February 27, 2025 • 49 mins
Jason sits down with Ashley Stuckless to discuss his journey. Ashley is an aspiring film producer and recently caught Jason's eye with a pair of stone sheep hunting films. The series of films takes you from the Lows to the Highs of sheep hunting. They discuss getting into backpack hunting, the approach you should take, Ashley's favorite adventures and the future of High BC.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Welcome back to another episode of Cutting the Distance. Today,
I'm joined with a relatively new buddy. A guy that
we meet because of social media, you know, reaches out.
We strike up a friendship and a conversation and it
leads to that Ashley Stucklass from High BC up in
British Columbia reached out. We started working together and then
I started to watch more of his videos, more of
(00:33):
what he's putting together, and just a guy that I
would say chases down the adventures he wants to be
on and I really love that and respect that just
wanted to bring him on and talk about some of
his adventures.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
How's it going, Ashley?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
It's going great, Jason. I thank you so much for
having me on. This is amazing.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yeah, And I'm gonna get this all wrong. Whatever sheep
show you're at, you're at the BC sheep show, and
I'm gonna get the acronym wrong, but thank you for
taking your time out.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
And what is the sheep show you're at? Exactly? I'll
let you expel.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Sure. It's a Wild Chief Society of British Columbia. This
is their salute to conservation and their mountain hunting expo
so it kind of has two names to it.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yeah, so thank you again for taking the time out
of that. And that's we started talking here about a
month ago, and I had watched your hunt last year,
which was heartbreaking, right you, Yeah, you find the ram,
you know everything, and then it's Chip, right, was you
kind of NASA name?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah, we nicknamed him in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Chip, So we watched that you had some cool coloration
on his nose, so it was obvious.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
You know, we'll get.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Into that part later, but kind of a heartbreaking story
for people that, you know, for us, for us down
in the lower forty eight, like coming up stone sheep hunting,
it's like a dream hunt, right, one that's almost like
financially unobtainable at times, but you'll watch you guys get
to go do it in your backyard as a resident,
and it was like heartbreaking, right to miss that shot,
(02:04):
just a bummer. But there there's always little nuggets of
like the story that was created this year couldn't have
happened without that, that low or the heartache that certainly.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Yeah, it'd be half the story that it ends up
being without that, which is officially and deeply my my
most hurtful miss So, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I don't want to.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
I don't want to necessarily necessarily like spoil the story.
But let's just say you and the buddy go back
into that country and relocate Chip and have a better outcome.
So it's an awesome two part series. I highly recommend
you guys go watch the first part before you jump
in to the success. And it's crazy how you would
(02:52):
have never probably convinced Ashley at that time that like
this is all for a good reason, like it's gonna
make a better story, because you wouldn't have bought it
until it happened.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Oh yeah, for sure. Even when it actually happened, I
was like, like you, you can't imagine this this to
come together in this way. So it was, you know,
some amazing luck there from the sheep gods for sure.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And like I said, I was, I'm you know, I'm
drawing to guys like you, actually guys that do it.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Like might you know self?
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Where you know I you tune into the sheep hunt,
you guys are just bushwhacking through miles and miles of
bottom land trying to get into the sheep country, and
it's like these things are hard, even for a resident,
even for guys that have the opportunity, Like it doesn't
come easy, Like you guys are still putting in the work,
putting in in the grind, and you're doing it the
hard way, the right way. And so I respected the
(03:43):
heck out of that, and really what kind of drew
me to your channel? And then you know, started watching
your meal deer hunts and your other adventures there in
BC and beyond. It's it's awesome and so just stoked
to have you on the show. And we're going to
go through, you know, some of your adventures where you
came from, your your upbringing and how you got here.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Sure, So we're gonna start out like most episodes. I
got a couple of my own, just kind of softball
Q and A questions. This segment is sponsored by Pendleton Whiskey,
so we appreciate them being partners here. So if you've
got questions for me or my guests, feel free to
email them to us at CTD at Phelps game Calls
dot com or just send us a social message on
(04:22):
any of our platforms and we'll do our best to
get them in here. So these are from These are
my questions in addition to the conversation we're gonna have. So,
you know, not being from BC, not knowing your guys'
exact system, you know, your public land, how do you
pick areas that you're gonna hunt? Like do you look
at the do you do e scouting? Is there just
like well known areas? Like is it similar to down
(04:44):
here where you're just like I want to go hunt
that area? Figure out the logistics, Like how do you
choose where you're gonna hunt? What what mountains may have
you know, sheep in them, whatever it may be, Like,
how do you plan hunts up there in BC?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
And what's open to you?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
So I for planning the hunts and eat scouting for sure.
I mean we're on on X throughout the season and
the off season. You know, we're dropping pins, we're doing
you know, we're doing some scouting hikes and then sort
of verifying, you know, how the lay of the land is,
and then you know, getting the feel for the feed
(05:20):
types that are in the areas and then using on
X to then go deeper. I mean, we are fortunate
our population bases is quite a bit lower than a
lot of the US states, and so we have a
ton of crown land or public land, as you guys
say down in the US there I so we're fortunate
(05:44):
to have a lot of that, but we still in
the good areas of good mual de deer areas, mountain hunting,
sheep and goat. If you don't do your research, you know,
you can really find yourself in foot races, and it
can We have enough plan that it's it can be
easily avoided if you're willing to, you know, put on
(06:07):
and burn some boot leather and get a little deeper
and use those tools. So we do very detailed planned
out hunts for backcountry.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah, and I wasn't gonna go down this rabbit hole.
And maybe you do or don't know, like my understanding
being from down here looking at you know, stone cheap prices.
Did they cut resident stone sheep opportunity or was it
more of just a non resident or guide in outfitter concessions,
because I know a lot of the BC guides and
outfitters got their allocation cut in half, which then like
(06:38):
doubled the price instantly for guys like me that would
want to come up. But did you guys, did they
mess with the management numbers?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
For you or was it a little a little bit
in a few areas. For sure, there were some changes,
and there's likely to be more changes coming. But typically
in the area where we focus our stone sheep hunting,
it remains untouched the same way it was when I
walked in these same hills in the in the early nineties. So,
(07:04):
you know, sixty bucks. The tag's more expensive now, but
sixty dollars as a resident hunter and just your fuel
and the gear and and you're hunting.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
That's a little sixty bucks is a little bit more
affordable than one hundred thousand right now?
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Or yeah, for sure makes me want to see if
I can get my my residency up in BC.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
For a couple of years.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Come on up, yeah, come on up. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
So what's the what's the general health of the critters
up there in BC? You guys have you know moose,
you know sheep, go uh, you know meal deer. I'm
assuming some whities down you know south, like, is the
general consensus that the critters are doing good there right
now or sustaining? Are they on a downturn where it seems.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Like I think we are experiencing some of this stuff.
You guys are experiencing too. I mean we've got you know,
our Stone Cheap population remains pretty healthy for sure, but
definitely our California population and have a movie and you know,
has really impacted that that herd. I don't know exactly,
(08:08):
but I think it's about a third of the size
that it was, you know, ten to fifteen years ago,
just based on you know, primarily movie and the impact
from that disease. So and then for our moose, I think,
you know, we've been going through a long, long sort
of trajectory of a decline in them, in our moose
(08:31):
populations due to a lot of road and forestry activity
and stuff allowing the predators to really excel in their
in their pursuit of moose specifically, and and on the
mule deer front, I mean, we really have amazing opportunities
still for over the counter. You know, we have a
(08:54):
few small subsets of draw for mule deer, but it's
the same thing. You know, I paid I think it's
twenty five dollars for my mule deer tag and can
hunt them every year. The population I think, you know,
even in the last ten years when I've really been
focused on mule deer a lot. I've certainly seen changes
(09:18):
in the population. I think, you know, a couple of
years ago we had bad snowpack and that really impacted
the population that we're still recovering from. But we had
good snowpack the following year, and this year's sort of
sort of moderate as well. So I think it's we're
healthy overall, but there's a lot of work to be done.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
And yeah, do you think you mentioned that they're a
little bit like predator management?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Is it still?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
You know our hunters is are the fishing you know,
you guys' fish and wildlife, like our predators well managed
up there. Still that that, my opinion, is why we
were having so much trouble. You know, thirty years ago,
we could run dogs, you know, we could do all this.
You could bait bears, you know, we're now it's like
you're starting to get some of these, you know, these
bleeding hearts that don't like that method of hunting when
(10:09):
it's a really great management tool. And so without those
then you know, if you can't bait well, then also
you can't use hounds. Now you've got a recipe for
like what are the chances that you just run across
the cougar. You know, we all know for you, Yeah,
it's just like the opportunity, the chance for take is
becoming slim. And so I've always felt it's our predator
(10:29):
management number one and then maybe wildlife management number two,
which go hand in hand. Do you guys feel you know,
some of these declines maybe predators. Is it hunting pressure,
is it game management, or just a natural cycle? You
know you mentioned weather.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Yeah, I think the weather cycles a little bit of
the bigger picture, but the predator management piece can't be overlooked.
I think we're really lucky we have. We can't bait
bears in British Columbia, but we can use hound for
cats and and are we're able to go out and
(11:06):
hunt wolves and coyotes. I was out a couple of
weeks ago. As a matter of fact, I think what
it really comes down to is really trying to a
be mindful of how we're engaging in that activity and
help people understand the benefits. We're not out there to
(11:27):
wipe everything out, but when you look specifically at mule
deer and their winter range, there is there is a
huge advantage to the predators when the density of these
mule deer become. You know, they're down in the stage
and they're packed down. You know, they're down in six
hundred feet elevation in the river drainages. And the predators cougars,
(11:50):
at wolves and coyotes, you know, really can have big impact.
They'll their population will fluctuate with the available of that game.
But that cycle, if we're not if we don't play
a part in that, which we always have, if we
don't continue to play a strong part in that, you know,
(12:13):
we are always going through these huge swing curves as
opposed to having something where we're looking at the numbers,
looking at the amount of predation and then you know,
playing our part in that, and I think trying to inspire.
We have the opportunity, but you know, I don't run
into other guys out there, you know, with their backpacks on,
(12:35):
you know, hunt hunting coyotes or wolves. It's it's no mansion,
but everyone's out there when them when the mule they're
hunting seasons on, you know, and we're wondering why, you know, hey,
numbers are down this year. So we had bad snow
and then the predators were at the at a high peak,
so they do a big hammer at that point. So
it takes about five years to to recover. If you
(12:58):
get that perfect storm of predators at the peak. Mule
deer's had a bad winter, wow, you know, so.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Yeah, and then we've had that too where we get
like a couple of bad winterers around. Then you're just missing,
missing like your age class a deer. So you know,
like five or six years from now when those bucks
should be, you know, where you want them. You might
not have very many bucks because not very many of
those fawns made it through those couple of bad winters,
or they got ate up by a cat or a wolf,
you know, because it's easier pickings. And so we'll notice
like big age bands missing where it's like all really.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Old deer and then like real young deer.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
And then you you know, you have to wait for
that to get through, and you so you miss these
big chunks of age class, you know, depending on on
bad weather. And we could talk about predators forever, like
I wish, I wish the furs were still worth enough
or there was an incentive enough to like it made sense.
You know, now guys aren't willing to go fill you
know I'm also a turkey hunter, which I'm not going
to get into. But right, it's not worth guys to
(13:52):
go out and chase raccoons around anymore because their hidees
aren't worth enough. So why would I spend one hundred
dollars in fuel to go chase raccoons around when you
can't make that up or even break even. Same thing
with coyotes, Like it's not worth putting the fur up anymore.
You know, you don't got the right methods for cougar
and wolves. You can't even hunt wolves where I'm at.
You know, some some states you can. So I wish
(14:12):
there was some incentive where it made sense or it
wasn't like a financial decision on whether you're gonna go
hunt versus, like I know what's best for the ungulates
that we want to or I know what's best for
the balance, Like let's go, you know, go out and
predator hunter spend a weekend.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
You know, it's cool.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
For everybody to lace up their boots a on a fall,
you know, deer hunt or a sheep hunt. But and
I'm a hypocrite too because I don't do enough predator hunting.
But like we need to you know, lace up our
boots during the winter as well and go take care
of some predators.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah, I've been trying to inspire myself to do that
more to to you know, the opportunities there. And I
fall in the same same bucket, you know, And there's
only so many holidays that you can take away from
your work. There's only so much, so many tanks of
fuel you can burning the year, and it ain't getting cheaper.
But but yeah, like from a big picture perspective, I
(15:07):
just I just want to be fully engaged and understand it.
And I think, you know, it's not often well understood
by others that think about outside of hunting, that think
about hunters. The point you're just making of being able
to analyze you know, we hunt the same or adjacent
areas every year, and our our knowledge specifically of the
(15:32):
health of those herds are you know, on par with
some deep, deep studies done by biologists, you know what
I mean. We were able to say, hey, three years ago,
you know, there there was that winter, and then you
can really see it showing up that that age class
is sort of punched out of the herd. And I love,
(15:53):
I love deep diving into thinking about that stuff.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yep, I overthink and probably you know, overanalyze everything, but
I think it's important, Like you need to be you know,
you need to be involved, You need to be plugged
in and thinking about all of these things.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
You know how how that affects you know, the.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
The longevity and and you know, ultimate population and and
all of that. And it's it's pretty evident that that
predators are having a big toll right now. But you know,
we're playing within some pretty pretty tight confines down here.
It sounds like you guys can't bait but still have
the ability to run dogs, and I think that's an
important management tool. And uh yeah, yeah, so I I
(16:38):
I took advantage there and asked you a few more
questions in the two I was gonna ask, so appreciate that.
And uh yeah, once again, you have questions for me
or my guess ct D at Phelps Game Calls dot
com or send us a social message and we'll we'll
do our best to to get those on here for it.
So now, actually I'm gonna kind of jump into just
your introduction, So, like what was your background, you know,
(17:00):
did you grow up in BC? You know, come from
a hunting family, like, give us a five minute rundown
of you growing up as a hunter and how you
got here.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Sure I was. I was actually born on the East Coast.
I was born in Newfoundland. I've been in British Columbia
for thirty years now, so you know, my adult life
has been spent here in British Columbia. I was hunting
before I was holding a gun in my hand. You know,
I followed my grandfather's around. I followed my grandfather on
(17:29):
this trap line. You know, I look back now, I
was thinking about this, like I thought, oh, I was
being because I was super eager to be helpful and
you know, wanted to work hard. And you know, but
when I really realize now, like my grandfather was sacrificing
his efficiency greatly to tope me along. I thought I
(17:52):
was helping, but really he was helping me along. And then,
you know, my dad was always my main hunting mentor
so he told us. Around me and my two brothers,
you know, from very early ages five six years old,
we're chasing him around. You know, when we get to ten,
he's given us opportunities to shoot a duck, you know,
(18:15):
and to sort of graduate into learning hunting so it
came through our family traditions. My hunting, I think sort of.
You know, we were heavily, heavily moose hunter family because
it's it was all about the yield, yep. So it's like,
you know, my dad worked in mining management and only
(18:40):
had so much time away from work. He's great blue
collar guy, but he really treasured the time he put in,
but he would focus it on where he could get
the best yield. So you know, he wasn't a bear hunter.
He shot one deer in his life, but you know
he shot a moose. He shot thirty five moose in
(19:03):
his life, you know, because that's so I've really cut
my teeth on some heavy packing and stuff. We didn't
do a lot of backcountry moose hunts, but we would
you know, set up our camp and then do small
hikes in the bugs and then you know, work it
out that way. And when we first moved to British Columbia,
we moved to a small town named Cassiar, which is
(19:26):
way up forty five minutes from the Yukon border. And
when I seen that, you know, I was seventeen or
eighteen at the time, and when I seen that, I
was like like blown away. Right now, I'm in the
mountains of British Columbia, way up north, and I can't
(19:48):
believe it. But you know, me and my buddy Chad,
they just used to let us go on the weekend.
We'd be walking out with a single shot twenty two,
weaving through grizzlies looking for sheep and goats all through
the summer, you know, and and sleeping out there in
our little tents and you know, a little naive, I
would say, but but just getting after it. So and
(20:09):
then the fall would come around, and you know, my
dad and this couple buddies at the mine were like, well,
we're up here in the north. We you know, my
dad's a moose hunter, great moose hunt together there. But
he's like, I guess I got to go for a
sheep while I'm up here in a goat. And we
never did get him a sheep, but we did get
him a nice belly, and but I ended up getting
(20:32):
being on four successful sheep hunts up there with the
guys in the mind we just take him out.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, are you still up up in that same general
area up north?
Speaker 3 (20:42):
No, I'm in Vancouver now, Like you know, my career
and stuff, you know, has been kind of locked down
in the city. So, you know, I get to the
North Country every year. It is something that it's on
my must do list every year. I have a fantastic
wife that lets me get away a whole bunch to
chase the sort of dream that I'm I'm kind of
(21:05):
have this vision and I'm struggling, but I'm still working
hard at it.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
So yeah, no, and then uh, a little bit about
about you there. So then so, how did HIGHBC like
the the beginnings of that and how long have you
been doing it? And uh, like I said, I've I've
started watching your stuff because I really enjoy it and
your storytelling and the way you kind of go about it.
So tell us about hih BC, the YouTube channel and
where you got going there.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Well, it's funny, you know, you know, I've watched hunting
shows my entire life, right, That's the the that you're
a kid, You're looking at these big personalities on TV
and you're thinking, wow, you know, and it never feels
like something you could do, and it still doesn't, frankly,
and and then you know, I just had this epiphany
(21:49):
that you know, I see other people doing things on
YouTube and putting their little hunts together and they're just
normal resident hunters, just like me. And I'm like, well
I should do that. And you know, again back to
sort of a naive perspective, I'm kind of a dive
right in and start figuring it out. Guy. But you know,
(22:09):
so I just went on Facebook marketplace Boughty use camera.
So I was like, oh, I at least need to
have a good camera, which it wasn't a very good camera,
but still. So this is only four years ago. Basically
four and a half years ago. I touched the camera
for the first time, and I was like, this is
going to be easy. So me and my buddy Kyle
(22:30):
went out and we're just filming, going to check our
trail camps. Okay, oh, this is going to be great.
So I'm out there spraying this camera around, thinking, oh, wow,
this is going to be like I've seen some of
the cinematic stuff that's out there, guaranteed, got it nailed
at these shuts are wonderful. Get back to my computer
(22:50):
and I'm like, okay, let's put this magic together and
I just I just remember I distinctly remember sitting looking
at my of this shaky dad cab style footage like
a you know, like I'm running around and nothing makes
sense that there's there is no story to it. It's
it's just sort of this is an activity we're doing.
(23:13):
And and then I was frustrated but hooked instantly. I'm like, oh, okay,
so I got to get better. So then I just
you know, grind on on researching how to, how to shoot,
how to you know, figure it out. And you know,
then through the twenty thirty dollars in gear upgrades and
(23:36):
and becoming just just like hunting, you become this gear
nut you kind of like I need this, and it's
got to be that. Once you got something set, it's
like lock that in because that's that's a move. That's
a move that I need. It's there, Okay, rely on it, Okay,
add something else into the mix, and the same thing.
So this was always both happening now at the same time, Like, Okay,
(24:00):
I found out a way to make hunting way more expensive,
so this is this is awesome. So and but but
I just basically kept driving for it, keep driving for it.
I'm still driving for it, like I feel right now,
if I'm being honest in my journey, I feel like
(24:23):
halfway there. I feel halfway to what I'm still visioning.
But I can see glints of it, you know, I
can see glints. I can see a sequence right now
that I can edit and put together of shots that
I took myself, and I'm like, okay, that's that's fairly tight.
And then okay, the story wobbles here, and then you
just the story piece has been it's complicated. Yeah, you
(24:48):
don't realize how much work goes into that. So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
And the nice thing is, you know, I you know,
kind of watching it from the beginning. Now you see
you with the big I think it's the big white
bodied lenses. You know, you got the big expensive lenses
where it's like, you know, the dedication for somebody to
pack that long lens around, and.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
So it's like, you know, improving that.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
But then I think the magic and and you may
agree that the equipment's nice and the fancy equipment, but
it comes back to that storytelling. And the nice thing
is is you get going, like it just becomes a
little more naturally, like, oh, that's the storyline, like I
already know, you know, and and you just you know,
and it's not the storyline people are gonna attach to,
and uh, that's what I love about it, is like
telling those stories in the way that you know, you
(25:26):
want to, you know, and and it's fun especially when.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
You then they're not all gonna land.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
It seems like sometimes you produce some duds and then
it's like, all right, the next one everybody loved and
that you know, and so it's just yeah, producing something
that you want to and then hoping that the people
that watch, you know, like it, and uh, it's a
it's a lot of fun. So let's let's roll into
your your three most memorable hunts there in BC. I know,
the the sheep Hunts got to be one of them,
(25:51):
and then kind of throw your other two and we
didn't touch too much on it. If you want to
go a little bit deeper into the you know, the
story on Chip and then ultimately what you and your
buddy were both to do this past year, like give
us that story and then throwing a couple of your
other favorites.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Yeah, well, I you know, when we think about the
sheep hunt, like, I've never had an experience that was
that that sort of high that elevated, So you know,
it's like a huge gift to get that opportunity. So
you know, we like you say, packing in that lens,
that's that's part of the part of the sacrifice that takes. Yes,
(26:28):
could I use my olen and get some good shots? Absolutely?
What can I can I get? You know, ten bit
color in four k No, I cannot. And so you know,
put taking that sixteen pounds of camera gear on a
eighty eighty kilometers the first year and about a you know,
(26:50):
one hundred the next year. I get great satisfaction in
that pain to do it, because not a lot of
people want to do that. You know, we're cheap one
oh one. How light can you make your kit?
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (27:06):
And make it still comfortable? That's like basic science of
sheep hunting is, hey, how can I get to fifty
five pounds with ten days of food? How do I
get to that number? And for me, it's like, okay,
now I've got to that number. Now let's just add
sixteen pounds on it or fourteen depending on the kid
(27:28):
I bring and sort of, but it matters enough to
do that, and I think, you know, that's making my
hunts more memorable, that whole process in itself, and of
course having video of varying quality levels of these hunts
(27:48):
really deepens the experience because we think we remember everything
and then you watch something from a couple of years ago.
But you know, really getting back in there with Jesse
the same hunter. You know, we we did not think
we were going to cross up. This is a very
expensive area we're hunting. We didn't think we cross up
Chip again. And you know, if you I've re edited it.
(28:13):
I'm actually showing it at the Sheep Show here into
one compact like twenty minute episode. It's probably my best
editing to date on that story. So if people do
want to see it, it will be there. I think
it's worth the watch. It's very relatable if you're in
(28:35):
the mountains. I really like to you know, dive into
more than more than just the grip and grin that's
fortunately a part of it in the highs. But but yeah,
there's it's that that sick grind that you got to
do and whether you like it or not, you just
love it, you know, whether it hurts or not. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Yeah, And so by time this airs, that video will
be live on your YouTube channel.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Correct, it will, Yeah, after I show after I show
it tomorrow at one o'clock at the Sheep Show. That'll
be the first screening of it. It will go live
by Sunday on the YouTube channel. And I think it's
a nice way if if you don't want to watch
it through the two part I think the two parts
valuable because it goes deeper. Obviously, it's twice the twice
(29:22):
the length kind of thing, but this is just a
little more concise, maybe a geared a little more towards
watchability and engagement kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
And I'm curious you said, you know, it was in
an expansive area. How far was he from the spot
where you miss him the first year? Was it the
same mountain or was.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
He apart different mountain, same range? And it was approximately
you know, five miles or so. Jeez, talking miles because
a lot of people, but yeah, yeah, five miles ten
kilometers ish kind of thing. I never quite measured it off,
but approximately in approximate.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
That's crazy, you know, because like and I don't know
if your milder are more finicky, like a lot of
our meal deer go back to the exact same summer range,
you know, they migrate out, go back, So it's you know,
I would just assume a sheep's gonna kind of stay
on the same mountain, but that that seems to be
a pretty pretty good distance, so it's even more rare.
You know, it may be normal, but it seems crazy
that you know, you'd pick him up that far apart.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Yeah, they they just run the range differently right than
than meal there because my meal their experience with when
we talk about, you know, three favorite hunts, I think
mule dere is ultimately my favorite animal to pursue. But yeah,
they act very differently than sheep. Sheep are you know,
they'll they'll have you know, maybe it's grizzly bears pushing
(30:47):
them around from time to time. Maybe it is other hunters.
A guide comes through with his horses, you know, they'll
they'll migrate. Whereas you know meal deer, you can push
him out for a couple of days usually, but if
you really stick it out, usually he's gonna he's gonna
sneak back in there and want to be in whether
that's his summer range or or where he likes the winter.
(31:08):
You know, when they're running running, they'll cruise a lot more,
so you'll get a lot more turnover through the basins.
That you work, but uh yeah, they're they're a little.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Bit different, gotcha, gotcha? And then you you kind of
that was a good segue.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
So I'm sure a meal deer hunt's got to be,
you know, on on one of your top three and
and watching your videos, it seems like you guys got
like kind of some cliffy plateau country that drops off
into these cliffs and it looks like just a really
cool way to get above those deer and kind.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Of kind of glass down.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Tell me a little more about your meal deer hunting,
and it seems like you know a lot of fun
hunting them that way.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
It's super fun hunting them that way. I mean, you know,
it creates challenges as well for recovery. Sometimes you've got
to do very very long hikes to to you know,
your you shoot him four hundred yards away, then you
got to hike ten kilometers, not just a kilometer and
a half like your typical working your way in cutting
(32:05):
the best little ridge lines to get you to them.
This is a bigger swing. But I'm just in love
with that that, you know, end of October right through
November being in that country, that transition between the fur
timber that it's fairly dry in there. It's bordering on
(32:27):
sort of desert type of terrain. And it transitions from
these stunted fur forests that are quite open, nice walking
underneath into these cliff systems down into the river drainages
which are all rolling sage, and you know, just smelling
the sage and just being right there is you know,
you gotta do it. Anybody who's getting into the like,
(32:50):
I don't know how you don't get hooked because it's
it's very enjoyable.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
No, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
It seems like you're able to take some good bucks
in there. You's got a pretty healthy population and looks
like a ton of f What would be your third?
So you know you got a sheep? Is most memorial?
That that memorable?
Speaker 2 (33:17):
You got that?
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Mealy, what would be like a third? I know you're
trying to get after a big horn this year, but like,
you know, moose, what else?
Speaker 2 (33:24):
What else is your It is moose?
Speaker 3 (33:27):
That And there's a deep connection to moose hunting and
my relationship with my father, grandfather, uncles. You know, it's
a traditional on the east in Newfoundland has the highest
moose population per square kilometer square mile in the world,
So it's a big food source for a lot of
(33:48):
small communities out there. So even though I do my
moose hunting here in British Columbia, I feel heavily connected
to all of those childhood memories when I'm in the
bogs chasing moose, you know. So so I think, I
I that is near and dear to my heart.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Do you try to still get out every year in
moose hunt when you can? Or is it is it
like an every other year thing or how it's.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
More of an every other year thing. Honestly, I think
I am gonna make a moose hunt happen this year.
But our moose hunt hunting in the province is ninety
percent draw so you do have to draw a tag.
Some of the areas that that I like to hunt,
the drawds aren't that great. So there's a few little
(34:34):
pockets left in the province where there's where there's open
uh open moose hunting. But so you know, if if
you know, traveling to the Yukon three times a year
gets a little tough. So I usually try to get
too up north, not into the Yukon, but uh right
(34:56):
up on the border and uh it uh yeah, there's
only so much you can do. There's only so many days.
But that has to be my my third if I
put it there, like I'm obsessed with trying to I've
been bit with the elk bug too, just because I've
had them pound me in the chest bugling back. And
(35:17):
you know, we we didn't ol hunt growing up, and
I didn't do a ton of elk hunting just myself,
and and these last couple of years, I've been just
in this hot pursuit to try and try and make
it happen. I've had some really close calls, but yeah,
still still working on it.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Yeah, elk stuff to beat, just from an interaction, Like
you know, they give you more interaction than almost every
other critter we get to chase around. So yeah, similar
to to you, that's probably why they're my number one.
You know, you get an interact and get them all
fired up and pissed and yeah, super super fun way
to hunt.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
I have a question for you back on the moose.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
So you know the shiris down here, you know, we
got some shiriffs that extended there and then you guys
there's like the the Band of Canadians and it turns
into Yukon. You know, once you get to Yukon, but
do you find that the further north you go, you
you tend to get bigger, bigger, you know, bigger hornwise moose.
Is that is that typical through like BC or is
it HIT or Miss?
Speaker 3 (36:13):
I think it's totally fair when you take it to
the extremes for sure. I mean we definitely have those
Alaska Yukon bloodlines all through a northern band like where
I was hunting this past fall, that was in like
Alaska Yukon moose territory. But as you go north, I think,
(36:36):
you know, there's a lot more opportunity for the populations,
just not that dense so of people, So moose grow bigger,
they have good food sources that they don't get kicked
off of as much. There's a lot less resource activities
up there, meaning the predators are more in a natural
balance with the moose. So there's a few things that
(37:00):
but I think there's some magic in the feed once
you once you get up into that, you know, those
red willow flats and that once you once you find that,
then you're into that transition zone where you you could
find yourself you know, fifty sixty inch powl for sure.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Nice nice, yeah, no, you know watching like I said,
going back to your hunts, you know, you do it
the hard way. Do you have any like advice for
you know, we give advice all the time, but like
advice for people whether you're in Canada or whether you're
in the USA, like just taking this on.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
You know, it was daunting. Growing up.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
I was more of a industrial timberlands hunter, right, So
we would drive our rig to a landing, you would
look at a new fresh clear cut and you would
hunt your deer and your elk out of that. And
then as I got into it, you start to realize like, oh,
I've got to park my truck and walk for seven
or eight miles, you know, and it was daunting. And
you know, so I've I've went through this and I've
talked about my way, but like, do you have any
(37:59):
good advice for for people that may be wanting to
you know, explore or kind of you know, tease the
idea of this backcountry hunting like an approach, you know,
and we don't have to get gear specific by any means,
but like, no, you know, things you need to think about,
things that you need to have you know, good boots, backpack,
those sort of things, you know, at least like your
main three. You know, we always talk boots, backpack, shelter,
(38:21):
sleep system.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
You know what, how how should.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Somebody approach wanting to get into more of this back
country hunting?
Speaker 3 (38:27):
And yeah, it's I've been actually doing some backcountry you're
backpacking one O one sort of PowerPoint presentations to sort
of help young hunters at some of our local gun
clubs and stuff. And you know, I really think you
want you want to bite slow, and you don't want
(38:48):
to start with the in the hard basket, don't you know?
If you think your first backcountry hunt's going to be
mid November, you know fifteen fifteen miles back, you're setting
yourself up for a challenge you're likely to be bested by.
I would say so, I think you know, good opportunities
(39:09):
to cut your teeth on backcountry hunting would be spring
bear in May, get yourself out there. Yeah, the bugs
are bad. That's going to build some mental toughness. I
think you really want to look at before you even
get into the you know, those are the key gear
pieces that you're going to be thinking of, you know,
on top of that you'll want an inReach device. We
(39:31):
don't have a lot of cell coverage in our back country,
so you definitely want to be cognstead of that, and
you want to you want to train like you got
You gotta want it, like backcountry is sort of and
you don't have to be a freak, but you gotta
do something. You can't just come in there cold your
hip flexors alone, like even a forty pounds pack set
(39:55):
up on it for a three day weekend hunt. You'll
you're your hip flexers once you're three four miles into
that are going to be screaming at you. And with
a few rocking sessions and some you know, some light
gym work and stuff, especially at the beginning, until you
train your body to get used to that. I think
(40:16):
is essential because if you enjoy the experience, set yourself
up to make it fairly easy. Earlier mule deer hunts
in the back country. Not necessarily easy, like you're going
to come out of there with it here, but easier
as far as far as it goes. But I think
you should really try and get towards your line, like
(40:38):
push yourself, take on some elevation, you know, don't take
the easy way out and realize that it's not a race.
You can just pick away. It's amazing how much ground
you cover. I'm sure you guys you know this when
you're working your ridges with your Google tubes after Elk
and then you know you spent the whole day. You
(40:59):
didn't cut back for a break midday or anything. You
just wanted to push to a new area. You look
at your day after that, it's fairly casual. Your body's
not tore up, and wow, I've covered fifteen ten miles.
You know that's great, and you know you're gonna sweat,
You're gonna be uncomfortable. You do, you do need to
(41:23):
have good boots, Like you can't fake that part. You're
not gonna make it with you know, going down to
Target and picking up a pair of plastic boots and
thinking that's going to do it. It's it's because you're
carrying the way to the backpack and you need to
be able to Yeah, you need boots that you can
cut in and work across slope.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
So yeah, that's a great point you made on You know,
everybody wants to pick off the top hunt, you know,
or the most difficult hunt right off the bat and
it's like, no, I mean, there's nothing wrong. Like my
first backpack hunting for Meal dere here in Washington State
was three miles up.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
Just got me a little bit further in. You got
to test your stuff.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
You know, it was more of a mid October hunt,
so you know what worst case scenario. I I pack
up and I go back to my truck. You know,
nothing hurt. And then it's it's crazy. I fast forward,
you know, after doing it as long as you have
or as long as I have, and you're like, now,
I don't really care if I get snowed on twenty
four inches, Like it's just part of the game, right.
You've built yourself to that point where you're like, good,
now now that you're going to stick out like a
(42:24):
sore thumb, and I'm gonna be able to track them,
And you know, all these things are good versus.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
Less people are out here. They've been pushed off, you
know that. But but I think, yeah, you just slowly
because that that three mile hike in that's that's pretty moderate,
is not gonna be enough to fully satisfy you. But
it's good to start with that and to have that
lack of full satisfaction. Well, that didn't feel fully backcountry. Okay, good.
(42:49):
Next time it's five miles and it's a little deeper
and you can work off that same trail. So then
it feels like you're building because you know, we we
don't see the entire area our first time into a
new area. We go and make some focus chunks of it.
We picked that apart. Okay, now we know how to
efficiently make it through that terrain, specifically to that spot. Okay,
(43:12):
so it's easy for us to plan our next pop
into the next drainage, and then you just have to
see the next one and the next one, and then yeah,
it's pretty soon.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
I'm reflecting back now, like on that three mile hike in,
like it was real cold. The next day all my
water froze up right, I couldn't get the water. Well,
it's like, all right, I'm three miles in. It's not
an emergency yet, but let's say not to over dramatize
that you're ten miles in and can't get to any water,
but your water's froze. So it's like, oh, I've learned
over time. I'm just gonna sleep with my water inside
to sleep, but you know, like I'm gonna boil some jet,
(43:42):
but you know I'm gonna boil water my jet boil,
I'm gonna have to keep that warm all day long
so it doesn't And it's just crazy, like, uh, you know,
hard times build tough you know you've always heard the
saying hard times build tough men.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
Well, it's like backpack camping.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
It's it's very true, like you've been through something similar,
so nothing's like end of the world, or you've learned
to adapt. You've learned what's important on these things, and
it just by doing it but not necessarily starting it
the absolute hardest level of the hunt.
Speaker 2 (44:10):
You just learn to adapt.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
And it's it's crazy how you almost like condition your
mind to like, all right, I can get through this.
I've been through something worse, or it doesn't matter if
I'm fifteen miles, I'll eventually be able to hike out,
or you know, we can do these other things. And
so no, I just wanted to piggyback on that again
that yeah, pick something, pick something that is doable, not
you know, there's not huge ramifications if it doesn't work
(44:32):
out or you don't bring the right gear, and then
expand on it, expand on a little bit more, and
you know, realize that you're your tent's not good enough
to go through another rainstorm like that if you were
deeper had to actually stay on the mountain. You know,
you upgrade materials, you upgrade you know, products, and by
time you're done, you're like, well, it doesn't bother me
to live out of this thing for ten days in
the middle of November, like I'm going to be all right.
Speaker 3 (44:54):
Yeah. And the last thing that I was talking to
a guy a few weeks ago and he said, well,
I don't you know my friend who who want to
do this with me? Neither of us have done it,
so we're just hoping we can find a friend that's
done it. I said, there's a lot of a lot
of resources out there to sort of get yourself prepared.
(45:17):
And then there's gonna be no greater teacher than going
out freezing your water bottle up, having to go there.
See that half day, it's not a life and death
learning that lesson that. It's you know, it's going in
your sleeping bag or when you're actively hunting through the day.
I mean, it gets cold late where your water's gonna
freeze up if it's not inside your puffy yep, So
(45:39):
I'll just stuff it in there and and then the
good news is you're working hard, you got your water there.
It's little things like that that that's why if you
go slow, you know, the penalty for making those errors
isn't too great, but it sure builds you up. Now
you're not gonna free You're gonna learn how to protect
(46:00):
your water or you know, any other things set in
your tent up where it doesn't get managing the snow
when it falls. Hey, if you're in a tepee tent
and you're not going to manage your snow, it's snowing
all day, but you want to keep out grinding hiking,
well you might pay the price when you get back
in your poles tour right through and you know it's yeah,
(46:22):
that's what you want to learn a little closer. You
want to walk out in the dark that three miles
because your tent's blown up and just say, well, I
better manage snow better next time because I want to
go deeper.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Yeah, Or and then I always look at everything with like,
what's my emergency action? If this does fail, my sleeping
bagels probably still be all right even if my tent collapses,
and I can always start a fire and like lay
by it to get through the night if I absolutely
you know. So you're always like, worst case, what what
are my skills?
Speaker 2 (46:52):
What can I know?
Speaker 1 (46:52):
I can probably get a fire going, you know, And
so you're always kind of balancing those as well.
Speaker 3 (46:58):
It takes a lot to drive me out of the
back country. So I've had stuff go wrong and I'm
faking it together just fine. I just got to get
through those nights. I've had long nights. The funny thing
the night before opener when I shot and missed Chap
in twenty twenty three, we slept under my sheep tart,
(47:20):
no pads, nothing, and you know, I remember in the night,
I was just had my legs hovering and I was
scissor kicking as fast as I can just generate body heat.
It's just waking up the whole time. So yeah, yeah,
we'll do We'll do crazy.
Speaker 1 (47:35):
I'm similar, I'll do crazy stuff to make sure that
I bring myself the best chance for success. So yeah, yeah,
you just got to be mentally tough in power through. Well,
I know you need to probably get back to the
show where we're coming up here on fifty minutes, So
I do want to give you a chance to actually
tell people how they can get a hold of you,
how they can find your stuff.
Speaker 2 (47:54):
Watching all of that.
Speaker 3 (47:56):
Sure, like I mean the HIGHB Just search high BC
on YouTube you'll you'll come across our channel. We are.
We are experiencing a pretty nice growth curve right now.
So that's been fun to see and the community grow
also on Instagram at high Underscore BC Underscore Hunting, and
(48:17):
then we're I signed for a second season on h
on Wild TV, which is our Canadian hunting network show there,
so so I'll be on there again this year. It
all seems like it's the world's spinning pretty fast. Like
even sitting on this podcast like that, that didn't even
seem imaginable.
Speaker 2 (48:38):
So I know you're here.
Speaker 1 (48:39):
We go good, Like we talked offline a little bit,
like you know, we I get asked a lot like
how do I get an hunting industry? How do I
get an interview with you? And I'm like I told you,
I'm like, just go do cool stuff like go go
chase it down and like we'll note it, you know,
I'll notice or we'll we'll eventually get put in touch
and and so yeah, that's that's what we'll close with that. Actually,
like you mentioned it, just go do cool stuff and
(49:01):
you had your own little spin on that, and I'll
let you sign us off here.
Speaker 3 (49:04):
Yeah, okay, Well, thanks everyone for listening, and thanks again
for this opportunity and look forward to seeing you everyone
out in the hills. Let's get after it.
Welcome back to another episode of Cutting the Distance. Today,
I'm joined with a relatively new buddy. A guy that
we meet because of social media, you know, reaches out.
We strike up a friendship and a conversation and it
leads to that Ashley Stucklass from High BC up in
British Columbia reached out. We started working together and then
I started to watch more of his videos, more of
(00:33):
what he's putting together, and just a guy that I
would say chases down the adventures he wants to be
on and I really love that and respect that just
wanted to bring him on and talk about some of
his adventures.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
How's it going, Ashley?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
It's going great, Jason. I thank you so much for
having me on. This is amazing.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yeah, And I'm gonna get this all wrong. Whatever sheep
show you're at, you're at the BC sheep show, and
I'm gonna get the acronym wrong, but thank you for
taking your time out.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
And what is the sheep show you're at? Exactly? I'll
let you expel.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Sure. It's a Wild Chief Society of British Columbia. This
is their salute to conservation and their mountain hunting expo
so it kind of has two names to it.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yeah, so thank you again for taking the time out
of that. And that's we started talking here about a
month ago, and I had watched your hunt last year,
which was heartbreaking, right you, Yeah, you find the ram,
you know everything, and then it's Chip, right, was you
kind of NASA name?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah, we nicknamed him in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Chip, So we watched that you had some cool coloration
on his nose, so it was obvious.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
You know, we'll get.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Into that part later, but kind of a heartbreaking story
for people that, you know, for us, for us down
in the lower forty eight, like coming up stone sheep hunting,
it's like a dream hunt, right, one that's almost like
financially unobtainable at times, but you'll watch you guys get
to go do it in your backyard as a resident,
and it was like heartbreaking, right to miss that shot,
(02:04):
just a bummer. But there there's always little nuggets of
like the story that was created this year couldn't have
happened without that, that low or the heartache that certainly.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Yeah, it'd be half the story that it ends up
being without that, which is officially and deeply my my
most hurtful miss So, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I don't want to.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
I don't want to necessarily necessarily like spoil the story.
But let's just say you and the buddy go back
into that country and relocate Chip and have a better outcome.
So it's an awesome two part series. I highly recommend
you guys go watch the first part before you jump
in to the success. And it's crazy how you would
(02:52):
have never probably convinced Ashley at that time that like
this is all for a good reason, like it's gonna
make a better story, because you wouldn't have bought it
until it happened.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Oh yeah, for sure. Even when it actually happened, I
was like, like you, you can't imagine this this to
come together in this way. So it was, you know,
some amazing luck there from the sheep gods for sure.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And like I said, I was, I'm you know, I'm
drawing to guys like you, actually guys that do it.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Like might you know self?
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Where you know I you tune into the sheep hunt,
you guys are just bushwhacking through miles and miles of
bottom land trying to get into the sheep country, and
it's like these things are hard, even for a resident,
even for guys that have the opportunity, Like it doesn't
come easy, Like you guys are still putting in the work,
putting in in the grind, and you're doing it the
hard way, the right way. And so I respected the
(03:43):
heck out of that, and really what kind of drew
me to your channel? And then you know, started watching
your meal deer hunts and your other adventures there in
BC and beyond. It's it's awesome and so just stoked
to have you on the show. And we're going to
go through, you know, some of your adventures where you
came from, your your upbringing and how you got here.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Sure, So we're gonna start out like most episodes. I
got a couple of my own, just kind of softball
Q and A questions. This segment is sponsored by Pendleton Whiskey,
so we appreciate them being partners here. So if you've
got questions for me or my guests, feel free to
email them to us at CTD at Phelps game Calls
dot com or just send us a social message on
(04:22):
any of our platforms and we'll do our best to
get them in here. So these are from These are
my questions in addition to the conversation we're gonna have. So,
you know, not being from BC, not knowing your guys'
exact system, you know, your public land, how do you
pick areas that you're gonna hunt? Like do you look
at the do you do e scouting? Is there just
like well known areas? Like is it similar to down
(04:44):
here where you're just like I want to go hunt
that area? Figure out the logistics, Like how do you
choose where you're gonna hunt? What what mountains may have
you know, sheep in them, whatever it may be, Like,
how do you plan hunts up there in BC?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
And what's open to you?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
So I for planning the hunts and eat scouting for sure.
I mean we're on on X throughout the season and
the off season. You know, we're dropping pins, we're doing
you know, we're doing some scouting hikes and then sort
of verifying, you know, how the lay of the land is,
and then you know, getting the feel for the feed
(05:20):
types that are in the areas and then using on
X to then go deeper. I mean, we are fortunate
our population bases is quite a bit lower than a
lot of the US states, and so we have a
ton of crown land or public land, as you guys
say down in the US there I so we're fortunate
(05:44):
to have a lot of that, but we still in
the good areas of good mual de deer areas, mountain hunting,
sheep and goat. If you don't do your research, you know,
you can really find yourself in foot races, and it
can We have enough plan that it's it can be
easily avoided if you're willing to, you know, put on
(06:07):
and burn some boot leather and get a little deeper
and use those tools. So we do very detailed planned
out hunts for backcountry.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah, and I wasn't gonna go down this rabbit hole.
And maybe you do or don't know, like my understanding
being from down here looking at you know, stone cheap prices.
Did they cut resident stone sheep opportunity or was it
more of just a non resident or guide in outfitter concessions,
because I know a lot of the BC guides and
outfitters got their allocation cut in half, which then like
(06:38):
doubled the price instantly for guys like me that would
want to come up. But did you guys, did they
mess with the management numbers?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
For you or was it a little a little bit
in a few areas. For sure, there were some changes,
and there's likely to be more changes coming. But typically
in the area where we focus our stone sheep hunting,
it remains untouched the same way it was when I
walked in these same hills in the in the early nineties. So,
(07:04):
you know, sixty bucks. The tag's more expensive now, but
sixty dollars as a resident hunter and just your fuel
and the gear and and you're hunting.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
That's a little sixty bucks is a little bit more
affordable than one hundred thousand right now?
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Or yeah, for sure makes me want to see if
I can get my my residency up in BC.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
For a couple of years.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Come on up, yeah, come on up. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
So what's the what's the general health of the critters
up there in BC? You guys have you know moose,
you know sheep, go uh, you know meal deer. I'm
assuming some whities down you know south, like, is the
general consensus that the critters are doing good there right
now or sustaining? Are they on a downturn where it seems.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Like I think we are experiencing some of this stuff.
You guys are experiencing too. I mean we've got you know,
our Stone Cheap population remains pretty healthy for sure, but
definitely our California population and have a movie and you know,
has really impacted that that herd. I don't know exactly,
(08:08):
but I think it's about a third of the size
that it was, you know, ten to fifteen years ago,
just based on you know, primarily movie and the impact
from that disease. So and then for our moose, I think,
you know, we've been going through a long, long sort
of trajectory of a decline in them, in our moose
(08:31):
populations due to a lot of road and forestry activity
and stuff allowing the predators to really excel in their
in their pursuit of moose specifically, and and on the
mule deer front, I mean, we really have amazing opportunities
still for over the counter. You know, we have a
(08:54):
few small subsets of draw for mule deer, but it's
the same thing. You know, I paid I think it's
twenty five dollars for my mule deer tag and can
hunt them every year. The population I think, you know,
even in the last ten years when I've really been
focused on mule deer a lot. I've certainly seen changes
(09:18):
in the population. I think, you know, a couple of
years ago we had bad snowpack and that really impacted
the population that we're still recovering from. But we had
good snowpack the following year, and this year's sort of
sort of moderate as well. So I think it's we're
healthy overall, but there's a lot of work to be done.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
And yeah, do you think you mentioned that they're a
little bit like predator management?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Is it still?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
You know our hunters is are the fishing you know,
you guys' fish and wildlife, like our predators well managed
up there. Still that that, my opinion, is why we
were having so much trouble. You know, thirty years ago,
we could run dogs, you know, we could do all this.
You could bait bears, you know, we're now it's like
you're starting to get some of these, you know, these
bleeding hearts that don't like that method of hunting when
(10:09):
it's a really great management tool. And so without those
then you know, if you can't bait well, then also
you can't use hounds. Now you've got a recipe for
like what are the chances that you just run across
the cougar. You know, we all know for you, Yeah,
it's just like the opportunity, the chance for take is
becoming slim. And so I've always felt it's our predator
(10:29):
management number one and then maybe wildlife management number two,
which go hand in hand. Do you guys feel you know,
some of these declines maybe predators. Is it hunting pressure,
is it game management, or just a natural cycle? You
know you mentioned weather.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Yeah, I think the weather cycles a little bit of
the bigger picture, but the predator management piece can't be overlooked.
I think we're really lucky we have. We can't bait
bears in British Columbia, but we can use hound for
cats and and are we're able to go out and
(11:06):
hunt wolves and coyotes. I was out a couple of
weeks ago. As a matter of fact, I think what
it really comes down to is really trying to a
be mindful of how we're engaging in that activity and
help people understand the benefits. We're not out there to
(11:27):
wipe everything out, but when you look specifically at mule
deer and their winter range, there is there is a
huge advantage to the predators when the density of these
mule deer become. You know, they're down in the stage
and they're packed down. You know, they're down in six
hundred feet elevation in the river drainages. And the predators cougars,
(11:50):
at wolves and coyotes, you know, really can have big impact.
They'll their population will fluctuate with the available of that game.
But that cycle, if we're not if we don't play
a part in that, which we always have, if we
don't continue to play a strong part in that, you know,
(12:13):
we are always going through these huge swing curves as
opposed to having something where we're looking at the numbers,
looking at the amount of predation and then you know,
playing our part in that, and I think trying to inspire.
We have the opportunity, but you know, I don't run
into other guys out there, you know, with their backpacks on,
(12:35):
you know, hunt hunting coyotes or wolves. It's it's no mansion,
but everyone's out there when them when the mule they're
hunting seasons on, you know, and we're wondering why, you know, hey,
numbers are down this year. So we had bad snow
and then the predators were at the at a high peak,
so they do a big hammer at that point. So
it takes about five years to to recover. If you
(12:58):
get that perfect storm of predators at the peak. Mule
deer's had a bad winter, wow, you know, so.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Yeah, and then we've had that too where we get
like a couple of bad winterers around. Then you're just missing,
missing like your age class a deer. So you know,
like five or six years from now when those bucks
should be, you know, where you want them. You might
not have very many bucks because not very many of
those fawns made it through those couple of bad winters,
or they got ate up by a cat or a wolf,
you know, because it's easier pickings. And so we'll notice
like big age bands missing where it's like all really.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Old deer and then like real young deer.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
And then you you know, you have to wait for
that to get through, and you so you miss these
big chunks of age class, you know, depending on on
bad weather. And we could talk about predators forever, like
I wish, I wish the furs were still worth enough
or there was an incentive enough to like it made sense.
You know, now guys aren't willing to go fill you
know I'm also a turkey hunter, which I'm not going
to get into. But right, it's not worth guys to
(13:52):
go out and chase raccoons around anymore because their hidees
aren't worth enough. So why would I spend one hundred
dollars in fuel to go chase raccoons around when you
can't make that up or even break even. Same thing
with coyotes, Like it's not worth putting the fur up anymore.
You know, you don't got the right methods for cougar
and wolves. You can't even hunt wolves where I'm at.
You know, some some states you can. So I wish
(14:12):
there was some incentive where it made sense or it
wasn't like a financial decision on whether you're gonna go
hunt versus, like I know what's best for the ungulates
that we want to or I know what's best for
the balance, Like let's go, you know, go out and
predator hunter spend a weekend.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
You know, it's cool.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
For everybody to lace up their boots a on a fall,
you know, deer hunt or a sheep hunt. But and
I'm a hypocrite too because I don't do enough predator hunting.
But like we need to you know, lace up our
boots during the winter as well and go take care
of some predators.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah, I've been trying to inspire myself to do that
more to to you know, the opportunities there. And I
fall in the same same bucket, you know, And there's
only so many holidays that you can take away from
your work. There's only so much, so many tanks of
fuel you can burning the year, and it ain't getting cheaper.
But but yeah, like from a big picture perspective, I
(15:07):
just I just want to be fully engaged and understand it.
And I think, you know, it's not often well understood
by others that think about outside of hunting, that think
about hunters. The point you're just making of being able
to analyze you know, we hunt the same or adjacent
areas every year, and our our knowledge specifically of the
(15:32):
health of those herds are you know, on par with
some deep, deep studies done by biologists, you know what
I mean. We were able to say, hey, three years ago,
you know, there there was that winter, and then you
can really see it showing up that that age class
is sort of punched out of the herd. And I love,
(15:53):
I love deep diving into thinking about that stuff.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yep, I overthink and probably you know, overanalyze everything, but
I think it's important, Like you need to be you know,
you need to be involved, You need to be plugged
in and thinking about all of these things.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
You know how how that affects you know, the.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
The longevity and and you know, ultimate population and and
all of that. And it's it's pretty evident that that
predators are having a big toll right now. But you know,
we're playing within some pretty pretty tight confines down here.
It sounds like you guys can't bait but still have
the ability to run dogs, and I think that's an
important management tool. And uh yeah, yeah, so I I
(16:38):
I took advantage there and asked you a few more
questions in the two I was gonna ask, so appreciate that.
And uh yeah, once again, you have questions for me
or my guess ct D at Phelps Game Calls dot
com or send us a social message and we'll we'll
do our best to to get those on here for it.
So now, actually I'm gonna kind of jump into just
your introduction, So, like what was your background, you know,
(17:00):
did you grow up in BC? You know, come from
a hunting family, like, give us a five minute rundown
of you growing up as a hunter and how you
got here.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Sure I was. I was actually born on the East Coast.
I was born in Newfoundland. I've been in British Columbia
for thirty years now, so you know, my adult life
has been spent here in British Columbia. I was hunting
before I was holding a gun in my hand. You know,
I followed my grandfather's around. I followed my grandfather on
(17:29):
this trap line. You know, I look back now, I
was thinking about this, like I thought, oh, I was
being because I was super eager to be helpful and
you know, wanted to work hard. And you know, but
when I really realize now, like my grandfather was sacrificing
his efficiency greatly to tope me along. I thought I
(17:52):
was helping, but really he was helping me along. And then,
you know, my dad was always my main hunting mentor
so he told us. Around me and my two brothers,
you know, from very early ages five six years old,
we're chasing him around. You know, when we get to ten,
he's given us opportunities to shoot a duck, you know,
(18:15):
and to sort of graduate into learning hunting so it
came through our family traditions. My hunting, I think sort of.
You know, we were heavily, heavily moose hunter family because
it's it was all about the yield, yep. So it's like,
you know, my dad worked in mining management and only
(18:40):
had so much time away from work. He's great blue
collar guy, but he really treasured the time he put in,
but he would focus it on where he could get
the best yield. So you know, he wasn't a bear hunter.
He shot one deer in his life, but you know
he shot a moose. He shot thirty five moose in
(19:03):
his life, you know, because that's so I've really cut
my teeth on some heavy packing and stuff. We didn't
do a lot of backcountry moose hunts, but we would
you know, set up our camp and then do small
hikes in the bugs and then you know, work it
out that way. And when we first moved to British Columbia,
we moved to a small town named Cassiar, which is
(19:26):
way up forty five minutes from the Yukon border. And
when I seen that, you know, I was seventeen or
eighteen at the time, and when I seen that, I
was like like blown away. Right now, I'm in the
mountains of British Columbia, way up north, and I can't
(19:48):
believe it. But you know, me and my buddy Chad,
they just used to let us go on the weekend.
We'd be walking out with a single shot twenty two,
weaving through grizzlies looking for sheep and goats all through
the summer, you know, and and sleeping out there in
our little tents and you know, a little naive, I
would say, but but just getting after it. So and
(20:09):
then the fall would come around, and you know, my
dad and this couple buddies at the mine were like, well,
we're up here in the north. We you know, my
dad's a moose hunter, great moose hunt together there. But
he's like, I guess I got to go for a
sheep while I'm up here in a goat. And we
never did get him a sheep, but we did get
him a nice belly, and but I ended up getting
(20:32):
being on four successful sheep hunts up there with the
guys in the mind we just take him out.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, are you still up up in that same general
area up north?
Speaker 3 (20:42):
No, I'm in Vancouver now, Like you know, my career
and stuff, you know, has been kind of locked down
in the city. So, you know, I get to the
North Country every year. It is something that it's on
my must do list every year. I have a fantastic
wife that lets me get away a whole bunch to
chase the sort of dream that I'm I'm kind of
(21:05):
have this vision and I'm struggling, but I'm still working
hard at it.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
So yeah, no, and then uh, a little bit about
about you there. So then so, how did HIGHBC like
the the beginnings of that and how long have you
been doing it? And uh, like I said, I've I've
started watching your stuff because I really enjoy it and
your storytelling and the way you kind of go about it.
So tell us about hih BC, the YouTube channel and
where you got going there.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Well, it's funny, you know, you know, I've watched hunting
shows my entire life, right, That's the the that you're
a kid, You're looking at these big personalities on TV
and you're thinking, wow, you know, and it never feels
like something you could do, and it still doesn't, frankly,
and and then you know, I just had this epiphany
(21:49):
that you know, I see other people doing things on
YouTube and putting their little hunts together and they're just
normal resident hunters, just like me. And I'm like, well
I should do that. And you know, again back to
sort of a naive perspective, I'm kind of a dive
right in and start figuring it out. Guy. But you know,
(22:09):
so I just went on Facebook marketplace Boughty use camera.
So I was like, oh, I at least need to
have a good camera, which it wasn't a very good camera,
but still. So this is only four years ago. Basically
four and a half years ago. I touched the camera
for the first time, and I was like, this is
going to be easy. So me and my buddy Kyle
(22:30):
went out and we're just filming, going to check our
trail camps. Okay, oh, this is going to be great.
So I'm out there spraying this camera around, thinking, oh, wow,
this is going to be like I've seen some of
the cinematic stuff that's out there, guaranteed, got it nailed
at these shuts are wonderful. Get back to my computer
(22:50):
and I'm like, okay, let's put this magic together and
I just I just remember I distinctly remember sitting looking
at my of this shaky dad cab style footage like
a you know, like I'm running around and nothing makes
sense that there's there is no story to it. It's
it's just sort of this is an activity we're doing.
(23:13):
And and then I was frustrated but hooked instantly. I'm like, oh, okay,
so I got to get better. So then I just
you know, grind on on researching how to, how to shoot,
how to you know, figure it out. And you know,
then through the twenty thirty dollars in gear upgrades and
(23:36):
and becoming just just like hunting, you become this gear
nut you kind of like I need this, and it's
got to be that. Once you got something set, it's
like lock that in because that's that's a move. That's
a move that I need. It's there, Okay, rely on it, Okay,
add something else into the mix, and the same thing.
So this was always both happening now at the same time, Like, Okay,
(24:00):
I found out a way to make hunting way more expensive,
so this is this is awesome. So and but but
I just basically kept driving for it, keep driving for it.
I'm still driving for it, like I feel right now,
if I'm being honest in my journey, I feel like
(24:23):
halfway there. I feel halfway to what I'm still visioning.
But I can see glints of it, you know, I
can see glints. I can see a sequence right now
that I can edit and put together of shots that
I took myself, and I'm like, okay, that's that's fairly tight.
And then okay, the story wobbles here, and then you
just the story piece has been it's complicated. Yeah, you
(24:48):
don't realize how much work goes into that. So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
And the nice thing is, you know, I you know,
kind of watching it from the beginning. Now you see
you with the big I think it's the big white
bodied lenses. You know, you got the big expensive lenses
where it's like, you know, the dedication for somebody to
pack that long lens around, and.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
So it's like, you know, improving that.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
But then I think the magic and and you may
agree that the equipment's nice and the fancy equipment, but
it comes back to that storytelling. And the nice thing
is is you get going, like it just becomes a
little more naturally, like, oh, that's the storyline, like I
already know, you know, and and you just you know,
and it's not the storyline people are gonna attach to,
and uh, that's what I love about it, is like
telling those stories in the way that you know, you
(25:26):
want to, you know, and and it's fun especially when.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
You then they're not all gonna land.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
It seems like sometimes you produce some duds and then
it's like, all right, the next one everybody loved and
that you know, and so it's just yeah, producing something
that you want to and then hoping that the people
that watch, you know, like it, and uh, it's a
it's a lot of fun. So let's let's roll into
your your three most memorable hunts there in BC. I know,
the the sheep Hunts got to be one of them,
(25:51):
and then kind of throw your other two and we
didn't touch too much on it. If you want to
go a little bit deeper into the you know, the
story on Chip and then ultimately what you and your
buddy were both to do this past year, like give
us that story and then throwing a couple of your
other favorites.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Yeah, well, I you know, when we think about the
sheep hunt, like, I've never had an experience that was
that that sort of high that elevated, So you know,
it's like a huge gift to get that opportunity. So
you know, we like you say, packing in that lens,
that's that's part of the part of the sacrifice that takes. Yes,
(26:28):
could I use my olen and get some good shots? Absolutely?
What can I can I get? You know, ten bit
color in four k No, I cannot. And so you know,
put taking that sixteen pounds of camera gear on a
eighty eighty kilometers the first year and about a you know,
(26:50):
one hundred the next year. I get great satisfaction in
that pain to do it, because not a lot of
people want to do that. You know, we're cheap one
oh one. How light can you make your kit?
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (27:06):
And make it still comfortable? That's like basic science of
sheep hunting is, hey, how can I get to fifty
five pounds with ten days of food? How do I
get to that number? And for me, it's like, okay,
now I've got to that number. Now let's just add
sixteen pounds on it or fourteen depending on the kid
(27:28):
I bring and sort of, but it matters enough to
do that, and I think, you know, that's making my
hunts more memorable, that whole process in itself, and of
course having video of varying quality levels of these hunts
(27:48):
really deepens the experience because we think we remember everything
and then you watch something from a couple of years ago.
But you know, really getting back in there with Jesse
the same hunter. You know, we we did not think
we were going to cross up. This is a very
expensive area we're hunting. We didn't think we cross up
Chip again. And you know, if you I've re edited it.
(28:13):
I'm actually showing it at the Sheep Show here into
one compact like twenty minute episode. It's probably my best
editing to date on that story. So if people do
want to see it, it will be there. I think
it's worth the watch. It's very relatable if you're in
(28:35):
the mountains. I really like to you know, dive into
more than more than just the grip and grin that's
fortunately a part of it in the highs. But but yeah,
there's it's that that sick grind that you got to
do and whether you like it or not, you just
love it, you know, whether it hurts or not. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Yeah, And so by time this airs, that video will
be live on your YouTube channel.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Correct, it will, Yeah, after I show after I show
it tomorrow at one o'clock at the Sheep Show. That'll
be the first screening of it. It will go live
by Sunday on the YouTube channel. And I think it's
a nice way if if you don't want to watch
it through the two part I think the two parts
valuable because it goes deeper. Obviously, it's twice the twice
(29:22):
the length kind of thing, but this is just a
little more concise, maybe a geared a little more towards
watchability and engagement kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
And I'm curious you said, you know, it was in
an expansive area. How far was he from the spot
where you miss him the first year? Was it the
same mountain or was.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
He apart different mountain, same range? And it was approximately
you know, five miles or so. Jeez, talking miles because
a lot of people, but yeah, yeah, five miles ten
kilometers ish kind of thing. I never quite measured it off,
but approximately in approximate.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
That's crazy, you know, because like and I don't know
if your milder are more finicky, like a lot of
our meal deer go back to the exact same summer range,
you know, they migrate out, go back, So it's you know,
I would just assume a sheep's gonna kind of stay
on the same mountain, but that that seems to be
a pretty pretty good distance, so it's even more rare.
You know, it may be normal, but it seems crazy
that you know, you'd pick him up that far apart.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Yeah, they they just run the range differently right than
than meal there because my meal their experience with when
we talk about, you know, three favorite hunts, I think
mule dere is ultimately my favorite animal to pursue. But yeah,
they act very differently than sheep. Sheep are you know,
they'll they'll have you know, maybe it's grizzly bears pushing
(30:47):
them around from time to time. Maybe it is other hunters.
A guide comes through with his horses, you know, they'll
they'll migrate. Whereas you know meal deer, you can push
him out for a couple of days usually, but if
you really stick it out, usually he's gonna he's gonna
sneak back in there and want to be in whether
that's his summer range or or where he likes the winter.
(31:08):
You know, when they're running running, they'll cruise a lot more,
so you'll get a lot more turnover through the basins.
That you work, but uh yeah, they're they're a little.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Bit different, gotcha, gotcha? And then you you kind of
that was a good segue.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
So I'm sure a meal deer hunt's got to be,
you know, on on one of your top three and
and watching your videos, it seems like you guys got
like kind of some cliffy plateau country that drops off
into these cliffs and it looks like just a really
cool way to get above those deer and kind.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Of kind of glass down.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Tell me a little more about your meal deer hunting,
and it seems like you know a lot of fun
hunting them that way.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
It's super fun hunting them that way. I mean, you know,
it creates challenges as well for recovery. Sometimes you've got
to do very very long hikes to to you know,
your you shoot him four hundred yards away, then you
got to hike ten kilometers, not just a kilometer and
a half like your typical working your way in cutting
(32:05):
the best little ridge lines to get you to them.
This is a bigger swing. But I'm just in love
with that that, you know, end of October right through
November being in that country, that transition between the fur
timber that it's fairly dry in there. It's bordering on
(32:27):
sort of desert type of terrain. And it transitions from
these stunted fur forests that are quite open, nice walking
underneath into these cliff systems down into the river drainages
which are all rolling sage, and you know, just smelling
the sage and just being right there is you know,
you gotta do it. Anybody who's getting into the like,
(32:50):
I don't know how you don't get hooked because it's
it's very enjoyable.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
No, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
It seems like you're able to take some good bucks
in there. You's got a pretty healthy population and looks
like a ton of f What would be your third?
So you know you got a sheep? Is most memorial?
That that memorable?
Speaker 2 (33:17):
You got that?
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Mealy, what would be like a third? I know you're
trying to get after a big horn this year, but like,
you know, moose, what else?
Speaker 2 (33:24):
What else is your It is moose?
Speaker 3 (33:27):
That And there's a deep connection to moose hunting and
my relationship with my father, grandfather, uncles. You know, it's
a traditional on the east in Newfoundland has the highest
moose population per square kilometer square mile in the world,
So it's a big food source for a lot of
(33:48):
small communities out there. So even though I do my
moose hunting here in British Columbia, I feel heavily connected
to all of those childhood memories when I'm in the
bogs chasing moose, you know. So so I think, I
I that is near and dear to my heart.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Do you try to still get out every year in
moose hunt when you can? Or is it is it
like an every other year thing or how it's.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
More of an every other year thing. Honestly, I think
I am gonna make a moose hunt happen this year.
But our moose hunt hunting in the province is ninety
percent draw so you do have to draw a tag.
Some of the areas that that I like to hunt,
the drawds aren't that great. So there's a few little
(34:34):
pockets left in the province where there's where there's open
uh open moose hunting. But so you know, if if
you know, traveling to the Yukon three times a year
gets a little tough. So I usually try to get
too up north, not into the Yukon, but uh right
(34:56):
up on the border and uh it uh yeah, there's
only so much you can do. There's only so many days.
But that has to be my my third if I
put it there, like I'm obsessed with trying to I've
been bit with the elk bug too, just because I've
had them pound me in the chest bugling back. And
(35:17):
you know, we we didn't ol hunt growing up, and
I didn't do a ton of elk hunting just myself,
and and these last couple of years, I've been just
in this hot pursuit to try and try and make
it happen. I've had some really close calls, but yeah,
still still working on it.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Yeah, elk stuff to beat, just from an interaction, Like
you know, they give you more interaction than almost every
other critter we get to chase around. So yeah, similar
to to you, that's probably why they're my number one.
You know, you get an interact and get them all
fired up and pissed and yeah, super super fun way
to hunt.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
I have a question for you back on the moose.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
So you know the shiris down here, you know, we
got some shiriffs that extended there and then you guys
there's like the the Band of Canadians and it turns
into Yukon. You know, once you get to Yukon, but
do you find that the further north you go, you
you tend to get bigger, bigger, you know, bigger hornwise moose.
Is that is that typical through like BC or is
it HIT or Miss?
Speaker 3 (36:13):
I think it's totally fair when you take it to
the extremes for sure. I mean we definitely have those
Alaska Yukon bloodlines all through a northern band like where
I was hunting this past fall, that was in like
Alaska Yukon moose territory. But as you go north, I think,
(36:36):
you know, there's a lot more opportunity for the populations,
just not that dense so of people, So moose grow bigger,
they have good food sources that they don't get kicked
off of as much. There's a lot less resource activities
up there, meaning the predators are more in a natural
balance with the moose. So there's a few things that
(37:00):
but I think there's some magic in the feed once
you once you get up into that, you know, those
red willow flats and that once you once you find that,
then you're into that transition zone where you you could
find yourself you know, fifty sixty inch powl for sure.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Nice nice, yeah, no, you know watching like I said,
going back to your hunts, you know, you do it
the hard way. Do you have any like advice for
you know, we give advice all the time, but like
advice for people whether you're in Canada or whether you're
in the USA, like just taking this on.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
You know, it was daunting. Growing up.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
I was more of a industrial timberlands hunter, right, So
we would drive our rig to a landing, you would
look at a new fresh clear cut and you would
hunt your deer and your elk out of that. And
then as I got into it, you start to realize like, oh,
I've got to park my truck and walk for seven
or eight miles, you know, and it was daunting. And
you know, so I've I've went through this and I've
talked about my way, but like, do you have any
(37:59):
good advice for for people that may be wanting to
you know, explore or kind of you know, tease the
idea of this backcountry hunting like an approach, you know,
and we don't have to get gear specific by any means,
but like, no, you know, things you need to think about,
things that you need to have you know, good boots, backpack,
those sort of things, you know, at least like your
main three. You know, we always talk boots, backpack, shelter,
(38:21):
sleep system.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
You know what, how how should.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Somebody approach wanting to get into more of this back
country hunting?
Speaker 3 (38:27):
And yeah, it's I've been actually doing some backcountry you're
backpacking one O one sort of PowerPoint presentations to sort
of help young hunters at some of our local gun
clubs and stuff. And you know, I really think you
want you want to bite slow, and you don't want
(38:48):
to start with the in the hard basket, don't you know?
If you think your first backcountry hunt's going to be
mid November, you know fifteen fifteen miles back, you're setting
yourself up for a challenge you're likely to be bested by.
I would say so, I think you know, good opportunities
(39:09):
to cut your teeth on backcountry hunting would be spring
bear in May, get yourself out there. Yeah, the bugs
are bad. That's going to build some mental toughness. I
think you really want to look at before you even
get into the you know, those are the key gear
pieces that you're going to be thinking of, you know,
on top of that you'll want an inReach device. We
(39:31):
don't have a lot of cell coverage in our back country,
so you definitely want to be cognstead of that, and
you want to you want to train like you got
You gotta want it, like backcountry is sort of and
you don't have to be a freak, but you gotta
do something. You can't just come in there cold your
hip flexors alone, like even a forty pounds pack set
(39:55):
up on it for a three day weekend hunt. You'll
you're your hip flexers once you're three four miles into
that are going to be screaming at you. And with
a few rocking sessions and some you know, some light
gym work and stuff, especially at the beginning, until you
train your body to get used to that. I think
(40:16):
is essential because if you enjoy the experience, set yourself
up to make it fairly easy. Earlier mule deer hunts
in the back country. Not necessarily easy, like you're going
to come out of there with it here, but easier
as far as far as it goes. But I think
you should really try and get towards your line, like
(40:38):
push yourself, take on some elevation, you know, don't take
the easy way out and realize that it's not a race.
You can just pick away. It's amazing how much ground
you cover. I'm sure you guys you know this when
you're working your ridges with your Google tubes after Elk
and then you know you spent the whole day. You
(40:59):
didn't cut back for a break midday or anything. You
just wanted to push to a new area. You look
at your day after that, it's fairly casual. Your body's
not tore up, and wow, I've covered fifteen ten miles.
You know that's great, and you know you're gonna sweat,
You're gonna be uncomfortable. You do, you do need to
(41:23):
have good boots, Like you can't fake that part. You're
not gonna make it with you know, going down to
Target and picking up a pair of plastic boots and
thinking that's going to do it. It's it's because you're
carrying the way to the backpack and you need to
be able to Yeah, you need boots that you can
cut in and work across slope.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
So yeah, that's a great point you made on You know,
everybody wants to pick off the top hunt, you know,
or the most difficult hunt right off the bat and
it's like, no, I mean, there's nothing wrong. Like my
first backpack hunting for Meal dere here in Washington State
was three miles up.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
Just got me a little bit further in. You got
to test your stuff.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
You know, it was more of a mid October hunt,
so you know what worst case scenario. I I pack
up and I go back to my truck. You know,
nothing hurt. And then it's it's crazy. I fast forward,
you know, after doing it as long as you have
or as long as I have, and you're like, now,
I don't really care if I get snowed on twenty
four inches, Like it's just part of the game, right.
You've built yourself to that point where you're like, good,
now now that you're going to stick out like a
(42:24):
sore thumb, and I'm gonna be able to track them,
And you know, all these things are good versus.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
Less people are out here. They've been pushed off, you
know that. But but I think, yeah, you just slowly
because that that three mile hike in that's that's pretty moderate,
is not gonna be enough to fully satisfy you. But
it's good to start with that and to have that
lack of full satisfaction. Well, that didn't feel fully backcountry. Okay, good.
(42:49):
Next time it's five miles and it's a little deeper
and you can work off that same trail. So then
it feels like you're building because you know, we we
don't see the entire area our first time into a
new area. We go and make some focus chunks of it.
We picked that apart. Okay, now we know how to
efficiently make it through that terrain, specifically to that spot. Okay,
(43:12):
so it's easy for us to plan our next pop
into the next drainage, and then you just have to
see the next one and the next one, and then yeah,
it's pretty soon.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
I'm reflecting back now, like on that three mile hike in,
like it was real cold. The next day all my
water froze up right, I couldn't get the water. Well,
it's like, all right, I'm three miles in. It's not
an emergency yet, but let's say not to over dramatize
that you're ten miles in and can't get to any water,
but your water's froze. So it's like, oh, I've learned
over time. I'm just gonna sleep with my water inside
to sleep, but you know, like I'm gonna boil some jet,
(43:42):
but you know I'm gonna boil water my jet boil,
I'm gonna have to keep that warm all day long
so it doesn't And it's just crazy, like, uh, you know,
hard times build tough you know you've always heard the
saying hard times build tough men.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
Well, it's like backpack camping.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
It's it's very true, like you've been through something similar,
so nothing's like end of the world, or you've learned
to adapt. You've learned what's important on these things, and
it just by doing it but not necessarily starting it
the absolute hardest level of the hunt.
Speaker 2 (44:10):
You just learn to adapt.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
And it's it's crazy how you almost like condition your
mind to like, all right, I can get through this.
I've been through something worse, or it doesn't matter if
I'm fifteen miles, I'll eventually be able to hike out,
or you know, we can do these other things. And
so no, I just wanted to piggyback on that again
that yeah, pick something, pick something that is doable, not
you know, there's not huge ramifications if it doesn't work
(44:32):
out or you don't bring the right gear, and then
expand on it, expand on a little bit more, and
you know, realize that you're your tent's not good enough
to go through another rainstorm like that if you were
deeper had to actually stay on the mountain. You know,
you upgrade materials, you upgrade you know, products, and by
time you're done, you're like, well, it doesn't bother me
to live out of this thing for ten days in
the middle of November, like I'm going to be all right.
Speaker 3 (44:54):
Yeah. And the last thing that I was talking to
a guy a few weeks ago and he said, well,
I don't you know my friend who who want to
do this with me? Neither of us have done it,
so we're just hoping we can find a friend that's
done it. I said, there's a lot of a lot
of resources out there to sort of get yourself prepared.
(45:17):
And then there's gonna be no greater teacher than going
out freezing your water bottle up, having to go there.
See that half day, it's not a life and death
learning that lesson that. It's you know, it's going in
your sleeping bag or when you're actively hunting through the day.
I mean, it gets cold late where your water's gonna
freeze up if it's not inside your puffy yep, So
(45:39):
I'll just stuff it in there and and then the
good news is you're working hard, you got your water there.
It's little things like that that that's why if you
go slow, you know, the penalty for making those errors
isn't too great, but it sure builds you up. Now
you're not gonna free You're gonna learn how to protect
(46:00):
your water or you know, any other things set in
your tent up where it doesn't get managing the snow
when it falls. Hey, if you're in a tepee tent
and you're not going to manage your snow, it's snowing
all day, but you want to keep out grinding hiking,
well you might pay the price when you get back
in your poles tour right through and you know it's yeah,
(46:22):
that's what you want to learn a little closer. You
want to walk out in the dark that three miles
because your tent's blown up and just say, well, I
better manage snow better next time because I want to
go deeper.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Yeah, Or and then I always look at everything with like,
what's my emergency action? If this does fail, my sleeping
bagels probably still be all right even if my tent collapses,
and I can always start a fire and like lay
by it to get through the night if I absolutely
you know. So you're always like, worst case, what what
are my skills?
Speaker 2 (46:52):
What can I know?
Speaker 1 (46:52):
I can probably get a fire going, you know, And
so you're always kind of balancing those as well.
Speaker 3 (46:58):
It takes a lot to drive me out of the
back country. So I've had stuff go wrong and I'm
faking it together just fine. I just got to get
through those nights. I've had long nights. The funny thing
the night before opener when I shot and missed Chap
in twenty twenty three, we slept under my sheep tart,
(47:20):
no pads, nothing, and you know, I remember in the night,
I was just had my legs hovering and I was
scissor kicking as fast as I can just generate body heat.
It's just waking up the whole time. So yeah, yeah,
we'll do We'll do crazy.
Speaker 1 (47:35):
I'm similar, I'll do crazy stuff to make sure that
I bring myself the best chance for success. So yeah, yeah,
you just got to be mentally tough in power through. Well,
I know you need to probably get back to the
show where we're coming up here on fifty minutes, So
I do want to give you a chance to actually
tell people how they can get a hold of you,
how they can find your stuff.
Speaker 2 (47:54):
Watching all of that.
Speaker 3 (47:56):
Sure, like I mean the HIGHB Just search high BC
on YouTube you'll you'll come across our channel. We are.
We are experiencing a pretty nice growth curve right now.
So that's been fun to see and the community grow
also on Instagram at high Underscore BC Underscore Hunting, and
(48:17):
then we're I signed for a second season on h
on Wild TV, which is our Canadian hunting network show there,
so so I'll be on there again this year. It
all seems like it's the world's spinning pretty fast. Like
even sitting on this podcast like that, that didn't even
seem imaginable.
Speaker 2 (48:38):
So I know you're here.
Speaker 1 (48:39):
We go good, Like we talked offline a little bit,
like you know, we I get asked a lot like
how do I get an hunting industry? How do I
get an interview with you? And I'm like I told you,
I'm like, just go do cool stuff like go go
chase it down and like we'll note it, you know,
I'll notice or we'll we'll eventually get put in touch
and and so yeah, that's that's what we'll close with that. Actually,
like you mentioned it, just go do cool stuff and
(49:01):
you had your own little spin on that, and I'll
let you sign us off here.
Speaker 3 (49:04):
Yeah, okay, Well, thanks everyone for listening, and thanks again
for this opportunity and look forward to seeing you everyone
out in the hills. Let's get after it.
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