Getting Dialed In with The Kraken - SAS CLASSIC

Summary

The Steve Austin Show — “Getting Dialed In with The Kraken - SAS CLASSIC”

Air date: November 13, 2025
Location: Broken Skull Ranch 2.0, Nevada
Host: Steve Austin
Guest: Jim “The Kraken” Erwin (Former Army Ranger, Delta, shooting instructor)

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Episode Overview

This classic episode features Steve Austin at his Broken Skull Ranch in Nevada, joined by Army Ranger and Delta Force veteran Jim “The Kraken” Erwin. The episode is an engaging blend of war stories, technical shooting talk, hunting adventures, and reflections on resilience, camaraderie, and outdoor skills. Austin and Erwin break down what it takes to survive in the field, become a top marksman, and hunt wild game in the American west, while relaying memorable stories from their lives and careers.

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Key Topics & Insights

1. Life Updates & Setting the Scene

• Steve’s Personal News:
  • Celebrated his 55th birthday (12/18), followed by his wife’s birthday and their anniversary in the same week.
  • Thanks his audience and supporters for years of wrestling, his shows, his IPA, and his sponsors (Kawasaki, Cold Steel).
  • Describes travel plans: heading from Nevada to LA, then Texas for Christmas and more podcasting.

2. Jim Erwin’s Military Background

• Ranger for Life ([05:26]):

  • "Once you're a Ranger, always a Ranger."
  • Chose Army Rangers over Marines after a fateful no-show by a Marine recruiter and inspiration from a Vietnam vet.

• Army vs. Navy SEALs ([06:51]):

  • SEALs focus on water-based ops, Rangers on land.
  • "They're basically like our sisters...but they do water-based operations. Very similar, right?" — Jim ([07:00])
  • Training is about mental fortitude and toughness, whether humping mountains or enduring Hell Week.

3. Thrill-Seeking, Jump School, and Paratrooping

• Steve’s Fear vs. Jim’s Experience

  • [09:36] Steve jokes: “The last thing I'm going to do is just jump out of a perfectly good airplane with a pillow on my back!”
  • Jim’s jump totals: 300-500 jumps, mix of helicopters and planes ([08:47]).

• On Not Dwelling on Failure:

  • "I plan for it, but I don't dwell on it." — Jim ([11:32])

• Parachute Mishaps:

  • Near-miss story: chute failed to open correctly until the last moment; worst landing involved crashing into a Humvee at night ([13:02]).

4. Marksmanship & Sniper Training

• Origins of Shooting

  • Jim grew up hunting covertly, as his family was anti-hunting; learned by sneaking out with friends ([17:48]).

• Sniper Path:

  • Dreamed of being a Ranger sniper; fascinated by owning a battlespace as one- or two-man teams.

• Technical: Ballistics & Optics

  • Evolution of sniper gear: 1990s M24 .308, Leupold 10x fixed scopes, mil-dot reticles ([21:44]-[24:18]).
  • "In the last five to ten years, we have come further in ballistics than we have in the last 50." — Jim ([21:44])
  • Discusses ballistic advances, the advent of 6.5 Creedmoor, 300 Norma, and mathematical shooting solutions.

• Spotter vs. Shooter Roles:

  • Usually, spotter is more experienced; serious business when calling wind for the shooter ([25:21]).

5. The Modern Evolution of Long-Range Shooting

• 308 vs. 6.5 Creedmoor:

  • .308 not obsolete but has been surpassed for performance; 6.5 Creedmoor now Jim’s go-to ([27:50]).
  • Reasons: creedmoor flies better, less wind drift, less recoil—"You just increased your capabilities by several hundred yards."

• Wind as Equalizer:

  • "Wind is the almighty equalizer." — Jim ([36:29])
  • Analysis at 500+ yards and the importance of factoring spin drift, wind, and elevation into shot calculations.

6. Nevada Mule Deer Hunting Season

• Steve’s Hunt Recap ([31:04]-[65:41]):

  • Describes multi-day, challenging mule deer hunt in Nevada’s Unit 015 with his brother-in-law.
  • Saw almost no deer for days in rough, cold condition.
  • Glassed and stalked a group after spotting them 3 miles away, navigating difficult terrain and technical shooting setups.
  • First missed shot due to conflicting range data; ultimate successful shot at 450 yards, followed by a tough recovery and finish on an old, wary buck.

• Ethics & Meaning of the Hunt:

  • Steve defends hunting as tradition and necessity ([51:17]-[52:55]):
    • "If you don't agree with it, I'm sure there's something in your life that I don't agree with that you do. But I don't care."

• Teamwork & Recovery:

  • Credits brother-in-law’s instincts for recoveries; emphasizes importance of finishing the job and respect for the animal ([63:03]-[65:24]).

7. Navigation Skills & Field Safety

• Lessons from the Field
  • Steve highlights the difficulty of navigating vast terrain; Jim recounts intense night land navigation during Ranger and Delta selection (40 miles, 15.5 hours, 13 map sheets) ([71:41]).
  • Stresses practice, preparation, and always having a partner for safety in the back country ([75:03]).

8. Wrapping Up & Closing Thoughts

• Message to Non-Hunters:

  • Steve: "I don't need you to send me an email or jump on my Instagram account and send me a bunch of hate because there is a thing called delete button." ([76:19])

• Jim’s Training Offerings:

  • Shooting courses (pistol, carbine, long range), CCW in Bakersfield and elsewhere:
    • IG/Facebook: @JimtheKraken1
    • Website: KrakenApproved.com ([76:42])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Once you're a Ranger, always a Ranger.” — Jim Erwin ([05:43])

• On Skydiving:
  “One of the things I appreciate about skydiving is unless pterodactyls come back, you’re never in the food chain.” — Jim ([10:47])

• On wind and shooting at distance:
  “Wind is the almighty equalizer.” — Jim ([36:29])

• “I don't want to look back in life and be like, you know what, man, I wish I would have tried that, right?” — Jim ([10:14])

• “If you don't agree with it, I'm sure there's something in your life that I don't agree with that you do. But I don't care.” — Steve ([52:55])

• “Congratulations on that, man…The challenge of it, the experience of it, the savviness of the animal…” — Jim ([65:24])

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Steve’s Intro & Life Updates: [01:26]-[05:20]
• Ranger and Military Training: [05:26]-[11:48]
• Paratrooper Stories: [12:09]-[17:02]
• Sniper Training Begins: [17:16]-[21:39]
• Technical Ballistics & Evolution: [21:39]-[28:42]
• Steve & Jim's Hunting Stories: [31:04]-[65:41]
• Ethics and Perspective on Hunting: [51:17], [76:19]
• Navigation & Survival Lessons: [71:41]-[75:50]
• Closing & Jim’s Info: [76:42]-[77:45]

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Summary

This episode is a rich tapestry of war stories, technical expertise, hunting adventures, and life lessons. Steve Austin and Jim Erwin trade tales of the battlefield and backwoods, blending humor, humility, and hardcore knowledge. Jim offers sharp technical insights into firearms, optics, and ballistics, while Steve recounts his real-world hunting trials, failures, comebacks, and the satisfaction of a hard-won experience. The episode closes with mutual respect, a reminder to follow your own code, and an open invitation to join Jim for professional shooting instruction.

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For Jim Erwin's shooting classes and info:
Instagram/Facebook: @jimthekraken1
Website: krakenapproved.com
Next training: Bakersfield, Jan 4-5 (see website for updates)

“If you don’t agree with it, cool. But I do me, you do you.” — Steve Austin ([76:22])

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

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[A]

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[B]

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[A]

One.Com production from Hollywood, California, by way of the Broken Skull Ranch. This is the Steve Austin Show.

[B]

Give me a Hell yeah.

[A]

Hell yeah. Now here's Steve. Steve Austin.

[B]

All right, everybody, welcome to Steve Austin Show. I'm coming to you from the Silver State. That's right, my last day out here at the broken Skull Ranch 2.0 in Nevada. Getting ready to load up the Yukon XL and head back to the mean streets of Los Angeles. Man, once we get to the mean streets of Los Angeles, we're going to be there for a couple of days. Load up, fly down to San Antonio, Texas, rent us an rv, and drive the dogs down to see my family down there in Edna, Texas. Go down there and hang out with my buddy that I bought my 74Z28 and do some podcasts, shoot the breeze and visit and celebrate Christmas. I cannot believe that Christmas is already upon us. But I digress. Let me talk about one more thing. If you downloaded this show on Tuesday, on Wednesday, you yours truly, Steve Austin. Stone cold Steve Austin, the Texas rattlesnake, whoever you call me, whatever I am. Steve Austin turns 55 years old on December 18th. It's my birthday. My wife's birthday is the day after mine on December 19th. And then we celebrate our anniversary on December 21st. And then we have Christmas. We get it all covered in just a couple of days. Ah, God Damn double nickel. 55. I'm happy as fuck to be 55 years old. Son of a bitch. I didn't think I was gonna make it this long. Now that I lasted this long, hopefully I can get me another 20, 30 years out of it. We'll see what happens. 55 years old, still running strong out there, blazing the trails and my side by sides and my four wheelers and my pickup trucks. Hunting, fishing, hanging out with my wife, my dogs, happy as a damn lark. Things have been good. I am thankful to have made it this long and look forward to many more. To any of you out there who have sent me emails or tweets or messages on Instagram, thank you very, very much. It's been a blast being Stone Cold Steve Austin all these years. It's been a blast hosting my show on the USA Network. I thank you so much for your support on the Broken Skull Sessions, on the WWE supporting Broken Skull IPA. That beer is going to be probably across six or eight more states in 2020. I'm so proud of that beer and everybody at El Segundo Brewing Company. I'm so happy to still be involved and to continue my relationship with Kawasaki Motorsports. It's been a great partnership and I just love their product and I love representing that brand because I've been using that brand for most of my life and I'm happy to be with Cold Steel Knives as well and doing all the other things I'm involved in. But anyway, thank you to everybody who sent a tweet, Instagram message or an email. I'm happy to be 55 and I look forward to many, many more. Hey man, today's podcast is a cool one. I was going to talk about the TLC pay per view, but I didn't get a chance to watch all of it and football was going on. I had a million things going on down here in Nevada. Just got off a hell of a damn hunt with my brother Mitch over there in Nevada Hunting Services and and I called up my old buddy, Army Ranger Jim Irwin. The Kraken. Come over here and shoot the breeze with me and talk a little bit about life and the things that we're both interested in. So hopefully you enjoy today's podcast. I certainly enjoyed talking with Jim Irwin and he's a class act and a badass dude. And if the crap ever goes down, Jim is a guy you want on your side and that's the bottom line. Here's the podcast. Enjoy it. Next time I catch you, I guess I'll be down there in Texas, Shooting the breeze and looking forward to podcasting more and more stuff in 2020 here at podcast one biggest podcast. And I'll catch you down the road.

[A]

The Steve Austin Show. The Steve Austin Show.

[B]

All right, fired up, rolling sound out here. Broken Skull Ranch 2.0, Silver State out here in God's country, Nevada should. I've been out there moving a couple of bales of hay with my buddy Jim the Crack and Irwin, former Army Ranger. Or is it like the Marines? Once you're an armor Ranger, always an armor Ranger. How does that work?

[A]

Yeah, pretty much once you're a Ranger, always a Ranger. You run into guys that got. They see a sticker on your car or something like that, and it's just like they want to know, like, what years you're there, what battalion. So, yeah, same thing. Just cooler than the Marines.

[B]

I asked you this question before, but why do you say, why did you decide army versus Marine, Air Force or Navy?

[A]

It's. That's a funny story. I'll keep it short, though. So growing up in this area, you know, like I told you, I grew up just a couple hours south of here. And the local, the closest Marine Corps recruiter was here in Carson City, just north, where we're hanging out today. And I set a schedule, like, recruiter come down and do an appointment with me, do my interview, I guess the interview to get in the damn military. And dude stood me up. I'm like, well, if they're already screwing me, what happens when I join, right? So I'm like, screw that. And lo and behold, about two weeks later, I meet this, this Vietnam vet who was a Ranger in Vietnam, and he started telling me a couple stories and I'm just like, dude, that is me. That is like exactly my cup of tea and what I want to do. So refo, reset my sights and off I went in the Army Ranger direction.

[B]

Hey, man, so what's the difference between being an Army Ranger and like a Navy seal? Just as far as qualifications, I understand. Or I guess they deal with water.

[A]

Yeah, SEAL teams, we actually say they're basically like our sisters, but they do the water based operations. Very similar. Right. So you can do like for me, in the Ranger training you go through, when I went through what they called the Ranger Indoctrination Program, or rip, it's now called rasp, I think Ranger Assessment Selection, that's a bit longer. So you don't just get your ass smoked and learn Ranger history. You actually learn how to shoot and do other things besides just suck it up. And drive on. Same thing with Buds. Right? So you can do that at like 19 years old. 18, 19 years old.

[B]

You go through basic underwater demolition.

[A]

Correct. Buds is underwater demolition school for, for your SEAL team guys and they do their hell week and they, they smoke you and you know, they want to see what kind of mental capacity. Yeah, it was about three weeks.

[B]

Yeah, no effort. We're going three weeks of hell.

[A]

But you know, in all due respect, they're. They're burning like 20 plus hour days for a week. And we, we weren't doing that. We were just getting, you know, messed with for three weeks straight. Like I said, learn Ranger history and just hump, hump and more hump. And what I mean by that is you put the backpack on what we call the rucksack and you just crank down miles and you know, see if you quit and, you know, you get back and they'd ask you a question, of course it'd never be the right answer, and you start pushing. So a similar concept of just mental fortitude and toughness. Right. So they, they're a water based unit, but the same tier level. So they're doing. I won't say they're doing. They're the same type of asset, but based on the Navy side instead of the army side. So good dudes, I like to mess with them, you know, I'm glad they do it because I could think of nothing worse than like, hey, I want you to go hump up this mountain, but before you do it, I'm gonna throw water all over you and throw some sand in your crotch. Now go. Go ahead, Navy. That's all you, bro.

[B]

As far as qualifications, are they jumping out of stuff? Are they jumping out of helicopters, airplanes? They are like that.

[A]

They are.

[B]

How many jumps you got in you?

[A]

Shoot, I'd say better than, let's say between 3 and 500 if I had to guess right in there.

[B]

Helicopters and airplanes, a little bit.

[A]

Little mix, if you will.

[B]

How is that? Because, you know, my wife bought me a Groupon to go like, take a ride because I want to learn how to fly an airplane.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But I figured, man, I'm so damn stupid out here on the ground. Last thing I need to do is get turned around up in the air and get lost. Because you ain't gonna get stuck up there.

[A]

You're gonna run out, you're gonna come down.

[B]

And so anyway, I never took that flight. And then one of my buddies went and jumped out of a. They did a tandem jump, you know, had someone on the back and he said, man, I said, how was it? He goes, oh, it was thrilling. It was such an adrenaline rush. And I like, man, you know, the last thing I'm going to do is just jump out of a perfectly good airplane with a pillow on my back.

[A]

You're right.

[B]

When we was growing up in South Texas, me and my brothers used to get pillow sacks. You know, it goes over a pillow and we jump off the roof of the house, probably 12 foot drop. And God dang, them things didn't slow us down, not a bit. So when you magnify it, you go up a couple 10,000, 20,000, whatever the jumping distance is. I guarantee, Jim, you're a big, bad son of a gun, and I know you had a penchant for you. You was the fighter there back here on your base, but I guarantee you, you and 10 of your best buddies couldn't get me out of that goddamn.

[A]

Come on.

[B]

I bet we could.

[A]

I bet we could.

[B]

Did you dig it? Are you. Are you. So are you a thrill seeker or what?

[A]

Growing up, I seeked adventure. I think I did. It wasn't one of those things that I had to be. It had to be death defying, right? But I definitely was, I guess you could say addicted to adrenaline. Whether it was playing football, baseball, competition. Growing up skiing. I would like the steepest stuff. And some. Hopefully I could find a jump down on the way. You know, something we can just launch off. But, yeah, I like the adrenaline, but I'm also one of those guys that I want to. I don't want to look back in life and be like, you know what, man, I wish I would have tried that, right? I'm. I've done the scuba diving thing. Not my jam. I'm. I'm just. I have confirmed that I'm not a water guy.

[B]

I grew up in the mountain thing.

[A]

I'm a mountain dude. Like, put me in the hills, put me in the mountains, you know, top of a peak, snow. I'm good. I'm just not a huge fan of water. I do it, and I had to do it in the military because that was part of my selection process. You have to be able to do that stuff. And I've trained in the Arctic. I've trained in the mountains and deserts. The oceans. And oceans are still my least favorite. Like, you're in the food chain, man. Like, you are in the food chain. One of the things I appreciate about skydiving is unless pterodactyls come back, you're never in the food chain. But.

[B]

But I'm always one of those guys, if I got some kind of illness or if I'm hurting or whatever, I'll get on the damn computer and I go worst case scenario. So, you know, same thing with the damn jump out of an airplane. I'm thinking, worst case scenario, I'm going to be the guy that gets the pack that the dude didn't back the parachute, right?

[A]

And then, yeah, just opposite, man. I do not think about worst case scenario. I plan for it, but I don't dwell on it. And that was a part of, you know, being in the military, in the special operations communities. You plan for it, but you plan to be able to be prepared for that situation and come out ahead.

[B]

Okay, tell me about that because I talked to a couple of, you know, Marines and guys that were seals, and I read a few books and those guys, like, when they're talking about essential gear, they'll always say, hey, four is two, two is one, one can be none, meaning if something malfunctions or you lose it, you no longer have it, right? So you need to make sure you have what you need.

[A]

And maybe one more and then it's running correctly.

[B]

So, okay, you jump out of a airplane, parachute, rip cord, don't work. What are you doing?

[A]

You're going for your reserve, which is damn near the same size as the one you just had. So we always have a backup on that. So if you're conscious, you know, and you're, you're still breathing, you're working through those, those emergency procedures to get that extra pack and extra parachute off your back, meaning deploy it, right? You want to get it out that rig quick so that you get, you get some canopy above you and finish your mission. I've been close. I've been close. I've been right there at the moment of truth to pull it. And for some reason, the way I brought my head down to look at what to pull next, cleared enough air off my back that it opened up my chute correctly. So, so fortunate on that. I've had some pretty shitty landings coming in hot.

[B]

What's the worst thing you ever landed?

[A]

Hone a Humvee bigger than man, middle of the night, 2am in the morning. So it's a funny story. If we got time.

[B]

Yeah, we got time.

[A]

Here I am, you know, I'm, I'm 11 plus years in, I've got maybe three weeks left in the military and I'm still out skydiving and rucking and running with my boys. I should have been like admin ep like just trying to get out of the military, what they call ets, right? And going to my medical stuff and basically shamming. Like just getting over three weeks out, I'm still jumping, running, gunning like a dumbass. I shouldn't have been doing that. And I was pretty good, you know. HALO jump master. What? Halo. How to low opening. So free fall, Military free fall was my jam the last two years in the military and I ran a free fall platoon with another fellow.

[B]

Hold on, explain.

[A]

Freefall, free fall, skydiving. Military skydiving. So you have static line, right, which is your basic airborne stuff. You're connected to the plane, you jump out, it pulls it for you. And usually 1500ft and under average between 8 and 1200, depending on what you're doing. So I, I'm that guy though, right? Like I got the absolute minimum number of static line jumps because those sucked. They hurt when you hit with a bunch of on you and a rucksack and an M60 machine gun or a sniper rifle, you hit like a bag of ass and roll over, cry about it for a minute and get up and go do your mission. So I'm like, I want to like the fast train to, to skydiving, right? Because I can control my landings for the most part, unless you just totally mess it up, which I've done. And so I got into the skydiving side, which is kind of hard to get into, right? It's one of those coveted positions. But as a Ranger sniper, you know, Delta Force guy, you know, once upon a time as well, you're going to those schools because you need to be able to have that capability for means of insertion, right? You can't, you can't be lacking so short. They did offer me scuba school. I'm like, pass, hard pass, keep me in the truck, I'll do the mobility or skydive in. So my worst jump was about three weeks out from getting out of the military. And we're doing like a 2:30 in the morning jump. And we're opening about 15,000ft. We're up there and it's dark as dark, right? You're jumping in a black burlap sack, it's dark out. And we put these Salem sticks or chem lights as we call them on each other. 1 colors for the back, 1 colors for the front. So if you see that color, you know, if you're looking at the top or bottom of somebody and we put up what we call a wind arrow on the ground. So as a jump master, I'm looking for that wind arrow and a certain offset. So when we jump, I'm doing the math for all the winds and everything, how much we're going to move in the air to get to that spot. Well, somewhere from the time we exit the aircraft, 15 seconds before I hit, somebody said to park a Humvee right next to the wind arrow. And on that Humvee, they have this big antenna, and they taped damn chem light to the top of the antenna. Well, it looked like the tip of the arrow to me from altitude in pitch black, I'm just focused on that. So about 25, 30ft up, I start to see, like, the silhouette of the damn Humvee, and I'm just like, whoa. I flare as hard as I can. I throw my legs to the side, and the top two inches of that hood, I thought tore my ass off because I hit, like, sideways. My ass hit that thing flipped me over the hood. Well, you know they got the metal brush guards on the front too, right? Oh, yeah, my shins both hit that. Because I'm like, sideways. Like, you know, I was inverted. No, I was sideways. Trying to get up over the hood. My ass cheeks hit the freaking top of the hood. Shins hit that. Flip me over the hood. I jump up screaming like, who this? You know, beep, beep. You know, who's effing Humvee is this? And then this pain started shooting through my butt, like, grabbed my ass. Walking around, I thought I ripped my ass cheeks off. They were good. About 30 seconds later, my shins kicked in and I'm just like, the point. Almost throwing up, right? That nauseous feeling. And that's the only time I looked at my buddy. I'm like, larry, I think I need to go to the hospital. Like, I think I broke my shins. Still packed up all my gear, cussing. Whoever's Humvee, it wasn't even our units. I have no idea to this day whose fricking Humvee was both your shins? Nope. Blown away. So I get in there all feeling sorry for myself. They take X rays and ladies, like, I don't know how, but you're good. I was black and blue down both shins limp for like, three days, but didn't break them. I was.

[B]

When's the last time you jumped out of something?

[A]

I think about two years after. So 2000. I got on 2000. I think about 2000. Two is last time I actually did.

[B]

A jump, you know, I mean, you ain't got.

[A]

It was fun. Giggles. If you Went. I'd go with you just for. Just for fun.

[B]

Come on.

[A]

I dare you. I dare you.

[B]

You can double dog down. I ain't going. I'll tell you right now, that's a.

[A]

Hold my beer story. Steve, it's.

[B]

I was going to ask you about. You learned shooting there, right? Yes. But how intensive was it Was the sniper training? Because I'm going to bust into some shooting. Because you still teach all that. I just got finished doing some on a hunt, and I also want to talk navigation. So how intensive was the shooting program? Because I know you grew up hunting and fishing over. Right down the road.

[A]

Yeah, just down the road. Yeah.

[B]

The king of Levi Island.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Jim Irwin. And so myth.

[A]

The myth, not a legend, but the myth.

[B]

Were you sitting there just running up down the mountains? Were you hunting way back in the day?

[A]

So I was, but I would say it was, for lack of a better term, illegally. And I'll caveat that and say illegally. So growing up, my dad was basically a hippie, you know, building houses, construction stuff, you know, peace, love, and Haagen Dazs type of stuff. Had a peace sign, like, tattoo on his freaking shoulder. That kind of guy. Right. Long hair, stepmom was a wildlife biologist. So I know hunting in my family was not really like a thing. Like, they didn't. They weren't cool with it. So I'd always, like, borrow a buddy's gun. I didn't have, like, a rifle until I was like, 16. And so I'd borrow buddies and we'd go out and shoot rabbits and stuff like that, you know, but actually, like, hunting big game, no way. They. They weren't having it, man. They. They frowned upon us. So I say illegally is like. I'd sneak out to go do it with my buddies, and we'd, you know, crack, you know, go bunny busting, whatever you want to call it. Shooting. Shooting jackrabbits and coyotes and stuff. But I kind of had a knack for it. And like I told you in the past, my. My whole goal going in the military was to become a ranger, but be a sniper in the rangers. I want to be a sniper. I'd read all the books and, you know, talk stories with guys that done some sniping in the day. And I was just like, that's just what I want to do. One or two dudes, like, owning a battle space is putting fear in people. And it comes. It's a challenge. It comes at a cost of learning all that. But then realizing, too, you're out there by Yourself, man, like you and one other dude. It'd be me and you out in the bushes making it happen. And if we get busted, that's pretty much a death sentence. So, you know, you better be sneaking, you better be good. The farther you can shoot, the more time you got to get your ass out of there. The training going in basic army infantry stuff, it's a joke, you know, let's be honest, it's basic rifle marksmanship. Point at that direction, don't shoot yourself, unload it pointed at anybody.

[B]

And then lots of common sense stuff.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Don't have common sense.

[A]

Understood. And I make a living helping people understand that, which is great. But then you get into the ranger regiment and you start really starting to dial in. Shooting, moving, communicating, right? And then understanding how you can do it fast and efficient and safely in and around people. And I became a sniper as a secondary position. I was a saw gunner on the team squad. Automatic weapon, shoots a lot of bullets fast, it's heavy. I'm big. Made sense, right? Big boy carry big thing. So you get an understands, understanding in a sense of how that all works. And then working as a team and being able to shoot, move and communicate and hit the bad things and keep the good guys safe and not have any fraternization, hitting your own fellows and doing it at night. Then we just spend. Once I got into the sniper section that we really started to, I'd say craft our skills, right? And I mean days, like it turned into years, but we'd spend days at the range at known distance. Like I'd talk to you before, like there was no range finders and this and that. And I, I probably had a sniper rifle that four dudes before me had. I didn't understand. They don't, you know, having a barrel shot out. It was a right handed gun. As a lefty, I learned to shoot right handed because you know, there's a false, I think premise out there that spec off, you get whatever you want that's custom built. It's a just here's a box of ammo, like a crate of ammo, Go do your thing, right? Here's a gun, make it happen. And you go out there and you learn your craft, but you learn with what you have. And it's practice and repetitions and starting to just know what that gun does, you know, what settings you got to be on. Range estimation was huge. And then trying to figure that out. And like I've talked to you before, you know, if you're off like 50 yards at distance That's a massive miss. And then you're missing, you're making noise. People start to fire back and come after you. So we got real good at range estimation without using range finders, uh, being able to hit those shots, understanding our capabilities. Right. How far do I can I be and make an accurate shot or do I need to crawl a little bit closer? But I'd also be that dude that I wanted to crawl like damn near their campfire, just see if I could do it. I'd be like 20ft away. Like, yeah, probably a little close.

[B]

I'll just hit it with the end of the barrel.

[A]

Yeah, just save ammo.

[B]

What caliber and what optics were y' all using back in the day? Because this wasn't back in the stone ages, but it was.

[A]

Yeah, early 90s. Yeah.

[B]

Okay, so early 90s, early 90s caliber. What was the scope?

[A]

So we were using 308s. It was the M24 sniper rifle. 24. I think it was a 24 or 26 inch gun. I believe it's 24 inch bull barrel crowned with 308. Right. And I thought that was the end all, be all. A little trivia for you is in the last five to 10 years, I'd say five to seven years, we have come further in ballistics than we have in the last 50. They have really cracked the code on bullet flight, bullet travel, understanding mathematically what's going on and being able to reverse engineer shots. The guy out there by the name of Brian Litz, I'll throw him a boneless dude, is like the swami on mathematics. I mean he's a ballistics guy, right? He, he, his job was figuring out how to launch artillery for the military. You know, from point A to point B, you know, travel times of minutes. You're talking even earth rotation, coriolis effect coming into that when you're talking minutes of flight time to hit something. And he just dialed it back and started doing ballistic stuff on long range stuff, you know, rifle caliber stuff. And he, he basically changed the game on how we shoot, you know, by showing you these, those formulas. And we've done it. This is what I've been teaching. Like, hey, we can put in a formula and could give you a projected outcome of where that bullet's going to hit and get pretty dag on close, if not spot on. And then just tweak it a little bit so you're not out there like we were doing back in the day and just launching shot after shot after shot, recording it until we knew, okay, this is it at this temperature, at this area, you know, in the northwest, where we're getting rained on and then we go to the desert and it's like, should be the same. It's not.

[B]

Was the optics adjustable?

[A]

They weren't. So we had a Leupold fixed power. It was a 10x so 10 power. Leopold fixed power. And the reason it was a fixed power is because the reticle we had inside of it was what they called a mil dot reticle. And we literally use that reticle to estimate range with and guess, you know, the best guess, professional guess we can make with that reticle. So that set power gave us the ability to use that without, without adjusting it. I say adjusting, but we weren't canning in or magnifying because we didn't have the capability. And some of the later scopes, when you start looking at those, they hey, hey, you can use this reticle, this and that, but you can, you could came in from like say 3 to 9 or 5 to 20 power, but depending on which focal plane was on, if that crosshair in that, that range estimation piece got bigger or littler, you were off. Like it has to remain constant. So you had to put it on a specific power setting, which most people didn't.

[B]

But back in the day, wasn't Carlos Hathcock shooting a 30 odd six.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Power.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

What was that scope? What's that brand of scope that they were using?

[A]

The nurtle. You nurtle or. That's it. Yeah. And I was talking to, I was talking to. I did, did a class this weekend, right. For long range guy. Long range class for a guy going out on bighorn hunt. And we were talking about that. I said now let's look what we just did today. And I took you from 100 to basically a mile. And he was all, he didn't Quite hit the mile one, but he got a thousand yards with a six. Five. Creedmore and his son got it 7 millimeter mag. He was hitting a thousand, but just did not have the optics to shoot the, the mile.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And I said think about this, let's go back 60 something years, you know, 70 years to guys like Carlos Hathcock and some of these other snipers that were doing this naturally. Like 50 cal with like iron sights at 2, 000 yards and this and that. Said it's incredible. They, they're just natural that they didn't have range estimation. You know, gadgets and all this, these tools that help us be better and more lethal today. And they were devastating back in the day. And it just makes you scratch your head.

[B]

If you're out there with your. What's. What's the guy called is your teammate? Yeah. Like if you're shooting and you have.

[A]

Your spot, spotter and shooter. Okay.

[B]

So I mean obviously I'm assuming you'd like to be the shooter.

[A]

Yeah, you always want to be the guy on the gun.

[B]

But, but talk to me about calling the wind and the job of that spotter.

[A]

The in all honesty that usually you're, usually your spotter is the more experienced dude because he's got the most time on the gun. He's got the most time looking at the environmentals and what's going on out there to help you place that shot. The guy pulling the trigger is basically doing what the spotter says. But the argument always turns in who's the gangster gets to pull the trigger and get the kill. Right. Like we always want to be the guy on the gun. Chris Kyle was like, I guess infamous for it. Right. He, in his day, he may rest in peace. He had this knack of being on the gun when it was time to shoot. Like he'd be taking like four hour break, right. They wouldn't see squat. Okay, his turn to get on the gun and like 15 dudes would show up. He just, it's like he just had it. But yeah, it could turn into like a little bit of an argument like who's going to get, get the gun first?

[B]

Well, if technology's flown by all, all these years, I remember I never was a fan of the 308 back in the day. And on my ranch in South Texas I built AR10. Obviously that's a 30308. You know the R15 is a 2 to 3, right?

[A]

Correct.

[B]

So anyway, I started really liking the way that thing performed and you know, it just wasn't a sexy round for me back in the day. And then all of a sudden I said, hey, I love this thing. So I have like three or four.

[A]

Yeah, we went out and shot them.

[B]

308. So I love them, but they shoot like a rainbow. They absolutely do, but they have inherent accuracy. But my question to you, is the 308, as great as it is, is it still that go to gun or have they upgraded the caliber?

[A]

Yeah, they have, they've. I say they as a, as a very general reference. But like I said, in the last five to seven years, ballistically we've come so far when you look and start to spend money like on high end guns where you can easily go over five, six thousand dollars on a rifle. You want to make sure that's the caliber you really want, right? So when I first started looking at getting a new rifle, a modern sniper rifle, I was looking at the.308. Then I started thinking about it. I'm like, let me call a couple guys in the hunting side because I was hunting people back in the day, not, you know, big game animals. So let me ask somebody who does this stuff all the time and what do they use so that I'm kind of going down the right road. He's like, 65 Creedmore all day. I'm like, well, why not a 308 this and that? And he started explaining to me ballistics and like, I won't get down the road on that. People turn this thing off and be like, man, my head hurts, but it just flies better. Defeats wind better, goes farther, carries more energy, all these things. So you, you just increased your capabilities by several hundred yards. And I was like, well, damn.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

And it recoils less. I was like, that's great. So you're seeing the advent of like the 6.5 Creedmore, the 65 PRC, which is precision rifle cartridges. Like a beefed up Creedmore, rounds flying faster, the speed being kind of the king. If I can get it there quicker, less time for wind and other things, environmentals to mess with it. 300 Norma, like my wife likes to shoot that big ass hog leg. Yeah, it's like a seven millimeter. Done this, did that, you know, without getting all the loading stuff to make it go faster, farther with less. Less resistance in the air. So they. The 308, I won't say is obsolete, but it is being. It leaps and bounds beyond that. And I think part of the reason the military stuck with it for so long is that said NATO round. Right. It's like kind of like a by law, which we're the only ones that really follow it.

[B]

But it's good. The good guys, just because. I mean, explain that the Nate. The NATO round.

[A]

Yeah. So the NATO round, when you start talking about like your 762, like the Soviets are using the 308, the 556, the 9 millimeters and 45s. These are rounds that I already forgot what NATO stands for. But it's like this, this association that's saying, hey, this organization saying this is what's legal in combat. If you're using something besides that, it's murder. Yeah. It's like, yeah, you can use this, but you can't use that. Like you can, you can blow a dude up with a mind but you can't gas them with sarin. You know, that would be inhumane. Yeah, right. Like there's laws to warfare, but certain things apply, certain things don't. It's been modernized, I guess you could say. I know I've got some buddies still keep in touch with me in the, in the community and they're using, you know, 300 win mags or three. Three Lapua is now. And they're using some, some other stuff that I'm not super familiar with, so I won't even talk about it. But they are increasing their lethality based on equipment and then learning how to weaponize math big time. Hey, this is Adam Carolla from the Adam Carolla Show. Betonline continues to be your number one source for all your football betting action. Betonline has more ways to get in and stay in on action with the latest odds, news and scores. Even live in game betting. From every NFL and college game to mlb, UFC and NHL futures as well. Betonline remains your choice. For sports wagering info. Head to the website today and take advantage of their industry leading VIP program with level up bonuses and weekly cash boost. In between games. Head over to Betonline's casino with all the top Vegas style games including poker and live casino Betonline. The game starts here. Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start. Thumbtack knows homes so you don't have to. Don't know the difference between matte paint finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is. With thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro, you just have to hire one. You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates and read reviews all on the app. Download thumbtack today. This is the Steve Austin Show.

[B]

I know you just went on a hunt. You went out to New Mexico on an elk hunt.

[A]

Yeah. For the Mrs.

[B]

Your wife's tag or your tag?

[A]

It was. It was my wife's tag.

[B]

Okay, so y' all were out there and nothing materialized, right?

[A]

Nothing. I saw a butt of one about two miles away. By the time we got there, they were all brushed up and weather didn't, didn't cooperate whatsoever. Had a great time.

[B]

But you went out on a hunt earlier this year and what unit were you in?

[A]

291. Not far from the casa.

[B]

Okay. I was in unit 015 for the last few days and we were basically just being based out of my brother in Law's house here in Spanish Springs. And we make about a 60 mile drive out there. 60, 70 miles. Then we get in the buggy driving 25, 30, and man, just fighting the wind all day. So when you took that mule deer that you took, how far was that thing out?

[A]

Oh, it was like a mile. No, I'm, I'm totally bullshitting. It was probably. Steve, this is probably the biggest gaming hunt I've ever had. It was ridiculous. So we're searching around, searching around, not seeing nothing. And we got word of this. The, the word used was there was a dandy of a buck about, you know, five, a different mountain. So we were on one mountain and they're like, hey, at the base of this other mountain, we're seeing a dandy. So we start heading that direction and my wife spots these two bucks. And well, where'd you get that intel? From a dude.

[B]

Okay. Yeah, because that's what, that's what we'll do. I go, my brother in law said, hey man, my buddy's been hunting 015 this whole year. And he got a hell of a buck.

[A]

And so, yeah, that's exactly what happened.

[B]

The DL from him.

[A]

We got some, some information, some friends of ours in Smith Valley who had been driving this one, this one dirt road. And he's making, man, I've been seeing this dandy of a buck at the base of the. In these rose bushes. And he's like, he'll be there. Like, you get there, he'll be there. We never made it because I end up seeing this other one. My wife spotted this little forky and we're in two buggies, right? So she's in the front one with our friend Larry. I'm in the back one with my buddy Mike. And so we pull over and I see Larry point and you can see my wife Annelise kind of looking and the angle they were on. Come to find out, like, they could only see the forky my buddy Mike gets. I was like, yeah, let me take a look. I didn't get out of the buggy. And he's like, yeah, it's just a forky and everything. But I see the butt of another one. Let's see what this is about five seconds later. Hey, man, get ready to shoot. That's. That's a four point. That's a good book. So I scramble out. My wife's looking back because all she can see is a forky and I don't know it. And so she thinks, like, what is this SOB doing? He's gonna shoot this small ass deer. And we're supposed to be going to this dandy. And so I scramble out.

[B]

Y' all different stuff. A dandy is a lot different than mine. Yeah, right.

[A]

Meets meat. So I scramble out and I'm looking and this thing, we're less than 100 yards. It's like 90 something yards. It's sub 100. I'm looking at it, I'm looking at the ground, I'm looking back at it, and I'm like, I can even get on the ground. I can get prone, right? We call prone laying down about the most stable position you're gonna get, right? I'm like, it don't get easier than this. Like with the rifles I got and the skill set, it's like, I might as well just go run it over with the buggy because that'd be more of a challenge. I laid down, dialed it in, and I got my gun suppressed. So as soon as I shoot, my wife hears the slap. And that little forky jumps up like it'd been hit. My wife's like, what the hell? Like, why would you shoot that? And I'm like, mike said it was a shooter. But she didn't realize I shot the four point. Not that. Not that forky. And it jumped up. And then she sees the four point run by about 40 yards and lay down. So she's. She's freaking out thinking I shot this little, little thing. But it was just a fortunate hunt. I had limited time. We were coming up, I think on. Was it Thanksgiving?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Begin part of November. My buddies only really had that weekend. We were on our way to that dandy, but this guy presented himself and I'm like, I cannot pass this up. And you and I've had this talk, man. You don't pass up what you shoot on the last day, on the first day. And that was. That was him. And he broadsided for me. Never knew we were there. And as soon as that bullet hit him, he was dead before he knew it. We drove the side by side up there, corded it, loaded it up like it was the biggest gimme hunt. But absolutely blessed and fortunate to be able to. To harvest because that was the first tag I pulled into that in five years.

[B]

God dang, man. I got a. I drew a guide tag and my brother in law. Yeah, his God. So, man, I'm doing good. And we're hunting unit 015. My question before I get. Get on with my story is in your scope, you shoot a different system than I do. Now I know you represent Leopold and you. What, what is the name of your scope?

[A]

The one I've been running currently is the Leupold Mark V. So the Mark series is kind of like their Mil spec or their militarized one. More ruggedized and I am tough on my gear. Not to say those gold rings don't hold up, man. They both run lifetime warranties. But your VX series or your gold rings and whatnot, and then your Mark series or your more militarized ruggedized with the black ring on it, if you will. More sexy, more special, right? No, but just a very robust scope with a lot of information in the scope that you can use to be.

[B]

Accurate through your damn scope down at shooting range. And that man, it's, it's different because I'm used to just one crosshair.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

Then several years ago when Leopold introduced the Buddha crotch reticle, which you me, you know that we went out and.

[A]

Checked out last year.

[B]

You know, that's what I'm using. But my question to you is if you were to make a long shot, let's just call it, let's just say a 500 yard shot because I don't think it's out of the question. What are you doing as far as wind? Because there was some very unforgiving conditions on my last hunt and I was shooting uphill and I'll get to that in a minute. But you're basically have been a spotter, you've been a sniper. You see this animal. What are you doing about wind? If you have a hell of a crosswind, you definitely got to factor in. Never something I've ever factored in.

[A]

And you have to.

[B]

I've been lucky.

[A]

Wind is the almighty equalizer. So we, in the old days, you know, we gravity. You got a gravity affects everything. You, me, bullets, everything. But nowadays we can mathematically neutralize gravity. Right? We, we know how high to throw it to defeat gravity, to make it hit where we want at that distance. Right. So it's basically a non factor wind. 100% a factor all the time. Whether it's a little bit or a lot, you must factor it in. The moment you pull trigger, she'll change, it'll change on it. It was doing to me all day yesterday. It could be catastrophic or it could be advantageous. Sometimes you flinch and the wind pushes it right back in for you. But you definitely want to look at that. And if you want to get even more geeky, we at 500. Now you start even thinking about spin drift and that's the, the, the effect of the bullet, the spin of the bullet, the rotation, if you will, and how it starts to move in the air as it gets pushed. And at like 500 yards yesterday I was looking at that and factored in. And so for him he had an MOA and it was like 0.3 at 500 yards. So 500 yards, we were basically saying that was a click and a half. So you know, it was about an inch or so. Nothing, nothing crazy, you know, maybe just a hair more. I mean somebody I'm sure will be like, no, no, that was 1.73. It was moving a little bit. Right. You start to get out to 7, 8, 900. We start talking inches, several inches of movement before we even look at wind that we need to factor in. Hey, it's going to move this one. So I'm going to need to start aiming a little more left and then let's see what Win's doing. Is it going to neutralize that spin drift, this or that?

[B]

Are you moving a little bit to the left or are you, are you dialing something on the scope?

[A]

I rarely dial wind for the simple fact that I'll forget and then my next shot's going to be something crazy like I'll be looking at that and thinking about it and then forget. I already adjusted on here. You could get lost quick. If we're going to do a super long shot hunting, I will dial or I'll have somebody dial. If I'm with them, I'll have them dial in the spin drift and then we'll start looking at wind just because we know that is a fact going to move. So we did that 1100 yard shot a couple years ago I was telling you about. You know, we dialed in 10 inches of spin drift and then started looking at wind. Lower, closer ranges. I don't, I.

[B]

Okay, but just as far as elevation goes. Are you, I forget, looking through your scope, did it have those circles? Whereas are you zeroed at 100?

[A]

Yes. All my mathematics are based off 100 yard zero. We can change that.

[B]

Are you clicking up?

[A]

Correct.

[B]

Okay. If you like to. You see something 600 yards out, you're clicking up Saint. Let's call it six clicks. Yeah. Right.

[A]

Yeah. We'll say as for an example, six clicks, six clicks or six moa or six mils, whatever it might be. I personally like to dial that in and use my crosshairs. Now with the reticle I have, I could literally be, okay, I need to come up 6 mils. I could Go down my reticle and go to the six line and put that on there and send it all day. I can do that right when I'm on the range. Exactly, yeah, yeah. I'm compensating for gravity.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And that bullet trajectory. So what I'm trying to do is just make my scope meet the bullet at the same place I'm aiming.

[B]

Is it, is it about gravity you're compensating for? Compensating for gravity, but also a lack of or diminishing inertia, the energy of the bullet flight.

[A]

Yeah. Speed of the bullet, that's what we start talking about. That speed is king thing. You know, if I can launch a bullet at 3000ft a second, you know, at 7, 800 yards, it might only be at like 17, 1800ft a second. We're not losing a ton. But as the further gets as our should drop off faster. So you look at a lower move speed, slower moving bullet, you got to figure out there's a whole equation we do. And muzzle velocity is one of the factors in there. Right?

[B]

Yeah. But I was fixing to go out the other day, and last time I was here in Nevada, you and I were going to go shooting. And the shooting range was just circus like it was like there was a. There wasn't one space out there to shoot. And I get nervous when there's that many people throwing bullets.

[A]

I was looking in the paper, looking for obituaries and stuff like. Like somebody got shot the range that day, I guarantee it, because there was so many people.

[B]

And I, you know, I need to get back to la. But I come back, I've only got shot. I've only got a day to get my gun dialed in. So sure enough, man, I load up, I know you going to be working, so I didn't give you a call, went down there, had all my stuff at this damn lawn chair out there. When I show up with these purple, green and yellow lawn chairs, I'm a fashion statement.

[A]

Dude, you talk the range, fashion statement.

[B]

Now show up with this damn lawn chair. All my fernie pads, I got a couple, you know, lead bags and stuff like that. But most of those guys out there running some kind of custom chair, some kind of lead sled to hold a gun.

[A]

I'm like, man, I bring a moving pad.

[B]

I have that when I'm out there hunting. It's cool to have that to dial something in. Yeah, I just like to shoot, you know, on a real good rest and you know, do as best I can.

[A]

So there's something to be said for that, Steve, because think about this. I try to explain it this way. People like will look at that and they'll feel like, you won't have that in the bush. Okay, why would I set myself up for failure, right? If. If my 0 is the foundation of everything I do, don't I want that to be as absolute as possible? So why not set yourself up for success at the range? I don't care if it's the purple, green, blue chair or in prone bags, whatever it is. So you know as factually your zero is your zero and your data is good, right? Because you're only going to add the variables once you hit the bush. I want that to be absolute. So there's no. The people that say that just don't know, man. They're just being ignorant.

[B]

So, man, you know, I go down there and sure enough, I get to the gate and it says, law enforcement training today. Public. You know, you can come in. I'm like, oh man, I'm getting skunked. And I said, I gotta get this gun dialed in. So I go out to the BLM out here in the pine nuts and I go out there and I find a good backstop. And you know, a lot of people shoot skeet out there, you see all the orange remains and everything. But man, when you're talking about a high caliber rifle, you know, that's a whole different ball game. And I'm shooting the.300 win mag and so it's easy, you know, I put my paper target down, I put my steel target down, and I got my range found in binoculars. I get my pickup truck, I back up 100 yards. You know, I get my kind of lead bag that I use to shoot off of. I put it on my window sill and on my driver's side rear view mirror, and man, I'm pretty, pretty solid. And then I get one of my fernie pads and stick it up underneath my right arm and dude, talk about redneck. And I'm locked in and I shoot and I'm dead. I'm dead on two inches high at 100 yards. Okay, that's.

[A]

You got a 2000 on your gun.

[B]

Yeah, 200 yard 0. And so I backed off. When you start backing up out there, you've been out there, sand pit. You know, elevation is not the same. So obviously you back, you can't see your targets anymore. Yeah. And then all of a sudden you see, you know, he's walking their dog, motorcycle, or someone's out there walking Their dog. And I get in my pickup truck, I gather up all my stuff, put all my in the back to pick up truck. I said, let me go down this road where there ain't nobody. And as soon as I get over, there's some dude in the truck. I don't know what he's doing, but he's in a truck so I don't want to know what he's doing. He might be walking his dog, but you know, he might be doing something else. Yeah. So point being, when you're trying to just on public land, find a safe place to shoot a high caliber. Yeah.

[A]

Even just getting a couple hundred yards can be tough. Yeah.

[B]

So I said, effort. I'll go back to the house, maybe everybody get through shooting at the shooting range and I'll go back and get it dialed in. And that's what happens. Dead on it, 200. Then I put my 300 still out there. Dead on it, 300. And that's when I give you a call. And I said, hey man, I think from then on it was 400, 500, 600. I think we might have went out to 650 or 700.

[A]

I think 650 was the bottom of.

[B]

That point, Trident Point. And so I called you and you said, hey man, I can come over. And you were going to do some kind of math for me.

[A]

Yeah, I was going to do what.

[B]

Are we going to do? Because remember we went down the store, I was shooting 160 grain bullets and they were out of those, so I was shooting a heavier grain bullet, 180.

[A]

We needed to plug that into the map.

[B]

Zero was, so what were you going to do for me?

[A]

So there's a, there's a bunch of different apps out there, Right. That you can put in the mathematics. Whether it's like your height over bore, muzzle velocities, your bullet weight, bullet length. So we take all these factors and we dump it into this formula and it'll spit out what we call what I call a projected shooting solution. Right. It's going to spit out the data. A lot of times it is spot on. Like yesterday I, we were off, I think at the end of the day, at the farthest one, we were off like a minute and a half. So we got projected a minute and.

[B]

A half me into the guy's podcast.

[A]

So let's say at a thousand yards, one minute is 10 inches. At a thousand yards, one minute at 100 is 1 inch. So it factors at the distance you're at. Right. So if you're talking about a minute and a half at a thousand yards, like 15 inches off. But if you've already done the math prior to that gets you pretty darn close, right. At least you're able to find the dang bullet and be like, all right, we can make a correction. So we go from projected shooting solution to factual. And that's when you pull the trigger and we hit and we start to get it into exactly where you want to be hitting. That's, that's your actual factual data. So being able to project it, sometimes it is dead nuts on. I had a class a couple of days, a couple times ago, a couple of weeks ago, and it was dead on out to 900 first round hits. I mean the math was just right there. And it could have been something to do with air density, altitude. There's a lot of junk going on that we did never, we never factored in before that we do now to be able to, to give you a higher confidence of probability of first round hits out to distance. So for like example, yours, I'm absolutely certain that out to 600, you'd have first round hits at the range prone or at the truck, you know, bushed or benched up nice and tight in the truck. Because that's what we want. We want to make sure that we're as stable as possible so there's no other factors. So when we do get out in the bush and I got to shoot from kneeling or off the freaking pull, you know, side of a, a tree, you know, that I'm braced up against or your bipods off your backpack, that you're going to start to move. But we know the gun's accurate.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So that fact that that variable's gone. So we just continue to reduce those variables, build constants in by having this mass. So that's what we're going to do with yours was put in the math, spit out a solution to make sure those giving you as close as possible. And realize that when we're doing it at the range, we want to. We were splitting frog hairs. You and I are both geeky like that. We want, we want to be able to put that bullet when we pull the trigger as if we were going down there and place them with our hand. You get out and you just chase this thing up the side of a mountain and you're breathing hard and you know, 160 beats a minute. We want to still be within the heart and lung field.

[B]

Right.

[A]

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[B]

I was home with my brother in law and he knows the state of Nevada like the back of his hand, you bet him. And he's just, he's been doing this for over 40 years and you know, he's not trained up on, you know, the kind of shooting that you, you do. But as far as knowing where he's at and just knowing each unit in Nevada, it's uncanny. So we go out there in 015 and we're basing out of his house, we drive, you know, 60, 70 miles out to get off, you know, the trailer off the buggy and then get out there and we're riding around, dude, all day long in that cold ass.

[A]

Wind up on top there. You get up on top so small.

[B]

And that wind starts blowing and God dang, it's just miserable. And you know that first year I killed that deer right there at 175, that's a good ass mule deer. And that was on the first or second day that deer was in rut and he stayed there. It was buck 64, buck 84. It was a gimmick. And I just said, hey man, this mule deer hunting's easy. Next year I passed on a 150 and didn't see anything after that and got smoked. And that was a landowner tag. Yeah, which I spent four bills.

[A]

That's. Yeah, that's. Landowner tags aren't cheap to come back in.

[B]

That's hurt my feelings. And I said, you don't pass up anything out here, man. I've been hunting South Texas a long time and South Texas is shooting. I wouldn't call, I wouldn't qualify that as hunting unless you're hunting free range and you're not over bait out here. This is a real deal.

[A]

Yeah, you're gonna work for it.

[B]

And we rode around for a day and a half and we didn't see one single animal. We saw a couple donkeys, we saw some horses, we saw a bunch of antelope and they were beautiful. But that's not what we're looking.

[A]

That's not what you're looking for.

[B]

And you get out there and sometimes, you know, guys using that big glass and he'll bust out his Swarovski, put it on a bipod on his tripod and get down in his chair and then just start glassing. And when they started doing that a couple years ago, I asked him, I said, man, what are you guys doing? Well, we're looking for a horn, we're looking for an ear, we're looking for an ass. You don't get to get that white ass. You're just looking for something that sticks out. Sagebrush. Boy, that sagebrush is a son of a gun.

[A]

They'll disappear in a heartbeat. It blows me away.

[B]

You got to study it. And we didn't have any good light because it's really overcast. So we had bad light on top of everything, right? And so he's got a real good pair of binoculars that kind of got a little, little tint to them and it really makes that game pop. I'm running a pair of Leicas, both 10 power binoculars. So dude, when you're looking a couple miles out with 10 power binoculars, yeah, that's a pull. That's the thing, you know, being from south Texas and being a little add, man, at first I'm kind of scanning. Dude, you can't scan. You've got to study.

[A]

Yeah, stay there for a couple minutes just looking at everything, dissect it and then move a little piece, everything.

[B]

Now that second day, that's when I was like, okay, I'm in the zone and I'm studying each friggin every under.

[A]

Sage bush, looking for thing, looking for stickers at a horn and it ain't there.

[B]

And so it was so frustrating because my brother, brother in law says, man, I've never gone two days and not seen a deer.

[A]

Maybe not a buck, but a deer.

[B]

And so finally, you know, we come across eight does towards the end of the second day. And seeing those eight does was like that hope spot in a wrestling match, you know, like, you know, the, the heels beating the baby face down and just beating him up, beating him up, beating up. Finally that baby face makes a little comeback on him. That's the whole hope spot. So seeing those does was like reinvigorating because we were like Kristen had sent us this, this thing from Endow, Nevada Department of wildlife. Hey man, unit 015 is down from the, the boom period of the 80s down, you know, 60, 70% down from that. Finding a mature buck is going to be very hard here's some of the areas.

[A]

Don't you put that on me, Kristen. I don't need those numbers.

[B]

The odds are already stacked against us. And to give people out there a perspective of the unit we were hunting, there are bigger units out there. But a unit 015, if I'm not mistaken, if you're looking at my computer, that's 750 square miles.

[A]

It's a big one up there in the northeast northwest corner.

[B]

Yeah, we're out there looking on a 750 square mile area, so doesn't seem big. I sent out some pictures on Instagram and it's funny because a lot of the haters or the antis, you know, sitting there, well, why are you out there killing something or whatever? It's like, you know, I don't want to get to a big thing about it, but it's like, hey, man. A man slash woman has been hunting since the dawn of days. Just because it's 2019, why stop now? It's worked for so long. And if no one hunted back in the day, no one would be here now. It wasn't like they had all the, all the damn crop fields.

[A]

Back in the day, meat was the only hunter gatherer.

[B]

Yeah, hunter gatherer, but God dang, you get them people and they just think you're just out there. I sent a picture out there. Some antelope crossing. Oh, why are you out there killing it?

[A]

I wasn't actually killing.

[B]

I'm looking for a mule deer and I'm going to eat the mule deer if I'm lucky enough to take the mule deer. And oh, by the way, we're out in his front yard, his house, and he's got the advantage. And it's fair.

[A]

Yeah, that's fair. Chase.

[B]

And we're doing everything we can to just locate this deer, let alone get a shot. Get a shot. So I just don't understand when people. And man, I've been hunting. When my stepdad married my mom, he's the one that introduced us to hunting. And hell, I just remember trailing behind him, you know, making noise and he's looking back perpetually with that.

[A]

Shh.

[B]

Be quiet, dammit. I'll pinch you with a stick on every stick that you can step on. We'll beat you with that stick, you know, and I probably took my first deer at 14 or 15, whatever it was. So I've been hunting my whole life. It's something I do.

[A]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with it, man.

[B]

If you don't agree with it, I'm Sure. There's something in your life that I don't agree with that you do. But I don't care.

[A]

But that's cool. Exactly. Cool. Do you?

[B]

Yeah, you do.

[A]

You don't. About what I'm doing. Yeah. And what you're doing is legal. It's 100 legal.

[B]

Yeah. It's not legal. It's not unethical.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. And every time I go out, like I wanted to hook up with you, like I do every year, I make sure I know exactly what my gun will do. So anyway, dude, we're out there. We're glass in this big country and have you ever been in unit 015?

[A]

Yeah. So small little fact that my very first mildew ever wasn't 015. Oh. And I got about a 170 deer, so. And it was a 204 yard shot in a rut just. He had no worries whatsoever until that doe stepped away from him. I don't. But we, you know the, the reservoir. Yeah, we were about eight miles north of that reservoir up on top. But I don't remember exactly where.

[B]

God dang. Did you ever go over to Eaglehead?

[A]

That sounds familiar too.

[B]

Yeah, we, we went over to Eaglehead. That was kind of one of his honey holes. We were hitting the spots that he's had success, you know, over the past few years before we really had to get into the other stuff that was going to be farther away. And so we were in the area of God dang. Now it's dry valley. Does that sound Dry valley rim?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Anyway, we was on it. We was on the front side of the Skedaddle Mountains and the backside of the Black Mountain. And I'll be Dan, if we wasn't out there. And this is after this on the third day. And we're gonna take a break after that and then hunt Sunday, Monday. And yes, today is Monday and we're fixing to head back to la. So all of a sudden we're out there glassing and my brother in law says I got muleys. And I'm like, do you got girls or boys? The girls don't have horns. Except for boys. And I'll be damned. I said, where he goes about three miles away, that patch of yellow grass out there. Sure enough, I throw up my binoculars. You know, you can, you can just, you can see it a little bit, but you can just see animals.

[A]

Right?

[B]

Here's the thing. We've been seeing horses, donkeys, antelope, stuff like that. Cows, okay. Body size are smaller than cows smaller. Horses bigger than the donkey, he goes, those are muleys. And sure enough, got a little bit of white on their ass. So he busts out the heavy artillery, the big glass. And all of a sudden there's. There's like. It's a group about 14 or 15, or might have been 17, but there's a couple of little spikes, little forkies. A young deer, about three or four with a decent horn, and an old. An old guy. Yeah, the one I ended up taking. And they're three miles away.

[A]

Let's get moving.

[B]

I've heard about this, but I ain't never done this. I said, well, the three miles away, dude, we ain't seen nothing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I tell us a big old mature buck. I said, man, let's go get one of them and let's go get that. Let's go get that. And I said, how are we going to do this? He goes, man, he's been all over the damn state of Nevada. He goes, I think there's a road that will take us over there. I remember hunting sage grouse out here a couple of years ago. It was like 20 years ago. Sure enough, dude, we got on that road. We rode around a couple miles. We get there, and before we left, we kind of had some landmarks. A kind of a knoll, like a bullnose off of a knoll, and a tree, that tree. And those were our barks. Because, man, when you start traveling, you.

[A]

Start going back around, around, you can lose them fast. And it all looks the same going.

[B]

Over a ridge and everything changes. So all of a sudden he goes, they ought to be just a little bit further ahead. And sure enough, we rolled up on them, and here's where things kind of went awry. You know, I'm running like a binoculars man, and I got a bad battery in there. So it's spitting out some. Some numbers that he don't agree with.

[A]

You got the ones with the rangefinder.

[B]

Built in and the Trinovich. And I said, hey, man, I said, man, this thing's usually dead nuts, but I know I got a dead battery. He goes, no, man, he goes, I'm at. I'm at 500. He goes, Let me see if I can get us in a little bit more. Because I was at like 670. Okay, that's a big difference.

[A]

That's a huge. That's a miss.

[B]

So anyway, you know, he ranges him at 500. He goes in, starts driving in. They start seeing us in, start getting a little antsy. We get over there. He goes, can you take A shot from here, you're at 380. I said, yeah, I'll show you, because I know where I'm at. But, you know, now in the back of my mind, my mind's saying, 460.

[A]

So, gotcha.

[B]

I'm on the buggy. I'm on a half windshield. I got my car hard off, you know, got my gun on top of that. Kind of, you know, something. Something soft to shoot off. Not something hard surface.

[A]

Yeah, Slippery.

[B]

And then I'm out. He goes, man, they're getting ready to go. They're getting ready to go. And I said, man, can you stick my backpack underneath my right arm? He goes, yeah. He comes over, sticks the backpack. Now I'm solid, right? When I touched off those deer hauled ass.

[A]

That no slap.

[B]

Where's the slap? You know, you want the cow poo.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

And we didn't get that in them damn deer hauled ass. And I'm sitting there thinking, it's sick. End of the world. I said, God dang it, man. I said, because I wasn't sure on my dope. I was sure with what I knew with you, right? But now.

[A]

So my guess is you were holding differently than I'm holding differently.

[B]

Because I got two different ranges and I didn't know where to root. I shot over them. So I said, all right, dude. We went over to where we thought they were, and we're looking up at a mountain. And I said, God dang, man. Well, I guess I blew it. And what do you do, dude? You've been chasing around for three days, and you're beaten up by the wind, cold. It started raining, and I'll be damned. And he's about to reach for the key, start that buggy up. I look up at that mountain. I said, God damn, there they are.

[A]

Yeah, we're not leaving.

[B]

They're on top of that ridge. Skylighted.

[A]

No shit they're skylighted.

[B]

I said, God dang, there they are, man. There they are. So we bust out the glass, and I'm looking, all right, there they are. There's the buck that I was shooting at, and there's that younger buck. And I can take either one, but I want the old buck. And I said, I can't shoot for a while. Does was covered up, you know, he had two in front of him facing each way. And I said, I got to wait for those does to clear. I said, I won't take a shot. And does clear it out. And he goes, man, he goes, steve, that's pretty clear. I said, I Don't like the shot. They got to clear more. You know, when it's a 450 yard shot.

[A]

Yeah. Okay, so you're at that 450.

[B]

Yeah. He's using his Swarovski dedicated rangefinder. You know, my batteries are bad, but this is a 450 yard shot. So, dude, I go down four crosshairs. Hold up just a little hair, dude. First round touched off. It was a misfire. I just hit my trigger just because I was moving around. Cow over them. They're still there. God damn it. He goes, give me your glove. I'd take my right hand glove off. And he put it underneath my stock on the back. I was shooting off the back of the glove box on a buggy.

[A]

Yeah, Gotcha.

[B]

So now I got a good rest. I'm standing, got legs spread really solid. And right when I touched that second round, that's when they left.

[A]

Nice. Oh, it's a good feeling, man.

[B]

I spun him. And so I said, God damn, he's down. Or, you know, he turned and went out of sight. Rest of the deer ran off. And I said, shit, there ain't no road up there. I said, what's the next step? Because it's the first time I've been in a situation that first year we drove up on two years ago. So now all of a sudden, there ain't no road up there. It goes, okay, you walk up the face of the mountain. I'll go back around the other side, see if there's a road up there, man. Dude, I'm at sea level in Texas and Cali.

[A]

You're a better part of 7,000 plus up there.

[B]

No, no, I think. I don't think we're at 7,000.

[A]

You weren't high there.

[B]

Probably about what we are here, about four or five.

[A]

Yeah. Okay, so you weren't. You weren't at the top.

[B]

We were on top.

[A]

Gotcha.

[B]

We were on bottom. And so I start walking up that mountain. I'm like, dude, my. My fucking heart's beating, my chest, I'm wheezing. I'm like, God dang, I got to get up to top of the mountain to find this deer. And I'm lucky because I took the shot at 12:15. So we got a lot of light.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But the weather's coming in.

[A]

Ain't that funny, though. 12:15. My last two buck hunts, one o' clock in the afternoon. Two o' clock afternoon. So I'm still skeptical on this get up at 4 in the morning thing.

[B]

Well, the only reason we get up before in the morning was to get.

[A]

You gotta haul out, you gotta get.

[B]

All the way out there, get out there. Because the time you get out there, get off your trailer, get out there.

[A]

Then it's yeah, absolutely.

[B]

So now we get up there and I'm looking around, dude, and that sagebrush up there, it's foot and a half, you know, two feet tall. Okay. If a deer is going to be laying on the side, in theory, and it's racks on the side of.

[A]

You can't you see it till you're.

[B]

On it and you're like looking for a needle in a haystack. And I went to the point at which, you know, I thought they were standing, you know, like, you know, south Texas looking for, looking for some blood, something. And nothing. Nothing. My brother in law comes walking up there. He goes, man, he goes, that you hit that deer. But it's, it's. We need to find it and we need to finish it. And he goes, you glass all this and walk down the side of this ridge and I'll go get the buggy and come back and help you out. He goes back down that buggy and he goes, you know what? This is why he's so smart. This is why he's good at what he does. He goes, there's no way that deer's too smart. He didn't leave there. And so I think what that deer did, when I got up there and started stomping around, I think I jumped him. And so I'm way down there doing what he told me to do and I hear someone yell behind me. And you got to understand it's a 750 square mile unit. And there ain't nobody else out there. It's not hunting like in south Texas. You might hear your neighbor some way by and ask for help. Dude, you're there and if you, if you fuck up, if you panic, it can be a while. Wreck something. If you do something stupid, you're on.

[A]

Your gonna be a while, you.

[B]

Yeah. So I yell some more, hey, I turned around, it's my brother in law back on that mountain giving me the wave.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Giving me the wave. There's got to be something up there, right? He ain't telling me to walk back up this mountain.

[A]

Cardio.

[B]

Yeah. So man, I hung back up that mountain and I said, what's up? He goes, I found him. He's. I said, where is he? He goes, he's 500 miles away in a pile of sagebrush. And I said, are you ribbing me? He goes, no, he goes, we gotta go finish this.

[A]

500 miles, 500 yards.

[B]

Okay, sorry. 500 yards. So we get back up there and he goes, okay, he's 50 yards away. He goes, look right through that tea leave or whatever. Some got a wild plan out there. I said, man, I said, I ain't seeing nothing.

[A]

Those meal years or whatever.

[B]

Yeah, I ain't seen nothing. He goes, you don't see his antlers up here? I said, no. He goes, okay, take two steps forward. He's completely white. He's a really old buck. When you see him, he's going to jump. You need to finish him.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And sure enough, dude, you know, I took two steps and boy, you know, I dialed my scope down to four and a half.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

I got wild.

[A]

You get all that?

[B]

So all of a sudden, took two steps forward. There he is, guns off safety, whammy. Finished the deal. That old buck was so smart, so savvy, so tough. He completely earned my respect. I didn't know being new to mule deer, he took that first shot. I made a good shot at the angle and the way when he left at 450 yards with wind and to connect like that. But dude, when I was walking down there searching that brush, it ain't. You feel like a pile of shit.

[A]

Because Amen, dude.

[B]

You got a. You got an animal in harm's way, but the deal ain't done. And I don't like that's not me. You got to find that deer.

[A]

I did the same thing in Texas.

[B]

You got to seal the deal because you got to be responsible.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

And so anyway, we. We finished the deal and that he had one side busted up, but that. That was the most fun hunt I've ever been on in my life. And that deer, I see that big 175 right there. That's cool deer. But that deer that I just took is my favorite deer that I've ever taken. And that's how it all.

[A]

The challenge of it, the experience of it, the. The savviness of the animal. Like all that stuff really plays into to just like. Like we talked about why I did a lot of things I did. It's a. To see if I could do it. The challenge of it and the experience. Right. And he just gave you a lifelong experience you'll never forget. Man. Wasn't the biggest deer you've ever shot.

[B]

No.

[A]

You know, but absolutely challenging. Especially after how many days, you know, not seeing anything, man. It's.

[B]

And it really also could play, you know, change, you know, like down in South Texas, we're trying to grow big whitetails and it's more managing and it's, it's just a whole different ball game. This one really put perspective. Like you said when you were going for that dandy buck, but you came across a buck that you couldn't pass up, you know, you don't know if that, you know that dandy is not a gimme. It's not a layup. It's not guarantee.

[A]

Nope.

[B]

And so if you see something I, I like shooting those old deer.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Just because I don't want to shoot a young deer. I like the old deer when those.

[A]

Young ones are going to keep the herd along.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And those old deer, a lot of times are like, like you said, man, they're savvy, man, they're, they're smart. They're old for a reason.

[B]

He, he'd avoided hunters for so many years and then had positioned himself over in that sagebrush. Our sage brush was about six foot tall.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Over there. Absolutely disappeared. And had we not got him, he would have bled out.

[A]

Yeah, he'd have died right there.

[B]

He didn't deserve that. But for my brother in law to have the uncanny instincts and savvy to figure out, you know what, that buck stayed right there, dude, when he come upon him, he's like, God damn. Is that a different. No, that's the deer. That's when he backed out, didn't spook. The deer came and got me, sealed the deal and it was a hunt of a lifetime.

[A]

Dude, that's awesome. Congrats on that, man.

[B]

Called the adventure brigitte. I said, okay, how are we going to do this? Well, you got a belt? I said, nope, I got suspenders on my long pants. He took his belt off and he goes, wrap his belt around that, them horns and drag him down the face of that mountain. I'll go back and get the buggy. He said, the buggy's almost turned over. It's between two rocks, but I think I can get it out by myself. I said, man, you want me to help you with the buggy? He goes, no, I was planning on you helping me, but you've got to do this. I've go get, got to get the buggy. I said, well, dude, don't turn the buggy over.

[A]

Yeah, you know we need that.

[B]

Yeah, we need that and I don't need you.

[A]

There's a lot of mileage to go.

[B]

And so anyway, dude, I've never drug a buck down a mountain before with a belt loop. Down around his horns.

[A]

They get a little heavy, but yeah. And if you get on certain angles, their ass go in front of their horns like they'll, they'll pass you up.

[B]

Oh, well, that's what he said. He goes, dude, don't let this thing get a ton of momentum and gore you. If he starts going, you get out of his way. And so I wrapped that thing around his horns and started dragging him down. And boy, my brother in law come busting through that sage brush. I knew I needed to get him down about 3, 350 yards. And boy, I was never so happy to see that God dang buggy roll up. And he was just running over a big shit. And we loaded him in the back and then we drove 25 miles back to when you ride out there towards those skedaddle mountains and then black mountains over here, you're basically running right up the California border. You're in Cal until you take this right and you come back out because you're in Nevada. And then you go back down the California line and you take that second right, and that's where we were. So it was 25 miles back to where we loaded. And when we got there, we drove the buggy up on the trailer. There was a pile of 15 mule deer with two really good bucks right there.

[A]

Of course they were.

[B]

But they're in California.

[A]

Oh yeah. And they know it.

[B]

Yeah, they're in California. And here's the thing about unit 015 and I'll stop the podcast. I want to talk to you about what you're doing now. But the thing about Unit 015 is it doesn't really hold those mule deer because it's a migration unit. So when the shit gets really bad in California, that's when they'll migrate over because there's food and water for them. And then when summer hits because everything dries up and ain't no food for them, that's when they go back to California.

[A]

I did not know that.

[B]

Well, that's what I've come to understand. So the deer really hadn't migrated in yet. And that's why we hadn't hardly seen.

[A]

Interesting, interesting. And they probably moved right through the. I think it's 013 right down there next to it too. That's all along. It's just a little bit further south than 015, where we actually got Annelisa's antelope there. But like we were like three miles from the California border when we made our shot. Yeah, it's like that it must be just that thoroughfare through there then between like Alturas and Gerlock and. Or Gerlock obviously is a little further in. But yeah, that whole range, that's interesting. I didn't know that but I think.

[B]

I think yeah we could. My brother's got a cabin in Gerlock. I think that also encompasses part of that unit.

[A]

But anyway it's big or it's small comparatively speaking of some of the stuff you get out in the central Nevada or in the northeast corner where they're doing a lot of the big elk hunts and stuff. But yeah, relatively speaking 750 square miles is not big.

[B]

No it's not.

[A]

And that's basically I think my, the unit I hunted here in the pine nuts was about that said about 700.

[B]

Yeah, well let's put it like this. I mean there's bigger units, a lot bigger. There's 2500 mile square mile units in here. But when you're talking about 750 square miles, are you going to come right that hill?

[A]

Hell no.

[B]

And you get out there and you get out in all those mountain ranges and my brother in law knows every damn mountain range there. He's sitting there naming them all for me and I'm still trying to remember all of them but I'm still figuring.

[A]

Out if I'm looking north or south right now.

[B]

Well you know that's like you told me, you know, I think you told me all the mountain systems run north.

[A]

South, most of most all of them. Yeah, you'll get some of the rubies will start to curve but yeah is in general and definitely the Sierra Nevada you're going to be running north helped.

[B]

Me out a whole lot because those units I figured out, you know, last two years out in oh three, four I'd kind of get and turned around. And this year after really paying attention just from being out in the mountains a lot more than I have been, I'm starting to get acclimated. Like I tell everybody down in south Texas brush country. I know in out this at whatever but now I'm finally starting to get just a little bit more at home just being out there in those mountain ranges and being able to identify stuff because there ain't a more lonely suck ass feeling in the world when you get out there and you get lost. You don't get lost because I'm guessing in doing ranger training, army training, what did they teach y' all as far as navigation?

[A]

There was actually a lot of land navigation and it turned out that that Was something I was actually pretty good at. I just had a knack for it. So, like, even so, for example, you get out there and you do land nav. We call it land nav courses. They'll set out points, you know, with a number or a letter and a number. And you got to move from this point to that point. And it's, you know, middle of night, and you're using a compass, you know, and you can't see anything. And then you've got to move around water. So you use all these different techniques to get to that point. You got to pass this stuff, right? It's important. Especially when the mission in my day was, you know, raids, ambushes, airfield seizures. So you'd get dropped off miles away, you know, on this side of the hills, and you got to move through them in the middle of the night to get to where you're going to do your hit. You better find it, right? And then when I went to Delta selection, not the entire thing, but the majority of Delta selection is land navigation by yourself. Like, you could be there with me, but it's on you. You and I can't collaborate on this movement, right? And his miles and this, and then up over a mountain back this way, and it's a month. Delta selection was a month of that land navigation. There's some other stuff into it I won't get into, but the premise is I was pretty damn good at that stuff and cracking the code on how to move through that terrain efficiently and keep my bearing. The last one I did, you know, was 40 miles. 40 miles in the middle of the night. It took me 15 and a half hours to do it, which I was like three hours faster than the next dude. I mean, I was. But it's 40 freaking miles through the mountains with a rucksack on your back, £60 on your back. I went through 13 map sheets. Like, different map, you know, keep going, different map. And you better not get lost or you're not making it, right? So, you know, 15 and a half hours of me moving through 40 miles of terrain and ending up where I was supposed to be. You know, there's checkpoints along the way, but, man, the fog set in. The first thing. I had a couple little snafus there where I'm like, damn, I'm. I'm pretty confused right now which way is which, because I'm just socked in the. The mountain laurels this tall, and I'm far. Finally, I'm like, I know there's a road this way, and I'M like, crawling over mountain laurels. It took me a while, but I'm like, I will find this point, and I know where I'm at. Right? So that's another one of those things. Right.

[B]

But, dude, when you get out there. And that's why when you get out there, like you said, you had a couple of your buddies and analysts with you and a couple of buggies, but you got some backup.

[A]

Yeah, if.

[B]

I mean, you're one of those guys, ain't gonna get into a problem anyway. But, dude, me out there by myself, I told my wife, I said, I'm real happy hunting with Mitch, because, you know, I don't need to be out there, you know, by myself with all the things that you could encounter at this stage of my life. But I. You know, I'm fixing to start studying navigation because just. I just consider it an imperative skill that you need out there, because sometimes just. Just when I'm riding my buggies. Yeah, I'm using this one marker behind me, which, you know, which I'm speaking of. But all of a sudden, you get a couple of ridges over.

[A]

You can't see that marker anymore.

[B]

It's like. Like, hey, that would. That theory just went out the wind. So that's one thing that I'm gonna bring myself up to speed on. But, you know, even when I'm just, you know, just riding buggies out there, a lot of my buddies will say, dude, you got to ride by yourself.

[A]

Yeah, that's the thing, man. Yeah, you roll it over, freaking blow a tire like it's something, man.

[B]

Transmission or, you know, knock an a arm off or anything can happen.

[A]

Yeah, it's rough country, and it shouldn't prevent you from doing it by yourself. But there's something to be said for having a partner, especially the hunting side, man. I could think about that. Like, I don't know many people anymore that literally hunt alone. And for a couple reasons. One, that meat gets heavy. We're getting older. If there is something that. If there is an incident or an accident or something, you have somebody that they're the two collaborate with and say, hey, either you stay here and I'll go get help, or, you know, hey, where the hell are we? Help me pick the side of this buggy up something else to help that situation. So I don't. I don't recall last time I've hunted alone simply for the fact that I want to share the experience with somebody. And it is a safety thing. At some point, it becomes a safety thing to have help with you.

[B]

Yeah. You know, as we wrap up, I want you to tell folks where they can find you and about your shooting classes and everything that you're involved in. You know, I shared a story out of my life talking about hunting. It's something I've done my whole life. I don't apologize for it. I'm proud of it. I've been doing it since I was a kid. Man and women have been hunting since the dawn of time. Why stop now if you don't like it? If you didn't like the story, maybe you turned it off. But I don't need you to send me an email or jump on my Instagram account and send me a bunch.

[A]

Of hate because there is a thing called delete button.

[B]

Yeah, you do you. I'm doing me. I. I'm just sharing the story of one of the best times I've ever had in my life. I want to thank Jim Irwin for joining me here on the show today. We've been wanting to talk together, wanting to go shooting together and riding together. But what do you got coming up next just as far as teaching your classes and anything else that you'd like to talk about?

[A]

Well, first of all, thanks for sharing that story, Steve, because you know, I've talked before about that and that was actually something you and I had talked about where you were saying, I don't know if I want to share that side of me and my story because there is a lot of haters out there. So good on you for standing your ground and sharing a story that I guarantee a majority of your followers are going to dig. I know I did. Thanks for having me on on that. You can find me at, on Instagram at Jim, the Kraken one. That's the number one on Facebook. It's the same thing. Jim the Kraken one. And my website is Kraken approved. That's a whole nother story getting into how I got that call sign, but Kraken approved. K R-A K E N approved dot com. Got the training tab on there where I'm doing my pist car, being in long range classes. Next one's actually going to be in Bakersfield January 4th and 5th down there at Five Dogs training. Probably going to throw a CCW class together here pretty soon. But I love to shoot, love to teach and share what I've learned over the past 30 years. And if you're interested in that kind of stuff, give me a shout and I'll help you out.

[B]

All right, everybody, give me the go home cues. I'm going to wrap up his podcast and ride off in the sunset. Before I do that, want to thank my buddy Jim Irwin the Kraken for coming over and shooting a breeze with me. Talking about hunting and shooting and jumping out of helicopters and airplanes. Badass dude and super knowledgeable at what he does. If you can catch one of his shooting lessons or some of his training sessions he does. He also does CCW stuff. You can find no finer human being than Jim the Kraken Irwin. Enjoy the Jim and I'll see you next time I get back here to Nevada. You want to reach me here on the podcast, send an email to questionsteveaustinshow.com hey man, I'm proud to announce that Broken School IPA from El Segundo Brewing Company and myself will be hitting the shelves in the Bay Area and Sacramento this week, so be on the lookout. Go to the El Segundo Brewing Company interactive website and check out where you can buy Broken Skull IPA at a location near you. This week, coming to the Bay Area and Sacramento area and also still hitting the East Coast, New Jersey, New York and Boston, Massachusetts area. Check the interactive map and for 2020 we're looking at coming to six or eight more states. The beer has been a tremendous success and I thank you very much for all of your support that you've shown us. Again, check out the website el segundobrewing.com to find out where we're at so you can check out the best IPA in America and that's the bottom line. Amen. Christmas is just a few days away. King of Attitude shirts are available at Prorest Store and also Broken skull Ranch apparel prowrestlingtees.com SteveAustin for those shirts. What a great stock and stuffer. If you're looking to either get the cold steel Broken Skull knife or the working man's knife, go to my Amazon store, Amazon.com shopsteveaustin they got the best price on both knives. Please support our sponsors because they support us. If you need more info, check out the show description to this episode for details. Folks, if you find me out in the woods, I'll proudly be riding a Kawasaki. And that's the bottom line. Hey, I know that everybody out there is not a hunter or you're not into hunting. I am. It's what I do. Save the hate, save the emails. Don't waste your time or mine because I won't read them. Folks, until next time, my name is Steve Austin and I will catch your ass down the Road.

[A]

This has been a Podcast one production. Download new episodes of the Steve Austin show every [e-mail] that's podcastone.com.

[B]

This November.

[A]

Action is free on Pluto TV.

[B]

Go on the run with Jack Reacher. Every suspect was a train killer. Then buckle up for Drive.

[A]

World War Z. Every human being we save is one less fight and Charlie's Angels.

[B]

Damn, I hate to fly.

[A]

Launch into Sci Fi Adventure with the Fifth Element and laugh through the mayhem in Tropic Thunder.

[B]

What is going on here?

[A]

All the thrills, all for free. Pluto TV Stream now pay Never.