Trail kreitzer: Sub emails. Brady Miller: Good to see your pretty face, buddy. Your your beard's gotten Trail kreitzer: Say Brady Miller: a little bit longer. Your mustache has grown out. Trail kreitzer: Yeah, my mustache is growing out. I keep seeing it in the camera and I'm like giving a little bit of a twist, you know? It's like get getting to a Brady Miller: Yeah, I like that. Trail kreitzer: point where I'm starting to get a little a little out there. Yeah, it's mus mu mustache season, right? Brady Miller: Yeah, you and Aaron Davidson from Gunworks. You guys could both rock mustaches together. Trail kreitzer: Does he have a good one? Brady Miller: Y'all always has a good one. He has a real good one right now. I saw him doing some stories the other day on IG. Trail kreitzer: I haven't seen his his stash. Mine's never good. I've been watching last week when we talked about Ted Lasso coming out. Brady Miller: yeah. Trail kreitzer: So I watched the first episode or whatever, and I'll never have a legendary mustache like that. Like his is perfect. It grows down like perfect, you know, level with his lip. It's like that perfect Ned Flanders mustache. I'll never get that. Brady Miller: Mm. I I still am thinking about shaving one end just for shits and giggles to be funny. Trail kreitzer: Well you look good with one. I mean you showed us that photo, like it you know, you did it justice, man. That was a that Brady Miller: Yeah. Yeah. Trail kreitzer: was a hell of a stash. You you should definitely rock a stash as good as you got it. Brady Miller: Okay, maybe maybe the next couple of weeks when you come back down and we do a pod in person, maybe I'll surprise you with a six Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: stash. Trail kreitzer: Yeah, you should. Hunt and season stash. Brady Miller: And surprised my girlfriend too, with the stash. Trail kreitzer: She'd love that. She'd love Brady Miller: Probably would. Trail kreitzer: it. How you been? How's things? Brady Miller: Bro, I we have a lot to discuss. I haven't told you the news and I'm probably sh I guarantee you don't know the news. You know what my news in my life is right now? Trail kreitzer: you're getting married. Wrong. Okay, okay, okay. What do you got? Brady Miller: not not quite yet. Not quite yet, Trail. If she's if she's listening, yes, I do love her dearly, but not quite yet. Trail kreitzer: What do you got? Brady Miller: my frickin' Marco Polo is gonna be at the Gohan office on Monday. Trail kreitzer: No way. Brady Miller: Full body mount, gonna be here on Monday. Trail kreitzer: That's super exciting. Brady Miller: been the longest I th I almost think I need to do like a full podcast on this process for people just to understand it. But I mean I can go through it really quickly. It's supposedly shipped March thirtieth from Canada. Trail kreitzer: Okay. Brady Miller: So I was getting I got it mounted in Canada, kind of discussed before I just wanted to get in the United States because I was waiting on an import permit from the US because I couldn't bring it into the US yet. So I was like, well, might as well get it into new North America and get it to a taxidermist. That way it's taxiderming. So when US finally approves my import permit, it'll get across the border. Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: So they shipped it March 30th from Canada, like you know, way in the east coast up by Canada. I can't remember, I think it's Ontario, something like that. but anyway, my import permit was going to expire on like April 14th. So they had to ship it before April 14th, get across the border. Gets across Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: the border, and then it's been hung up in Chicago since like the first week of April until Friday. Sitting Trail kreitzer: It's just Brady Miller: at United sitting at United States Fish and Wildlife Service, like some office, some warehouse that I'm freaked out about. Like, is it actually in a warehouse, or is it in the truck sitting outside and like this muggy Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: truck getting all the heat and moisture in there and like wrecking my mount? Obviously it's in a crate Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: and protected, but I'm like, where is it protected? and this whole thing, this whole delay has stemmed from someone, I'm not gonna put blame on any one person. But someone lost a piece of paper when it was transporting down from Canada. You can't just bring things into other countries. You have to have, you know, documentation, paperwork, especially when you're dealing with, in this case, you know, taxidermy or any sort of goods. You have to declare it. Trail kreitzer: You're right. Brady Miller: they forgot. They somehow either the driver or someone lost all the paperwork for all these Marco Polos. There was literally, I heard, eight total Marco Polos coming from Canada, full body mounts, by the way, to the United States. And I'm like, did it is it just on my crate? Is it on other people's crates? But it was all the Marco Polos they lost the paperwork for. And so they've been sitting in Chicago and supposedly no one can get hold of this broker person who's supposed to have the paperwork. He would think it's an easy, like, hey, let me call you. Hey, send that send the paperwork to U US Fish and Wildlife Service that it was actually okay to be here, but that took a h a whole long period of time to actually get a hold of this and get the paperwork. And then US Fish and Wildlife Service was threatening to send all of our mounts, have that truck driver turn around and go back to Canada, which then would have been Trail kreitzer: No way. Brady Miller: a big ordeal because it went back to Canada. I don't have then a valid import permit to bring it back. So that would probably take another like eight months to a year to get the US to give me a new permit. But finally they decided it was okay to sit there and then have to send them back. But I got a notification on Friday like, hey, we finally got this taken care of. Your shipment's good to go. It's going to clear US Fish and Lyles on Friday. Or on Thursday it was gonna clear and on Friday it might start moving. It actually started moving on Monday. And Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: I've been tracking it every single step of the way. And last night at 221 AM it got to Grand Junction, Colorado. So it's actually Trail kreitzer: Really? Brady Miller: it's actually moving. And yeah, if anyone's driving this weekend on the roads from Grand Junction to Vegas, please stay off the roads to allow this truck safe passage. You know, the rest of the way because it's been a four year journey since I've seen this ram. Trail kreitzer: Gotta be a pretty good size crate. Brady Miller: Yeah, it says the the total weight of the crate is six hundred and fifteen pounds. Trail kreitzer: No way. I'm interested to see how it shows up. Do you have I mean do you have to have a forklift to get that out? Brady Miller: Yeah, I have to have a forklift. But luckily I'll be able to pull up right to the base of the the warehouse and probably drop it. And then I'll have to figure Trail kreitzer: Gotcha. And you Brady Miller: out, you know, take the pallet apart and then try to wheel it into my office 'cause I'm hoping to put it here in my office. And I don't know if it can Trail kreitzer: This would be like that. Brady Miller: fit I don't know if it can fit through the door. So I might have to like disassemble it and hopefully the sheep portion comes off the base 'cause it's a big rock Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: wall or rock foundation with a bunch of snow on it. The sheep is coming down. So it's a big mount. But I am Trail kreitzer: Gotcha. It's a be like the scene from the the Christmas story, you know, when the the old man gets the the leg lamp and he dig he digs Brady Miller: Yes. Trail kreitzer: into it and he says fragile, you know, it must be Italian. This is this is gonna Brady Miller: Yeah. Yeah. Trail kreitzer: be a whole a whole scene from that movie, only to be a Marco Polo inside. Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Yeah, but I've just like I literally have it open. I t I refreshed the shipping thing last night at midnight when I was packing up my stuff and I keep refreshing it constantly. I am s Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: beyond excited to see this thing again. Trail kreitzer: That's awesome. I can't wait to see it. I'm expecting a package too. I can't I can't really say what it is, but I was half hoping it would be here when I when I popped home, but it hasn't shown up as of yet. But I rumor is it Brady Miller: Mm. Trail kreitzer: shipped last weekend, so be a might be a fun day. Yeah. I'm excited to see that, man. Brady Miller: Hmm, I'm I'm excited for ya. Yeah. Knowing you it's gonna be something cool. Trail kreitzer: Hopefully, hopefully I get back in time to be down there and see it come in. That would that would be great. If I could get in, get a buck killed and you know, get him out and make a trip down there and be there with you to uncrate him, that'd be awesome. Brady Miller: I I just wanna see the the big buck down in reach text Trail kreitzer: Mm. Brady Miller: from you and I'll just drop what I'm doing and just go drive and go pack out with ya or just take some photos. Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Like when we were in Colorado and I sent you guys that text, big B B D bitches. Yeah. Yeah. Brady Miller: Yeah, that was really funny actually. I always love those texts, no matter who it is, but it's always funny when it comes from you. 'Cause I never expect what you're gonna say. Then you actually did say pig puck down bitches. Trail kreitzer: Yeah. I know. I'm a bit of a wild card. You never know. Brady Miller: Yeah, especially with your especially with close buddies, we can kinda say what we want. Because people don't know we're we're re we're Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Tweet pr Brady Miller: real humans and that's how we talk to sometimes to each other. Trail kreitzer: That's it. Absolutely. Should we hit a promo before we get too deep in and then we can we can run through Brady Miller: Yeah, let's Trail kreitzer: the the week of why I am actually here? I didn't anticipate being here, but it worked out that Brady Miller: Yeah, I was totally planning on doing a solo podcast where you guys were just gonna listen to me ramble on for th thirty minutes to an hour. Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: But yeah, you're here, so I'm that's why Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: it's r I was really surprised to see your face. Trail kreitzer: Yeah, well, I mean, part partially good news and then, you know, the little bit of bad news too, but that's hunting and that's bow hunting. But yeah, we'll we'll get into it. But I guess promo first, we should hit it. We still have refer a friend going on. So if anybody wants to get their buddies to sign up or complete randoms for that matter, to sign up for a go hunt insider account. we have a promo going on where you can refer a friend, and what they would do is they would use your email address when they sign up for a Go Hunt Insider. They would put your email address in the promo code. And if they do that, you're going to get 75 points back in the Gohunt Gear Shop. And they're going to get 75 points back in the gear shop, which is $75. One point's $1. And then if you are able to get up to four people to sign up for a Go Hunt Insider account with your email code, we're going to level up with you at $1,000 back in the Go Hunt Gear Shop. And that runs through the end of the month. So you've still got what 10, 12 days, something like that. I didn't I didn't know. I just looked I wasn't aware, but I was looking at my calendars the other day and I was like, yeah, I forgot there's 31 days in in August. It's the only it's like one of those months where and I was pleasantly surprised to see that 'cause I was like, I still like ten, twelve more days to get this done before I go go elk hunting in September. So Brady Miller: Mm. Trail kreitzer: so pretty cool promo. you know, be sure that you you sign up and then sign your buddies up. But then today I also noticed it looks like we got Rang Gear Live on the website. Brady Miller: Yeah. Today we finally dropped the ring gear. As you know like both the ring gear and down have been like close to three years of I mean, maybe even more Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: than that. We were conceptualizing ideas before, but we had a product like three years ago and we've been testing them in all sorts of crazy environments and, you know, changing, tweaking things here and there, beating up and it is like a cool day when we we see like something that you and I gotta test and feel and look at and like see it go live for everyone. Like it's a cool it's Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: a cool feeling. Like it really is. Trail kreitzer: Mm. Yeah, it is fun. It was fun. I watched the little I hadn't seen like the full release YouTube video that we did. but I was I was watching kind of going through it today just to see what Aiden and the editors had come up with. But it was fun to s to relive some of that footage. So like I had I'd used that rain gear in Arizona last November on an elk hunt where it rained quite a bit and then New Zealand, man. New Zealand is like such epic landscapes. I mean, I wished it wouldn't have rained that much, but I go back and I look at that footage and I was like, Man, I'm really glad that I've got that footage to look back on 'cause that was such a cool landscape. Brady Miller: Yeah. Yeah. I posted a bunch of photos on my Instagram the other day and I didn't say where it was, but if you're listening here, obviously you could probably tell where it's at. But that was from that New Zealand trip. Just Trail kreitzer: Hmm. Yeah. Brady Miller: epic landscapes, cloud formations were wicked cool, like how it socked into the valley and just raining constantly. It just made a yeah, not what you really want on a hunt, but made it definitely epic to look back on. Like it rained the entire time. And what better place to test out rain gear and, you know, down Trail kreitzer: What? Brady Miller: products and that stuff was there in a wet environment. Trail kreitzer: Yeah, boy howdy did it rain. It rain. Brady Miller: No way. It did. Trail kreitzer: any indication? I mean, you've been here for what, maybe five days while I've been out kind of chasing around deer, but any indication on how, you know, the down launch has gone and has it been pretty good? You getting any feedback? Brady Miller: If you want to get some down, yeah, if people want to get some down, they should consider bigging up some down. It's it's going quick. Like honestly. Yeah. And Trail kreitzer: They should get in it. Yeah. Brady Miller: I don't I don't haven't heard of anyone receive theirs quite yet. I mean if you place your order early on, you might have just been receiving it right now. Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: But the people who have messaged me and have watched all the, you know, the stuff, read the spec sheet are just like blown away. We had a guy reach in today and sent the email into the team and basically it was like, if it is indeed 14.1 ounces, I'm just quoting what he said, Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: it would make it a no brainer in this space as the closest thing it would compare to is blank. I'm not gonna really say the b the brand at slight weight cost penalty. but that Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: weight is essentially down. And yeah, he's like blown away that it's the weight it is and all the specs. And that's kind of the constant feedback I've got in my DMs about like There people are really excited about it. Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Yeah, I'm I'm stoked to eat it out into people's hands and give a chance to use it. I wore I wore the jacket a decent amount, like the last week. Well, the maybe like the first three days 'cause it was a lot cooler than it was the last two days, three days. It's been downright hot. But yeah, we had some some storms blow in that first it'd be Friday. So it was the day before the opener and it got pretty cold that night and Yeah, just sitting there glassing. I had a base layer and then that down jacket over the top and I was toasty. It was it was great, man. I I'm a big fan of our our down gear for sure. And our and our ring gear for that matter. So hopefully Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Trail kreitzer: people get it in their hands and get a chance to get out and use it. I mean, it will be September here before you know it. And people that are out chasing archery elk are definitely gonna gonna benefit from a good down set and then rain gear. Cause you know, if the weather man the weatherman's all right, we might might get some rain. I was thinking you Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Trail kreitzer: ever hear that you ever hear I ever think of Weatherman? You know that meme where the the little kid says, Wouldn't you like to know Weatherpoint? Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: So good. Hilarious. Hilarious. Hey, I heard I did you did you what do you got planned for when do you when are you going hunting? You got a deer tag what you got a deer tag? When's that kick? Brady Miller: I haven't I I haven't I haven't said anything about when I'm going hunting. I don't even know if I will this year. Just kidding. Trail kreitzer: You're just staying home the whole s the whole fall? Brady Miller: Yeah, I'm I'm leaving tonight. Trail kreitzer: You going out tonight? For what? Or do are we not talking about it? Brady Miller: Well, we have a we have a no we can talk about it. We have a insider monthly insider plus monthly call tonight with our insider plus members. And Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: right when that ends, I think that's gonna end probably about six, six thirty Pacific time, I'm bouncing out, driving countless hours, and I got an antelope tag. Trail kreitzer: Nice. Brady Miller: So super stoked on this antelope tag. yeah, really excited. It's in Trail kreitzer: That's awesome. That that's a late a late edition, but but super cool. Brady Miller: Yeah, a hunt I wasn't anticipating, but that's the beauty of turn back tag systems. Like we always talk about Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: those opportunities out there and there's plenty of opportunities to pick up a tag if you don't draw. And I didn't draw, but I picked up leftover tag, and it just so happens it's absolute phenomenal unit. Like, you Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: know how much I've been checking out those lists the past couple weeks. Trail kreitzer: For sure. Brady Miller: every morning, walking the dog, every evening, just the basic living on as much as I can and Yeah, picked it up. And I think I I told you after I picked it up, I was literally shaking. I got my girlfriend Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: turned and looked at me, like, what are you what's about? And I was like basically yelling at my house because I picked it up on a on a Saturday. Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: and I was like, look at me like now. I held my hand up and my hand was just like shaking. I was so excited. It's like I finally got a tag, and it ends up being one of the best tags. So season op season opens Trail kreitzer: Yeah. How how selective are you gonna be? Brady Miller: on Saturday. What was that? Trail kreitzer: Said, how selective you gonna be? Brady Miller: I think I'm gonna be pretty selective. I have nothing going on the next like couple weekends. So like I I I really wanna kill a big buck. Like a big Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: antelope buck. I have never killed an absolute cranker. I've killed Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: I killed a lot of antelope bucks with my bow. I think of like eight or nine antelope bucks with my bow. Like I always do bow hunt all the time. I've only killed one rifle buck recently. the last time I had a tag in the state, and it was on a wait period for a while. and it was just a goofy buck. But like I never killed a true big Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: antelope buck. Trail kreitzer: Gotcha. Yeah, I got I got Brady Miller: So Trail kreitzer: one right here. Here let me show you what you're looking for, B Mills. All right. Brady Miller: Yeah, give me give me a little size ref. Trail kreitzer: Look at look at that guy right there. I don't know if you can see it for the YouTubers. See those cutters? Yeah. Cutters, some Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I like those cutters a lot. Mass and cutters. Kill. Trail kreitzer: mass. See some he's got a little bit of length on him. He's not overly tall, but he's tall enough, you know? Just big big cutters and you know, mass, but you'll know one when you see it. And I think I mean I checked I checked the gram when I came back last night and it looks like there's some guys slaying some big goats this year. So I think there's Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: a few out there on the landscape. It looks to me, at least from from what I'm seeing that guys are killing. It looks to be a great year for for some big antelope. Brady Miller: Yeah. No know what I've been doing recently. Trail kreitzer: Well Brady Miller: I bought these D V Ds way back in the day and you can't pick I don't think you can pick up anymore. Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: you know, Eli Grimet. Trail kreitzer: the best. Brady Miller: See if anyone can watch this right now. Sizes everything and sizes everything too. So the what Trail kreitzer: Ha ha ha Brady Miller: is it? Pronghorn guide service. Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: They're old DVDs that are super informative, and those guys are absolute geeks when it comes to scoring bucks. So right now, if you go, if I actually showed you other stuff on my phone, like people watching again, like I have so many screenshots of Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: like the videos I was watching it. And obviously, you know, I'm jumping on the horn score app. as well. We talked kinda talked about that before about like just field judging antelope and trying to get better at it because they are to my opinion for me they've always been hard to judge because I just get really excited when I see antelope and unless you s unless you look at a lot of but I believe I have seen enough antelope now that I know like hey I'm gonna hold out and wait for a big one. So I'm gonna put all the all big as I can. Trail kreitzer: Yeah. And and big is bit b yeah, big is big with an antelope too. I think when you see a real big one you'll know. Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: You just gotta look at a lot of I know over the years people have asked and I'm not like I'm definitely not a you know, a pronghorn connoisseur or trophy judge by any any stretch of the imagination, but I have I've killed a couple that are eighty, eighty plus. But People ask like, how do you know? It's like, I you just gotta look at them more of The more of you look at the the more it makes sense to you. And when you when you Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Trail kreitzer: know one is a big one, you'll know for sure. There'll be like no question whatsoever. So I'm excited, man. Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: That's a late ad, and that's that's a fun that's a fun little little gift to land in the lap. Brady Miller: Yeah, so I'm really s glad as well. obviously I've been shooting my rifle like three, four Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: times a week for the past like three weeks and kind of hoping I could pick up, you know, an antelope tag and it ended up working out in my favor. So like my rifle's dialed. Shot it again yesterday and got all my gear packed. You don't need a lot of gear for antelope hunting, which is great. Just opti optics and rifle and yeah. Got window Trail kreitzer: No man, cruise and glass, cruise and glass. Yep. A lot of water. Brady Miller: w a lot of water, got my window mount set up, so just be running around. Got a bunch of high points kind of marked out if I want to get away from people and do some hiking and Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: get up and look at a bunch of country. So yeah, really excited. Trail kreitzer: You you and I'll be like two ships in the night. We'll be passing 'cause that's what I'm gonna do. As soon as we're we're done with the insider plus call this evening. I've got all my stuff kinda loaded, so I'll probably say hi to my kids tonight and then, you know, head head over and hike in and probably spend some time glassing tomorrow morning and then you know, Aiden, our camera guy, he's gonna roll in and we'll be back at it and probably give it through the end of the month and until we get this buck killed. Hopefully it won't take that long. I feel like Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: we're we're increasingly getting closer and closer and closer. It's like Brady Miller: Yep, you're you've you're slowly figuring things out. Trail kreitzer: Yeah, it's like a like a puzzle, man. you know, you you got those missing pieces and you sit there and you look at all the pile of extra pieces laying there on the table and you're like trying to eyeball it and figure it out and eventually it just clicks for you. And I I feel like that's how that's been like the last five days. yeah, I mean, all the scouting I did, I mean, the weekends, you know, like you run up on a fry or a Saturday, Sunday, or like a Friday night and a Saturday morning, and you know, you come back. It's like you're just getting a s a a glimpse. You know, you're you're you're just like, okay, you know, there was a buck or this other buck, he's over here that day. And then you know, you might pop back the next weekend and you take a look and you're like, not seeing him. And you know, or you do and he's at a different spot and you're just trying to like put the individual little puzzle pieces of like where he's at on you know, certain times of the day and trying to put it together. But I'm getting to a point now where Yeah, I've I've got a buck that I would really like to haunt. He's not I don't think he's like a giant bunny means but he's best buck I've seen. And I I'm starting to finally see him consistently enough that I think it's gonna come together. So Brady Miller: Yeah. Do you do you feel like that's the hard part about scouting? Like we're all Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: limited on time we can scout. We got family, we got work, kids. I mean, you do, I don't. but but like if you're Trail kreitzer: Yep. Brady Miller: going up scouting on the weekend in the summer, like that's only a Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: like a like you're saying, a two day snapshot. So yeah, you might turn up a buck then and then you go back the next weekend, it's not there. You go up the next weekend, maybe it's not there again. But like you're Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: obviously trying to move around, trying to grab more of that snapshot. But it's hard with that two days to try to really figure out where that buck is. Even if you saw that buck Saturday morning, Saturday night, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and then you leave Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: to go back to work and then like, okay, maybe he was there that day randomly and that's where you caught him, but he really doesn't live there. Maybe he got bumped by something else and was just there. And then you go back and you put all your eggs in that basket, try and turn them up. how do you kind of been approaching that? Like you're saying now you're putting all those pieces of the puzzle together and kind of gaining more intel. And now you've actually had consistently, you know almost a week Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: stretch of being up there. Like now you're saying you're learning more. Like would it be benefici obviously y you would say yes, but like if you Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: could string together more days scouting, or do you think you did it the right way, trying to find this buck right now for what you could do with your means and time? Trail kreitzer: I think more day scouting would always be best. And I think it's probably just like hunting. The more days that you can string together when you're scouting, the more you're gonna learn about him. And I I think ideally if you scout it real well, you know, maybe you've got four or five days in a row and you start to figure out where his like core home range is and then not just like those peripheral little spots where you might see him. Cause I think the first Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Trail kreitzer: time I ever saw him, I think was probably on the peripheral, right? Like it wasn't that was not the the core home area where I think he's spending most of his time. And yeah, I think I probably could have figured that out prior in scouting if I'd have had more days strung together and then maybe opening day or the opening, you know, two days I would have known like exactly where to be to either, you know, put a Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Trail kreitzer: stock on or even ambush. Like right now, I mean, I'm still Still kinda in the frame of mind of like spot and stock, but now I also know enough now that like if I don't see him, I can be like, you know what? I think what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna hike off and spend the afternoon and evening, you know, over in this this saddle or this basin because there's a decent likelihood that he might show up of Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Trail kreitzer: of of an evening. So I'm starting to figure out those things. But yeah, and some of it was really you know, I mean, I could just kind of tell the story. So I went up Friday. you know, my brother my brother drove down. He He's got a he's a new bow hunter. So he killed first animal he ever killed last year with a bow. It was the first time he'd ever killed anything with a bow. Or he really I mean, he's hunted a little bit, but not much. he shot a deer on the extended hunt last year, and then he shot a turkey. But this is like his first, I would say, well, I guess last year he hunted with me a little bit, but like this is his first elk, and I'll get into that too. But he he just bought the OTC spike cow tag. And so he was gonna come down and join me, just be a glasser and and a helper. And then if ended up seeing any elk, you know, we ended up, you know, he he he would make a a go on some elk. But yeah, he came down and we ran up Friday morning and Friday morning sat down and you know, first thing I see the buck. I'm like, sick, got him. Yeah, you know what I mean. Brady Miller: Yeah. There you go there you go. That's like just makes you so excited for the rest of the day. Trail kreitzer: Yeah, best feeling ever, right? So yeah, got him, you know, and super excited about it. go to bed that night, get up the next morning. Anticipation is absolutely through the roof. And no buck. You know, saw saw a lot of bucks. I think I saw twenty four different bucks opening day. And the only bucks that I did not see were the two biggest bucks that I know of in the area. And it was just like, I think I've literally saw every other buck I'd ever seen on any scouting trip, but the two bucks that I was like hoping the most to see. And I'd seen the one the day before, right? Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: So I was pretty bummed out about that. And then next day is Sunday. get up and same thing, hit the glassing point. Again that morning, no bucks. my brother did not go with me that morning. He decided to go to church that day. So he he I'm a heathen, I guess, and he's he's a bit more of a a religious fella, which was was good. It was actually good, it was kind of funny, but he he he hiked out and went to church that morning. And you know, mid-morning I'm sitting up there glassing all day, me and the camera guy, and hadn't seen him and My brother comes rolling up the hill and you know, he's out of breath, like he just sprinted the entire way. And he rolls up and he's like, Hey, I just jumped that buck that we're after. And I was like, I was like, No, no way. And he's like, Yeah, a hundred percent. He said, I came in a different way because I didn't want to disrupt anything on where you guys were kind of looking. Yeah, which is smart. Super Brady Miller: Yeah. Like which is a smart thought. I thought that's what I would do if you said, Hey, Brady, come up and I'd like, Well, you're hunting here, so I'm not gonna go up right in the middle of your Trail kreitzer: Right. Brady Miller: spot, like go up different way. Trail kreitzer: Yeah, super smart of him. but yeah, he he actually ended up jumping that buck probably five hundred yards from us, like down in a canyon. Buck was bedded down in some thick aspen and ended up jumping that buck. The buck I think he said he jumped him at like twenty-five yards and then he jumped up and he ran he ran out to like ninety and stood there and looked at him and then bailed. Anyway, this is like one thirty, two o'clock in the afternoon. And he's like, Yeah, he just went over that ridge. He's like, he's you know, he saw me like he he he's bumped, but you know, he kind of walked by the time I I ended up losing him, like he was just kind of walking over the ridge. And so he's like, Yeah, let's just pop over the ridge. So I was like, Yeah, let's do it. So he popped over the top of the ridge, and the plan was is just kind of work the backside of the ridge and just like sit down and and look, you know, see if we could see him in the evening. And I was just kind of creep into a spot that looked like a good vantage point. I was creeping along and I look down the hill and I see a buck. Just like rear end. And so I stopped and I get my brother over there and I was like, you know, what's the deal with this, you know, because it wasn't the buck. And he's Yeah, there's two bucks. One of them's a four point, the other one's the other buck. And so I see this buck and I'm like, he's right there, dude. And I watched him go behind these two trees and just bed down. And I'm like, Unbelievable. Like this was this is Brady Miller: Huh. Trail kreitzer: meant to be, you know what I mean? Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: So I throw on those cheap feet, those new silent stalker sheep feet. Dude, I give those Brady Miller: Dude, yeah, those things are pretty sweet when we were talking to him at TAC. Trail kreitzer: I give those five stars. Brady Miller: Really? Trail kreitzer: Yeah, they're like they're quiet, but they're enough of a like a shoe almost that when it doesn't work out and you gotta hike back to your boots, like you can totally hike around in I like them a lot. Yeah, big fan. anyway, so I put those on. And I just started slipping down the hill from above. And I got to about a hundred and twenty yards. And I see the buck feed out and he's like feeding out kind of away from me and just like no opportunity to get any closer. But I watched him feed down through this little saddle. And then they went through this little saddle and they went over onto the other face and they ended up bedding behind another big tree, which I was like, that's fine. At least I know where they're bedded. So I kept at it. And eventually I got to about a hundred and twenty eight yards and for whatever reason they got up. I don't know if the wind kind of swirled. They never like fully caught my wind because they didn't like bust out, but they must have caught like enough of it to just make them nervous or something. But they got out, got up and they just kind of fed down through the basin and then up the ridge and then up and over the other side. But I got to watch him for for most of the, you know, the evening. I got to to figure out where he was headed anyway. But It was really fun, man. Great footage. I think at one point, you know, I'm like within a hundred and twenty yards and Aiden, our camera guy's like back on you know, back behind me, maybe fifty yards. And I think he says it's like you can see the buck like kind of framed right behind me, right over the top of me. But Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: so that was that was super exciting. yeah, went to bed with really high hopes again that night because I was just like, Yeah, we're on him, you know. and I got a plan 'cause I knew where he went the next morning. So Next morning we switched opposite sides of the canyon and started to glass and I picked him up like I mean it was still too dark to even see. Like gray, gray light, you know, like and I'm like, Yeah, I got him, dude. I am on him. Brady Miller: What optic what what optics are you using right there? Trail kreitzer: fifteen's fifteen by fifty six SLCs, yeah, on a tripod. Brady Miller: Your fifteens? Yeah. Trail kreitzer: Yep, so I'm watching him. I got him. I'm just like watching him the whole time, you know. It gets light. I actually watch him feed up the draw, and it's kind of like a little bit more open slope. There's still a lot of cover, a lot of trees, but I watch him actually stand and feed one time next to a set of deer sheds that are laying there. So I was like, that's sick. I don't even know if they're his because I didn't even go pick up. And if he shed, he sh he shed really high, which would be interesting if it was his, you know. But Brady Miller: I'm proud I'm pro I'm I just wanna say right there, I'm proud of you for leaving the sheds. Trail kreitzer: Yeah. It was pretty cool. He's just standing there feeding next to a couple, you know, shed set of deer antlers, which I was like, I really hope those are his. And eventually if I kill him, like I'm gonna go pick those up. That would be really rad if I could pick up a year off of him and then, you know, also also get him killed. Brady Miller: Kind of cool. Mm-hmm. Trail kreitzer: But yeah, dude. So I watch him all morning long. He feeds until he feeds up out of the basin through a saddle into another basin, which the whole time I am like trying to track my way across this hillside. And I'm like trying to work through through the trees, you know, to like just get a peek at him and I'm like creeping and creeping and creeping and Brady Miller: So you so you're you're you're able to see him as you're slowly stalking through? Trail kreitzer: Yeah, but I'm not stalking on him. I'm just like trying to keep him in vision, you know? Brady Miller: Keep yeah, keep keep it keep your eyes on him so you know where he's gonna go. Yeah. Trail kreitzer: Yeah, dude, and every every time I lose him, I'm like panicking. I am freaking out because I'm like, I have to keep my eyes on this buck, you know? Anyway, Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Trail kreitzer: I end up getting clear out on the end of this face, and I'm glassing back on him. And at this point, he's with two small bucks and a doe. And the two small bucks and the doe have bedded in a perfect spot. And he's still up on his feet feeding, like in the sunshine, and it's like nine thirty in the morning. Brady Miller: Which that Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: that is an interesting point. I was go I wonder what you were gonna say next about the buck still being on its feet, because other deer I've chased before and you always hear like, big bucks, you know, they're smart. They're gonna they bed early, they they stay hidden all day. But I've seen a lot of deer, like more mature deer, up in the open in the sun for whatever reason, all these other deer are like bedded down. It's like always weird to me, like, what's the Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: thought process behind that buck besides for just like just hungry? 'Cause he's got a bigger body, maybe. Trail kreitzer: Yeah, maybe. I don't know. I Brady Miller: And it's bacon it's bacon in the sun too. Trail kreitzer: yeah. Dude, and the one thing I'm noticing about this deer is he does you know, like normally bucks will have like their buddy, like this is my buddy. Like there's a different group of bucks in that same area. I see them all the time, and it's always the same four bucks. It's a four point, another four. There's two four points and two two points, and they are always together. It's like if I see the one, they're all four there somewhere, right? Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: This buck I've not seen with the same. Buck or the same group of bucks or a doe twice. It's really bizarre. He's like super flaky. He just he's by himself. He's with another deer. He's just always with different. He's different, man. He just kind of w Yeah, he's a big loner. Yeah, that's Brady Miller: He doesn't know how to make fr he doesn't know how make friends. Kinda like you. Kinda like you. Trail kreitzer: it. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, so I watch him all morning long and It's 9 30. He's like feeding in the sun. And I was like, he has to bed down. These other three deer are already bedded. And he just like keeps feeding his way towards this ridge. And as he's keeps getting closer and closer to the ridge, like I'm picking out each individual patch of, you know, aspen or pine. And I'm like, he's gonna bed in one of these because there's tons of shade. Like he's gonna bed in one of these. He has to bed in one of these. And it would it at that point I'm like stoked about it because I'm like, he's created some distance between him and these other bucks. And I'm like, this is gonna be perfect. Anyway, he goes all the way to the ridgeline, and the whole time I'm like watching him, I'm just like, I'm thinking, like, don't you do it. Like, don't do not do it. Don't do it. And he does, Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: man. He feeds right over the ridge into a completely a completely new canyon that I can't even Brady Miller: No. Trail kreitzer: I can't see. I I mean, I got no no option to really look into it. But yeah, he disappears over the ridge all by himself, leaves those other deer. And so It was really fun to watch him for the three hours or whatever, but at that point I'm just like so bummed out. So I go back to my brother and Aiden and I'm like, well, let's gather our stuff up and let's make the huge loop onto the back side of that canyon so I can look at that face in the afternoon. So we do that and I spend all afternoon. I mean like all afternoon, and those are long, long days. Brady Miller: yeah. Trail kreitzer: All day glassing. cannot find him and do not see like any other bucks. It's just like a complete void. And I'm like, there's no way that that buck is not somewhere in this canyon. Like he has to be. Cause he fed. I mean he Yeah. Brady Miller: Yeah, but you're start you're starting to think though, like, is he here? Did he did he hook back around and decide to feed there but came to the other side of bed? Like yeah, did Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: you make the right decision by moving or should he just stayed right there and glass that ridge top? Trail kreitzer: Is 9 30 in the morning. I'm like, he had to have batted within the next half hour. He has to be in this canyon. But I glassed the entire night till way dark and could not find that buck. So then I go to bed that night and I'm like, where is this buck? Like, I I am so confused about where he could possibly be, because there's no way he doubled back on me. Like, I just cannot. I'm I'm racking my brain. So get up the next morning, and I'm like, you know, I'm gonna go back to my original glassing point, which is kind of on the backside of you know where he disappeared, and I'm just gonna hope I see him, or I hope I see this other buck. So next morning, get up, hit the glassing point, and I am glassing all morning long. And it's like, again, it's like 8 30 in the morning, 8-80. Have not seen a buck. Like I've seen Brady Miller: Gosh, Drill. Trail kreitzer: ten ten does and fawns, but I have not seen a buck. I've seen a group of cows and calves and and they've got two spikes with them. So I'm pretty excited. And I'm just like watching these elk and I'm just glassing and then I happen to like glance back and I look over and I can see this deer standing again in the sun. on a hillside by itself. And I lean over to Aiden and I was like, I'll guarantee you that's my buck. I will guarantee it. Throw up the binos, sure enough, man, it's the buck. And he's just like five hundred yards across the canyon from me, all by himself, feeding in the sunshine. And Brady Miller: The the buck just wants to get a suntan trail. He just loves the sun. Trail kreitzer: Dude, he's yeah. He is a sun lover. Seems to be, yeah, because he he does not mind feeding in the sun. But yeah, so I watch him and he's like cutting down into the canyon. And with like the roll of the slope, I can't get I can't get over because it's open enough that like I can't get over enough to like actually see like where he's going. You know what I mean? So I'm like trying to really be careful with it. But I see him work down into the bottom of the canyon to this group of Pines and he like disappears. And I know the canyon well enough to know that like that stringer of pine, it doesn't run all the way down through the canyon. I know it's kind of like localized in the top end of it. And so I tell my brother, I was like, there's like a 50-50 chance here that he went all the way out the bottom. And if he goes out the bottom, he's gonna hook around. And I'm also thinking at that point, I'm like, well, yesterday he fed till 9.30 and it's only like 8:30, 8.15. So I'm like, you know, another hour he probably did feed down through the bottom and just kept going. But I tell my brother, like, there's a decent chance that he bedded somewhere in that pack, that, that pocket of pine, right? So at that point, I'm like, I gotta go to the bathroom. Which is the move. The most inopportune dine ever. Brady Miller: J just just hold it in and reabsorb whatever it is, number one or number two. Just just don't deal right now, Trail. Trail kreitzer: Bro, there is there is no holding back at this point. It was like, I gotta go and I gotta go now, which I'm so annoyed at at that point. my brother's giving me a hard time because that's what my dad used to do. It would be like, you know, we'd be out hunting with my dad and I would say, there's a big buck, and my dad would be like, I gotta go to the bathroom. I'd be like, You can't, there's a Brady Miller: Is it it must be something with your body that like you just got yourself so excited 'cause you found them and it's like, We're gonna make this happen right now. That's what I needed. Trail kreitzer: Yeah. I think that adrenaline hits, right? And it's just like, I gotta go right now. So anyway, Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: I grab grab my stocking shoes, I grab some wet wipes, I grab my bow and my arrow, and I bomb over the backside of the hill. I use the bathroom and the whole time I'm using the bathroom, I'm just like I gotta get there right now. I'm like, this has to go so fast. I'm like, I only have so much time because who even knows if he's there? And if he is there, who knows how long he's gonna bed? Cause usually they get up and re-bed, right? Anyway, so I get done with the bathroom and I I pick a route, I go around the back side of back side of the ridge, I hit the the other side of the other ridge, and I like come over the top of him and I don't even know if he's there or not, but I think like I'm gonna just I'm gonna give it hell and just see. So I start working my way down towards this patch of pine, and I'm working my way down through, and I'm just going super slow. And I get to this one tree and I like range the biggest patch, and I'm like, it's like 89 yards, and I'm like, man, I'm getting in pretty tight if he is in there. And then I get down to like 60 yards and then 50 yards, and I'm going so slow. I'm just taking like a half step. every so often and I'm just like glassing every bit of shade, right? I'm just like peering Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: into every piece of shade. I'm looking for any kind of hide or antler tips or an ear flick or anything. And I just go inch my way down through there, just like step at a time, step at a time, glass look, glass look, nothing. And then, you know, Throughout this whole stock, like I'm feeling the wind, and the wind is like generally kind of coming uphill. But then every once in a while I'll get like a real good gust right at my neck and it'll go like right Brady Miller: Mm. Trail kreitzer: down, right down the draw. And I'm like, there's there's no way, like, there's no way a big buck would be would put up with this, you know? There's just Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: no chance. So in my mind, I'm already like setting this precedent of like there's no way that he's still there. Like he's had to have gone out the bottom. But I remember Brady telling me, finish a stock. Don't ever give up on a stock. Absolutely. You gotta finish the stock. Brady Miller: Gotta finish and look in all the nooks and crannies. He could just be holding tight. Trail kreitzer: Right. So I work I work my way down through these patch of pines, you know, and I feel pretty satisfactory that he's not in there. And I get to the bottom and I'm like, well, he probably went out the bottom. So I sit down and I start glassing and I glass the whole other side, I glass the other part of the bottom, and I'm just like looking to see if I can find any deer at all. Can't see him. And I'm like, Well, you know, I don't know, he must have hooked Jay hooked around the ridge or something. So I get back up and I start kind of sneaking my way back up through the trees and I get like towards the top end of it and I'm like, he's definitely not there, you know, there's no way. And I it was like the first two full steps that I'd taken, like at pace. You know what I mean? Like you don't care anymore. Brady Miller: Yeah. Yeah. Trail kreitzer: Like stock's over, don't care. I'm hiking back to my boots, you know. I take Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Yep, been there. Trail kreitzer: I take the second step and he he blows out at 38 yards. Brady Miller: my gosh. Trail kreitzer: Dude, he's he's bedded in between two big trees, like on the back side, kinda, and he's like wedged in there, but he just blows out, just blows out. And I watch him run up the hill and he stops and turns around and like looks at me at 119 yards. And I just like sat down and I put my head down. So I'm like looking at him through, you know, kind of the brim of my cap. And I don't think he even knew what I was, and I have no idea how this buck did not win me. I can't for the life of me figure it out because there were many times when that wind was like so strong right at the back of my neck, like going right down the draw. I have no clue how this buck didn't win me. Anyway, as luck would have it, he he turns and he starts just kind of working up the hill. And I look up the hill and I see my camera guy Aiden and he's sitting behind this tree and this buck, this buck is beeling. I mean like beelining for him. And at one point I look and I can see Aiden with his camera on a tripod. I can see the lens of his camera and I can see this buck. I can see the camera lens framed between his antlers. Brady Miller: gosh, it's running right to A. Trail kreitzer: Right, right at him. Anyway, he walks up to Aiden. Like he had to have been under twenty yards. I bet it was like twelve yards. And he stands there and looks at Aiden before he like registers what's going on and he bails and and goes up and over the ridge and just runs. But the footage is epic. Brady Miller: Aiden captured that all that on footage, like the buck coming running right to him. Trail kreitzer: Aiden got all of it. Yeah, Aiden has all the footage and I I talked to him afterward and he was like I was legitimately like he's like I didn't want to make any movement 'cause I didn't want to spook him, but he's like, I was also getting pretty nervous that this thing was was gonna walk like right up to me, you know. Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: But yeah, real real stinger, man. Brady Miller: That that stings. So my my one question for you is like right after he blew out of there and you said it was super thick and he was tucked in there, just wedged in that spot, Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: did you pull your bynos out after the fact and like look that direction? Like do you think you could have potentially seen him in there? Or was he just he was buried in there in your vantage point at thirty eight yards, you could not have seen him? Trail kreitzer: I don't think I would have I don't think I would have ever seen him. yeah. J just Brady Miller: Just tucked in so tight and all the brush and Trail kreitzer: just tucked in tight. I mean maybe, but I I don't I don't think so. I felt like I'd done due diligence. Like I really felt like I'd I'd looked everywhere that I thought he could possibly be. And I don't know if maybe I would have caught a like a piece of hide or you know, I don't know. I I it was It was thick. He was like tucked way up underneath this tree. And there were two trees that were kind of set together in some brush. He was Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Trail kreitzer: like wedged right up in between the two of them. The only thing that I, you know, looking back on it, there's really not a whole lot I could have done different. But if I had known for a fact that he was in that patch of of pine, if I'd have known that absolutely I would have just got down in there to like fifty yards or forty yards and just sat down and just waited. Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: Cause eventually he'd have got up, you know what I mean? And I'd a and I'd have got a shot at him. But I didn't know. So it was like a fifty fifty chance that he was still in there and then not knowing exactly where he was bedded was pretty rough. But I tell you, it got yeah. To perfect Brady Miller: And he was so he was so completely solo, right? When he blew out, there was no other deer with him? Wow. Trail kreitzer: man. Just like ab the absolute perfect situation, other than not not knowing that he was definitely there. You know, if I'd Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: have definitely known he was there, it would have been in a different situation. Like I wouldn't have pushed it, I'd have just sat sat, you know, 'cause there wasn't like he couldn't have gone that far, you know. Like I if I'd have just sat down and just waited him out, he'd have got up and I would have got a shot because he'd he'd have made a mistake. But I was pretty heartbroken. It was it was a real Brady Miller: That's a stinger. That's a s real stinger. Trail kreitzer: real stinger. Yeah, I I walked back up to my boots and kind of did the walk of shame. And then I walked over to my brother and Aiden. We kind of sat there for a second, like rehashed the whole story. And you know, those guys had a good laugh and I had a a good chuckle about how it's funny. I've killed a lot of elk. I was telling my brother this, like I've killed a lot of elk, and I've killed decent number of deer too, but and I don't even know what it is, but there's something about a buck mule deer when you get within bow range that it just you vibrate on another level. Like I was so just anxious, you know, just Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Trail kreitzer: just tight, you know. They they get in, they get me. Brady Miller: Yeah. And so many things have to go your way to get a shot where you Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: could say, yeah, an elk is slightly different. You're calling, you're working them in, you can kind of move them how you want to and position yourself. But dear, it's like, yeah, if you're just in the wrong spot at the right wrong time or whatever, like it's just game over and not knowing exactly where he's bedded and then him blowing out that close. Like you said, if Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: you would have known, you would have stayed up higher, weighted them out, would have been a different story. So many things Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: have to go right, and that's why mule their hunting sucks. Trail kreitzer: Yeah. I think I texted I think I texted my wife and it was just like, Man, bow hunting mule deer is the worst. It's the worst. It's the highest of highest and the lowest of the lows. It's just like, what a heartbreaker. But Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: yeah, so I mean I got up there and I talked to my brother and he's like, Well, what do you want to do? He's like, you know, that buck, he's definitely spooked. Like, you know, he's I don't think he knew what I was, but I think he probably knew that Aiden wasn't, you know, supposed to be there when when Brady Miller: Yeah, and then Trail kreitzer: he ran up to Aiden. Brady Miller: the deer's thinking about I just got bumped by something, but now I got bumped again. So you got the old double bump in a short period of time. Trail kreitzer: The old double bump. Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: Yeah. So I asked my brother, he's like, What do you want to do? and I was like, Well, I'm like, you know, I feel like I feel like he's probably deserved the night off at this point. You know, like I felt like I gave him a good crack this morning. I was like, he probably he's gonna be on edge the rest of the day, even if we could find Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: him. I said, Let's let's go give these elk a run, you know. So I asked him, I said, D do you have an idea where those elk went? And he's Yeah, I watched them go up into that patch of timber. he's like, Yeah, they haven't come out. So he I'm pretty sure they're in there. So I said, Well, let's eat a quick bite and then let's make a go at it. And so we sat there, we ate some lunch, drank some water, and then we threw the packs on and we made a great big loop, put a plan together, came in above them. And it just happened to work out as we came in above them. We had like this nice timber line that we could kind of work the edge of. As we were creeping down, I look up and I see this cow and a calf, and they're two hundred and eighty yards below us, just kind of feeding on the edge of the timber. And at this point, it's like middle of the day. So I told my brother, I said, they're not going anywhere. You know, they just got up to feed like mid-afternoon, right? And it was perfect, man. We had the wind coming uphill and I said, let's just hook back over the ridge and then we'll get below them and we'll work down. And I said, there's a perfect little saddle right there with one single tree in it. I said, I think we can pop up through that saddle and we can use that tree for cover. And I think we should be within, you know, 50, 60 yards of them. And we'll just have to wait them out till they get up. And so we made this big loop, crept down on them, popped up through the saddle. There's like a little row of trees. And as soon as I'm like working through that little edge, I'm out in front. My brother's behind me. And then Aiden's behind him. And I'm like creeping along. And I look over and I see this cow elk. And she's like feeding just to my to my left. So I grabbed Tracy, my brother, and I said, There's an elk right there. I said, Do you see it? And he's Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: like, Yeah, I see it. So I said, Step out in front of me. I was like, just work these next three or four trees. And when you get to the edge of that one, You know, just keep an eye out. And so he just starts stalking and just like working out ahead of me. And he's like ten yards ahead of me. And I see it was funny 'cause I remember telling Aiden, like I could see the exact moment that he saw those elk. 'Cause like it was Brady Miller: Alright. Trail kreitzer: it yeah, his whole body language changed. Like I could just Brady Miller: C'est cool. Trail kreitzer: tell it, like, yeah, washed over him. He was just like, Brady Miller: Well Trail kreitzer: you know, and I saw him he had an arrow knocked at the time and I saw him one time. It was funny because like I was watching his body language and like we've we filmed it after the fact, but as I'm watching him, his whole body language, like I could tell exactly what was happening without even seeing the elk. I could just tell what was going on in his mind. I could see the decision-making process of like, should I draw now? Should I wait? Should I stop it? Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Trail kreitzer: And it looked like he was gonna draw once and he hesitated and then I was like, yep, I he can definitely see her. So then I see him come to full draw and he takes about two steps out and released an arrow. And I heard it go through her, heard it hit her. And I was like, man. And then yeah, he turns back. And this is what I was telling you earlier, but he he kind of turns back and looks at us, and then he looks forward and he's kind of looking to where she disappeared, and he's like, Creeping out along, like walking along, and he's looking into this patch of timber where he just shot, and three more elk pop out, and they're like standing directly in line with him, probably forty-five, fifty yards, like right out ahead of him. And he's so focused on where he just shot and looking at where this elk just ran that like he doesn't even see these three. They're I mean, they're and they're literally like right in the wide open, right in front of him. And I'm sitting there looking. Yeah, Brady Miller: Just dialed in focused. That's Trail kreitzer: just laser focused on where he just shot. And I was telling Aiden, I was like, man, I should have I should have bought a spike tag because this spike, he's a big old beautiful spike, big fuzzy horn spike. He's just like standing right out there in the open broadside. And I just I know, I know. Yeah, but Brady Miller: Remember what I told you, no trail. Do not do it. You're deer hunting. But now you had an opportunity, so I feel bad. Trail kreitzer: yeah, but it's okay. I d I wouldn't have wanna I wouldn't have wanted to pack too elk off. But Yeah, ended up blood trailing her out and you know, got her found and that was his first elk with a bow. I think it's Brady Miller: Did you just stoke? Trail kreitzer: over the moon. He's Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: I mean, absolutely over the moon. He yeah, he was texting me today and said, Man, that was sure a lot of fun. yeah, he just just so so excited. And they love to eat eat elk, so he was pretty stoked. Brady Miller: Mm. Trail kreitzer: But we Spent the afternoon getting her quartered up and then we between the three of us we packed a whole elk off the mountain. So it was a a full day. Yeah, I went from Brady Miller: Nice work. Full day's effort. Trail kreitzer: I went from me, you know, completely sh shanking it on that big buck, and then you know, him smacking a cow and killing it and packing it out that night. So it was I was pretty tired. So hence Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. You're you're such a you're such a good brother. Trail kreitzer: I think I told the camera at one point I was like, man, I wish killing elk. I wish kill a mule deer. I wish killing a you a nice mule deer buck with your bow is as easy as it is to kill an elk, man. Cause I just feel like they they give you so much more in regards to like getting away with like movement, you know. Any Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Trail kreitzer: and even a little sound, like their their tolerance level for sound and movement is just higher than it is a mu a mule deer Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: buck. Yeah. But it was fun, man. I got to got to go through the whole process of breaking an elk down with them. you know, kind of Brady Miller: Did Aiden get the kill shot on film? Trail kreitzer: He g he didn't get the actual impact of the elk because it was like kind of tucked behind us in the timber. But he got you know, he got him coming to full draw and shooting the arrow. It was Brady Miller: Nice, nice. Trail kreitzer: kinda wild 'cause that cow there was actually a cow, a calf, a lone cow, which is the one that he shot, and then a spike, but that cow came up out of the the timber and she was feeding right at him. And he had ranged this tree. This tree was like twenty-seven yards and she was coming right at him and he was like trying to make a decision of like what do I do? Do I shoot her at like twenty yards, you know, frontal or do I wait? And luck would have it, man, she just turned completely almost quartering away from him, like ever so slightly quartering away, and just yeah, made made a good shot and got her killed and got to break her down and pack her out. And I got to feel what it was like to have, you know, half an elk on my back again. Which sucks. Yeah. Brady Miller: Yep. yeah. Trail kreitzer: But yeah, man, it was it was a ton of fun. But hence the reason I'm here on the podcast and not out hunting. we got home really late that night and my I smelled like a dead elk. And I thought, you know, I'm gonna run home and do some laundry and let that buck kinda mellow out for a couple days and then I'm gonna run back tonight and give him give him a rip for the next ten days. Brady Miller: Are you going full cleaning your pack and everything or just clothes? Trail kreitzer: I'm just doing my clothes. Yep. Yeah. Brady Miller: Well, most of the time I guess if you're stalking a deer compared to an elk like you're gonna already have your pack dropped, so Trail kreitzer: Yep. Yep. So I'm gonna just get my my my laundry, get my clothes pretty clean and then put the pack back together 'cause it's still kinda broken down from using the load shelf and probably or reorganize my gear and get some more food and definitely some more water 'cause Those last two days it was so hot. I deaf I didn't pack any water. In fact when I started packing her out, I just ran out of water. Like I drank the last bit of water I had. So the entire way down it was just like raw dogging it. Nothing to drink, so I was pretty thirsty. Pretty thirsty. So I'm gonna have to pack some more water for sure. But Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: yeah, man, I'm I'm like really it was fun, man. Fun week and it's fun to see somebody get their, you know, their first elk, especially with a bow. It was awesome. And then Brady Miller: Mm. Very, very cool. Trail kreitzer: if I can get in and get this buck killed, it's really gonna put a cherry on on top of the Sunday. Brady Miller: Yeah, like I said, I was really surprised that I heard you were coming back and Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: but now it all makes sense what you're doing, why you're doing it. So yeah, give your buck time. Obviously clean doing some laundry 'cause of all the blood and stinky elk. Trail kreitzer: What do you think about that decision to like give him a couple of days? Brady Miller: I think it's smart. But have you thought about just giving him a couple of days from a distance and trying to just to stay out there and glass him as well? Like obviously Trail kreitzer: Hm. Mm-hmm. For sure. Brady Miller: obviously you hope he comes back to his home range. but now, you know, there's probably is a little thought in your head, like, is he gonna move a couple of miles and make a new home range? Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: but it's good for the mental side too, you know, to Yeah, give your give yourself a breako there with new excitement rather than keep grinding and grinding it, 'cause you might not actually see him. Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: like the past two days he might not have seen him at all because he could just be tucked in somewhere totally new. Now less pressure there. Nothing going Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: on. Him just coming right back to his normal area. So I think it could be still smart. It just kinda Trail kreitzer: It was it was Brady Miller: makes me nervous not being there to see him. Trail kreitzer: Me too. It was a tough decision to make. It was like, do you do you pull out of there and maybe give him a couple days to mellow out and, you know, potentially return back to his same little, you know, home ranges like the pockets that Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Trail kreitzer: he knows are home? Or do you keep at it and just go back in there and you do it day in and day out? May see him, may not see him. Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Trail kreitzer: Yeah, it was a hard decision. I marinated on it for a really long time and then ultimately I just decided, you know, he's been bumped well, three times in reality, 'cause my brother bumped Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: him and then I bumped him, and then he ran into Aiden, and Aiden bumped him, and I was just like, Man, he definitely's gotta be feeling a little bit of pressure in like a three or four day window. Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: So I thought, you know, I'm gonna give him a couple days, let him marinate, let him mellow out, and hopefully he'll just kind of return to his little you know, his little pockets and then and then I can pick him up again, you know, on the weekend. But it does make me nervous. Makes me really nervous that like somebody else will move in, you know, get a glimpse at him while I'm gone. That Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: that's really like wearing me thin. Brady Miller: Yeah, that's that is a tough one. Trail kreitzer: Yeah. But I don't know what else you do. I mean, you I was telling my brother, I said, you know, hunting, especially bow hunting, it's just a it's a series of like small decisions, right? You you make those decisions and I think one of the biggest issues that I've had over the past, and I think maybe new hunters have, is that they they just they get that you know, paralysis. Like they can't decide what to do, you know. And I've I what I've kind of like landed on is I think you make the best judgment that you can based on the scenario, like the wind, the topography, behavior, whatever it might be. You you you calculate all those things, you take them into consideration, you make a decision, but then you just make the decision you make the damn decision and then you go do it. And if it works out, awesome. You learn from it. If it doesn't, you learn from it, right? Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Trail kreitzer: So yeah. I mean, I think coming back to me was just like, I'm gonna make that decision. Feels right. Maybe it's the wrong decision, but I won't know till I get back. And if it if it is the wrong decision, well I learned something. Brady Miller: Exactly. But if it's the right decision, you'd be like, Yeah, giving him some time and space was great. He was right back in there. there wasn't a chance that he 'cause you you never know, maybe the spot you're glassing from, maybe he moved right to there. And if you go clo climb up to their glassing knob, you could blow him out completely again. So right now by giving him Trail kreitzer: Yeah. For sure. Brady Miller: his space, maybe he's at your glassing knob was like, Well, now I'm gonna go back to my normal habits and then goes back to his normal pattern rather than getting, you know. So Trail kreitzer: Yep. Yeah, it's a it's a Brady Miller: Yeah, I think you'll you'll learn something when you come back when you go back in for sure. You got two things you're gonna learn. He's there or he's not there. Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Mm-hmm. There he isn't. You know. The other thing that's had me thinking too is because he was so hard to see during scouting, right? And then it's made me think that like now when I do see him and I have a tag in my pocket, like the one morning where he fed the entire morning and I thought for sure he was gonna bed, and then he didn't, and he just went up and over the ridge. I've kind of made this decision that When I do see him, I'm going to have to make decisions quickly. I'm going to have to act Brady Miller: Mm. Trail kreitzer: on them. So like I may end up having to stock this buck when he's feeding, which isn't ideal, but Brady Miller: No. Trail kreitzer: that it's not ideal. But, you know, there's a decent likelihood that I may not see him bed. But I mean, that's twice that I haven't been able to see him bed. So I didn't know exactly where he was. So I've come to that decision. Like I'm probably gonna end up having to get a little bit more aggressive. I'm gonna have to anticipate where he's gonna go. when he's feeding and try to be out ahead of him and maybe ambush him, but I can't just like sit back and watch him all morning long and then watch him feed into a canyon at nine o'clock in the morning and disappear and then I never see him again that evening, you know? Brady Miller: Yeah, 'cause you want to try to get a play on him. Trail kreitzer: Gotta get a play on him. You gotta get reps in the red zone. Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Being patient's also really smart, but sometimes you just gotta you gotta get in there. Mm-hmm. Yeah, just go with your gut. Go with your gut, man. That's like Trail kreitzer: Gotta go. Gotta gotta go. Yeah. Brady Miller: you sit, like you said, the paralysis by analysis. I've done it before where I've been so patient on a buck. And all of a sudden I realize like, wow, it's been four days and the buck still hasn't bed in an optimum position. I can see where he's bedding, but it it was like Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: a cliff around him. I couldn't get close to him. And then all of a sudden the next day the buck's gone. And now I Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: can't turn him up again. And I'm like Yeah, I was trying to be patient because that's what I thought the smart thing to do in this situation. But sometimes it's nice just to be like, hey, we got we gotta shake things up a bit. We gotta get in there. Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: Like you're saying, gotta get a rep in. If you can't get close enough, back out if you can without blowing them up. But like at least try. You have to eventually Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: become a decision. Like, I have to just go in there and do it. And then Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: that you might learn something by yourself, like, hey, maybe being more aggressive in these certain situations when a buck kind of cagey and solo and beds in these super thick pockets, like being aggressive, I could catch up to him. Now I can actually watch exactly where he beds because I was able to kind of follow him to his bed by staying in that comfort zone, but like be able to watch him Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: where you look back, like there's no way you would have seen that from your glassing knob, like the exact tree Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: bedded under. So being aggressive could be smart. Trail kreitzer: Yeah, I think this is a buck I'm gonna have to be aggressive with. Like I'm gonna have to put some stocks on that don't feel quite right 'cause he's probably on his feet, you know, or I'm gonna have to go through some some timber not knowing exactly where he is, or I might have to just post up and hope he walks through this saddle, you know? Brady Miller: Mm-hmm. Trail kreitzer: Or he shows up in this patch of timber in the morning, like because I've seen him kind of feed through it before, like I'm gonna have to do some things like that, I think, in order to get him killed. Just f It's weird because I think you get pigeonholed with you know it's it's the the classic scenario of like spot and stock archery meal there. Like you everybody tells you and like the theory is is like you watch that buck bed, you know, and then he gets up and he gets his second bed and then he's gonna be there for three hours and you know exactly where he is. And like that's how archery, spot and stock hunting works. I just don't think that it works for every single animal and every Brady Miller: Yeah, you're trying to romanticize a situation Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: that everyone's described because that is the ideal situation. Like glass Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: a buck up, watch him, you watch him, he beds, he gets up, re beds, like I'm gonna come sneak in from above. I'm gonna sit there for a while, have the range already, wait till he stands up, come into full draw. But you're romanticizing Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Yay. Brady Miller: a situation that's not ideal for the specific buck on that day and that specific train you're hunting and you have to just do something different. Trail kreitzer: Yeah, it becomes your paradigm. Like that's this is my paradigm. This is how you archery elk or archery see elk I got elk on the bra. This is this has yeah, Brady Miller: Come on, Trail. Trail kreitzer: this is how you archery deer hunt, you know. This is what I've seen in every video, this is what I've heard everybody talk about, this is how it's supposed to work, and like that's your paradigm. But I don't know that that's always gonna be the case for every single animal in every landscape. I think sometimes you're gonna have to get creative with it, which is what is what I Brady Miller: Yeah. I've Trail kreitzer: what what I think is gonna have to happen with this buck. Brady Miller: I harp all the time about mainly to myself, but also try to help other people is it's so good to think outside the box. Like Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: you can't get stuck trying to hunt like everyone else does all the time, or the majority of the time you're gonna have success like everyone else does, which sometimes is not having success. Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: Like do things differently, think differently. Hunting a buck, he's you know, smart for a reason. yeah, shake Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: things up a bit, get in there, get close, get it done. And you will. Trail kreitzer: Ho Brady Miller: All these things are weighing in your head right now, and I bet you're so freaking jacked to get out there and just Trail kreitzer: Yeah. I Brady Miller: work the rest of the day. Insider plus call. Once we get done with that, both of us are bouncing, saying peace. Bye Felicia. We're Trail kreitzer: That's it. Brady Miller: we're heading out. Trail kreitzer: Yeah, hopefully next week we we have a Marco Polo in the office, we got a dead antelope, we got a dead bug, we'll just have a whole table full of animals that we can talk about. Yeah. Brady Miller: Yeah, bro, do you wanna know my conundrum right now? This Marco Polo thing has been updating and processing as we've gone through the podcast. So I apologize. There was a time while you were speaking, if someone probably saw me smile and if they're watching the podcast, Trail kreitzer: Mm. Brady Miller: I refreshed the tracking number. It's gonna be here tomorrow, Trail Now. Trail kreitzer: No way. So now what do you do? Brady Miller: Tomorrow's my scouting day for my antelope. Do you Trail kreitzer: Are you gonna stay home and receive this this Marco Polo? Brady Miller: I've already waited four years to see it. So one in my mind, what's one more day? But like, no joke, the thought did pop up in my head, like, I wanna see this thing so badly. I would do anything. Like if it Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: got stuck in Denver or Grand Junction earlier, like I would do everything, drop it, drive all the way up there right now tonight to go like I'm gonna pick it up myself and bring it back here. Trail kreitzer: Right. Brady Miller: Like I wanna see it that bad. And now that it's literally says estimated delivery, August twenty first. Trail kreitzer: Dang. He's gonna roll he's gonna roll right through here, my through my hometown. Brady Miller: You're gonna probably see him. Wave, wave Trail kreitzer: Dino. Brady Miller: as you wave until you see him. Trail kreitzer: I will. Maybe I'll I'll track him down and hijack. Brady Miller: Give give give him an escort, like I said. Give this semi driver an escort. If you need to tip him, give him white monsters because he's driving through Utah. Do whatever you Utah people do to to treat people well. And I'll pay you back for it. Just make sure this guy has lots of energy, lots of excitement, doesn't take those corners too hard so it sways back and forth Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: in the trailer. Yeah. Get him here safely. Trail kreitzer: Well I'm excited for ya. That's there's a lot going on right now in the office so Brady Miller: There's so much going on right now. And like I said, it's been a whirlwind. I got that news. Obviously, you know, worked hard trying to get a leftover tag, got my antelope tag. Trail kreitzer: Mm. Brady Miller: hearing your stories, I'm excited for you. And I want the weekend to be here, but I'm also now really looking forward to coming back as Trail kreitzer: Y Brady Miller: well. Trail kreitzer: for sure. Yeah, me too. I mean, I'm excited to see how this all comes together. And you know, whether I get him or don't get him, it's already been a really fun experience. It's really fun to to to go with my brother and watch him shoot that elk and then, you know, the stocks that I have gotten on and then just to to be out, it's been really fun. And I'm gonna get him and you're gonna get one and we'll all we'll all get get back together and we'll rehash how it actually went down. And the video's been awesome. You guys will be anybody that's listening, well when we get a chance we get a chance to drop you know, the the video, I think you guys are gonna be super excited. Brady Miller: I've s I've seen I've seen the footage already, that the one scene, and wow, that buck does come right to Aiden's lap. Just like what are the what are the odds? Like you always talk about, Trail kreitzer: Isn't that Brady Miller: knowing what knowing the bucks, you know, escape routes and all that, but like that that buck's escape route was right on to that glassing knob. Right to Trail kreitzer: Isn't it wild? Brady Miller: right to Aiden. Like what are the odds? That would never happen if you and I were bow hunting together Trail kreitzer: Never. Brady Miller: and you were in a stock and I'm just like, Hey, I'm gonna sit right here. The buck would never come right to you. But it did Trail kreitzer: Never. Brady Miller: when you have a camera guy. Obviously he doesn't have tags, he's just there capturing everything. Trail kreitzer: Dude, when he comes walking up over the little rise and he's got his ears pinned back and he's just kind of like walking, it's pretty good, huh? Brady Miller: Mm hmm. Pretty freaking cool. That's when I just like looking at my side of it now, I love watching deer. His whole Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: all his his entire mannerism. I was paying attention Trail kreitzer: Mm-hmm. Brady Miller: to that, like the ears. Like obviously you you know, he had a sense of danger, so he's pinning them back, trying to listen to it while he's going away. It is so cool how these deer have evolved to survive because they know where danger comes from all the time. And it's like just seeing him doing what he was doing as he was escaping and having that captured on there and phenomenal camera footage, very, very cool. Trail kreitzer: I'm gonna send you when when we jump off here, I'm gonna send you like a minute and thirty-three second clip of it's probably my favorite video that I've got of a buck. He he takes his hind leg on the one side and it's like you're like a dog scratching its ear. He like picks Brady Miller: Yeah. Trail kreitzer: it up and he's just like scratching the back of his ear. And then he turns to the other side and he scratches the other ear, and then he's like licking his his hoof, his back hoof. Brady Miller: yeah, how dog dog did that. Yeah, they always lick the paw their and then go back up in there. Yeah. Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Yeah. He's licking his back hoof and then he stands up and he gives like his full body a shake and he's just like whipping his antlers back and forth, like shaking him off. It's some of the coolest footage I think I've captured of a of a buck. It's it's awesome. It's really fun footage. I think you'll dig it. Brady Miller: Heck yes. Well, I'm st Trail kreitzer: Yep. Well good deal. Brady Miller: I'm stoked for your trail. Can't wait to hear the report and I'll give you updates as well on my side when I'm out there and if Trail kreitzer: Yeah. Brady Miller: you know, we'll stay in satellite messenger communication and keep in touch. Trail kreitzer: Keep in touch, B Mill. Shoot a shoot a big one, man. Maybe we'll Brady Miller: I'll shoot a big old two I'll shoot a big old two point for ya. Trail kreitzer: Well he might have he might have extras. You never know. I've seen him. Brady Miller: Could have some extras. Yeah. I've shot a few that have a little one inch one sticking off the back, so Trail kreitzer: Yeah, you might you might have some extras. That'd be cool, man. What if we what if we tag out on the same day? How epic would that be? Brady Miller: Row. That'd be epic. All right. Well, yeah, Trail kreitzer: Okay. Brady Miller: well, let's wrap this up. See you later on the Insider Plus call and yeah, talk to some members about some L Cunning stuff. So Trail kreitzer: For sure. Brady Miller: thanks for jumping on trail, even though you're probably Jones in to get back out. Really appreciate it. Trail kreitzer: Yeah, I got all my laundry hanging off the back deck, so I I'm gonna gather that up and throw a few things in the truck and then hit the road tonight. So good good luck to Brady Miller: All right. Well Trail kreitzer: you, man. We'll we'll I'll I'll hopefully see you next week. Brady Miller: Yeah, sounds good, buddy. Trail kreitzer: Come on. Bye.