get overlooked or where are some areas within those popular areas that might be harder to get into? For my particular hunt strategy, I don't mind walking. I like it, you know, I like. I like it. I like long range glassing. I've got good optics. I like to set up and cover some country with my eyes. Where can I do that from? Let's start dropping pins on those places. We're getting. We're diving into the actual e scouting of a unit that I know I'm going to be hunting now. I got to match like places to my strategy. I also love still hunting. Like I am fine walking around and moving in ridges through cover and trying to pinpoint places where I think animals will be. I like that. So one thing I'm doing is like, like pinpointing places based on my strategy. Pinpointing places based on my research. The other thing that I'm doing in this now what initial time frame is really getting the names of places down. Like pulling up the map with as many names. Every creek name, every peak name, every road name. What are they called at least on the, you know, at least on Onyx. You're going to find that some things don't line up. You're going to find that a lot. You're going to find. If you're talking. Here's one thing you should make a note of. If you're talking to a guy that has lived there their whole life and hunted it since they were a kid and been on like had 10 friends that drew that area, odds are the places that they talk about are not the same names on the map because they've never looked at on X or they've rarely looked at a map. They just know the names of places based on what they used to be called. Not saying like not the crazy names that got changed because of their offensive. I'm just saying like sometimes the names don't match up that are traditionally used by people that live there. So keep that in mind. But one thing that I like to do is I will continually like look and try to learn names of areas because there's certain places that like get. There might be two peaks. Let's say it's like, let's say it's like Elk Peak and Buck Peak and they're, they're right next to each other or whatever, right? Like, I don't know, this is just. Or creeks or whatever. But in, in like common colloquial talk they call that Buck Creek, right? Well, there's Elk Creek and Buck Creek. Well, what is Buck Creek? Is it just Buck Creek or is it like this whole particular area? Is that whole mountain? Is that what they call it? Because sometimes like there is a mountain name but regionally things change. So one thing I want to do is I want to really know the names of places that are there and that way because what will happen is this is for. We're going to escout and then we're going to try to understand the names of places and things. So when somebody. And we're going to mark up and do our like map scouting. So when I talk to someone, I have ideas in my head of what I'm thinking of and when they mention places, I know where to look also I say that is really important. And the name thing might be different is because when you're talking to someone, understanding their familiar familiarity of the area when they start to mention things that are like, I don't know where that is, like I've looked like, I don't understand. Then you can get more of a broad picture of like, what do you mean? Like is. Do you consider like Elk Mountain, this whole area here or just this like one drainage, this one gulch. Because that those terms are going to get thrown around the more you talk to people or run into people and the field. And understanding how people talk about that area makes a big difference on, like, the regions of it. Right. So they'll be like, oh, yeah, the. I don't know, Buckbowl Mountain. Yeah, we, you know, like, that's a great area. Well, is that like this whole northeastern part of the state, or is it like this specific canyon? Because I see it on my map, and this creek runs 38 miles. Right. But the Buckbowl Creek runs 38 miles. But are they talking about this one particular section of it or along that whole, whole stretch? So understanding some of that and having a knowledge of that before you even start to talk to someone goes a really long way because it also allows you, when you give someone a call or get to talk to someone, biologist, person that's had the tag before, somebody that had a deer tag in the unit, and you have an elk tag, doesn't matter. Like, when they start to tell their story and start to talk about things, maybe they're going to share more, like, a lot of information that you would be beneficial to you. It's easier to remember. It's easier to identify. It's easier to picture as you have already studied the map and kind of have a plan in your head. The other reason that I really like to do this e Scouting ahead of time first, like, after I do my research, like, without talking to anyone, I e. Scout, I talk to someone, I continue to escout. And that's like my. My pattern. Because with that initial e Scouting, I can also have some plans that I can kind of throw by people, be like, look, I this. I dropped a pin in this particular knob. You ever been to that knob? Like, do you have a good view there? Do you think that, like, it lines up with. Maybe that's not even their strategy, but like, oh, yeah, we could see that peak from everywhere. It's like, maybe they aren't even people that glass real well. I'd be like, do you remember? Have you, like, you see this? Oh, yeah, that peak was very prominent. Yeah, we saw that from everywhere. Cool. That's a good place to, like, they might have been driving around roads, but if they saw it from everywhere, that might be a place that I'm going to get up and glass everywhere from that spot. Because that's my hunt style. Right. I like the big glass. I'll sit there and I'll glass five, six, ten miles. Away. I don't care. Like that's not their hunt style. But I just learned something and it was also maybe a place that I'd flagged and researched to, to align up with mine. And now I've got real time information. Like you couldn't get away from that peak. It's like cool. It does lay out how I think. Like I, I think I might be able. Or it's like, yeah, yeah, you could see it but man, I don't know why anyone go up there. It's full of timber, right? Oh, like I could probably decipher that on the map but. Oh, maybe it's not very great for glass. Like, whatever. Like those kind of things go a long way. So what I'll do is I'll, I'll start to mark up the map when I'm e scouting. I'll try to match those places based on my hunt style and things I'm looking for. I always identify first step. I'm looking for water sources. I'm looking things that are in scarcity, food, water cover, which one is there least of and find the least thing and start dropping pins. When I drop pins on my Onyx, I make notes. I make notes why I put a pin there because my Onyx app looks like a. It looks like if you zoom out, it looks like a sea of pins. That's all you see. Like, and it can get very confusing when you're actually in the field utilizing it for hunting. So what I do is I, I make sure I make notes and it's like I just talked to a guy on the phone today about a unit and I like dropped a pin and made a note like it was from this guy during this conversation. Here's what he mentioned. Like, I love the fact that you can drop notes on that on an onyx pin. Hugely beneficial. Or I'll just be scouting area, drop in on water. Like and I'll just put like e scouting looks like there might be water. Let's check it out. Like just some kind of what are my thoughts? Because you I absolutely will forget what I why I even dropped a panel back. Was this a place that somebody killed it, saw a giant bull or did I just like 5 years ago drop a pin on this in the center of the unit saying research this area or whatever. Right. Like, that's the kind of reason that I need those notes. The other thing that I'll do is I'll make a folder and I'll be like scouting unit for this folder. And I add all the pins to that folder when I'm scouting. And maybe I'll do like an initial scout and then I'll separate another folder like initial scout before talking to people, scouting folder after talking to people. Because then like, when I'm in the field, I can maybe turn off some of the scouting pins that, that maybe don't apply while I'm in there. And then I can turn them back on if I want to be like, well, where was that pin that I was thinking of? Like, if it starts to get too many pins, I've got a lot of pins. So that's, that's one way to just keep it organized. At least in the Onyx app that I. I really find beneficial is like making notes. And then when I'm in the field, like, if I'm actually in the field, I'll drop pictures and things with my pins as well because it's such a great feature to have. So that's the way that I utilize that. You know, there's all the little nuances of like E Scouting and what exactly I'm looking for, we'll definitely cover a lot of that stuff. But the primary thing that I'm looking for, this initial. Now what. That's what we're talking about today. Now what do I do? How do I learn this area? I'm really diving into that E Scouting. I'm doing research first and I'm like, understanding the area. Then I'm going in there with my notion of how I like to hunt. Now if I can't find habitat like I've found, I've. I've drawn tags in areas like, I want to get away from roads. And this area is like, nope, it's all roads. Doesn't matter. Like, you can drive everywhere. Every single ridge has a road on it. Okay. Like, you can't get more than 300 yards away from road. So it's like, okay, well, like, where's still some glass vantages that I can utilize? I was like, okay, let's switch it up. Can I glass? Yeah. Cool. Okay, I can glass or maybe. No, you can't glass. And there's. So now we can kind of of build out our strategy based on our preferred hunt style and then like a realistic plan on that particular area or. Or the hunt style for that particular area. So that, that's what we're going to look for in this initial E Scouting. Then we're going to try to talk to someone. If you can't find anyone to talk to you sometimes you can't. You just continue to do research, whatever you can find. The other thing that I'll do is like, I'll watch a lot of videos on YouTube or whatever. Not even, I'm not trying to even find my unit. Just like, maybe some that are in that similar kind of terrain. Like, I've done some E scouting. Like, hey, let's, let's see what, like how these people are hunting this or, or whatever. Not the particular unit, but just like, even just for understanding, like is a species that you never had a desert sheep in your life. Go watch as many desert sheep videos as you can find. It's going to help you understand the size, the score, the potential, like, the types of places that they're holding up. And like, oh yeah, those ones are bedded out in the middle of a hillside. Like you would think that they would be bedded in the shade, but they're just bedded or. No, they're bedded below the cliffs. Just like you would expect. Right? Like, it's going to help you wrap your mind around what you might expect out there, what you might see. It doesn't have to be your area, just understanding a species that you haven't hunted before. So I do a lot of E scouting and then I try to talk to people. If I can talk to people with that knowledge of the area, I'm going to just soak it in more. I'm going to better understand what they're saying, what they're sharing, and I'm going to be able to utilize that. And then I'll dive back in and do some more research based off of the things that I learned. Maybe it's like they had a completely different hunt style than me, but there's something that I didn't think of. I never would have looked at that area because there is so many roads, but they're like, man, there's such high concentrations of deer. And that's the area that a lot of people kill. I get it. But like, we saw good bucks every day and like, yeah, absolutely. I'm going to start thinking about that. That area. So those are the things that we want to think about. And then that's kind of the order that I go. Now the other thing that I do when I'm talking to someone, if I can, I love to have my, like, Onyx open on my desktop so I can scroll through. And as they talk about things, I can see it. I'm a very visual, like whether it's a. A map or something, like, I'm very visual learner. So when they're Talking about something if I can find. If they're. Especially if you're talking about areas. If I can find that area, look at it. Look at other ways in. Ask them real time questions based on looking at it. You learn so much more. And then make a lot of notes. I always have a notepad out. I'm jotting things down. They're telling a story. I'm like, just making notes of things that I want to ask or whatever. And I oftentimes go in with like, like my own plan. And sometimes I'll be like, hey, here's my hunt plan. Here's kind of what I'm thinking. What do you think about this? Maybe that you get a vibe. You're like, this guy knows this stuff, right? He's got a similar hunt style to me. He's willing to share information. Like, here's what I was thinking. Did you ever try anything like this? Or I'm like, yeah, I did that and it sucked. Right? Like, good to know. I mean, you, you just having that plan, being able to talk with people and then putting in that time E. Scouting before and after makes a big difference. And those are, those are my first steps. You know, I'm trying to think about hunts in the past. There's very few hunts that I haven't been able to find someone to talk to. You know, sometimes it's just like, not even. Maybe somebody is like, they didn't have that area, but they had one like within that state and whatever. I'm still willing to listen to that story because I'm like, oh, okay. Like, I learned this logistical thing or like I never expected like a pronghorn hunt. And you like go, oh, yeah, I was thinking it'd be hot. And they're like, yeah, we're in a snowstorm, right? The roads were so, like, the roads were so shitty out there, we got stuck and mud was on our tires and we didn't even bring chains. Like, yeah, good. Noting that, right? Like, any little thing that can go into the logistical planning, even if it's not your particular unit, is going to help. So that's my strategy for drawing a tag. E. Scouting talking to people that have been in around the area, whether it's for your tag or not, listening to their story and then, you know, of course, if you can, if you can dive in and get some tips and pointers and they're willing to share more information, by all means, that's great. That's great intel. It puts you at an advantage. And I think a lot of like, success that I've had in the past is just like quick conversations with people, places to check out, things to look at, doing that research, doing that E Scouting, going back and forth with that is so beneficial. And that's like, that's where you want to start with whatever tag you have, getting that hunt plan, getting that research going and looking for those things. So I hope that helps because I know there's probably a lot of people are like, hey, I'm, I'm from wherever, Midwest, whatever, pulled an elk tag, maybe it's a general area tag. Never been there. Like, I don't know where to start. I did it, I got, got the tag, I got the point. Now what do I do? Hit the maps, hit the E Scouting. Try to find people that are willing to share. There's a lot of people in your same position. They're like, I drew that tag, I did my elk hunt, I was successful. I'm probably not going. Like, there's a lot of people that have been on general area up tags that maybe found success, maybe didn't. That probably may or may not ever be going back to that area. And like, I'm fine sharing what I know. Like, go for it. I hope you have better luck or the same luck. Right? There's a lot of people out there willing to share information as a community. That's what I love about hunters. Like, yeah, we're very tight lipped about some stuff, but also we're willing to help other people. I think that, like, I got here because people are willing to take me hunting, primarily people in my family, but also just other people throughout my life that have helped out in so many ways. And like, I want to, I want to repay that. Right? And I, I feel like I do repay that with this podcast. Like, that's, that's kind of my purpose for doing this. I hope you guys notice that. But I mean, I don't care if you notice it, but that's why I do it, because I like to share. I feel like I've been given a great opportunity. Like, I've had a lifestyle where I get to spend an incredible amount of time out in the wild doing these things, hunting, fishing, scouting, all this stuff. Like, it's been my profession my entire adult life. And I feel very fortunate to have spent thousands of days out there. I like the intro to that podcast is absolutely true. Like, I want to share that info because I know what it's like to have X amount of time and this tag in your pocket and you want to make the most of it. The knowledge you can gain, like with just information from people that have done it before is the best knowledge out there and it just puts you ahead of the game. So I, I think that like, dive in. People are willing to share and I think just be willing to share for stuff that I'm not saying, you know, burn your spot, but I am saying, like, it's good to, it's good to share information and help people out, share your story and that kind of thing. I read countless amounts of magazine articles. Every, every magazine. Like if you've written an article and it's been in magazine, like, you know, as a user generated story, I read them. I'm like obsessed with hunting though, right? But I read those stories and I think about it. I'm like, like, whoa, cool. That's a cool story. I, you know, like I, you know, in this particular state that's like, I, I learned something through those stories and constantly learning. So I think it's awesome, like learning through sharing. I think that's what makes this hunting community so special. So that's just my 2 cents on that stuff. I will, I do want to mention before we go rmef, Rocky Mountain Elk foundation has their outdoor days in Missoula. I've talked about a little bit, but, but that is coming up July 16th, 17th, 18th. I'm going to be there. I'm going to be judging the elk calling on Thursday. So if you're entered for that, do it. If you haven't, like, you know, if you have called elk before, enter, enter in the amateur. If you're really good at it and you want to whatever, enter, Just, I think it's, it's fine. Sign up for that. I'll tell you what, this one time. This is a fun story. I don't know if I've ever shared this story. I should just make this its own podcast. Maybe I will make this podcast. So anyways, I'll give you guys a short version of the story. But I, I went to go. So this was a long time ago, man. I don't even know how long. I was just like, I might add my own outfit at the time. Maybe I was just a guide at one of these shows. Either way. So I was like, I got some time. I'm gonna go sign up for the elk calling con competition. So I go to sign up. I think I was gonna sign up for like men's pro or men's name. I don't really remember one of them. And I was gonna go sign up for it. And the, the calling competition was like, registration was, you know, about to close, and I didn't, I wasn't like ahead of time because I just didn't know if I'd have time to do it because I was like, exhibiting at the show. And so I go, I go to sign up. And there was a kid that had just signed up and I think he was there the year before, if I remember right. And for the voice division. So it's like where you call with your voice, which is generally like, you know, a lot easier for little kids. Like, some little kids can just belt, like, belt out some Bugles and muse. And for the competition to happen, they needed three registrants and there was only two. You know, the lady that comes like that, there's, you know, we need three registrants. You know, there's two. So I was like, okay, how about this? Sign me up for the voice calling because then this kid can come compete. And if, if somebody else signs up for it, take me off, switch me to this if there's time. Okay? She's like, yep, cool. And so there was not. There was three of us competing. I am second in the world for voice calling elk. And it was because I was two out of three. The kid beat me, you know, but, you know, I got a. I got a pretty good little voice call anyways. Like, I'm not terrible at it, so. So it was cool. And the fact of the matter is I still won all the prizes that I would have won if I won, like, men's pro. So I walked away with like, some awesome, like, I walked away with a new bow and a target. All kinds of cool stuff. So that's my funny, like, elk client competition story. But I'm saying sign up because you never know. Like, it's a lot of fun. It's a cool experience. It can be like, nerve wracking, I think, to, to go out there and call and whatever. But I think it's also a great learning experience and probably makes you a better caller. A lot of the guys that I know that are very successful, like, have done the calling thing. I never. I wish I. That's one thing I wish I would have, like, a calling mentor. You know, I kind of learned elk call just by listening to elk and figuring it out. And it worked for me. Right. But it took me a long time. But I do think, like, that's actually probably a pretty good way to like, do these competitions and get your feet wet and just enjoy it. Um, it's a fun process and you know, a lot of people. There's a lot of people there that know what they're doing and are willing to kind of help out, too. Like, I think that I remember this was like, dude, I didn't even. This was a long time ago. Like, I was pretty young at the time, man. Probably like, early 20s. And, you know, I was just, whatever, doing, like, round one, calling competition. I can't remember which one it was. And one of the guys, I was like, hey, you know, like, I don't really know. Like, I don't even know how these things work. Like, what. What do you do? And somebody's like, here's what this guy was. I didn't even know who the guy was. I probably should have. Probably. It was probably Rocky Jacobson or someone. I was like. Or Court. It could have been Court. I don't know. It was Court. They were like. They had their earbuds in with, like, elk noises and whatever, and they're like, no, no. I'm like, they're gonna ask you these things. And I didn't even know half of the calls. Like, I was just like, yeah, I just. Just make calls and like, here, listen to this. And like, okay. Like, just spent some time to be like, show me what's up? And okay. And then match that. And like, okay. And they're like, yeah, go try to find some more sounds like that. And so you can practice. All right, cool. You know, it's like, in the practice thing, but it was just. It was just awesome to just get some pointers like that. And I. I don't know how I did it. I mean, it was just. It was just cool to get some, like, tips from somebody that kind of knew what they were doing within that realm. So don't be intimidated by it. If you want to sign up for it, sign up for it. And then there's also going to be, like, a tax shoot there. And then I'm going to be at a lot of the. Like, at their headquarters. I'm doing, like, a panel podcast with some of the outdoor class people on Saturday. I'll just be walking around and hanging out at the. The event on Friday, Saturday as well. Just kind of like. I don't know if I call it meet and greet. Just. I'm just hanging out, but if you see me say hi, stop by. It's. It's going to be an epic event. I'm super stoked for it. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. You know, rmef's kind of taken Over Missoula, where their headquarters is, and putting on a really fun event. World championship elk calling tax shooting. I'll have. I'll be exhibiting there with my day six Arrow company. So we'll have a booth there if you guys want to check out some of our stuff. And then I know this is getting a little long winded, but I will mention too, currently the verse is sold out, but we are, like, getting more in, like, more raw materials. We're going to be cranking away on them. Go on there if you're interested. If you're like, I wanted one. I've been waiting, like, as more people are getting these in their hands and words getting out about, like, how they deliver even probably better than we've been talking about. But I do think we built the best mechanical product in the world. And now, like, other people are getting them in their hands and, like, the reviews are in and they're phenomenal. And we're like, yeah, we know, like, that's what we're trying for. That's what we're shooting for. I. It's awesome to see, like, a lot of that coming through, like, people sending us messages and things. They're just like, dude, these are absolutely blowing me my mind away. I've shot mechanicals my whole life and I haven't had one that like penetrates like this or is durable, yada, yada. So we are currently in sold out, but as this, maybe we'll be back, like, once we get more materials, we're going to continue make go on there, like, act like you're gonna buy it and you'll say, notify me. So you put in all your specs. And when we build those, everybody that's on that notify list is getting sent an email and. And that's how they're gonna get picked up. So if you don't see them in stock for a bit, it's because everybody that's getting notified is getting what we make. So that's gonna be kind of a little bit of the process. And then we're gonna get a big shipment of materials in and then we'll have, like, a lot more. So we are going to have them, like, prior to the hunting season. You will be able to get it. We are making a commitment to, like, the guy. Our team is incredible. Like, people are working around the clock, like, really, really care about building some good stuff and really want to get it out there and everybody's just on board and it's been phenomenal to see and then the support of it's been phenomenal as well. So that's coming out. And then also next week we've got another drop, we've got another product on the Day Six side that this is your little Easter egg. You can go on there. I mean, I'll just tell you. We've got an arrow coming out that has been highly asked for. You can speculate. There's probably, I think there's a website like a Facebook group that, that go like, gathers all this information and tries to guess what we got coming. But we got, we've got an arrow coming out that we're going to launch very soon. That is for a certain type of person that is, I think it's for a lot of people that is, in my opinion it's going to be, it's, it's going to be an arrow that is very, very highly desired. So if you aren't on our email list and like, I want to make sure that the people that have been supporting us and whatever are first notified of this stuff, people that listen to this podcast and other things, go to our Day 6 website, get on our email list if you're like, day six doesn't have the arrow that I'm looking for right now for my particular setup. Things are about to change and we're going to take the Day 6 philosophy of durability and then our just patented consistency and accuracy and high quality into a new category of arrow. And I think you're going to be pleasantly surprised. That is way too much tease. But I kind of want to save the thunder for maybe next week, even if it's pre launch. Maybe I'll talk about it in depth, but just go on there for those of you guys interested. So that was a lot. I know that there's a lot to unpack there, but I do, I'm excited for this season. I'm excited. Like I've got, got, I've got, you know, I've got some great tags for myself. I've got some really fun tags that other people have drawn that I'm, I'm gonna go be a part of, I hope. And I've got some awesome hunts with my family plan. So I've got a lot of fun stuff in the works and I love this time of year. Like I, I'm, I'm reinvigorated in this part of the spring because.