Steve Austin (26:18)
Swigga Beer. I want to tell you about my mule deer hunt. I got catch coming up. So as I'm recording the podcast right now, it's Sunday evening, tomorrow morning, yesterday, as you listen to this podcast, I will have left and gone to the Broken Skull Ranch in Nevada. We're going to get there on Monday. I think my mule deer hunt is on the 11th. So as soon as I get in, I'll unpack and I'll get all my shit ready and then I'll go sight in my deer rifle. Now, every single year or every single time you hunt, you've got to make sure your rifle is dialed in. Last time we was at the Broken Skull Ranch, I tried to load up all my shit. I put everything in my pickup truck, my targets, my spot and scope, my bags of lead pellets, my rest, my ammunition, everything that I needed. Picked up my buddy Jim Irwin, went down to the shooting range. Man, I figured that whole shooting range was just going to be completely empty. It was the middle of the week, why would anybody else be there? The weather wasn't that great. Who's going to be shooting? We roll up, there ain't a damn spot on a table nowhere. And there's finally one little spot clears up and you've got guys out there. There's two different ranges. There's a pistol range and then rifle range is right next door. And so the guys at the pistol range are usually shooting about 10 yards, 20 yards, some out, you know, 40 or whatever. But they' shooting paper targets, standing there, working on technique and draws and shooting over there on the rifle side of things, you've got anything and everything from like an AR15 to long bolt guns to people shooting this long range stuff. But the range only goes to 300 yards. But 300 yards is long enough to dial in a gun because I want my 0 at 100, but then I want to see where I'm at at 300 just so I kind of get my dope on my scope so I know what I'm shooting. So if I make a shot, I want to connect. We roll up over there, man, I said, God dang, Jim, I said, man, I had a bad experience at a shooting range one time. It wasn't a bad experience. It's just when you're shooting at a shooting range and there's a bunch of people there because I've been to this range a bunch of times when there's like, you know, two, three, four people there and you're all on the same page and there's mutual respect and you, everybody give you, you know, give everybody a heads up and you know, when it's time to stop the shooting and go down and check targets, you call cold range. Everybody, you know, opens the bolt to the gun, leaves it open, empties it, leaves it on the table. Everybody goes downrange to check their stuff, okay? Everybody comes back, everybody's cool, hot range, everybody's shooting, everybody's on the same line, everybody's shooting downrange. Ain't no range master out there. There's about, there's at least 15 guys shooting rifles down there. When you get down there and you're checking your target and you're 2, 300 yards or if you're 50 or 100 yards downrange and all of a sudden you think, hey man, someone's going to have a bad day. And all of a sudden, you know, if they wanted to, you would become a target. So I'm real picky about where I shoot when I shoot. Most of the times I'll go out with my buddy Jim and we have access to this range which is basically out in the middle of the desert. We got, he has target steel plates set up from 100 yards all the way out to 700 yards. And so, man, you talk about the ultimate shooting experience. Just get there, get in your sandbag, on a table, in a chair, perfect rest. And then he's telling you which target to shoot, when to shoot, and that's the best way to get your gun dialed in. It's a lot of fun shooting targets. And then because you're the only one there and you're shooting steel plates, you don't need to go downrange and no one is ever behind you. So that's the way I prefer to do it. But because we're in a hurry, we didn't get a chance to do that. So I'm going to take my ass out to the shooting range and make sure that I get my gun dialed in. Because if I get a shot this year, I'm going to make sure that my gun is dialed in. Really interesting. A couple years ago I was hunting with my brother in law and we had just sold the Broken Skull Ranch and this is going to be my first time to go out there and hunt mule deer. Hell, I've always hunted white tailed deer in South Texas and hunting whitetail deer in south Texas, especially if you're in a hyphens place, it's a whole different ball game because you know, you're not shooting any long shots. You're basically trying to manage your population. You can take a trophy, you can do this, that or whatever. But you know, it's not like you're taking long shots because you don't need to. But it's a whole different experience. You know, I found that out, you know, my first time when I went mule deer hunting with my brother in law a couple of years. I found that out when I went on my first mule deer hunt with my brother in law a couple years ago. And all of a sudden we pulled a buggy over and him and his buddy get their tripods out there with their spotting scopes and they sit back in these little chairs and they start looking. And I'm just kind of walking around with my thumb up my ass and my gun and I said, hey man, I said, what exactly are we doing? And they said, well, we're looking anywhere from three to five miles out. Why don't you look, you know, a thousand yards in? And I'm thinking, how is this going to work out there? In Nevada you're hunting open country, you're not hunting over bait. You are hunting in the wild in Texas and in some states you are allowed to hunt under bait. Well, really, when you look at, when you look at it for what it is, it's kind of cheating because if you're in the brush country of south Texas, you're trying to draw the deer out of the brush using bait, the bait being the corn. It is what it is, it's legal. So I can't say that it ain't fair. But if you're talking about fair chase, you know, it ain't really fair. So anyway, I'm thinking, holy fuck, this is going to be a real different experience. And so we start glass. And here's the thing. When you're hunting mule deer, just because of the way they operate, because of their terrain, because of their nature and how smart they are, it seems like the whitetail has a better nose. The whitetail is more aggressive. But that damn mule deer, they are the masters of knowing how to hide. So when you pull over to a spot to glass, that means get out your binoculars or your spotting scope or whatever, you're looking at an area. I mean, that goes on forever. And so I'm just thinking, okay, I'm looking for a deer just to pop out or just see one Standing there broadside, it don't happen like that. The mule deer has a white ass. Now the whitetail deer has a white tail on the back side of his tail. When it flashes it up, that's when it turns white but normal to keep it down. Now the mule deer just kind of has a white circular ass. So it's something that is easy to spot if you can spot it amongst all the brush and the rocks and stuff like that. But, but it's, it's a marker that you're looking for. You're also looking for the tip of a horn, an antler against a roc or sticking out from behind a brush or a sage brush. Or you're looking for like a horizontal line of a back. You're looking for anything. You're looking for a nose. You have to study the brush, you have to study the terrain. You just can't glance and gloss over it. You can't pick anything out like that. It's very intensive. And you almost, well, you do, you have to train your eyes to look for these small details. That first year that I mule deer hunter with my brother in law, I was like, God damn, this is so much different than hunting the brush country of south Texas. To a degree, you're looking for the same lions in south Texas, but you're really trying to draw them out of the brush. So you see them right there in front of a feeder. If you're looking for them in the brush. Yeah, you can see a horn, you can see an eye, you can see part of a tail. But you're not going to make that shot because they're deep in the brush. You're trying to draw them out in the open. So it really takes a trained eye to look for these details. We'd be riding around in the buggy, I mean just with a naked eye. And one of my brother in law's buddies would say, hey Mitch, stop the buggy up ahead about two miles on the left. Sure enough, I'm looking, I'm looking, I don't see shit. I pick up my binoculars and there they are, antelope everywhere. And these guys saw them with a naked eye. Or you're driving along, driving along. Mitch, Mitch, Mitch. Right over there to the right, it's a bunch of bighorn sheep. And when you pick up your damn binoculars, it looks like a bunch of ants walking around. And sure enough, they're bighorn sheep or looking for mule deer or sometimes you'll spot antelope. These guys have been doing this so long their eyes are Trained to look for these kind of things. It's unbelievable. Anyway, to tell you about the hunt, you know, we was driving along and all of a sudden Royce and back says, hey man, Mitch, it's a big ass buck over on the left. Mitch says, God damn, Steve, get your gun, man. I un bungee corded my gun, got it out of the case. Anyway, the shot I made was, I think it was 164 or 184 yards. I ranged him real quick. He told me to shoot and I did. I was expecting, because of the way the big country is over there, I was expecting to make anywhere between a 3 and 500 yard shot. And that deer ended up scoring 175. Now there's bigger deer out there, but that's a damn good deer. And so anyway, the next year we went and on the first day of a five day hunt, I passed on a 150 class buck. That's a pretty good deer. Especially when you're out there in the wild country and you're in a particular unit and you don't know how good that unit is. And maybe you've scouted it it, maybe you haven't. I didn't scout it because I didn't have the time to get out there and scout it. So I passed on that buck thinking, because that one buck that I ended up taking on the first day of my hunt, because we rolled up on him because he was in the rut with eight does and was really stupid because testosterone was ruling his brain. I figured, hey, mule deer hunting is easy. Horseshit. It ain't easy. Sometimes things happen and you luck up on one or you see one and that's all great bait. But easy it is not. They know how to hide. So when I passed on that 150, we hunted for four more days and I didn't see shit. We saw a bunch of does. But at the end of the day or at the end of the hunt, I got skunked. So this time I go into this hunt with the knowledge of, okay, we lucked up on a bucking rut and he was a good one and I took him. Next year I passed on about a 150 class buck. A good buck. I would have liked a better buck, but I passed and I got skunked. This year I don't want to get skunked. So the decision making process should be very interesting to say the least. And it's also interesting about this. When you're out there and if you're glassing three to five miles out or you see something one to two miles out. I'm not throwing out that, discounting that yardage or that distance. Whatever you see, you see. But you can't make a direct approach to that animal because he's going to see you. And like if you're hunting antelope, antelope have eight power eyes. So everything they see, if you see an antelope way out there and they're looking back at you, you look eight times closer than they do looking at them. So they have the advantage. So once you make a spot on something, if that's an animal that you want to take, well then there goes all your planning and your strategy. What are we going to do to go around that mountain to come back this way and get off a shot? And can you make that shot without spooking that animal? So anyway, I'm looking forward to getting out there and I think I have 11 days. We won't hunt 11 days straight because I've got some other things to do out there and the conditions might get pretty shitty. So we'll see what happens. Here's what I do know. When I show up, I'm going to bring a bottle of Jack Daniels and I'm going to bring a bunch of Broken Skull ipa. Last year I went out to the Deer Creek ranch out there in Winnemucca, Nevada in unit 034. And I went out there with the intentions of drying out because we was fixing to film a TV show. So I was trying to start the process of getting in shape. Well, when I start getting in shape, I do not drink well. I went out there, had all my health food with me, had all my meals packed. And when you show up like that, and when you're an athlete and you're trying to be on TV and you're on a set diet, when you get back and your brother in law drinks Jack Daniels and eats Cheetos and everything or whatever and sandwiches for dinner, you're expected to have a goddamn drink. I told him, I said, mitch, I said, I'm not drinking this time. I said, I got to kind of slow it down and get back in shape. He goes, oh, bullshit, you're not going to not drink on us, are you? I said, man, I can't do it. I said, I got to get it in shape. He goes, all right, we'll see. Sure enough, me being of iron will and if I make up my mind to do something, I am going to do it. I ain't drinking. So that first night Goes by, we get back from the hunt. Understand when we get up out there, you're getting up at about 4 in the morning, you're leaving at 5. You drive about an hour, you back your buggy off the trailer and then you ride about 20, 25, 30 miles back. And then you hunt all day and you glass and you travel and you're working your ass off and you're picking through brush and you're looking at stuff. It is an all day process and it drains your ass. Then when darkness hits, you drive your way back to the trailer, put your buggy back on the trailer, drive an hour back to camp. It's 8, 8:30pm by then. So you have something, have a couple of cocktails and you take your ass to bed. Because it's a vicious cycle. We got back after that first hunt and I said, man, I said, I ain't doing it, I ain't drinking, boy. I swear to God. There was damn near mutiny on the bounty. Everybody thought I was the biggest asshole in the world because I wasn't gonna have a fucking drink with them. So since I learned my lesson, since it damn near caused a rift between myself and my brother in law, I will be taking down two bottles of Jack. Maybe I'll just take a big 1.75 liter, call it square. And I'm gonna make sure this time I go by the protocol and have a couple of drinks with my buddies because you know, he always brings his buddies out there and you gotta have those extra eyes out there to help you spot this stuff. So it will be very interesting this year. I'm looking forward to getting out there and I'm looking forward to getting in the outdoors. It's been a very different adjustment because normally beginning of November through December through the first 10 days of January, we used to spend at the Broken Skull ranch managing our deer herd, culling out all the undesirable deers and shooting one or two trophies, then going back and taking the does out that needed to be taken out by the end of the season. You know, I had personally taken, you know, anywhere between 20 and 40 deer because no one else hunted at the place. And that was my management numbers. It is so refreshing to be able to go out on an opportunity to take one animal and to be fortunate enough to draw a tag to go out into the wild and harvest an animal. I'm going for mule deer this year. This is a guide hunt with my brother in law from Nevada Hunting Services. He's the best guide in Nevada. Look him up. Look up his credentials. He's also probably one of the best trappers in the region. Well, he is. And so hopefully he's got the area scouted. We'll see if I'm successful. And I've also been able to hunt some antelope out there, and that is an interesting hunt as well. But my point is, I get a chance over the course of one year, 365 days, to take two animals. And my wife doesn't eat meat, but I do. And I eat every single thing off that mule deer and off that antelope. So hopefully I don't get skunked. We will see what happens. Hey, before I leave, I want to say thank you guys to everybody on the east coast for supporting Broken Skull ipa. Hey, I'm so excited to be out there on the East Coast. We are in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and we have a whole lot more beer coming your way. And I know we're in Oregon. We've been in Oregon for a little bit. We're shipping more over there as we speak. To my folks down there in my home state of Texas, which I miss dearly. Holy shit. I still have some property in Texas. I'm not living in Texas, but goddamn, I miss Texas. I miss the dirt roads and the senderos of South Texas, and I miss the hills and the oak trees and everything and the Hill country, and that's kind of where my stomping grounds were. I didn't get too much over to the Piney woods and East Texas, but I sure miss Texas a whole lot. I miss it so much, I'm bringing Broken Skull IPA to Texas in 2020. Texas is a hard state to sell beer in. There's a lot of hoops you got to jump through. But nonetheless, I think we'll be there in 2020, along with about six or eight other states. So I appreciate everybody for supporting the beer. I'm very proud of it, and I'm looking forward to continue to grow the beer because that's how much I think of it. I also want to thank everybody for watching the Broken Skull Sessions with the Undertaker on the WWE Network. It's a show that I'm having a lot of fun with. Bill Goldberg is my next guest. I think that will air after a pay per view in December. I don't want to drop the date because off the top of my head, I don't know what the date is, but I had a lot of fun talking with Bill. He's a very interesting guy, and he had a fantastic run. And it was cool. Just sit down and shoot the breeze with him. And that's the bottom line because I said so. And also I'm working on my new projects right now are I'm working on Blue, my 66 Chevy pickup truck. I'm working on my 74 Chevy Z28 Camaro. And you know what? I think I'm gonna put a car up for sale on the two of them. Actually, I believe I'm gonna sell my 1995 Ford Bronco. And I think I'm gonna sell my 2017 Corvette Z06. Z07 has the 07 package. It's completely loaded, and that car has 2,000 miles. My Ford Bronco is a 95. I put the automatic mirrors on. I took the manual mirrors off. I didn't like them. That vehicle has 42,000 miles. But I think I'll put them on ebay. If you're interested in either one of them, send me a message on Instagram eveaustinbsr. I'm also on Twitter teveAustin. BSR folks, coming back with a guest this coming week. Stay tuned. Appreciate you listening to the show. And that's the bottom line, because I said so. All right, everybody, give me the go home cues. Time to wrap up this podcast and ride off in sunset. But before I do, I want to thank myself for being here and drinking my beer in my studio delivering some stories to you. Hopefully you enjoyed them. And don't forget to rate and review the Steve Austin show on Apple Podcasts and tell your friends to check us out. If you want to reach me here on the podcast about my cars or about anything, someone you want me to interview, send an email to questionstevaustinshow.com Again, thanks for the support on Broken Skull IPA. El segundobruun.com Check out that website to find out where you can find it in an area near you. King of Attitude shirts would make a great Christmas present this year. You can find them@prowrestlingtease.com Steveaulston we just released four or five new designs. Broken Skull Ranch shirts are still there as well. Great stock and stuffer. Don't forget to check them out. Speaking of Christmas gifts, a pocket knife would be one of the most handiest, thoughtful, useful gifts that a person could give someone. I got two Cold steel Broken skull knife, Cold steel working man's knife at my Amazon store. Folks, when you see me in the woods, I will proudly be riding a Kawasaki. And that's the bottom line. Until next time, my name is Steve Austin and I will catch your ass down the road.
