Corey and Randy "in the ditch" | Episode 160

The Elk Talk Podcast is brought to you by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation,

ensuring the future of Elk, other wildlife, their habitat, and our hunting

heritage to become a member. Go to RMEF.ORG.

Welcome to the Elk Talk Podcast with Randy Newberg and Corey Jacobson,

presented by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

The goal is, what little you and I know about elk hunting?

We share with people. I've got an elk doing this like 120 yards away. What do I do?

First off, the thought would never cross my mind when an elk's being 120 yards away to call

anybody on a cell phone. All elk all the time, only elk. Well, it's us having conversations.

So we usually go down some rabbit holes, but if you hunt with Corey Jacobson,

you will find the landscape as full of rabbit holes. We're just going to make this up as we go.

And you look at it like, oh, that's a target rich environment, but if you're trying to single one out,

a solo target, there's much easier to go into than a big group.

We record everything. So there's no BS and no lion, no faking it with us.

Did we hit three times that? I forgot to hit the record button.

If you want to know something about elk hunting, this probably isn't podcast to listen to.

Can we give them a list of all the other podcasts where they might learn from?

Corey, how are you doing today? Well, I'm doing pretty good. How are you doing?

You know, I thought I was over the crud. I had every huboo and pox you can think of.

You know, trade choices and I laid up for a while.

And then they they brought me over to mountain tough today to start on a new course called

Always Ready 50 plus. I'm like, wait a second, folks. Two years ago, that was appropriate to say 50 plus.

Now it should say 60 plus because I'm 61. Well, the guy working out with me, Chris is 55.

So I guess they got a stick with the 50 plus. But I don't know what I picked up while I was over there.

But I'm back sneezing and blowing my nose and I'm all stuffed up. I don't know.

I am such a wimp anymore, Corey. That's what I've concluded. You know, they say the more that you

exercise your immune system, the stronger it gets. I think I'm the antithesis of that.

I think I'm just like some sort of wimpy. Some accountant is what I am.

But it just sounds to me like you're allergic to working out.

You might be on to something there. That could be. I hope I'm not because

this is going to be a 12 week course. The last one I did was a nine week course.

Like you guys are going to cramp my style with my fishing over the summer. If you're going to make

me film and do all this stuff and I'm looking at the calendar and like, man, I don't know.

We're going to get this done before hunting season. We will.

Well, you got to get it done in time to let people have 12 weeks before hunting season.

So they can get through it too. Well, here's what they're planning to do. They're planning on

releasing the first stuff really early. So then we're kind of like, we've got to finish it out

is because if they want people to start on it early in the summer and we're still in

process of recording, man, the pressure is on. So I hate that. We do that with destination

elk. We launched the first one before the whole series is done. And by the time we get to the

end of the series, it starts catching up and then we're working around the clock, trying to get

it out on time. Oh, man. So I was destination out coming along. You guys have been running episodes

now for a better part of what, six or seven weeks? Yeah. Well, about a month.

Yeah, I guess I guess six weeks. Yeah. So it's going good. We're through the first

no 10 or 11 episodes and I think we've got 16 total. So yeah, we're two thirds away through

and it's been really good. There's been quite a few elk that have died and some good call-ins

and a couple good dad jokes and it's been a good series. Yeah. Yeah. I ran into Donnie at the

sheep show. He and I were hanging out at the Peaks booth. And he was soliciting dad jokes non-stop

while he was there. Donnie. How do you remember all these dad jokes? It's so funny. He was at

Hunt Expo last week or whenever that was two weeks ago and same thing. Everybody that came up wanted

to see Donnie and asking for a dad joke. That's cool. Yeah. Well, it's that time of year where there's

the only thing going on really is tag applications, trade shows and getting sick. Yeah.

And I don't know if they're in any specific order, but the trade show and then getting sick are

definitely free. I was at Hunt Expo and got home in the next day. I was like, I can feel something

deep down in my chest or in and I was taking the vitamin C and everything you could do to boost

it and it kept it away for about three or four days and then it hits. I'm still kind of like you

recovering from all the sinus junk and stuffed up. Yeah. Well, I did shot show. I did sheep show

back-to-back and then I did the Portland Northwest Pacific Sports Show and then I got home and

then I did a little show out in Northeast Montana and Glasgow Montana. It really wasn't a show. It

was a fundraiser event and got home last night actually. You don't fly to Glasgow, Montana. You

drive all seven hours. That's all right. It's a fun drive. In Montana, you get a lot of windshield

time. So audible. The book download thing. Yeah. When I was in high school, I read all of James

Phenomore Cooper's books, The Leather Stocking Tales and I started re-listing to him again. I

just finished up Deer Slayer on the way home yesterday. That's fun to think about those old books

that really formed a lot of my ideas about hunting. Deer Slayer is Daddy Bumpo is like known as

the greatest deer hunter in all of the colonies. It's a lot of other adventure besides that, but

I remember reading that book when I was about 13 or 14. I was like, why didn't my parents name me

Natti Nathaniel? I want to be a deer hunter. I don't want to be a deer slayer. Not deer hunter,

deer slayer, and I got stuck with Randall. It's a good accountant name. Yeah, there you go.

Yeah, I guess. None of that has anything to do with elk hunting really, but that's

kind of the substance of this podcast. There's a lot of things that don't have much to do with elk

and I will tell you, I don't know if the feedback you've got, but at all the shows I've been to

this year, everybody has said, please don't stop. Just keep doing the the diversions and the

rambling rabbit holes. Yeah, I told them, well, usually, you know, we kind of think we're going

down the road and then one of us hangs is it down in the ditch and occasionally we go down

through the ditch and through the barbed wire on the other side of the ditch and every once in a

while we get out in the farmer's pasture, we're looking around. We're so far from the road we started

on. We didn't even know how we got there or how to get back. So we just shut it down and

people are like, well, just keep doing that. Yeah, that's what there are several people at

Huntexpo that came up and said, it just feels like we're sitting around the campfire with you and

Randy. He's talking about whatever comes to mind. So long as they're okay with that, we can

we can do that for sure. I feel like we should give him a little bit of value once in a while, but

yeah, we probably should. We should probably let him know that the New Mexico deadline is March 19th,

huh? Oh, that is coming up. I don't think so. It's New Mexico's such a long way

to get to and I just, you know, every, I don't know, five or six years or so. I'll get on a little

kick and apply a couple times, but I just start looking at all the points I have everywhere and the

hunts that I need to be doing and I've got a kind of prioritize and I've got the push in 20 points.

Well, I have 20 points in Arizona, which results for Arizona just came out and I just got another

point, but Oregon, I'm back up to I think 12 or 13 points with chicken. A lot of these like

Oregon, I'm never going to draw any of the good units. So with 13 points, I'm looking at it going

probably better off just going in with a couple other people and drawing one of the three or four

point units instead of burning points there. Colorado's kind of the same. I'll never get one of the

good tags there again. So I need to be looking every three or four years there and so yeah, I've got some,

I mean, Montana, I guess, I think I have 13 bonus points in Montana. Wow.

Dang, you got more points and all I ever have. I won't live long enough to get, I mean, I'm 61.

Thought the me getting 20 points somewhere is pretty slim.

I mean, I'm kind of an optimist, but there is a point where optimism does not stay with, yeah,

exactly goes way outside the bounds of reality. So no, I didn't plan on drawing an Arizona when

you apply for an early rifle tag with like four points, you're probably not going to draw. Yeah.

The funny part is the number of people on my hunt talk forum and out on some of the social media

who can't believe five years in a row, I haven't drawn the early rifle tag in unit 10 in Arizona.

Well, yeah, with five points, your odds are 0.003 percent.

Why would you set your expectations so high that it would disappoint you if the one in

whatever, that would be 5,000 chance didn't happen.

It's like, I'm just saying in Idaho where we don't have points, you hear people say, I've been

putting in for 20 years and never drawn. Well, you're putting in for a tag that's 3 percent

draw. So you know, the odds are once every 33 years, those are the tree odds and for the

reality is there's somebody that drew it two or three times in the last 10 years. So they've

skewed your odds to, yeah, you got to be realistic when you're going for it. Yeah. I quite honestly,

if I would have drawn Arizona, I wouldn't have told anybody because it had been like, man, the deck

is stacked or something, get an investigation going. But no, yeah, I got applied for Wyoming.

I'll probably modify my application before the modification deadline of sometime in early May.

I usually have an idea in January that is way different by the time April and May roll around.

So yeah, but I don't know. I don't think I'm going to apply in New Mexico. Like you said, it's

it's pretty long trot. And I just, I got a lot going on and I live in a state where

if I really want to archery hunt, my archery hunting in Montana is better than my rifle hunting. So

if I'm going to try to have a lot of weeks long, yeah. If I'm going to travel out of state to hunt,

I should travel out of state to hunt meal there or to rifle hunt out, not to archery hunt out. So

I don't know. I say that and then I'll be one of those guys here at the last minute to decide

now at the hack. I don't know. Hard to pass up the opportunity to maybe draw one of those really

good tags down there. So somebody's got it caught. And if you don't put in, you don't have a chance.

So that's true. Maybe I should apply for one of the, they have some December archery outcomes.

Oh, those would be a blast.

Hold frozen crunchy ground with elk that are in their hidey holes that aren't talking. And you're

there with a bow and an arrow. That just sounds like a lot of fun to me.

So you might have just talked me into it, of course. I hope so. You talked me into a last one once and

I owe you, I owe you something. Yeah.

Well, most of those hunts are around Christmas and I already have applied my, my privileges to the

furthest extent by the time Thanksgiving comes around. So I don't know if it'd be a good idea to add

Christmas absence to the slate. If I did, she might say your Christmas packages are going to be

out on the street, Boucher, along with all your other stuff. Yeah.

I'll just send them down to New Mexico. You can open them there.

Yeah. So I don't know what I'll do in New Mexico. I don't know what I'll do in Colorado either

because after New Mexico, then it's Montana and Colorado. Yeah. I think I'll probably be

right. I always tell people don't be a point buyer. And like I mean, in Colorado, a lot of times

I end up being a point buyer because it's a true preference point system. And I can actually

predict a little bit. But with the change coming in Colorado in 2028, we saw a little bit of it

last year, we're at least with the deer or stuff. It really threw some people who've been on

the sidelines forever just buying points. They jumped in last year. And I wonder if we're going

to see a lot of that this year in 26 and then a whole lot of it in 27. I don't know. Maybe I'll

ride it out until 28 and see what happens with the adults. Yeah. Let all the high point holders

get it out of their system. I don't know. Well, I'm just there with Mule deer. I'm 20 points in

Colorado. And you know, I've drawn twice in the last five years and I keep turning it back in

and then you lose the point from that year. Yeah. I've missed out on two points, which 22 points

doesn't really get you a lot more than 20, but I'm kind of saying. I feel like I need to use those

before 20, 28 hits. Yeah. I'm pretty sure I'm drawing Nevada out. I should just hold off

on any other application. This is my first year. I'm going to apply. I've got 13 points in Nevada.

So I'm going to start applying. Yeah. You got more than I do. But I was joking. Yeah. I'm going

to draw Nevada. I Nevada Alex going to take up my whole schedule. Yeah. That hasn't happened

since 2005. I was looking though. They have units in Nevada where the bull to cow ratio is 105 to 100

means there's more bulls than cows. Yep. And they just redid tweak their

elk management plan for 2026, which if the commission approves what the biologists recommend,

it now gives the biologist opportunity in those kind of units you're talking about

to crank up tag numbers. So unfortunately most of the units only have one or two maybe

three non-resident tags. So if they crank them up, it's not going to benefit us a whole bunch.

Or if you look at it from a percentage core, if it goes from three to four,

that's a 33% increase in tags. Very true. So with your points being squared, I mean,

I don't know what the math is, but that's got to increase you by like 9x or something, right?

Oh, yeah. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It's the joke around the office here that I'm

going to draw Nevada out this year. Only the only joke bigger to that is when I say I'm going to draw

sheep this year. Oh, wow. But we've got a lot of really interesting emails lately. A lot of people

thanking us for what we've done. Some people have complained that we had a little gap there.

Exactly. Somebody stopped me out to show them Portland. Like, what do you guys do? I mean,

all you do is a podcast. You can't even get a podcast on them. Like, man, I wish all I had to do

every day was a podcast. I'd have them stacked up here 10 deep.

Well, the hard part is just getting you and I on the same page on the same schedule.

And the last several weeks has been between you. It shows and I've been traveling and

I've spent a weekend court, which was always, you know, those are always fun times, but I'd

much rather been recording podcasts the whole week. I'll tell you that. I would much rather be

playing Frogger out here on the interstate than being court for a week.

No, when I did the show in Oregon, I did these seminars about, usually about Elkone.

And one of the things I've been doing that show now for close to 10 years and Oregon has had

to really change their regulations and whether it's meal there or whether it's elk. They just

have a booming population there, kind of like you guys are starting experience in Idaho.

And so a lot of those people are now talking about hunting out a state. I mean, it used to be a rare

question about hunting out a state because they could go just by their elk tag, you know,

for Rockies in the central eastern part of the state. They could just go get an archery tag

over the counter. Well, now that a lot of that has changed, that's creating a displacement.

And it's interesting a lot of the questions I get there, but when I tell them that in Idaho,

you guys have a month-long archery season. They're like, what?

Well, they have almost a month in Oregon, so. Well, yeah, but it's not over the counter like you

guys are. Yeah, but it was. I mean, that's what was it? Three, four years ago in Oregon changed,

and yeah, it went from over the counter to a draw, which the draws for a resident are still fairly

high in those eastern states. But like you said, it caused some displacement and where the Roosevelt

hunting on the coast is still over the counter. They've really taken a hit a lot of people that,

you know, used to go to the eastern side from the coastal side or now just stay in home and a lot

of the people on the east side are going to the coast. So anytime there's a change, it's going to

create some residual effects. Yeah, you can get all the gear you need at the Go Hunt shop. Use

promo code ElkTalk to get 10% off most regularly priced items. Plus with insider, you build up store

points to use on future purchases. Go Hunt's insider service has some of the best application and

unit research tools on the market, maps, and more. You can use promo code ElkTalk to get some shop

credit when you sign up for insider at gohunt.com. The ElkTalk podcast is brought to you by Yeti.

The Yeti Rambler Drinkwear collection has something for everyone. My favorite are their coffee cups,

but they also have options for water, wine, and beer. Plus they come in a wide selection of colors.

Every piece of Rambler drinkwear is made with rust resistant and puncture resistant kitchen

grade stainless steel. This helps keep cold drinks cold and hot drinks hot. See more at Yeti.com.

Yeah, so I told them all, I'm like, you know, if you guys are going to move, just

stop an Idaho, don't make it to Montana. That's what you said when Oregon is growing,

I'm like, it can't be growing. It seems like everybody from there is coming to Idaho and Montana.

So yeah, and then, you know, people are asking me like, well, what's Montana season dates? I

talked to them. I kind of mumble and mush mouth. When I tell them that you get on the same tag

for your six weeks of archery, you also get five weeks of rifle and 10 days of muzzle loader.

They turn up their hearing aids like I couldn't have heard that probably. Did you say number?

Yeah. And so yeah, but for me, it's always helpful to go to these other states because there's

a lot of people from Washington come to that show and then go into the sheep show in Nevada and

and shows that do in other places. You really come to understand how

how difficult it is for some of them to have a predictable elk hunt every year. Yeah.

And it's gotten harder. You know, we used to, you and I would talk four or five years ago.

It was still possible to have an elk guaranteed elk tag every year. Yeah.

And now that Colorado's gone to draw Eastern Oregon's gone to a draw, Idaho's a draw for non-residents.

I mean, there are over the counter opportunities in a few states for non-residents, but man,

they're not. They're not fun hunts. Yeah. Yeah. And I did actually when Marcus filled in the other day

for you, I'd pulled up the population growth of the Rocky Mountain States. Yeah.

Some of the highest percentage and even in terms of true numbers of population growth has

happened in the elk and mailed their states to the west. Yep. The three lowest in terms of

percentage population growth. Montana was lowest. Next to just slightly above Montana was Wyoming.

And not too far above Wyoming was Idaho. And I don't know. Is there a correlation

that those states haven't grown nearly as fast as others that we still have over the counter

general tags for residents? Yeah. I don't know. Well, and I think, you know, are you talking

actual numbers or percentage? Because Idaho, I think. Yeah. Idaho's in, it was in the top three

for growth in the last six years or something. Oh, right. Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you the

measurement period. It was my lifetime. Oh, folks. From the year I was born until the last data I had,

I think was 2024 was the last census data I could find. So yeah, you guys had grown 260

percent over my lifetime. Yeah. And Montana was like 140 percent over my lifetime. And I think

Wyoming had grown 170 percent over my lifetime. Which is why only is, I mean, I would love to live in

Wyoming just for the resident hunting opportunities. But oh, yeah, Wyoming is not a fun place to live.

It's not for the timid souls. Yeah. But Colorado, off the chart's population growth, Oregon,

off the chart's population growth, Nevada was Nevada and Arizona were neck and neck for the

greatest amount of population growth over my lifetime. I think Nevada won and then followed by

Arizona, then Utah. And so the reality of that is as those states, I mean, I think Montana, Idaho

and Wyoming, probably when it comes to elk hunting, can look in the out the window at their neighboring

states to the southwest and see what someday is going to happen as our population growth does what

theirs did in the 80s and 90s. Yeah. And the downside of that is, you know, someday,

Idaho is going to say we're not giving away 12,000 non-resident elk tags anymore. That's just too

many for the amount of resident demand we have. And Wyoming's going to say we're not giving away 8,000

anymore in Montana. It's going to say we're not giving away 17,000 anymore, just because of

resident population growth. That's just, I don't know if it'll be in my lifetime if those states will

grow that much, but that's what has happened in all the other states that have really had to

cinch down season lengths. Choose your weapon. Every hunt is a draw and cut the non-resident

percentage. I mean, that's what New Mexico has done. It's Arizona's always been that 10 percent

Oregon did that. So I don't want to be a pessimist, but the reality of it is, and that's,

you know, it comes down to states try to give non-residents some opportunity.

Right. But if it comes down to choosing between cutting opportunity for a non-resident or a resident,

they're going to cut the non-resident. And it's going to eventually hit the residents too. And I

think that's a hard part is, you know, we're trying to hold on, but there's going to come a day

where Idaho's going to grow to the point where resident hunting opportunity is going to have to be

limited for the most part. Either that, or you're going to have to accept 5 percent success rates

and really hard hunting because the numbers are down so much. And we're just a delicate balancer

of trying to keep opportunity and quality and doing all of that that we just, you can't keep up with

as population grows. Yeah. Yeah. So I hope that I'm dead by the time that happens in Montana.

Not that I'm wishing or early demise upon myself, but I remember the first time I bought an outkagan

enough. I've said this before. I apologize, but I came home. I was so excited that I bought

an outkagan over the counter, right? I'd reached my residency period because I moved here in

in the late summer. So I didn't have my, I think it was six months at the time. I don't know what

it is now. I didn't have my residency in 1991, which was a banner year got 35 inches of snow on

Halloween. There were people shooting out in the ditch along the interstate. I'm like, well,

this is going to be fun. So the next year I come home. I am so excited. I bought my entire

sportsman's license, which was deer, elk and bear and upland bird and fishing and everything.

Kim, she says, I hope you fill all those tags because you think it just cost you 40 or 60 dollars.

That's a $30,000 outtag, she said. I'm like, what do you mean? She's like,

remember the pay cuts we took? I was hoping she'd forget that. Yeah, never good. So, but, uh,

no, well, that's how bad I wanted to live in a place where I could buy my outkagan over the

counter. And I know. As a CPA, right, who's supposed to be given financial advice, it was the

dumbest financial decision. I would never have told one of my clients to do that. I'm sure you

broke it out and said, well, it's, it's amortized over the next 60 years. So it's really, it's not

that big of a deal. And then she probably said, well, Randy, actually, it's $30,000 each year.

Per year. Yeah. Yeah. Plus, if you compound the price of that license that the

legislature increases by 5% every 10 years and the opportunity costs and the time value of money,

about 10 years from now, that license is going to be a $50,000 license. I do.

I was smart enough to stop put the shovel down because I knew I had already dug a hole.

All right. That's when you, that wasn't Jeff Foxworthy that said, well, you know, that equates to

a couple hundred dollars a pound for elk. Me, you know, I could go to the store and buy you a $20

pound rib. But my family deserves much more than that. So that's how you get away with with

the opportunity costs there in the expense of hunting elk. I've not tried that one. I don't

know if that would fly in my marriage advice seminars. I can't imagine much does fly in your

marriage advice seminars. Well, I know there's a lot of stuff flying around. I don't know that much

of it stick. Oh, man. I really got out in the weeds and one of my sessions in Portland. No one

was asking enough questions. So I started just giving advice. Yeah. And I came up with some

other really good ones. But I got to save those for a special podcast. But it was my 37th and so

here's how I kind of got into it. I'm there doing the seminar. Importantly, I got pink dial over my

fingers because I'd been steelhead fish in a couple days before on my 37th wedding anniversary.

I might you guys want to take advice from the guy who hunts a hundred days a year,

fishes 40 to 60 days a year and can even go fishing on his 37th wedding anniversary without getting

in trouble. That's the guy you want marriage advice from. Look, and I showed him my fingers.

And I had a lot of guys nodding their head like, yeah, yeah. And I had a lot of women looking

at him, like, just shut up. I'll be long ride home for you. So question for you.

Yes, your wife fishing with you. No, you know, on your anniversary by yourself. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, I don't want to go too far into the weeds here, but maybe it's best that we don't

take marital advice from you because there might have been a reason you were fishing by yourself

on your anniversary. Wow. Let me give Mark context. Her mom is 86 and is in failing health. And

she was there taking care of her mom. Her mom lives in Eugene, Oregon. And so she said,

I got to go down and help out with my mom. And I want to spend more time with my mom. And I

hate to do that on our anniversary. I'm like, oh, honey, I get it. I mean, and I do sincerely

want her to spend as much time with her mom, you know, at her elder the age. And I said,

and besides that, Matthew said that they had a spare sheet in the boat. So it's not like I

won't have anything to do. And she said, you should go fishing with your son on our anniversary.

So that out there's the full context there. Well, and I think to give a little bit more perspective

there, I don't think it's necessarily that your marital advice is great. You just happen to have

a really good wife. There's a lot of people point that out. But when they're sitting in the crowd

and they're asking elk hunting questions, and they say, well, your wife seems to be like the most

understanding person on the planet, based on what we hear on podcasts and stuff. And they're

dumb enough to say that while their wife is sitting right next to him, I'm like, how, you think,

you just made a comparative analysis without even knowing you did that. Because when you say,

Randy, your wife and his wife sitting right there, what do you suppose she thinks?

Yeah. Oh, she's not telling what she thinks at some point. Yeah. I'm glad they usually hold off

till they leave the seminar. But yeah, you know, if you want my marital advice on the whole subject,

it's just tell your wife, thank you for whatever you're able to get away with.

Absolutely. Yeah. And I fully believe what I was told has a young man that I don't bring

anything to the table that she couldn't replace by noon tomorrow. So that's kind of, I'm fully

aware of that. So whenever I feel like she might be trying to replace me by noon tomorrow,

I straighten up. So which is probably a daily straightening for you. Yeah. Yeah.

I said, kind of is Corey. Yeah, I'll go back to your comment just a minute ago that

I married so far up in life that I didn't even know the latter went that high.

I don't know how I pulled it off, but the good burners, she never listens to my podcast.

Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately, my wife does listen. So I'll make sure she knows that I also married

the way above the ladder that I was able to climb up. Yeah. I think if most guys admit it, they

or thought about it, they'd have to admit that they did. But so are you are you practicing

at this point in the season, your your archery shooting? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think you're

going to say you're out calling and I was like, I need to because the Rocky Mountain Oak Foundation

just sent out an email and announced the dates for the World Health Calling Championship this year.

Huh. I didn't get that email. You didn't? No. You didn't get an email about their big game event

in Missoula Montana in July. Yeah, but I didn't and I wasn't invited to be a caller or anything.

I was told I got to be there, hand out daily bars or something, but I was not I was not invited

to that calling thing, which I'm quite thankful for because I mean, I get a lot of comments on my

YouTube videos, Randy, you should just shut up and not call. Okay. Thank you. You're right. You're

probably right. But yeah, that's what June, July 16 through the 19th or something, Missoula. Yeah,

they're they're the I've been told here's all the things I'm supposed to do there. I'm supposed to

lead a workout called Elk Toth, where I think someone's I think someone's getting an elk hunt out

of this. I think they're going to sign up. What? I don't know what it is. 500 people to do the work out

with Mountain Toth. And one of those 500 people are going to get an unbelievable elk hunt out of it.

And I'm supposed to MC it and do the workout. I mean, if I do the workout, I

usually can't talk if I'm working out. Well, they want me to run the course early. And then

MC it. Well, I might tip over out there. They better have a backup plan. Yeah. So by no,

it's I think it's really cool because you know, if you look at the mission of the Elk

Foundate, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is to sure ensure the future of Elk other wildlife.

It's habitat and our hunting heritage. And the last few years, the Elk Foundation has really

been leaning in hard on the other wildlife part too, because they know what they do helps Elk,

whether it's access, whether it's, you know, conservation easements that keep winter range from

being developed or whatever it is. And so they want to celebrate Elk and other wildlife. So

that's why they're calling it a big game day. And tell what the title that that was in that email.

Yep. Big game days. Yeah. Yeah. Being Missoula Montana in the third week or whatever week that is in

July. Yeah. Of course. Archery shoot up at the ski resort there. Yeah. So we're going to be doing

think outdoor classes doing something where they're selecting somebody to get to shoot with

Donnie and I up there one day. And then we'll be at the Elk calling contest a couple days. And

think they have you and I slated to do some kind of a live podcast or Q&A or something. Yeah.

I think they wanted me to give some sort of tour of the custom ice cream shops of Missoula.

Or five people are going to get the tag along with me and we're going to go sample ice cream.

That kind of contradicts you're going to you're going to do the mountain tough workout in the

morning and then going sample ice cream. Yeah. That's going to be my reward. I guess you've earned it at

that point. I would hope so. So yeah. That's going to be really cool to see how that all comes

together. They're they're trying to do more hands-on events which I think is good. You know a lot of

people they're they're they're looking for something to hands on. You know if you want to do a

real hands-on event out on rmef.org under the volunteer tab. There's all kinds of get your boots

dirty kind of projects. You know fence poles and cutting down you know pinning June. They

have those listed on the website by Steve. Yeah. Most of them. Yeah. Like I know the Montana

rendezvous. Most of them they try to do around the state rendezvous and the Montana rendezvous is in

June and I know they're going to do one van. So they they they have it they have there a lot of

their event stuff and if you have any questions get a hold of the regional director in your state

and they have a list also of all the things that that you can do to put more elk on the ground.

So elk talk is also brought to you by outdoor class. Outdoor class has everything you need to

get better at elk hunting including Corey's University of elk hunting. Designed for hunters

of all experience levels this is the most comprehensive collection of elk hunting knowledge

ever compiled. You'll also get courses on deer pronghorn wild game cooking and more.

Go to outdoor class.com to sign up now. Plus if you use code elk talk 15 you'll save 15%

on your subscription. Elk talk is brought to you by peaks equipment. If you're a public landhunter

like me you know gear has to work when you're miles from the truck and peaks makes gear that I trust

like the backcountry duo headlamp the peaks med kit backcountry elite cork trekking poles for

steep country and heavy loads and the solace sleeping bag for those cold nights. If you want to

support a brand built for public landhunners visit peaks equipment.com and use promo code elk talk

to save 10%. Very cool. But yeah yeah I'm all about more elk on the ground whether it's in my

home state or in a state I'm not a resident of because my theory is more elk and Wyoming

means more tags and more tags means that 16% non-resident quota applied to a bigger number of tags

that's good yeah I don't know me I've never heard anyone say boy I wish they issued fewer non-resident

tags I've never you hold on you've never heard anybody say I wish they issued fewer non-resident

tags well the residents do by yeah just because it's hey just about every state that's what the

residents are asking yeah I think yeah no and it just your your point for years has been

give us a bigger pie make the pie bigger and that's that's the only solution yeah we're not the

only other solution is to limit us as residents or non-resident in the number of tags that are

available the only way to increase that and to take some of that steam away is to put more elk on

the landscape yeah and that's that's why you know when it comes to putting more elk on the landscape

this resident versus non-resident divide and arguing and fighting and not helpful because

what's good for residents is more elk on the mountain what is good for non-resident is more

elk on the mountain so let's let's work on wherever we can to put more elk on the mountain

and if we aren't putting more elk on the mountain and we do get our way meaning our way is

residents and there's fewer non-residents at some point the number of residents is going to

encroach upon what's you know the capacity and now we're going to lose opportunity and there's

not going to be any going back so the only solution is to get out in front of it and more access

more elk on the mountain that's that's what we have to be doing and so you know that goes and people

ask all the time well you guys talk about you know these great ideas but what's something that

can actually be done how do you put another elk on the mountain yeah well you go out and kill one

wolf you just put 26 elk on the mountain that one yeah yeah you know you go out and bear hunt in

the spring yeah you just put however many calf elk back on the mountain that year so there's

things we can do as hunters without having to get really creative just in the management which is

part of hunting right and you know that's why I don't care if you're a pronghorn nut a meal they're

nut and elk not the national groups that represent those species do a lot of stuff across

state lines a in DC in policy stuff that just helps the habitat you know the there's really the

component of the management plans which are usually a state issue and the season settings and

the quotas but then in a lot of instances at least the places where we have access to it's the

habitat and the access which is a federal issue well you need someone who can go to DC and represent

hunters and represent elk and elk habitat and access for hunters in DC and all of this it's not like

the puzzle is just its own you know this is a piece and it's its own puzzle no there are all parts

of a much bigger puzzle so you can help in any one of those areas there's many of them as you want to

so yeah I do think it's cool that in my lifetime uh you know well yeah in my lifetime elk have

went from 550,000 to almost 1.2 million and uh in the lifetime before me if you want to measure

61 years prior to me uh they went from 25,000 to almost 500,000 so a lot of people did some heavy

lifting back in the 1900s 20s 30s 40s 50s to get them up to where they were and uh so actually I

might be wrong in that I think I think the 550,000 is when the elk foundation started in 1984 I think

when I was born the number of more just it was out it was just under 400,000 but it's one of the

few species in my lifetime that is that much higher numbers than it was before yeah and you just

look at the the reasons for that it's you know people say well hunting is is out there to dwindle

the population to deplete the population it's hunters and uh the whole management plan of hunting

that has allowed the numbers to increase in conjunction with states wanting to increase it with

organizations like the elk foundation you know there's been a lot of effort it's not been just

happenstance the elk numbers have exploded but with that hunting numbers have also exploded and

so there's a there's a balance there and we need to keep pushing the the number of elk on the

yeah and access is part of that and access has a couple components access to where the elk are

or putting elk where we already have access and I I'm open to either one I'd rather have more

elk on the places we currently have access to uh so that's that's a complicated challenge so

you know elk are smart they don't want to die a lead poisoning and so they go to these places the

more and the more the more and more in the west and I'm using Montana as the prime example because

they see it so much these ranches get bought up by people who don't allow any hunting like zero

hunting not outfitted not friends and family in order to stack up those places and everyone

yells at the game and fish well you got to figure out a way to get those elk off there

good luck and less we're going to throw out the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution

which I'm not going to uh how do you how do you solve that problem so again these aren't these aren't

easy problems to solve you know the access to elk is is a big challenge and there's a lot of things

cause of that there's but there's you look at each each state and each state has different programs

you know built around landowners and private land and all that and for as horrible as California

is for our hunting opportunity they've got a really good program for landowners and we talk you

know I mean landowner tags in a lot of state are a highly debated topic where sometimes landowners

get free tags and they can sell them for a whole bunch of money and they don't have to allow access

it'll have to do anything yeah well in California the only way you're going to get a landowner tag

there is to make habitat improvements to your land and it's not just this program that you can

just slide and say oh yeah I you know opened up the water twice more a week and there was water

flowing there you have to get approved plans approved habitat improvement plans and then you

have to implement it and then they come and inspect it and then they give you your tags and

there's been several cases where elk numbers have doubled and tripled and quadrupled on these

private places to the point where they can't handle them all in the elk are moving off on to

public land adjacent to them so I mean there's there's things that can be done to incentivize these

private landowners to get involved and to do more but I think the handouts that a lot of them are

don't give them incentive to do more it gives them an incentive to shut things down because

they're benefiting without having to do anything well I think that's probably the criticism

when it comes out as if there is some program in the incentives are there to create

the opposite effect versus improve elk numbers improve habitat improve access

you get you get some people who are not real happy about that which I speak up when that happens

also but yeah no it's a like you said you know you get a big track to private land stuck somewhere

the elk are going to naturally go there because that is a sanctuary and even if a piece of private

land allows hunting if that private land is managed for the habitat it's still going to attract more

elk and they're going to be off limits to the majority of us right and so that gets to the point

of we need better habitat on our public lands and there's you know there's we can go we've

covered that a lot and without going into all of the examples and all the problems

if you can when the time comes when an issue comes up related to habitat improvement on

public lands weigh in on that whether it's attend the meeting or go online and issue your comments

you know support the groups that are weighing in on it contact you're like the officials

because if they don't hear from us and the other side threatens to sue them or litigate them or

they just send in all kinds of comments against a habitat improvement project and the agency's

going to be like well we didn't hear from hunters so they must not be a big deal yeah kind of

become a self-fulfilling problem at that point yeah I know I'm sure people think I was a civics

teacher in my last life I had on I like I got an invite I was supposed to be in DC this week

and I like I can't do it I got a bajillion things I can't be there oh well you can come next week

I'm like no you've not seen my calendar next week I am recording podcasts and recording videos

on Monday and Tuesday and then I got to fly to Redmond Oregon on Wednesday I I wish I could be there

but yeah as long as Congress is in session nobody's property or hunting is safe

and that I mean that's on the the federal level the Washington DC level there's things going on

and just by every state right now to the yeah yeah you know I was Oregon house they've got

something coming up sit yeah yeah that was one of the reasons one of the opportunities I had when

I went to the Oregon show the Portland show is it's a great show you know I a lot of people think

that Oregon is this weird place and it's got Portland which is unique and but you get just outside

of Portland to you know my son lives in Beaverton and Hillsboro and a lot of the other places

Mount Hood it's is you know it's just normal America and so meeting there with especially the Oregon

Hunters Association they do so much with so little for Oregon hunters but the topic is I think

it's called IP28 it's it's a ballot initiative that they they're close to having enough signatures

because Oregon relative to how large its population is has a pretty low threshold of how many signatures

it takes to get it on the ballot so it's probably going to be on the ballot in November

and it pretty much gets rid of it this isn't just an anti-hunting anti-fishing anti-trapping thing

they get through it of animal husbandry ranching any of the industries that support that like

butchery I mean it's like what the hell are they gonna eat in Oregon right

yeah this person I know in Washington she posted a thing and she called it the anti-food initiative

it is it's really I mean just the just the cost that it's gonna drive up to process

yeah just your regular beef and you know any of the ranchers there they're gonna have to go out

a state to process it and then ring it back in state I mean there's a lot of residual effects that

yeah I'm just gonna make it really expensive for all of those issues I mean the person that has

eight laying hands in their backyard not under that one if you're a dog breeder not under that one

you're you're taking the rights away from those puppies that you got there it's like

where in the heck could something like this get conjured up but yeah uh what what it's gonna require

is all Oregonian showing up and just thumping this thing unfortunately the preliminary polling

is that it's not gonna pass but we heard that same thing when they had a gun control initiative

four years ago uh it looks like it's not gonna pass well so no one showed up exactly and so it

lost by like I can't remember two two and a half points whereas if a bunch of people would have

showed up and most of the people who didn't vote on that four years ago who stayed home or people

who would have voted against that ballot initiative so I've I've told Oregon Hunters Association

whatever my platforms can do to just get the word out get the vote out get the vote out

sign me up I I am and anyone who thinks well I don't live in Oregon or I don't hunt in Oregon

well look at how when these things pop up or in Oregon Washington or California how also

they end up in Colorado and then they end up in New Mexico and then they end up in Nevada

yeah this is yeah stop it up front and yeah send a message yeah I'd love to see it get

found a hundred to zero but I mean that's not gonna happen but if it was like 75 or 80%

against that'd be like I don't know it just it's there's so many things wrong with it is one

it's so arrogant to say this is my view of the world and the rest of the world is supposed to live

by this view of the world there's that level of arrogance and conceit there's also the economics

of do you know how many people are gonna be out of jobs in Oregon if you can't farm you can't

ranch you can't process food you can't fish you can't I mean commercial fishermen huh I guess

you guys are all they're supposed to go to Alaska you know that's like what and uh and then it's

just uh you know using ballot boxes to manage politics yeah yeah to manage wildlife and but this

goes way beyond wildlife uh it everybody needs to show up and if you're from out of state and you say

well I can't vote there well think about making a donation uh one of the groups and

on the hunting side the point of the Spears Orch and Hunters Association and uh yep so I know a lot

of the national groups are gonna make donations and and dump money into the media cause because

that a lot of it is just how much media can you buy right ads on TV billboards newspaper ads

places where folks are you know social media ads uh yeah it's uh all this stuff or you're you're

exactly right it's not just DC it's state issues it fortunately in Montana our legislature's not

in session this year it will be next year but uh it's crazy yeah well you look at Washington

and the issues they've had with their fishing game commission yeah and people that get appointed

to that will in Idaho right now there's a bill that they're trying to get added that would allow the

governor to appoint the director of the fishing game instead of being appointed by the fishing game

commission the way it is right now which allows things to be managed by science and not politics and

you know you look at a state like Idaho you have a good governor everything's okay you know he

probably appoints somebody that fits the bill for what we're trying to do but that's not going

to be the case in four years or in ten years or in twelve years and that's where an entire

fishing game department can get completely uprooted and appointed politically and become a political

pawn rather than a science-based management entity which is what they're supposed to be so you

know Idaho's dealing with that right now yeah I mean Montana we we made that foolish move a long

time ago where we moved the director from being uh hired by the commission to be in a governor

governor appointee and it is filled with so much politics it's insane and uh people say well

and Montana you know you guys there still seem to be following the course well there's still a lot

of things so much politics goes into it I just I hate it I don't care if you're you're left

or right you should not want politicians influencing how your science people operate

and unless it goes against what you personally believe and then your only option is to turn it

into politics and then try to use it that way and yeah so I hope you guys keep it how it is I look

at all the states if I were to say commissioner appointee or commission appointed and hired

versus governor appointed and hired the amount of politics in states where it's a governor appointee

is way higher it's it's unfortunate but so I hope you guys don't don't allow that I did see why

Oming shot down a a landowner outtag bill in their legislature nice hunters showed up in math I

mean uh whoever mobilized all those hunters in Wyoming they're like no we already have a program

for landowners they they get you know their tags come off the top and and uh you know we got

landowner coupon the repayment we enroll them in the public access projects or uh programs we don't

we don't need that and I got the thumb so good good on Wyoming hunters for showing up and

standing up for just shows what has to happen right like these states the hunters have to if you

have an opinion on something that you disagree with you can't just say well my vote isn't going

to counter my one little voice isn't going to make a difference it does like that's the the thing

that you and I have been talking about three years is you have to get involved you have to contact

the right people with the right message and it does make a difference yeah 2000 hunters banding

together and sending individual messages there is going to overwhelm anybody that's in support of

something like that it doesn't take 500,000 or massive massive numbers just do it yeah yeah so

there's always in the circles that I run in and the issues I get involved in I can just about

always any week find an example of where hunters took a stand they organized they were informed

they were persistent and they prevailed so Wyoming is definitely that you know Colorado

they got a ballot initiative I think it's a ballot initiative I should look and make sure

it might be a commission action I should know this I need to talk to Dan Gates at the

Colorado's for responsible wildlife management it's an anti-fur band that coyote hunting

trapping public or private and I pretty much got rid of most trapping on public land so

but it's just another attempt to try you know pick off the vulnerable pieces of science-based

management and they did it in Idaho last year they got rid of trapping for wolves on public land

after a certain date because of the chances of catching a grizzly bear in a wolf trap so in units

that have never had a grizzly bear never there's never been a grizzly bear step foot in some of these

units they still lost trapping on public land after marks first or whatever the dates are it's

different in different areas but we will lose peace by peace opportunity by opportunity until

we're standing there not realizing we lost it all yeah yeah and so I think in today's world

in addition to being a hunter and spending time researching and figuring out plan in your

hunts drawn your tags I think it's incumbent on hunters in today's world the the reality of what we

live in to be an advocate and people say oh you just say that never because that's what you're

all about well the reason I'm all about that I wish we could all just go hunt and fish and not

have the deal with any of this stuff man but I wouldn't get in for that but uh that's not that's

not how it is so I can wish for that but if I just wish for that and stand silent when the wildlife

needs a voice I'm gonna I'm not gonna be hunting or fishing I'm gonna have to figure out golf

as much as I would never I'd take up I'd take up uh what's that these sort of beanbag thing what

is that a cornhole or I'd take up at the wall or yeah I'd take I'd sound my dread start mowing my lawn

again before I dig up golf I mean the guy's got to have some principles of his that's right

oh well hey did you watch the Olympics I did yeah did you watch the US Canada hockey game

I didn't it was on at six a.m.s I didn't get to watch it but well when you get when you

grew up in northern Minnesota right this is like this is almost like church not quite but it's

close you know you got an early early church gathering uh so I got up and watched it and I'm

trying I was trying to see what Connor hella booked uh uh a goalie for the US team who if it wasn't

for him US would have lost about five to one oh yeah and uh he had a large mouth baths painted on

the side of his helmet yeah yeah that was pretty cool I wonder how we get an elk on the neck

four years from now I wonder how we get him to wear an elk on the side of his helmet pretty cool

yeah yeah yeah so that's not that has anything to do with elk hunting but

hey probably it will in four years if he's wearing a helmet with an elk on it yeah yeah I wonder

who will be the goalie for the US team in four years I don't know I can get the elk foundation

ask around hey well do you guys wear our logo or our emblem I would but I don't think I'm

going to make the Olympic goals goalie uh or anything like that so I don't know they the way

they keep adding different sports to the Olympics or yeah so just about anybody could go yeah

that's true yeah falling down the mountain if that becomes an Olympic sport I'd probably get a

browns medal if not a goal but well Corey uh we've kept him for over an hour you got any other

any other things you gotta add I don't think so just we're all coming down you and just

don't go ahead no yeah add your destination okay okay now let's say in destination elk we're

we're winding down we've got a huge giveaway we're doing there actually a couple giveaways one of

them if you just go to elk101.com on the destination elk V8 page so BEV8 you just sign up

and we're giving away 16 packages to well a package to 16 different people throughout the series so

still time to get signed up for that but the really big one is we teamed up with peaks uh

Bryce and the guys at peaks equipment and we're giving away $10,000 in elk and team gear so what

basically everything that I use to hunt elk so bow backpack boots camo tp sleeping bags the whole

kit and caboodle uh somebody's gonna win that through destination elk and so if you go to peaks

equipment.com I think it's forward slash DEV8 there also you can see the details but we've

teamed up we have a custom bugle tube it's the tube that we've been using for the last three

seasons but we got a really cool cover on it for destination elk V8 so if you buy one of those you

get two entries and if you buy the t-shirt you get one entry and uh that's how you enter and

somebody's gonna win a pretty awesome price package so that's winding down and uh anybody that's

on the fence or hasn't heard about it there's still a little bit of time to get in and get that done

yeah well they probably heard that ad in the podcast for peaks but if you are going to go buy some

stuff at peaksequipement.com promo code elk doctor is going to save you some money

yep and it'll save you a 10% on those bugle tubes and those t-shirts as well when you buy them

so you'll get those for a discount and you'll get entered to win pretty cool price package

yeah well any company that deals with us better give our audience a discount or we just

we aren't having any of that but so uh the the thing that I was gonna add is people send us lots

of cool comments and uh got a comment from a a lady after I in the episode that you weren't I

don't I don't I can't remember if it was one with you or the one with Marcus or I talked about

this you and I talked about it a while back and then I think you talked about it again in the

episode with Marcus yeah when I was nine years old I think I was eight or nine I got a rare

hip disease called perthese and uh this lady gets ahold of me she's like are you for real

our son has perthese it's p-e-r-t-h-e-s and we've never run into anybody who has that and he's

going through all these struggles and you know you you you're not allowed to do anything

the treatment they had when I was a kid was you you just immobilize your hip and so you were on

crutches for a few years because the artery that brings blood flow to the ball plur at the top of

the femur at the blood flow stops in the femur just eventually rots away due to lack of blood fall

so and then if you immobilize it eventually it grows back it's so so amazing yeah uh well I had

that when I was a kid and so I was talking about it and then this lady gets ahold of me uh

her her son Calvin has the same thing and I feel terrible for him because I know how frustrating

it is you know all your friends are out playing football or basketball or snowboarding or skiing

or whatever and you're not allowed to do any of that and uh it's pretty lonely you just feel left

out of everything and when you're you know nine years old ten years old whatever I was

hey you feel that life really isn't very fair and uh but uh anyhow she asked me if I was

going to be at the honeyxbo you were at and I said no I'm not I'm an important one but uh if he's

around let's do a zoom call tomorrow morning and so we did for about a half hour he's great kid

very bashful but uh it was fun man and just so you know they uh they were at honeyxbo

and I got to meet him as well how come I think just a couple hours after they'd talk to you and they

were very excited and very grateful that you took that time to reach out because it is I mean at

that age you don't understand that it's going to get better it just feels like today I can't play

with my friends and that that stinks and so somebody's been through it and somebody like you that

they're able to watch on TV and be like look at that guy he still you know falls down once in a

while in the mountain but he's running up the mountain for the most part and uh that's encouraging

to somebody to be able to see that hey this is it's gonna turn out okay yeah and I you know I

I guess the point all that is you and I realized how lucky we are that platforms like this we can

make hopefully make a little difference in a lot of ways and uh I was the best half hour 45 minutes

I could ever spend and when I got home from the the gig I did this weekend uh there was a thanky

card in the mail from them I don't know how they got my address but uh they got to the right

address so no it's uh those are the kind of things where I think you and I both feel like you

guys do that uh hon of a lifetime thing and uh the the value of using hunting uh because Calvin

he wants to hunt you know he's soon to be getting go through hunters head and in his mind he's

probably thinking well how how am I how am I ever going to get the hunt that can I can't even run

right now uh yeah so I assured him that by the time I turned 12 my hip was healed and and uh I got

to go hunting and uh so it's I just think there's there's moments where a lot of people are probably

going through something and it doesn't take a lot of effort for you and I to do something and I'll

be honest with you yeah I couldn't it had such a smile on my face to to see him and see him kind

of perk up and smile as I talk I I'm thankful they reached out to other other really fun things to

do kind of as you express how much gratitude or gratification you get when you guys go do that

hon of a lifetime thing yeah not it is it's just one of those things that I almost feel selfish

for wanting to do it anymore because it is so rewarding for us like we get so much out of it I

just have to remind myself I'm not doing it because I get so much out of it but that is one of the

benefits it's just it's so rewarding to to do that that I would never not do it because of

the way I see one person's face light up and their parents and to be able to have a a dad that's

you know gone through years of treatment with their children in cancer and everything I fortunately

I haven't had to deal with that and I don't know what that's like but I'm grateful I haven't had to

and part of that is is finding a way to give back and to see one of those parents come up and

and in tears say I haven't seen my child relax and have that much fun in the last six years

like this we're taking it for granted we're out here doing something we love to do it's easy for

us that's the least we can do to to share some of our passions some of our times so yeah it's out

but if anyone wants to send us thoughts comments ideas requests whatever

outtalkpodcast.com are that right Corey just click yeah just click the contact tab there and

and we you know I think last year and seems like every year about this time about March or so we

start getting a lot of questions right now we're getting a lot of comments and we're running

people at trade shows but pretty soon we'll start getting a lot of comments so send your comments

or your questions in because that can become the entire basis for some of these podcast episodes we

can go through and look at some of those listener questions and give you feedback on the questions

you might have yeah so hey we don't know the we don't know the answer but we'll make up some time

make you think we know it yeah yeah I'm blown away when I go to a vent how many people listen to

this podcast I mean if you people only knew what little I contribute to this you guys should ask

for my removal and have Corey do the podcast no it's good I think just the the conversations were

able to have and the experiences we've had cover a lot of broad horizons that you know I think

we complement experience wise really well so yeah should we do one about financial and tax

advice with alkanning maybe that's wrong we should do someday you can give them the financial

advice I'll give them the tax advice what I'm not even sure where you're going with this one

I'm pretty sure there's not good finance not there's no good sound financial advice when it

comes to being a hunter it's going to it's going to be painful yeah maybe we should step

way outside our bounds and give psychological advice about the the psychological benefits of being

a hunter because I think we need therapy as much as anybody though maybe we talk about some of that

too because hunting is therapy but after several years of alkanning you probably need to go see a

therapist as well yeah there's pretty good chance of that I'm past you my wife would say he

needed to go see a therapist a long time ago but I could never I could never find one of them

that hunted so I was like if he doesn't hunt he's not going to be my therapist or she so

well Corey I'm going to have to go blow my nose here I know that sounds really gross in the

audience is like we didn't need that to hear that Randy but it's all I can do to hang in here with

hey you ever try to listen to something when you're under about six inches of water

yeah that's what I feel right now my ears yeah my ears are so stuffed up even with these

these heads that on I feel like I'm under about six inches of water

oh well so if you say something you talk the Shanghai chicken flu or whatever it is you

catch every year yeah Shanghai chicken now I think we're ask COVID far enough I can go back to say in

that I mean when you grew up in northern Minnesota if you got some sort of bug you called you know

the old boys are like I got the Shanghai chicken flu well I've been saying that for 30 40 years

and then COVID comes along and I say the Shanghai chicken flu that is gonna get beat up

it was not a political statement oh here I am I slept on some feather pillow the the Shanghai chicken

left or pox in or something so I don't know yeah so the the next one we might have to do from

the ER or something you never know I hope not just go blow your nose and hopefully that solves the

issue yeah are you and Donnie I'll have to do it so no that would be right I think we've seen enough

anybody's watching destination elf knows that I hunted with Donnie and Wyoming the first series

and Donnie just doesn't say a lot it's fine up doing a lot of the talking and then I hunted with

my son Isaac the next part of the series and he's a lot like Donnie really it's her nods and says

yep and you know you get him out in the field and you can't get him to quit talking but

you get him in front of a camera and he kind of stresses up a little now we we're running to

that a lot when we're filming people are setting around camp man they just got story after story

but when they see that red button on that camera they're like they're stiffing up

come on man you got some really great stories to tell let them out here but

how well yeah all right Corey you have a great day uh you too we'll circle back up and uh

I'll give a report maybe in a week or two about uh how my my Shanghai chicken flu is

resolving itself I hope you get feeling better yeah all right take care you too thanks for being

air folks hey folks thanks for listening to this episode of the elk talk podcast if you

enjoyed this consider checking out my hunt talk radio podcast or marcus's fresh tracks weekly