July 3, 2025 • 49 mins
After many attempts, Jason was finally able to convince his wife, Sondi Phelps, to come on to the podcast and talk about her upbringing, the struggle growing the business with two small kids and full time jobs, as well as her journey to becoming a hunter, and a few stories from the hunts.
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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.
Maybe my favorite guest of all time. Maybe it took
about two years to get her on the podcast. The
love of my life, the wife of my children, the
glue that holds this whole ship together. Sondi Phelps, Welcome
to the show. Sondi.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hi, I feel like this is a trap.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
No, not a trapit all. I've wanted to get her
on here just so we can talk about everything involved
in our daily life, from the business to honting, to
our kids to our life crazy life. I've tried to
get her on here probably twenty plus times, and she
figures out a way to schedule a meeting or be busy.
So it's nice to finally get her on here. So, yeah, Sondy,
(00:53):
we met. You were a junior in high school. I
was a senior in high school, I believe, if I
remember the story correctly, we got set up by your cousin,
who was one of my good friends. I was trying
to dodge a date, and you just wanted to go
to the dance. If I remember correctly, that's correct.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
My best friend she left our school and ended up
going to your school, and we were figuring out how
we could hang out together, and just you know, there
was no other way than to go with some guy.
So I guess you were the lucky one.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yeah. And so a little bit about that night. It
was November first, the night before opening day Elk season,
back when I still rifle elk hunted, and so back
in the day, we you'd go out, eat dinner first,
go do the whole dance thing, and then our tradition
was always to go back into town. But for us,
town was thirty minutes. I think we went to Denny's.
I think it was the only place open. So we
(01:44):
went had dessert at like the Shahala's Denny's, yeah, because.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
It was the first of that Grasshopper milkshake.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah. And so we way back when we were about
whatever that would have been two thousand, prom went did that.
So now it is one o'clock in the morning, and
then I've got to bring you back to your house,
which is fifteen miles past my house. So I remember,
like I lived for opening morning Elk season. But it
was my first date ever with you, and I can
(02:10):
remember getting into bed at like two fifteen to twenty
in the morning, and I'm just like, oh, Dad's gonna
kill me. I'm gonna have to be up here in
two hours. But we decided you were my good luck
charm right off the bat is that next morning, I
believe I killed a bowl and my uncle killed a
bowl and my cousin killed a bowl all out of
the same location. Yeah, it was good luck. And then,
(02:31):
if I remember right, did we did I drive back
down there that next day? Or did we just? I
think it was hunting season. I don't think at that
point you weren't. You weren't that big of a deal
yet in the relationship. We only went on one date.
I think I probably ended up going Elkhunt that day,
and then I think a week or two later we
ended up officially. However, do you say it going out dating?
From then?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Well, you came over a few times because my dad
and uncle.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Got Oh, yeah I did. I did have come over
that opening night to hang out, which which alludes to
or as a great segue, like you're the background of
hunting in your family. Your family also hunted, So hunting
wasn't something new to you.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
No, hunting wasn't anything new to me. It was done
a little differently than you guys. I think everybody rifle hunted.
I don't know if anybody bow hunted at that point. Well,
I guess you didn't bow hunt that at that point either,
But yeah, it was more I guess. I guess it
was probably the same. It was a family aspect. I
didn't hunt at that time, but I did go with
(03:30):
my dad. I'd just drive around. So we do a
lot of road hunting versus trekking through the woods hunting yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
And a little bit about you grew up, in my opinion,
like a lot different than us. Your family has thirteen
hundred plus or minus acres, and so you guys not
only did you guys hunt public land or with the
rest of the crew, but you guys also had like
your own little honey holes. And you know, your grandpa
hunted all the way up until he passed. You know,
he would. He had his own little tree stand, he
had his own little clearcut, and so there was that
(03:59):
like you could always go find, you know, find some ground.
But then you also you went and hunted everywhere else.
But yeah, I forgot I did. I We killed those
bulls that morning, and we actually had one of our
best mornings ever. I think my family had killed six
legal bulls that morning, and then I did go down
to your house at night and I'd remember your That
was the other thing that was a big differentiator, because
(04:20):
your family was currently in the partying phase as I
got there, and my family was so serious that, like
you didn't want to. So there was a little difference
there that after after my wife's family was successful.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
They would celebrate. They celebrated.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yeah, yeah, they celebrated a little bit more than we did. So,
so give us a little background your upbringing. You know,
I I was raised on what I would consider like
a city block within the big city appel, still way
out in the sticks, but we lived more inside the
city limits. You grew up on a on a farm,
and so it give us a little background into your upbringing.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I grew up on a farm. It was probably right
around one hundred acres with not all our land, but
it was land that we used from neighbors also that
we would hay and all that stuff. So there was
a lot of room to you know, roam around. I
think my best friend was about five miles away, and
(05:15):
she was really my only my friend that was the closest.
That was a girl, So I kind of hung out
with the boys a little bit more, just you know,
because they were closer. So we do quad riding and
I don't know, it was it was just different, but
a lot of walking. My parents didn't take us out
(05:38):
places a lot because they were working. My dad was
a truck driver and my mom owned hair salon, and
so it was a lot of walking or riding bikes
to get to friend's house and hang out. So I
hung out with the people that I was closest to,
which was always fun because I don't know, I'd get
(05:58):
to school and I'd get to hang out with the
people that I didn't get to see, even though I
was still close to them. And then as far as hunting,
I wasn't big in the hunting. My brother he he
did a lot of predator hunting and staying out in
the woods and stuff. But for me, it was just
it was more the family aspect of being around everybody,
(06:21):
getting to go with my dad sometimes. But after the harvest,
we'd you know, get together and we'd make kill Bossy
and we had family recipes and so it was more
of a family aspect than anything else.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah, yeah, it raised up a little different, but definitely
respected hunting, and so then you know, we I'm gonna
get my dates all mixed up. I know our anniversary
is coming up here on July eighth, but you started
dating on November ninth. I have a leave or officially
dated and ended up getting married in two thousand and six.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yes, he took his sweet time, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Two thousand. Well, I I was wise for my age.
I wanted her to get through school, me to get
through school. Didn't want to do anything dumb, make sure
she she had her head screwed on right. So she
was going to school to be a dentally assistant. I
was going to school to be an engineer, and so
I finished up in two thousand and one. You finished
up in two thousand and three, somewhere in there. So yeah,
(07:16):
I took our time and didn't want to have kids
too young, but didn't want to have kids too late,
and fast forward. Ended up having our first son, Hunter
in two thousand and nine, got married in two thousand
and six, our daughter Peyton in twenty twelve, early in
twenty twelve. So just your atypical you know, quote unquote
(07:37):
American family. You know, two kids and a boy and girl. Yeah,
and I always joke because I've definitely got a case
of ADHD and always been kind of that entrepreneurial spirit,
always wanted to be working on something, doing something aside
from showing up at my nine to five every day.
And so I always kind of joked, as you know,
(07:58):
once we had the kid, I had to find something
else because I was working on fourilers back in the day,
and uh just always kind of messing around out out
in the shop. And uh that was two years in
between the two kids is when we started thinking around
or messing around with with calls.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Well, you really started in two thousand and nine when
we were in the hospital with Hunter.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
That's when I was doing all my research.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
I think, yes, researching, and then you kind of dabbled
in the We got a lathe and you started turning
a little bit. But I mean we'd send out maybe
a call every month, every two months. It wasn't anything,
it was it was just a hobby for you.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
We were giving away more calls I think than selling.
And I'm and this isn't to paint my wife in
a in a bad light. This is to give like
the reality of the situation. Financially, we weren't in a
good spot to start any business. I can remember remember
coming home and you know, coming home from the hospital
and being like, oh, we're gonna I'm gonna do this,
and we just kind of that was on the heels
(08:54):
of kind of I wouldn't say I failed Fouriller repair shop,
but just you know, spending a lot more money than
we needed to. You were burnt out, yeah, burnt out.
And then the reality is, and thank god you trusted
me on this one, is that there was there was
a high likelihood that I was going to get into
it because I'm passionate. And then she was like the
voice of reason, like trying to keep me grounded, like,
(09:16):
don't spend all of our money that we do have
a little bit that we do have. And so I
always it's not me talking ill on her. She was
just a voice to reason, like you're going to do
another thing that you think is going to work. And
so I know at first there was there was a
little bit of friction with even kind of starting this,
which was healthy.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Well, I think that my first thing was I support you,
but I am not supporting in you that you and
this this is this is ridiculous. Just because we had
a new baby, at home and the other business just
kind of it didn't really fail, it just it stopped.
And it was a lot of you know what, we
haven't grown up on a lot of being on the
(09:53):
internet and talking to people and networking, and there was
not a lot of time for me, which yeah, which.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Is fair and is healthy, And there was a lot
of It wasn't just from you, Like I can remember,
and me and my dad have a great relationship, but
I can remember there was a day I was building
diaphragms during the Super Bowl and Hunter was being loud, right,
And so it wasn't just friction between me and my wife.
There was friction between me and my dad. I could
remember him snapping it my kid a little bit, and
(10:22):
like it all came out right, It just boiled over.
My dad had seen how much I was on the
internet trying to sell calls, how much I was working,
how much I was building diaphragms, and I mean, my dad,
for the first time in a while, kind of got
in the yelling match and a toe to toe. And
so I'm not saying my wife, my dad, my mom
aren't my biggest fans or weren't my biggest supporters. There
(10:42):
was just a lot of friction along the way, right.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
It wasn't super easy like some people think, Oh, you
just fill into this, it's something that you loved and
you get to do it. It wasn't something you've got
to do. You had to work hard yep. Yeah, and
we had to accommodate.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah, I can remember. I think my dad's quote was,
you spend all the time on that stupid Internet. It's
never going to amount to anything. But they didn't kind
of see, you know, all the forums, all the groups,
all the everything I was on. I had that that idea,
and I thought there was some momentum, and but I
would never fall. And I'm not trying to say it's
(11:16):
a fault. There was just some friction. Early on Fast Forward,
I think we're in the middle of so we're building
just at this point we're building wood body. I'm building
wood bodied calls and putting guts in them and tuning
that what is now known as easy a stress. We
still have it in our line and I will never
remove it from the line, just because that was the
(11:36):
call that kind of started the company. But at that
point we expand, we get a diaphragm press. I saved
up all my money that I was making on a
few of the wood calls that we had, and we're
still in a position, right, no real money coming out
of this. We're giving away more calls and we're making. Thankfully,
I was able to save up some just enough money
to buy a diaphragm press because I ultimately knew like
(11:58):
where I needed to get if I was going to
be a legit or a real call maker, you know,
get to that point. And at that at that moment
in time, we came home from a vacation where we're
in Vegas, I think for a short little just one
of those cheap vacations we could afford. We didn't gamble
a lot. We just went to Vegas to hang out.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Right. We got home, well, it was for.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
World Calling Champions, yes, the first year we went, in
twenty twelve. Yes, We get home and our house is
flooded and we don't know how or why that happened
at that point, and so we're removed from our house.
Me and my wife, who have our own house, are
now living with my mom and dad again. It was
(12:44):
at that very time that my bud, my good buddy,
Tom Ryle, had ran an article in a magazine, a
national magazine about the calls, and so timing is not perfect,
room isn't perfect, My ability to make calls isn't perfect. Thankfully,
I would still able to come up here because the
shop was still hadn't been touched, so I would. Now
(13:04):
it's even tougher on us. We're now selling more calls
than we ever had before. We don't have a website.
I can't handle the phone calls, and so this is
even less of an ideal situation, is that me and
my wife are now me and SONDI are now trying
to figure out how do I make the calls, how
do we build them, how do we get this many
packaged shipped? And you just deal with like it wasn't
(13:26):
gradual growing pains. It was kind of instant, which put
even more stress on us because we have a kid,
one kid, We're living at my mom and dad's, and
I'm now spending ninety percent of my time not even
assembling them with you guys, I I was up at the.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Shop well, and a lot of the time I wasn't
even really a part of it at this point. It
was your mom that was helping you a lot. And
then I would I would stay with Hunter and she
would be packaging and putting things together, and I would
just help when I could.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah. Yeah, at that point, you had had the job
up in Olympia, driving up to Olympia every day. I
was also driving to Olympia every day, trying to do
this after hours. Just kind of a huge time commitment.
And then get where we're like she had said, three
four orders a week maybe.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Yeah, I think if they do a hundred a week, yes.
And also this was the time where Hunter got his
diabetes diagnosis, so another thing that made things just a
little bit harder.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Yeah, we were crushing it. Hunter was all potty trained,
but like year and a half, we're dialed and then
things kind of to spiral out of control. They were like,
why is this all going backwards? Sandy? For those of
you that don't it was also a type one diabetic
juvenile on set, so she had that before we had
ever met. We were able to test his finger that night,
and it was heartbreaking at that point, like it was
(14:43):
a lot of y me, why did we get stuck
with this? But come to find out rushed him up
to mary Bridge and he had also had type one
diabetes at the age of.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Two, Yes, and he thankfully. I mean, you always have
to find a positive and I figure I was diabetic
for some reason. I just never knew why. And it
was actually very relieving knowing all the symptoms that he
was feeling. It made things a lot easier. And we
actually got out of there in two days and most
people are there for almost a week, so.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
And we were able to catch it before it got
to the acid keyt todosis, which is what most people
usually how they find.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Out they end up in the hospital.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
So, speaking of kid number two, she's trying to call
me right now. Hopefully I didn't interrupt the podcast. So
during all of this, we're dealing with brand new type
one diabetes with our boy. The call company is exploding.
We're not in our house, we're living with my parents,
we're pregnant with kid number two, and the company is exploding.
(15:43):
You know, I'm not to get all dramatic or over
dramatize it, but like this is the stuff that people
didn't necessarily see like in the humble beginnings, where nowadays
this would be like the easiest year of our lives
if as far from a business, you know, if if
that was the only orders we got, Like that'd be
super easy. We just we'd crush. Kid number two comes along,
(16:04):
a lot more issues were going. We had some. Our
kid was born. Hunter was born at twenty.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Eight weeks, twenty eight weeks. My water broke at twenty
four twenty four weeks, so it was a little scary.
And then with Peyton, she just didn't want to come out.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
And then but what I was going to get to,
not to interrupt you, sorry, is all the trips to
the hospital you'd get you were more worried this time,
and so shot Sawny's like, I think I need to
go in. I'm like, we were just there two days
ago and they told you and so like she was
very worried from the first pregnancy and she had preclamsy.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I had preclamsia. Yeah, so they say, if you see
the sparkles in your eyes when you blink, you need
to come in right away. So we were coming in.
We were going in every other day. I think it
was crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Like two weeks of the worst ice we had had ever.
Like I can remember driving down the highway and just
like hitting those frozen chunks of ice. I'm like, this
is the most stressful thing ever, and so that's just
like a quick picture into our lives. Like she's still working.
I don't remember if it was for an orthodonist at
that point or the eye doctor. I think it was
the orthodonist at that point. I'm working a full forty
(17:19):
hour week. We got one kid with type type one
diabetes and a new baby on the way right as
the company was exploding, and we're kind of looking at
each other, and you can just imagine like the stress
and the stress and the friction of our relationship kind
of kind of hitting its height there. And the company
(17:39):
wasn't really rolling. It was more it still kind of
looked like a hobby, right. We weren't really making money
on it, spending a lot of time. And I can
remember back then, I would have been twenty eleven. I
can't remember how old I was then. It would have
been thirty two or thirty three. And I remember making
a promise to you that if this doesn't get going,
maybe thirty thirty three one. If this is a get
(18:01):
going by thirty five, we'll scrap it and we'll just
focus on on the family. So yeah, we kind of
just kept the status quo, kind of started to build
a brand over the next three or four years. You know,
Peyton's born, so now we have two little ones. And
this was maybe not on the business side, but from
(18:22):
my perspective, I knew I was putting a lot on
your shoulders. We kind of knew the recipe was. I
needed to hunt, I needed to be able to provide this.
But now I'm leaving you at home with a three
year old and a zero year old or a one
year old, and I'm going to be gone for two
two and a half months and in the fall. And
(18:42):
that was the point where I knew it was tough.
I knew it was difficult. I knew deep down I
had to do it, but I wasn't. I'm kind of
a one of those guys where if I just didn't
talk about it, I could do it. I wanted and
I knew it was you know, on you rewind and
(19:03):
I always tell everybody. Once Peyton was five years old, like,
things got easier. It wasn't easy, but it was definitely
easier those first five years until our second kid was
until Peyton was five, We're probably the most difficult during
the fall.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Right and I was usually I was probably well, I
can honestly say I was pissed. I was jealous. I
didn't get to go on vacation. And you know, I
always joke with Jason and say that he goes on
vacation for hunting, which she says it's work, because I
mean technically it is. But come on, like doing what
she liked to do all the time and getting to
go when you want to go. I didn't get to
(19:34):
go on those vacations. So it was rough, but it
was but we made it. I mean, given you take. Yeah,
and I'm still waiting to take. I mean, I know
it's coming. I have a europe trip plan.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yeah. Oh I'm going to be over the Atlantic more
times than I want to. And I keep telling her
if I don't, if is there anything we can hunt
while we're over there. But I love my wife. She's
very she is very giving. She is very flexible on
me hunting a lot in the fall. But the writings
on the wall that these are going to be vacations
(20:07):
between me and her, no hunting involved, so uh, those
are those are coming up, you know, in the in
the next few years. So yeah, it was tough. It
was My wife is a rock star. I would also
at this point. Probably have to say my mom was
a huge rock in our relationship at that point because
you were able to definitely, you know, get get help
(20:30):
from my mom. We spent you and my mom, I
would argue, you know, we're best friends. Uh, you know
still are to that, you know, to that point, but
like you spend a lot of time there while I
was gone for weeks at a time, right, well.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
And I probably couldn't. I don't like to vent to
people when I'm mad at Jason because other people take
what I say and they look at it in a
negative light. So it was really easy to talk to
your mom when I had problems, because, well, you're her son.
So if I say, oh, Jason's such a jerk, she's
not going to go until she probably.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Vibe she probably she usually agreed with me.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
So it was great. But I could talk that, I
could talk to her about things that I couldn't talk
to other people about because I didn't want people to
think that, you know, we were going through a rough
patch and there was any chance of us splitting up,
because that wasn't the case. I just needed to get
stuff off my chest, and you know, having somebody like
your mom have her name's Pam. Having somebody like Pam
(21:24):
in our lives, in my life was something that I
couldn't have done it without her.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah, no, it was. It was tough, but like I say,
I probably should have did a better job talking about
all of this, but I kind of knew what I
needed to do, and it was easier in my mind
just not to talk about it and and just go
do what I felt we had to do. So fast
forward to twenty sixteen. I designed the AMP diaphragm and
(21:52):
the new bugle tube, and at that point we went
from you know, the JV basketball team to the big
leagues all in one and fail swoop in twenty sixteen.
And so that was when I can't remember the exact
timing you were in between you'd already an orthodonist of
the eye doctor. You had started doing medical billing or
insurance billing from the doctors, and I was in need
(22:16):
to hire somebody. And by time you pens it all
out like if I pay him this much an hour,
by forty hours a week, I'm like, well, doesn't make
any sense. You're already driving up there. You get two
hours of your life back. You can be more involved
in our kids' lives. You know, Hunter was a pain.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
You know, I'm going to have to interrupt, because I
don't think it was you that said that. I'm pretty
sure your mom said, Jason, either you hire her or
hire somebody else, or I'm done.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Maybe, But regardless, the reason I picked you is what
by time you did the math, I would assume pay
you this, you know, similar or same amount. You get
to spend more time with the kids, be able to
take them to school, pick them up. Hunter, with being
a Type one diabetic, either needed my mom or you
around at all times. So there were there were some
other reasons, but you know, thankfully my mom was already
(23:00):
working for me, and then you were able to I
say me. At that point, it wasn't really the company,
it was it appeared to be, you know, we working
for me. And then the company started to roll in
twenty sixteen and was able to hire Sandy to come
on and kind of take over that stuff because I'm
still working every day, get you know, building calls when
I get home, using my vacation to build calls, and
(23:25):
that was kind of you know, the fast track. And
then from twenty sixteen things have always you know, is
more of the recent story where we're more well known,
things got bigger, and yeah, now you know, I get
to take the fame or you know, I get to
be the face of the company. But the reality is nowadays,
(23:46):
since about twenty eighteen, Sandy runs I say run the show.
I run the show as far as designing calls, kind
of setting the tone for how I want the office
atmosphere to be. But on the inside, operationally, I think
it's safe to say that you kind of run the show.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I think I do a lot.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Yes, she doesn't like it. At times when things get tough,
she wishes she wasn't running the show, but she does
do a really good job. Now. One thing that's tough
is we've hired a lot of friends and family, and
I probably put Sondy in a spot which isn't the
easiest because she now has to manage some of her
best friends, my mom, you know, an aunt. Everybody we've
(24:31):
hired in this company has been you know, we're from
a small town, and so I sometimes I feel bad.
I would say Sondy is more black and white. It's
you know, I want it to be this way where
I'm I'm more of like try to keep everything, you know,
soften the edges, keep everybody happy, and and so yeah,
Sondi runs a show like everything being on time, us
(24:55):
hitting all of our deliveries, us making sure all of
the calls are in stock. She she she bears that
burden on the day to day where it seems like
I get the goof off or do the fun stuff.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah, he gets to come down and joke around with
the office where I just told him, Hey, we don't
have time to do this, let's go. And he comes
down and he's like, hey, everybody, let's take a break
and go have breakfast. You know, we have to keep
that that office morale and we have engagement that we
have to do. But you know, sometimes he doesn't do
that at the best times.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Hey, I'm the boss now, I should probably do a
better job checking in. But it is that it is
that like keeping morale up while it's a balance, right
and we're working. We're getting better if we just did
the way you know, did things where we are so
you know now checking in making sure like hey can
we make this, Hey let's go, you know, have lunch.
We try to keep it. We're improving on it. We're
(25:47):
improving on the old system where you know it's it's
all about productivity or it's all about morale, where it's
like you got to try to intertwine those two and
do it at the right times or the right days
or the right weeks, right.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
And you know, sometimes we just need it. I mean,
we have to step It is really hard to I
mean not just for Jason and I, but I'm sure
it's hard for everybody that works with us, to work
with us. They get to see us in a different light.
I say us, They get to see me in a
different light. I'm not always you know, peppy and happy
and and let's go team. It's more come on, guys,
(26:21):
we need to do this. And it's it's hard to
say that. And I get really nervous when I have
to talk to them, just because I don't want to
cause conflict between us. And you know, they're all great
and they just roll with the punches and and do
everything that I ask them to do. And I couldn't
ask for better people. But it does take a toll
sometimes on all of us.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Yeah, and it is awesome, you know. I can remember
the day when meat Eater was getting ready to purchase
the company if I was willing to move the company,
and that was like and that was gonna be an
absolute deal breaker. Extremely proud to keep this in pel
be able to offer people jobs that you know, may
not pay the most, but uh, you know, we got
(27:02):
good benefits. We've got decent, you know, decently flexible hours.
We you know, close to home. You're not spending as
much of your life driving. So that was that was
big for me. And in order to keep it here
in pl well.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
And it's nice too. I mean, we're we do a
lot of small town sports, so you know, being able
to accommodate and let let people go watch their kids
play and just keep that part of it because really
that's kind of what we built our whole facility on
is is family. I mean we hired family, we hired friends,
which are basically family.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Ye.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
So to keep that and say that we are a
family business, we really truly are.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Yeah. So yeah, and that's that's our day to day.
And now I do the call design, do more of
the brand managing, you know, making sure the brand looks
like we want it to. We're marketing to the right people,
We're going the right direction. I dream it up, I
put a little bit of it together, build a bill
of materials for Sandy, kind of tell her and the
(28:00):
team how it needs to be built, and then I
get to be hands off. I'm back to the fun stuff.
How are we going to make a silly video to
launch cis call? How are we going to go hunt?
You know, the video edits all of that stuff, you know,
this podcast, all of these things, and then Sandy is
essentially forty hours a week responsible her and Corey, our
business manager, to deliver on all of that, you know,
(28:21):
make sure that the calls. Calls are getting sold to
the right wholesalers, the right vendors, the box stores are
taken care of, and then Sondy's making sure we have
enough stuff at the warehouse, the orders are going out correctly,
We're not losing too much money on it, and.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
We're going to meet our actually our launch dates. I mean, gosh,
just with some of this stuff this year, it's been
it's been cut to the wire, but it's very stressful
and just's like, oh, we're going to do it. We
can do it, and in the back of my head,
I know we can do it, but you know, sometimes
there's stuff that happens and it's scary. I don't like
to be the person that says, oh, we can't do it.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, And we're probably still pretty old school where I
I feel that anytime we're missing or we're not firing
on all cylinders, like I don't want to in my mind,
the way I think about running a businesses that could
be somebody's job, like that's the first thing that goes right,
or that could be multiple people's jobs, and it's I'm
very proud, and maybe too proud, and proud is not
the right word. I just don't want to be there.
(29:11):
I want to I want to be able to hire more.
I want to keep this thing growing and and SONDI
probably carries that weight more than I do. I think
over the last couple of months that's been one of
our bigger, bigger arguments is like prioritizing work, like, hey,
we don't have to work sixty seventy hours a week, Like,
let's let's work our hardest. It is what it is.
If we need we need more help, then we need
(29:32):
more help. All right, Well enough about the business. That's
that's not near as fun. Let's fast forward to you
as a hunter. So we mentioned you didn't really hunt
as as a kid growing up, besides hanging out, you know,
didn't necessarily have your own tag, your own weapon. What
was it. Probably kids are eight and six or so,
(29:54):
you decide you wanted to start. You always rode around
with me and the kids, just in the woods.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
And right, well, I always went out. I mean but
even since I was a kid, I always went out.
But you know, you kept going on these vacations, and
I needed to be a part of your world. And
not that I wasn't a part of your world, but
I wanted to do something that I knew you liked
to do, not necessarily, you know, go to the movies,
because you don't really love doing that. So I wanted
to be able to do something that you wanted to
(30:20):
do and you loved to do, and we could do
it together. And I loved hunting growing up and being
with my family, and figured, hey, why not get my
license and and maybe we can do this together.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Yeah, And to be truthful, at that point, I'm like, man,
this was kind of something the boys did. This was
kind of something that you know, growing up, we didn't
have a lot of females in the family that hunted.
It was kind of that guy's right the passage. But
it didn't take long where I was okay with it
as long as and I think we probably had a
good talk about this, like archery all cutting was going
to be for the boys, and then these things will be.
(30:54):
You know, you can rifle, I'll hunt. I'll be with you.
You can, you know, rifle deer hunt. I don't mind that.
I think we I don't want to call them boundaries.
But we just discussed like what we were going to
do and what we weren't going to do.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
It really wasn't much of a discussion. I'm not a
big hiker, so I knew I didn't want to archery hunt.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
So this brings up a funny story. Before she Averred
decided she wanted to hunt, you know, kind of a
kind of a country girl, just wanted to be out
in the woods, like doing some of that stuff. I
was going in to scout one of my elk areas
that was an all bike in area. She's already shaken
her head. We go biking in and so on the
(31:31):
way and it's pretty flat and a lot of downhill
and we get in there five or six miles and
find all the elk that we wanted to find and
you know, find everything I needed to see. And on
the way out we had to push our bikes half
away because it was pretty steep. And I have never
heard Sondy's foul mouth or complaining. She hated bikes, she
(31:52):
hated rocks on the road, she hated me, she hated me,
she hated elk. So it's just a little when Sondy
gets frustrated or is too much physical endurance involved, she
gets mad. And so I got the last three miles,
I got yelled at on the way out, But that
was that's just a little glimpse in the her temper
(32:12):
and her not wanting to be pushing a bike, her
riding a bike, her getting back to the truck. She
just wanted to be home.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Yeah. I like to walk, you know, downhill both ways.
Actually I don't even like to really walk back downhills.
It hurts my knees sometimes, so flat that's great.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Uh So that was pre having your hunting license. So
fast forward to her having your hunting license. She is
the absolute at that time, was the luckiest tag drawer
in my family has ever seen. And you're two of
putting in She drew a tag that takes twenty there
(32:48):
is no taking a certain amount of time. She drew
a very good quality elk tag on the east side.
Two years later drew the other tag. I mean, and
both of these are well under a one percent draws
like she should not be drawing these tags draws. Both
of those, we weren't able to get it done. On
(33:08):
the first one, she ended up getting a little bit
sick and we had to come home. And some of
that was on me being a little bit too greedy
trying to find a big bowl. We had had some
that we could have killed the whole time. The time
that we finally do hike out there, they were gone,
So some of that was on me. Fast forward to
her second good tag, she was able to kill a
great six point I've just found and I don't recommend
(33:31):
anybody lies to their wife ever. But the best thing
with her is just fibbing as you go, like how
much longer you're like a half mile or so, it'll
be easy, but knowing you have like three or four miles.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
I don't think I ever asked. It was more of
a you just offered the information, Oh, we only have
a half a mile longer.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Oh, you asked, like, how much more? Because you're trying
to figure out whether you're going to be real mad
at me right then or you're going to be mad
at me in a little bit. Oh.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
I saving it up most of the time.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
So she draws a good tag, kills a really good bull,
extremely steep country, and we were to the point where
she was just going to shoot any bowl thankfully. Oh
and that same night she killed a bull. So not
saying I know everything, but we're listening to this bowl
behgle probably two or three hundred times. We got the
wind in our face. It's obvious those bulls are feeding
(34:27):
that bowl and it's herd or feeding up the hill
down to Timber, though we can't see what they are.
And she starts telling me how we should Elk Counties,
that she thinks we're doing it wrong. We should go
down in there, we should go call them in, and
I'm like, no, we got a gun and it's wide
open above tree line, and so I can remember just
like shaking my head, just going nuts because my wife,
who has never killed an elk at this point and
(34:49):
I'm supposed to know what I'm doing, is now telling
me everything that we should be doing for three hours
straight while we watched or waited for this bowl to
show himself.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
You know, I still think I was right.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
So anyways, we get a shot at that good six point,
get it killed. And so she had one job in this,
so this could be my fault. She loves shooting my
three thirty eight edge, which is a single feed gun,
me knowing that if she had to get a reshot,
so I had an extra shell in my hand. I
tell her, after you shoot, you've got to watch. I'm
(35:23):
going to reload the gun and get you back on it.
She shoots, I don't look at anything. I put unload,
put the shell in. What happened? She's like, I don't know.
I didn't see anything. I'm like, well that you had
one job. Anyways, so we now know if this bull
is wounded.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Guy said it flipped over. I just you didn't just
flip over.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
You didn't say that. I think you had no idea
what happened. Otherwise, I went around.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Home, really didn't go far away.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
The next one, So we have I have no idea.
She's now stating that she has an idea that it
flipped over. I have no idea, and she never said
that when we there, Otherwise I would and ran over there.
This is probably the steepest ground sidehill that I've been
on in a long time. And it went from steep
sidehill and then it went through some rock shoots that
was almost like that that like shale rock that that
(36:14):
is hard, but it'll also slip loose. I bebop over
there and go through that section, like she's not gonna
like that. And I bebop through the next section of
rock and I get over there and the elk is dead,
but it's starting to get dark, and I really don't
want to go back to her, but she is now
stuck in the middle of the shale, screaming at me
to come get her. She can't go forwards, can't go backwards.
She's just stuck and it's dark. And so I finally
(36:36):
get my way back over there, and as one of
those he told.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Me to take my time and he would go over
and just sit with the elk to make sure that
I could find him with his light, and and so
I basically rode that rock to the bottom and then
crawled my way back out.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
It definitely those build character in a relationship, though those
moments when you were You were nervous until I got there,
and then I got my butt showed for a little bit. Yeah,
we helped you out, and.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
It just like and I helped you out because it
made myself really tired. By the time I got to you,
I didn't have any breadth to yell at you.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
Yep, it worked out good. But then when we got
to the elk, it was just like when you're holding
that light for your dad as a kid and you
get yelled at no matter where the light's at. I
asked my beautiful wife to hold the light. So I
hadn't gotten an elk in a long time, but I
knew it was so steep where this elk died. He
got tangled up on the log. So I was going
to get him and skin him out and just get
a bunch of air under him, get everything cooled down.
(37:28):
I'm gonna call in the reinforcements the next day.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
And yeah, there was no way that I would be
able to help pack that she was.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
It was steep, and she was scared to death of
where we were at, so she wouldn't move to get
the light where I needed And so I literally had
one light that was a major mistake. Son. He didn't
have a headlamp, so I had no headlamp on my own.
But she really wanted to if I remember, she really
wanted to have the light. She didn't want to be
standing there in the dark. And so we made it work.
(37:56):
And then the next that that hike out, like I said,
extreme steep. This is where I lied to her, probably
more than ever. I told her we had a long
ways out, and I could see that we're getting closer
to the road at one point. You know, most people
when they get tired and need to take a break,
they turn around and sit down or they'll cook them.
Sondia was just laying down, like standing up so steep
that she could just like cross her arms and lean
(38:17):
into the hill, which made for one of the better
pictures of all time.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Yeah, Jason likes to likes to share that one a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
But she's like, I'm too tired to turn around, sit down.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
I just he just kept saying, go to the next tree.
Because I had to stop by a tree. I was
afraid that I'd slide back down, and if I slid
back down, I wasn't coming back out of there. He
could have packed me out the next day too.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
So this is how well I know my wife been
around a long time. She's one of those people. And
you could tell I could pick it to the ninety
nine percent confidence, and she will pick out a landmark
and then that's where she's stopping. So she'll pick out
like a little tree, a little ledge, a rock that
maybe sticks out bigger than the rest. And so I
(38:56):
could see that, and I would try to get her
to like bypass the first landmark and get to the second.
I get to that tree up there, and no, she's
she's going to that landmark and that's where she So
I was trying That's what I was trying to fight
through there. Hey, we got long ways ago, we got
to keep going. But no, we were able to get
a call out, get my entire family, which is pretty
cool to share, and your first pack out, and a
(39:17):
couple of my buddies John and showed up.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
He came in clutch with the chocolate milk. The next morning.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Yeah, and I can remember you. You were kind of
nervous to ask. You're like, is it okay if I
don't go back down there in the morning.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Yeah, I really didn't want to.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Yeah, she had given me her notch tag and the
little letter that said we had the just to make
sure we were all of our eyes were dotted and
teas were crossed, that we had the right to pack
out her animal on her behalf, and and my dad
and two uncles and a couple of buddies. We went
down there, took care of it and bug it on out.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Yeah, and it was fun to watch them all come up,
you know, and take pictures of Jason and his uncles
bringing out my first bowl. Yeah, but you know, it
is kind of It's not that I'm just lazy, but
it is hard being diabetic and having your blood shager
go alow and being on a trail like that too.
So it Yeah, I guess I have an excuse built in.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Yeah, Yeah, that's well, she's out there, she's she's hunting hard,
and yeah, all I'll let her have that. It's not
even excuse, it's a real legit thing. But uh yeah,
we we've always got there. We've got to where we
needed to. You know, on that same hunt, we we
I probably pushed it too hard on those jeep trails
where you weren't having fun going up and down the
(40:28):
chasing that big Bowl.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Yeah, the Big Boulder, the ones. Yeah, I didn't like that.
I think that he took some really not nice pictures
of me, videos videos, Yes, walking slowly.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
And so now you're hunting is I mean we still
put you in for for elk tags. You will elk
hunt around here occasionally, but now I would say we
we deer hunt more together. You yeah, meal deer and
that not the elk hunting is too hard. It's just
meal deer is I would say, more enjoyable for you,
more enjoyable for me. We don't get as many arguments,
(41:02):
whether it's Montana, Colorado. You know, we can glass from
the road, go after what we want to make sure
the stock is going to be the right stock. There
is still always a point of contention in our relationship
gets tested the most right at the point where we
got to shoot something or you have to shoot something.
I don't think we've ever had that bowl in Colorado
(41:22):
that James spotted. I guess went off with it. No,
we argued on that one. I would say, argue we
disagree at the point where I'm trying to get the
gun set up and dial it and she can't see something,
or getting the scope and that's where we look back,
and it's the time we laugh at the most. But
during the moment, we're button heads, right right.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
I get a little flustered, and then I have to
calm myself down before I shoot, because well, I think
I get flustered because I don't like to. I don't
want to miss, not just because I don't want to
wound an animal and then have them suffer, but also
because I don't want to have to chase that sucker
even further.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
That's a good, good reason. But no, I I never
tell her this, and and hopefully she's not listening right now.
But she's a great shot. We're a great team. Where
I've got to do the dialing and the figuring of
the wind. But once I get a gun set up
and you know, near the animal, she's she's never not
executed a perfect shot. And so I feel still feel
(42:21):
safe though that if she was ever gonna shoot at me,
I'd be all right because she can't dial the gun
and she doesn't like getting set up, so i'd have
a little bit of time to escape.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
Yeah, probably, But no, she can.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
Shoot the lights out. She's she's a great shot, and
uh yeah, so that's that's been and we're the last
two times we went to Montana, we've been able to
take the Hunter has his hunting license and been able
to hunt Montana with us, and so it's been fun
to to get to do a little bit as a family.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
And yeah, yeah, and you know, it is nice taking Hunter.
It kind of breaks things up, and I have somebody
that will stay kind of back with me, and and
so I don't have to push myself. I just blame
it on him. Now I say, oh, yeah, Hunter's blood
sugar is low, so we got to slow down. So
now we have two excuses. Yeah, but yeah, it's fun,
(43:09):
and it's also nice to know that, you know, Jason
has a hunting partner. And if I don't want to go,
not that I don't like to go and hang out
with Jason, but you know, if I stay home, there's
nobody here except for me and Peyton, and then we
can do some girl stuff too.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
So yeah, and Peyton, you know, she's so busy in sports,
more so than Hunter. Or it's like if we're not here,
she doesn't skip a beat, she doesn't hardly know we're gone.
She'll give us some updates on the phone and and
let us know how her volleyball games win or whatever.
She's football games went. She's all over the place, not.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
That she plays football, but she just goes.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
She'll go. She's at every event that the school puts
on everything. So now she she does not need to
be entertained at all. She's got her own schedule and
her own So yeah, it's uh, it's been a lot
of fun. It's it's been tough. We kind of pushed
through and uh you've kind of been the you know,
I get to do all the fun stuff and you've
(44:02):
kind of held down the fort and yeah, it's just
it's been fun. You know this not to get too sappy,
but you talk about who you want to build a
life with and what it's gonna look like, and to
be able to kind of put all that together and
make it make it come true, is it's been awesome.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
Yeah, it's been Uh, you know, I said I wouldn't
support him, but I support him in everything he does.
He's a pretty smart guy and he always has our
best interest at heart.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
So yeah, and I did not pay her to say that,
but uh no, I try to. I'm I'm very you know,
logical technical. I try to think through and I just
didn't see how this was gonna miss. It just took
a little convincing of everyone around me. And yeah, it's
it's been an awesome ride. I hate to say that
(44:46):
we're getting old, but and anybody it listens, it's older
than us. I apologize. I'm forty three now, she's forty two.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
I am forty one and you are forty two. You're
gonna you just turned forty three.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
I'm all messed up. And see I'm so old. I
lost track. I'm forty two, she's forty one, going to
be forty two. Well, we kind of pushed you that
tough spot where our kids are, you know, a high school,
junior high life's I would say anything but easy, but
it's I feel like we've kind of hit that easy
street where things are going good. You know, we've been
together for so long now that we kind of know
(45:18):
what each other feeling. You know, those old arguments are
done about time and and this so uh no, it's
been awesome and what can you oh, this might be dangerous.
I was gonna a little sneak peak of what's it
like Aside from everything we've mentioned living with me, what's
what's something people don't know about me?
Speaker 2 (45:40):
Well, he's a complete slob, for one. I mean, he's
the most unorganized person that I've ever met.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
And I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
I will take slob back because I like to keep
things very tidy and I'm really organized in a little OCD.
But Jason, he he has stacks of stuff everywhere. And
here's a little story about him that he probably would
never share with anybody. Before I came into the business.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
You never asked me if you can share this sty I.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
Don't have to because you've already said that I'm the boss.
And so the hardest thing for Jason was staying organized
in the business. And I remember, right before I came on,
and before his mom said that we needed the help,
I was doing a lot of billing and I was
checking emails and I said, Jason, you have so many
(46:29):
voicemails and I just don't know what to do right now.
And are you checking your voicemails? And you said, yep,
I'll check him in just a second. And he actually
pushed a button and deleted all of them. And I said,
what did you do that for? He goes, I'm just
so overwhelmed. I need some help, and so so we
you know, we pushed through.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
And well now that's why, like people are re swawn
by email, like my phone even to this day, you know,
we gave my old phone number up to to the
customer service and let them take it over. You know,
I've got a new phone number and still to this day, like,
I love talking to my friends, but I can't get
(47:11):
anything done if I'm answering all the text all all
the voicemails, all the everything. And so back in that time,
back on the old iPhones, I could just hit a
button to delete all my voicemails and then that just
fixed the problem. I like, it was crazy. It was
just like a huge weight lifted off your shoulder. As
soon as you push that button, you were good to go.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
Yeah, And it wasn't always just work stuff. I mean
there's probably five or six for me saying Jason, where
are you at? What are you doing? And and it
was it was weird. I mean I didn't really always
check his messages because I don't. We're not one of
those families that I look at his phone a lot.
But being part of the business, it kind of got
to the point where I had to listen to a
few things and I'm like, hey, so on so called
(47:48):
and they need a call, you know, and so it
was just it was more convenient. But he didn't. He
didn't always before I did that. He didn't always take
care of those messages.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
Hey I'm busy guy. No, I appreciate, yeah, coming on here.
I know you're hesitant, but I always thought it would
be good to hear your side and your upbringing and
kind of how this you know, I get. I don't
want to say credit I am. I'm the face of
the company, but the reality is it's been you know, me,
you and I through this whole thing, and you know,
(48:19):
the last ten years has definitely probably been more you
than me, aside from me just getting to design the
new stuff and making sure it works.
Speaker 2 (48:26):
I don't know about that, but yeah, that's a.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
Lot of meat. Well, thank you for coming on, honey.
Until next time. I hope you guys are enjoying the
cutting the existence and elk season is getting close, so
I'm excited to kind of start getting into that
Welcome back to another episode of Cutting the Distance today.
Maybe my favorite guest of all time. Maybe it took
about two years to get her on the podcast. The
love of my life, the wife of my children, the
glue that holds this whole ship together. Sondi Phelps, Welcome
to the show. Sondi.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hi, I feel like this is a trap.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
No, not a trapit all. I've wanted to get her
on here just so we can talk about everything involved
in our daily life, from the business to honting, to
our kids to our life crazy life. I've tried to
get her on here probably twenty plus times, and she
figures out a way to schedule a meeting or be busy.
So it's nice to finally get her on here. So, yeah, Sondy,
(00:53):
we met. You were a junior in high school. I
was a senior in high school, I believe, if I
remember the story correctly, we got set up by your cousin,
who was one of my good friends. I was trying
to dodge a date, and you just wanted to go
to the dance. If I remember correctly, that's correct.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
My best friend she left our school and ended up
going to your school, and we were figuring out how
we could hang out together, and just you know, there
was no other way than to go with some guy.
So I guess you were the lucky one.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yeah. And so a little bit about that night. It
was November first, the night before opening day Elk season,
back when I still rifle elk hunted, and so back
in the day, we you'd go out, eat dinner first,
go do the whole dance thing, and then our tradition
was always to go back into town. But for us,
town was thirty minutes. I think we went to Denny's.
I think it was the only place open. So we
(01:44):
went had dessert at like the Shahala's Denny's, yeah, because.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
It was the first of that Grasshopper milkshake.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah. And so we way back when we were about
whatever that would have been two thousand, prom went did that.
So now it is one o'clock in the morning, and
then I've got to bring you back to your house,
which is fifteen miles past my house. So I remember,
like I lived for opening morning Elk season. But it
was my first date ever with you, and I can
(02:10):
remember getting into bed at like two fifteen to twenty
in the morning, and I'm just like, oh, Dad's gonna
kill me. I'm gonna have to be up here in
two hours. But we decided you were my good luck
charm right off the bat is that next morning, I
believe I killed a bowl and my uncle killed a
bowl and my cousin killed a bowl all out of
the same location. Yeah, it was good luck. And then,
(02:31):
if I remember right, did we did I drive back
down there that next day? Or did we just? I
think it was hunting season. I don't think at that
point you weren't. You weren't that big of a deal
yet in the relationship. We only went on one date.
I think I probably ended up going Elkhunt that day,
and then I think a week or two later we
ended up officially. However, do you say it going out dating?
From then?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Well, you came over a few times because my dad
and uncle.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Got Oh, yeah I did. I did have come over
that opening night to hang out, which which alludes to
or as a great segue, like you're the background of
hunting in your family. Your family also hunted, So hunting
wasn't something new to you.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
No, hunting wasn't anything new to me. It was done
a little differently than you guys. I think everybody rifle hunted.
I don't know if anybody bow hunted at that point. Well,
I guess you didn't bow hunt that at that point either,
But yeah, it was more I guess. I guess it
was probably the same. It was a family aspect. I
didn't hunt at that time, but I did go with
(03:30):
my dad. I'd just drive around. So we do a
lot of road hunting versus trekking through the woods hunting yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
And a little bit about you grew up, in my opinion,
like a lot different than us. Your family has thirteen
hundred plus or minus acres, and so you guys not
only did you guys hunt public land or with the
rest of the crew, but you guys also had like
your own little honey holes. And you know, your grandpa
hunted all the way up until he passed. You know,
he would. He had his own little tree stand, he
had his own little clearcut, and so there was that
(03:59):
like you could always go find, you know, find some ground.
But then you also you went and hunted everywhere else.
But yeah, I forgot I did. I We killed those
bulls that morning, and we actually had one of our
best mornings ever. I think my family had killed six
legal bulls that morning, and then I did go down
to your house at night and I'd remember your That
was the other thing that was a big differentiator, because
(04:20):
your family was currently in the partying phase as I
got there, and my family was so serious that, like
you didn't want to. So there was a little difference
there that after after my wife's family was successful.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
They would celebrate. They celebrated.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yeah, yeah, they celebrated a little bit more than we did. So,
so give us a little background your upbringing. You know,
I I was raised on what I would consider like
a city block within the big city appel, still way
out in the sticks, but we lived more inside the
city limits. You grew up on a on a farm,
and so it give us a little background into your upbringing.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I grew up on a farm. It was probably right
around one hundred acres with not all our land, but
it was land that we used from neighbors also that
we would hay and all that stuff. So there was
a lot of room to you know, roam around. I
think my best friend was about five miles away, and
(05:15):
she was really my only my friend that was the closest.
That was a girl, So I kind of hung out
with the boys a little bit more, just you know,
because they were closer. So we do quad riding and
I don't know, it was it was just different, but
a lot of walking. My parents didn't take us out
(05:38):
places a lot because they were working. My dad was
a truck driver and my mom owned hair salon, and
so it was a lot of walking or riding bikes
to get to friend's house and hang out. So I
hung out with the people that I was closest to,
which was always fun because I don't know, I'd get
(05:58):
to school and I'd get to hang out with the
people that I didn't get to see, even though I
was still close to them. And then as far as hunting,
I wasn't big in the hunting. My brother he he
did a lot of predator hunting and staying out in
the woods and stuff. But for me, it was just
it was more the family aspect of being around everybody,
(06:21):
getting to go with my dad sometimes. But after the harvest,
we'd you know, get together and we'd make kill Bossy
and we had family recipes and so it was more
of a family aspect than anything else.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah, yeah, it raised up a little different, but definitely
respected hunting, and so then you know, we I'm gonna
get my dates all mixed up. I know our anniversary
is coming up here on July eighth, but you started
dating on November ninth. I have a leave or officially
dated and ended up getting married in two thousand and six.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yes, he took his sweet time, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Two thousand. Well, I I was wise for my age.
I wanted her to get through school, me to get
through school. Didn't want to do anything dumb, make sure
she she had her head screwed on right. So she
was going to school to be a dentally assistant. I
was going to school to be an engineer, and so
I finished up in two thousand and one. You finished
up in two thousand and three, somewhere in there. So yeah,
(07:16):
I took our time and didn't want to have kids
too young, but didn't want to have kids too late,
and fast forward. Ended up having our first son, Hunter
in two thousand and nine, got married in two thousand
and six, our daughter Peyton in twenty twelve, early in
twenty twelve. So just your atypical you know, quote unquote
(07:37):
American family. You know, two kids and a boy and girl. Yeah,
and I always joke because I've definitely got a case
of ADHD and always been kind of that entrepreneurial spirit,
always wanted to be working on something, doing something aside
from showing up at my nine to five every day.
And so I always kind of joked, as you know,
(07:58):
once we had the kid, I had to find something
else because I was working on fourilers back in the day,
and uh just always kind of messing around out out
in the shop. And uh that was two years in
between the two kids is when we started thinking around
or messing around with with calls.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Well, you really started in two thousand and nine when
we were in the hospital with Hunter.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
That's when I was doing all my research.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
I think, yes, researching, and then you kind of dabbled
in the We got a lathe and you started turning
a little bit. But I mean we'd send out maybe
a call every month, every two months. It wasn't anything,
it was it was just a hobby for you.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
We were giving away more calls I think than selling.
And I'm and this isn't to paint my wife in
a in a bad light. This is to give like
the reality of the situation. Financially, we weren't in a
good spot to start any business. I can remember remember
coming home and you know, coming home from the hospital
and being like, oh, we're gonna I'm gonna do this,
and we just kind of that was on the heels
(08:54):
of kind of I wouldn't say I failed Fouriller repair shop,
but just you know, spending a lot more money than
we needed to. You were burnt out, yeah, burnt out.
And then the reality is, and thank god you trusted
me on this one, is that there was there was
a high likelihood that I was going to get into
it because I'm passionate. And then she was like the
voice of reason, like trying to keep me grounded, like,
(09:16):
don't spend all of our money that we do have
a little bit that we do have. And so I
always it's not me talking ill on her. She was
just a voice to reason, like you're going to do
another thing that you think is going to work. And
so I know at first there was there was a
little bit of friction with even kind of starting this,
which was healthy.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Well, I think that my first thing was I support you,
but I am not supporting in you that you and
this this is this is ridiculous. Just because we had
a new baby, at home and the other business just
kind of it didn't really fail, it just it stopped.
And it was a lot of you know what, we
haven't grown up on a lot of being on the
(09:53):
internet and talking to people and networking, and there was
not a lot of time for me, which yeah, which.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Is fair and is healthy, And there was a lot
of It wasn't just from you, Like I can remember,
and me and my dad have a great relationship, but
I can remember there was a day I was building
diaphragms during the Super Bowl and Hunter was being loud, right,
And so it wasn't just friction between me and my wife.
There was friction between me and my dad. I could
remember him snapping it my kid a little bit, and
(10:22):
like it all came out right, It just boiled over.
My dad had seen how much I was on the
internet trying to sell calls, how much I was working,
how much I was building diaphragms, and I mean, my dad,
for the first time in a while, kind of got
in the yelling match and a toe to toe. And
so I'm not saying my wife, my dad, my mom
aren't my biggest fans or weren't my biggest supporters. There
(10:42):
was just a lot of friction along the way, right.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
It wasn't super easy like some people think, Oh, you
just fill into this, it's something that you loved and
you get to do it. It wasn't something you've got
to do. You had to work hard yep. Yeah, and
we had to accommodate.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah, I can remember. I think my dad's quote was,
you spend all the time on that stupid Internet. It's
never going to amount to anything. But they didn't kind
of see, you know, all the forums, all the groups,
all the everything I was on. I had that that idea,
and I thought there was some momentum, and but I
would never fall. And I'm not trying to say it's
(11:16):
a fault. There was just some friction. Early on Fast Forward,
I think we're in the middle of so we're building
just at this point we're building wood body. I'm building
wood bodied calls and putting guts in them and tuning
that what is now known as easy a stress. We
still have it in our line and I will never
remove it from the line, just because that was the
(11:36):
call that kind of started the company. But at that
point we expand, we get a diaphragm press. I saved
up all my money that I was making on a
few of the wood calls that we had, and we're
still in a position, right, no real money coming out
of this. We're giving away more calls and we're making. Thankfully,
I was able to save up some just enough money
to buy a diaphragm press because I ultimately knew like
(11:58):
where I needed to get if I was going to
be a legit or a real call maker, you know,
get to that point. And at that at that moment
in time, we came home from a vacation where we're
in Vegas, I think for a short little just one
of those cheap vacations we could afford. We didn't gamble
a lot. We just went to Vegas to hang out.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Right. We got home, well, it was for.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
World Calling Champions, yes, the first year we went, in
twenty twelve. Yes, We get home and our house is
flooded and we don't know how or why that happened
at that point, and so we're removed from our house.
Me and my wife, who have our own house, are
now living with my mom and dad again. It was
(12:44):
at that very time that my bud, my good buddy,
Tom Ryle, had ran an article in a magazine, a
national magazine about the calls, and so timing is not perfect,
room isn't perfect, My ability to make calls isn't perfect. Thankfully,
I would still able to come up here because the
shop was still hadn't been touched, so I would. Now
(13:04):
it's even tougher on us. We're now selling more calls
than we ever had before. We don't have a website.
I can't handle the phone calls, and so this is
even less of an ideal situation, is that me and
my wife are now me and SONDI are now trying
to figure out how do I make the calls, how
do we build them, how do we get this many
packaged shipped? And you just deal with like it wasn't
(13:26):
gradual growing pains. It was kind of instant, which put
even more stress on us because we have a kid,
one kid, We're living at my mom and dad's, and
I'm now spending ninety percent of my time not even
assembling them with you guys, I I was up at the.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Shop well, and a lot of the time I wasn't
even really a part of it at this point. It
was your mom that was helping you a lot. And
then I would I would stay with Hunter and she
would be packaging and putting things together, and I would
just help when I could.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah. Yeah, at that point, you had had the job
up in Olympia, driving up to Olympia every day. I
was also driving to Olympia every day, trying to do
this after hours. Just kind of a huge time commitment.
And then get where we're like she had said, three
four orders a week maybe.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Yeah, I think if they do a hundred a week, yes.
And also this was the time where Hunter got his
diabetes diagnosis, so another thing that made things just a
little bit harder.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Yeah, we were crushing it. Hunter was all potty trained,
but like year and a half, we're dialed and then
things kind of to spiral out of control. They were like,
why is this all going backwards? Sandy? For those of
you that don't it was also a type one diabetic
juvenile on set, so she had that before we had
ever met. We were able to test his finger that night,
and it was heartbreaking at that point, like it was
(14:43):
a lot of y me, why did we get stuck
with this? But come to find out rushed him up
to mary Bridge and he had also had type one
diabetes at the age of.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Two, Yes, and he thankfully. I mean, you always have
to find a positive and I figure I was diabetic
for some reason. I just never knew why. And it
was actually very relieving knowing all the symptoms that he
was feeling. It made things a lot easier. And we
actually got out of there in two days and most
people are there for almost a week, so.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
And we were able to catch it before it got
to the acid keyt todosis, which is what most people
usually how they find.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Out they end up in the hospital.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
So, speaking of kid number two, she's trying to call
me right now. Hopefully I didn't interrupt the podcast. So
during all of this, we're dealing with brand new type
one diabetes with our boy. The call company is exploding.
We're not in our house, we're living with my parents,
we're pregnant with kid number two, and the company is exploding.
(15:43):
You know, I'm not to get all dramatic or over
dramatize it, but like this is the stuff that people
didn't necessarily see like in the humble beginnings, where nowadays
this would be like the easiest year of our lives
if as far from a business, you know, if if
that was the only orders we got, Like that'd be
super easy. We just we'd crush. Kid number two comes along,
(16:04):
a lot more issues were going. We had some. Our
kid was born. Hunter was born at twenty.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Eight weeks, twenty eight weeks. My water broke at twenty
four twenty four weeks, so it was a little scary.
And then with Peyton, she just didn't want to come out.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
And then but what I was going to get to,
not to interrupt you, sorry, is all the trips to
the hospital you'd get you were more worried this time,
and so shot Sawny's like, I think I need to
go in. I'm like, we were just there two days
ago and they told you and so like she was
very worried from the first pregnancy and she had preclamsy.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I had preclamsia. Yeah, so they say, if you see
the sparkles in your eyes when you blink, you need
to come in right away. So we were coming in.
We were going in every other day. I think it
was crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Like two weeks of the worst ice we had had ever.
Like I can remember driving down the highway and just
like hitting those frozen chunks of ice. I'm like, this
is the most stressful thing ever, and so that's just
like a quick picture into our lives. Like she's still working.
I don't remember if it was for an orthodonist at
that point or the eye doctor. I think it was
the orthodonist at that point. I'm working a full forty
(17:19):
hour week. We got one kid with type type one
diabetes and a new baby on the way right as
the company was exploding, and we're kind of looking at
each other, and you can just imagine like the stress
and the stress and the friction of our relationship kind
of kind of hitting its height there. And the company
(17:39):
wasn't really rolling. It was more it still kind of
looked like a hobby, right. We weren't really making money
on it, spending a lot of time. And I can
remember back then, I would have been twenty eleven. I
can't remember how old I was then. It would have
been thirty two or thirty three. And I remember making
a promise to you that if this doesn't get going,
maybe thirty thirty three one. If this is a get
(18:01):
going by thirty five, we'll scrap it and we'll just
focus on on the family. So yeah, we kind of
just kept the status quo, kind of started to build
a brand over the next three or four years. You know,
Peyton's born, so now we have two little ones. And
this was maybe not on the business side, but from
(18:22):
my perspective, I knew I was putting a lot on
your shoulders. We kind of knew the recipe was. I
needed to hunt, I needed to be able to provide this.
But now I'm leaving you at home with a three
year old and a zero year old or a one
year old, and I'm going to be gone for two
two and a half months and in the fall. And
(18:42):
that was the point where I knew it was tough.
I knew it was difficult. I knew deep down I
had to do it, but I wasn't. I'm kind of
a one of those guys where if I just didn't
talk about it, I could do it. I wanted and
I knew it was you know, on you rewind and
(19:03):
I always tell everybody. Once Peyton was five years old, like,
things got easier. It wasn't easy, but it was definitely
easier those first five years until our second kid was
until Peyton was five, We're probably the most difficult during
the fall.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Right and I was usually I was probably well, I
can honestly say I was pissed. I was jealous. I
didn't get to go on vacation. And you know, I
always joke with Jason and say that he goes on
vacation for hunting, which she says it's work, because I
mean technically it is. But come on, like doing what
she liked to do all the time and getting to
go when you want to go. I didn't get to
(19:34):
go on those vacations. So it was rough, but it
was but we made it. I mean, given you take. Yeah,
and I'm still waiting to take. I mean, I know
it's coming. I have a europe trip plan.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yeah. Oh I'm going to be over the Atlantic more
times than I want to. And I keep telling her
if I don't, if is there anything we can hunt
while we're over there. But I love my wife. She's
very she is very giving. She is very flexible on
me hunting a lot in the fall. But the writings
on the wall that these are going to be vacations
(20:07):
between me and her, no hunting involved, so uh, those
are those are coming up, you know, in the in
the next few years. So yeah, it was tough. It
was My wife is a rock star. I would also
at this point. Probably have to say my mom was
a huge rock in our relationship at that point because
you were able to definitely, you know, get get help
(20:30):
from my mom. We spent you and my mom, I
would argue, you know, we're best friends. Uh, you know
still are to that, you know, to that point, but
like you spend a lot of time there while I
was gone for weeks at a time, right, well.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
And I probably couldn't. I don't like to vent to
people when I'm mad at Jason because other people take
what I say and they look at it in a
negative light. So it was really easy to talk to
your mom when I had problems, because, well, you're her son.
So if I say, oh, Jason's such a jerk, she's
not going to go until she probably.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Vibe she probably she usually agreed with me.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
So it was great. But I could talk that, I
could talk to her about things that I couldn't talk
to other people about because I didn't want people to
think that, you know, we were going through a rough
patch and there was any chance of us splitting up,
because that wasn't the case. I just needed to get
stuff off my chest, and you know, having somebody like
your mom have her name's Pam. Having somebody like Pam
(21:24):
in our lives, in my life was something that I
couldn't have done it without her.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah, no, it was. It was tough, but like I say,
I probably should have did a better job talking about
all of this, but I kind of knew what I
needed to do, and it was easier in my mind
just not to talk about it and and just go
do what I felt we had to do. So fast
forward to twenty sixteen. I designed the AMP diaphragm and
(21:52):
the new bugle tube, and at that point we went
from you know, the JV basketball team to the big
leagues all in one and fail swoop in twenty sixteen.
And so that was when I can't remember the exact
timing you were in between you'd already an orthodonist of
the eye doctor. You had started doing medical billing or
insurance billing from the doctors, and I was in need
(22:16):
to hire somebody. And by time you pens it all
out like if I pay him this much an hour,
by forty hours a week, I'm like, well, doesn't make
any sense. You're already driving up there. You get two
hours of your life back. You can be more involved
in our kids' lives. You know, Hunter was a pain.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
You know, I'm going to have to interrupt, because I
don't think it was you that said that. I'm pretty
sure your mom said, Jason, either you hire her or
hire somebody else, or I'm done.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Maybe, But regardless, the reason I picked you is what
by time you did the math, I would assume pay
you this, you know, similar or same amount. You get
to spend more time with the kids, be able to
take them to school, pick them up. Hunter, with being
a Type one diabetic, either needed my mom or you
around at all times. So there were there were some
other reasons, but you know, thankfully my mom was already
(23:00):
working for me, and then you were able to I
say me. At that point, it wasn't really the company,
it was it appeared to be, you know, we working
for me. And then the company started to roll in
twenty sixteen and was able to hire Sandy to come
on and kind of take over that stuff because I'm
still working every day, get you know, building calls when
I get home, using my vacation to build calls, and
(23:25):
that was kind of you know, the fast track. And
then from twenty sixteen things have always you know, is
more of the recent story where we're more well known,
things got bigger, and yeah, now you know, I get
to take the fame or you know, I get to
be the face of the company. But the reality is nowadays,
(23:46):
since about twenty eighteen, Sandy runs I say run the show.
I run the show as far as designing calls, kind
of setting the tone for how I want the office
atmosphere to be. But on the inside, operationally, I think
it's safe to say that you kind of run the show.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I think I do a lot.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Yes, she doesn't like it. At times when things get tough,
she wishes she wasn't running the show, but she does
do a really good job. Now. One thing that's tough
is we've hired a lot of friends and family, and
I probably put Sondy in a spot which isn't the
easiest because she now has to manage some of her
best friends, my mom, you know, an aunt. Everybody we've
(24:31):
hired in this company has been you know, we're from
a small town, and so I sometimes I feel bad.
I would say Sondy is more black and white. It's
you know, I want it to be this way where
I'm I'm more of like try to keep everything, you know,
soften the edges, keep everybody happy, and and so yeah,
Sondi runs a show like everything being on time, us
(24:55):
hitting all of our deliveries, us making sure all of
the calls are in stock. She she she bears that
burden on the day to day where it seems like
I get the goof off or do the fun stuff.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah, he gets to come down and joke around with
the office where I just told him, Hey, we don't
have time to do this, let's go. And he comes
down and he's like, hey, everybody, let's take a break
and go have breakfast. You know, we have to keep
that that office morale and we have engagement that we
have to do. But you know, sometimes he doesn't do
that at the best times.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Hey, I'm the boss now, I should probably do a
better job checking in. But it is that it is
that like keeping morale up while it's a balance, right
and we're working. We're getting better if we just did
the way you know, did things where we are so
you know now checking in making sure like hey can
we make this, Hey let's go, you know, have lunch.
We try to keep it. We're improving on it. We're
(25:47):
improving on the old system where you know it's it's
all about productivity or it's all about morale, where it's
like you got to try to intertwine those two and
do it at the right times or the right days
or the right weeks, right.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
And you know, sometimes we just need it. I mean,
we have to step It is really hard to I
mean not just for Jason and I, but I'm sure
it's hard for everybody that works with us, to work
with us. They get to see us in a different light.
I say us, They get to see me in a
different light. I'm not always you know, peppy and happy
and and let's go team. It's more come on, guys,
(26:21):
we need to do this. And it's it's hard to
say that. And I get really nervous when I have
to talk to them, just because I don't want to
cause conflict between us. And you know, they're all great
and they just roll with the punches and and do
everything that I ask them to do. And I couldn't
ask for better people. But it does take a toll
sometimes on all of us.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Yeah, and it is awesome, you know. I can remember
the day when meat Eater was getting ready to purchase
the company if I was willing to move the company,
and that was like and that was gonna be an
absolute deal breaker. Extremely proud to keep this in pel
be able to offer people jobs that you know, may
not pay the most, but uh, you know, we got
(27:02):
good benefits. We've got decent, you know, decently flexible hours.
We you know, close to home. You're not spending as
much of your life driving. So that was that was
big for me. And in order to keep it here
in pl well.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
And it's nice too. I mean, we're we do a
lot of small town sports, so you know, being able
to accommodate and let let people go watch their kids
play and just keep that part of it because really
that's kind of what we built our whole facility on
is is family. I mean we hired family, we hired friends,
which are basically family.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Ye.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
So to keep that and say that we are a
family business, we really truly are.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Yeah. So yeah, and that's that's our day to day.
And now I do the call design, do more of
the brand managing, you know, making sure the brand looks
like we want it to. We're marketing to the right people,
We're going the right direction. I dream it up, I
put a little bit of it together, build a bill
of materials for Sandy, kind of tell her and the
(28:00):
team how it needs to be built, and then I
get to be hands off. I'm back to the fun stuff.
How are we going to make a silly video to
launch cis call? How are we going to go hunt?
You know, the video edits all of that stuff, you know,
this podcast, all of these things, and then Sandy is
essentially forty hours a week responsible her and Corey, our
business manager, to deliver on all of that, you know,
(28:21):
make sure that the calls. Calls are getting sold to
the right wholesalers, the right vendors, the box stores are
taken care of, and then Sondy's making sure we have
enough stuff at the warehouse, the orders are going out correctly,
We're not losing too much money on it, and.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
We're going to meet our actually our launch dates. I mean, gosh,
just with some of this stuff this year, it's been
it's been cut to the wire, but it's very stressful
and just's like, oh, we're going to do it. We
can do it, and in the back of my head,
I know we can do it, but you know, sometimes
there's stuff that happens and it's scary. I don't like
to be the person that says, oh, we can't do it.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, And we're probably still pretty old school where I
I feel that anytime we're missing or we're not firing
on all cylinders, like I don't want to in my mind,
the way I think about running a businesses that could
be somebody's job, like that's the first thing that goes right,
or that could be multiple people's jobs, and it's I'm
very proud, and maybe too proud, and proud is not
the right word. I just don't want to be there.
(29:11):
I want to I want to be able to hire more.
I want to keep this thing growing and and SONDI
probably carries that weight more than I do. I think
over the last couple of months that's been one of
our bigger, bigger arguments is like prioritizing work, like, hey,
we don't have to work sixty seventy hours a week, Like,
let's let's work our hardest. It is what it is.
If we need we need more help, then we need
(29:32):
more help. All right, Well enough about the business. That's
that's not near as fun. Let's fast forward to you
as a hunter. So we mentioned you didn't really hunt
as as a kid growing up, besides hanging out, you know,
didn't necessarily have your own tag, your own weapon. What
was it. Probably kids are eight and six or so,
(29:54):
you decide you wanted to start. You always rode around
with me and the kids, just in the woods.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
And right, well, I always went out. I mean but
even since I was a kid, I always went out.
But you know, you kept going on these vacations, and
I needed to be a part of your world. And
not that I wasn't a part of your world, but
I wanted to do something that I knew you liked
to do, not necessarily, you know, go to the movies,
because you don't really love doing that. So I wanted
to be able to do something that you wanted to
(30:20):
do and you loved to do, and we could do
it together. And I loved hunting growing up and being
with my family, and figured, hey, why not get my
license and and maybe we can do this together.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Yeah, And to be truthful, at that point, I'm like, man,
this was kind of something the boys did. This was
kind of something that you know, growing up, we didn't
have a lot of females in the family that hunted.
It was kind of that guy's right the passage. But
it didn't take long where I was okay with it
as long as and I think we probably had a
good talk about this, like archery all cutting was going
to be for the boys, and then these things will be.
(30:54):
You know, you can rifle, I'll hunt. I'll be with you.
You can, you know, rifle deer hunt. I don't mind that.
I think we I don't want to call them boundaries.
But we just discussed like what we were going to
do and what we weren't going to do.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
It really wasn't much of a discussion. I'm not a
big hiker, so I knew I didn't want to archery hunt.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
So this brings up a funny story. Before she Averred
decided she wanted to hunt, you know, kind of a
kind of a country girl, just wanted to be out
in the woods, like doing some of that stuff. I
was going in to scout one of my elk areas
that was an all bike in area. She's already shaken
her head. We go biking in and so on the
(31:31):
way and it's pretty flat and a lot of downhill
and we get in there five or six miles and
find all the elk that we wanted to find and
you know, find everything I needed to see. And on
the way out we had to push our bikes half
away because it was pretty steep. And I have never
heard Sondy's foul mouth or complaining. She hated bikes, she
(31:52):
hated rocks on the road, she hated me, she hated me,
she hated elk. So it's just a little when Sondy
gets frustrated or is too much physical endurance involved, she
gets mad. And so I got the last three miles,
I got yelled at on the way out, But that
was that's just a little glimpse in the her temper
(32:12):
and her not wanting to be pushing a bike, her
riding a bike, her getting back to the truck. She
just wanted to be home.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Yeah. I like to walk, you know, downhill both ways.
Actually I don't even like to really walk back downhills.
It hurts my knees sometimes, so flat that's great.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Uh So that was pre having your hunting license. So
fast forward to her having your hunting license. She is
the absolute at that time, was the luckiest tag drawer
in my family has ever seen. And you're two of
putting in She drew a tag that takes twenty there
(32:48):
is no taking a certain amount of time. She drew
a very good quality elk tag on the east side.
Two years later drew the other tag. I mean, and
both of these are well under a one percent draws
like she should not be drawing these tags draws. Both
of those, we weren't able to get it done. On
(33:08):
the first one, she ended up getting a little bit
sick and we had to come home. And some of
that was on me being a little bit too greedy
trying to find a big bowl. We had had some
that we could have killed the whole time. The time
that we finally do hike out there, they were gone,
So some of that was on me. Fast forward to
her second good tag, she was able to kill a
great six point I've just found and I don't recommend
(33:31):
anybody lies to their wife ever. But the best thing
with her is just fibbing as you go, like how
much longer you're like a half mile or so, it'll
be easy, but knowing you have like three or four miles.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
I don't think I ever asked. It was more of
a you just offered the information, Oh, we only have
a half a mile longer.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Oh, you asked, like, how much more? Because you're trying
to figure out whether you're going to be real mad
at me right then or you're going to be mad
at me in a little bit. Oh.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
I saving it up most of the time.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
So she draws a good tag, kills a really good bull,
extremely steep country, and we were to the point where
she was just going to shoot any bowl thankfully. Oh
and that same night she killed a bull. So not
saying I know everything, but we're listening to this bowl
behgle probably two or three hundred times. We got the
wind in our face. It's obvious those bulls are feeding
(34:27):
that bowl and it's herd or feeding up the hill
down to Timber, though we can't see what they are.
And she starts telling me how we should Elk Counties,
that she thinks we're doing it wrong. We should go
down in there, we should go call them in, and
I'm like, no, we got a gun and it's wide
open above tree line, and so I can remember just
like shaking my head, just going nuts because my wife,
who has never killed an elk at this point and
(34:49):
I'm supposed to know what I'm doing, is now telling
me everything that we should be doing for three hours
straight while we watched or waited for this bowl to
show himself.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
You know, I still think I was right.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
So anyways, we get a shot at that good six point,
get it killed. And so she had one job in this,
so this could be my fault. She loves shooting my
three thirty eight edge, which is a single feed gun,
me knowing that if she had to get a reshot,
so I had an extra shell in my hand. I
tell her, after you shoot, you've got to watch. I'm
(35:23):
going to reload the gun and get you back on it.
She shoots, I don't look at anything. I put unload,
put the shell in. What happened? She's like, I don't know.
I didn't see anything. I'm like, well that you had
one job. Anyways, so we now know if this bull
is wounded.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Guy said it flipped over. I just you didn't just
flip over.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
You didn't say that. I think you had no idea
what happened. Otherwise, I went around.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Home, really didn't go far away.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
The next one, So we have I have no idea.
She's now stating that she has an idea that it
flipped over. I have no idea, and she never said
that when we there, Otherwise I would and ran over there.
This is probably the steepest ground sidehill that I've been
on in a long time. And it went from steep
sidehill and then it went through some rock shoots that
was almost like that that like shale rock that that
(36:14):
is hard, but it'll also slip loose. I bebop over
there and go through that section, like she's not gonna
like that. And I bebop through the next section of
rock and I get over there and the elk is dead,
but it's starting to get dark, and I really don't
want to go back to her, but she is now
stuck in the middle of the shale, screaming at me
to come get her. She can't go forwards, can't go backwards.
She's just stuck and it's dark. And so I finally
(36:36):
get my way back over there, and as one of
those he told.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Me to take my time and he would go over
and just sit with the elk to make sure that
I could find him with his light, and and so
I basically rode that rock to the bottom and then
crawled my way back out.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
It definitely those build character in a relationship, though those
moments when you were You were nervous until I got there,
and then I got my butt showed for a little bit. Yeah,
we helped you out, and.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
It just like and I helped you out because it
made myself really tired. By the time I got to you,
I didn't have any breadth to yell at you.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
Yep, it worked out good. But then when we got
to the elk, it was just like when you're holding
that light for your dad as a kid and you
get yelled at no matter where the light's at. I
asked my beautiful wife to hold the light. So I
hadn't gotten an elk in a long time, but I
knew it was so steep where this elk died. He
got tangled up on the log. So I was going
to get him and skin him out and just get
a bunch of air under him, get everything cooled down.
(37:28):
I'm gonna call in the reinforcements the next day.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
And yeah, there was no way that I would be
able to help pack that she was.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
It was steep, and she was scared to death of
where we were at, so she wouldn't move to get
the light where I needed And so I literally had
one light that was a major mistake. Son. He didn't
have a headlamp, so I had no headlamp on my own.
But she really wanted to if I remember, she really
wanted to have the light. She didn't want to be
standing there in the dark. And so we made it work.
(37:56):
And then the next that that hike out, like I said,
extreme steep. This is where I lied to her, probably
more than ever. I told her we had a long
ways out, and I could see that we're getting closer
to the road at one point. You know, most people
when they get tired and need to take a break,
they turn around and sit down or they'll cook them.
Sondia was just laying down, like standing up so steep
that she could just like cross her arms and lean
(38:17):
into the hill, which made for one of the better
pictures of all time.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Yeah, Jason likes to likes to share that one a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
But she's like, I'm too tired to turn around, sit down.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
I just he just kept saying, go to the next tree.
Because I had to stop by a tree. I was
afraid that I'd slide back down, and if I slid
back down, I wasn't coming back out of there. He
could have packed me out the next day too.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
So this is how well I know my wife been
around a long time. She's one of those people. And
you could tell I could pick it to the ninety
nine percent confidence, and she will pick out a landmark
and then that's where she's stopping. So she'll pick out
like a little tree, a little ledge, a rock that
maybe sticks out bigger than the rest. And so I
(38:56):
could see that, and I would try to get her
to like bypass the first landmark and get to the second.
I get to that tree up there, and no, she's
she's going to that landmark and that's where she So
I was trying That's what I was trying to fight
through there. Hey, we got long ways ago, we got
to keep going. But no, we were able to get
a call out, get my entire family, which is pretty
cool to share, and your first pack out, and a
(39:17):
couple of my buddies John and showed up.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
He came in clutch with the chocolate milk. The next morning.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Yeah, and I can remember you. You were kind of
nervous to ask. You're like, is it okay if I
don't go back down there in the morning.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Yeah, I really didn't want to.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Yeah, she had given me her notch tag and the
little letter that said we had the just to make
sure we were all of our eyes were dotted and
teas were crossed, that we had the right to pack
out her animal on her behalf, and and my dad
and two uncles and a couple of buddies. We went
down there, took care of it and bug it on out.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Yeah, and it was fun to watch them all come up,
you know, and take pictures of Jason and his uncles
bringing out my first bowl. Yeah, but you know, it
is kind of It's not that I'm just lazy, but
it is hard being diabetic and having your blood shager
go alow and being on a trail like that too.
So it Yeah, I guess I have an excuse built in.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Yeah, Yeah, that's well, she's out there, she's she's hunting hard,
and yeah, all I'll let her have that. It's not
even excuse, it's a real legit thing. But uh yeah,
we we've always got there. We've got to where we
needed to. You know, on that same hunt, we we
I probably pushed it too hard on those jeep trails
where you weren't having fun going up and down the
(40:28):
chasing that big Bowl.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Yeah, the Big Boulder, the ones. Yeah, I didn't like that.
I think that he took some really not nice pictures
of me, videos videos, Yes, walking slowly.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
And so now you're hunting is I mean we still
put you in for for elk tags. You will elk
hunt around here occasionally, but now I would say we
we deer hunt more together. You yeah, meal deer and
that not the elk hunting is too hard. It's just
meal deer is I would say, more enjoyable for you,
more enjoyable for me. We don't get as many arguments,
(41:02):
whether it's Montana, Colorado. You know, we can glass from
the road, go after what we want to make sure
the stock is going to be the right stock. There
is still always a point of contention in our relationship
gets tested the most right at the point where we
got to shoot something or you have to shoot something.
I don't think we've ever had that bowl in Colorado
(41:22):
that James spotted. I guess went off with it. No,
we argued on that one. I would say, argue we
disagree at the point where I'm trying to get the
gun set up and dial it and she can't see something,
or getting the scope and that's where we look back,
and it's the time we laugh at the most. But
during the moment, we're button heads, right right.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
I get a little flustered, and then I have to
calm myself down before I shoot, because well, I think
I get flustered because I don't like to. I don't
want to miss, not just because I don't want to
wound an animal and then have them suffer, but also
because I don't want to have to chase that sucker
even further.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
That's a good, good reason. But no, I I never
tell her this, and and hopefully she's not listening right now.
But she's a great shot. We're a great team. Where
I've got to do the dialing and the figuring of
the wind. But once I get a gun set up
and you know, near the animal, she's she's never not
executed a perfect shot. And so I feel still feel
(42:21):
safe though that if she was ever gonna shoot at me,
I'd be all right because she can't dial the gun
and she doesn't like getting set up, so i'd have
a little bit of time to escape.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
Yeah, probably, But no, she can.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
Shoot the lights out. She's she's a great shot, and
uh yeah, so that's that's been and we're the last
two times we went to Montana, we've been able to
take the Hunter has his hunting license and been able
to hunt Montana with us, and so it's been fun
to to get to do a little bit as a family.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
And yeah, yeah, and you know, it is nice taking Hunter.
It kind of breaks things up, and I have somebody
that will stay kind of back with me, and and
so I don't have to push myself. I just blame
it on him. Now I say, oh, yeah, Hunter's blood
sugar is low, so we got to slow down. So
now we have two excuses. Yeah, but yeah, it's fun,
(43:09):
and it's also nice to know that, you know, Jason
has a hunting partner. And if I don't want to go,
not that I don't like to go and hang out
with Jason, but you know, if I stay home, there's
nobody here except for me and Peyton, and then we
can do some girl stuff too.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
So yeah, and Peyton, you know, she's so busy in sports,
more so than Hunter. Or it's like if we're not here,
she doesn't skip a beat, she doesn't hardly know we're gone.
She'll give us some updates on the phone and and
let us know how her volleyball games win or whatever.
She's football games went. She's all over the place, not.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
That she plays football, but she just goes.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
She'll go. She's at every event that the school puts
on everything. So now she she does not need to
be entertained at all. She's got her own schedule and
her own So yeah, it's uh, it's been a lot
of fun. It's it's been tough. We kind of pushed
through and uh you've kind of been the you know,
I get to do all the fun stuff and you've
(44:02):
kind of held down the fort and yeah, it's just
it's been fun. You know this not to get too sappy,
but you talk about who you want to build a
life with and what it's gonna look like, and to
be able to kind of put all that together and
make it make it come true, is it's been awesome.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
Yeah, it's been Uh, you know, I said I wouldn't
support him, but I support him in everything he does.
He's a pretty smart guy and he always has our
best interest at heart.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
So yeah, and I did not pay her to say that,
but uh no, I try to. I'm I'm very you know,
logical technical. I try to think through and I just
didn't see how this was gonna miss. It just took
a little convincing of everyone around me. And yeah, it's
it's been an awesome ride. I hate to say that
(44:46):
we're getting old, but and anybody it listens, it's older
than us. I apologize. I'm forty three now, she's forty two.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
I am forty one and you are forty two. You're
gonna you just turned forty three.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
I'm all messed up. And see I'm so old. I
lost track. I'm forty two, she's forty one, going to
be forty two. Well, we kind of pushed you that
tough spot where our kids are, you know, a high school,
junior high life's I would say anything but easy, but
it's I feel like we've kind of hit that easy
street where things are going good. You know, we've been
together for so long now that we kind of know
(45:18):
what each other feeling. You know, those old arguments are
done about time and and this so uh no, it's
been awesome and what can you oh, this might be dangerous.
I was gonna a little sneak peak of what's it
like Aside from everything we've mentioned living with me, what's
what's something people don't know about me?
Speaker 2 (45:40):
Well, he's a complete slob, for one. I mean, he's
the most unorganized person that I've ever met.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
And I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
I will take slob back because I like to keep
things very tidy and I'm really organized in a little OCD.
But Jason, he he has stacks of stuff everywhere. And
here's a little story about him that he probably would
never share with anybody. Before I came into the business.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
You never asked me if you can share this sty I.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
Don't have to because you've already said that I'm the boss.
And so the hardest thing for Jason was staying organized
in the business. And I remember, right before I came on,
and before his mom said that we needed the help,
I was doing a lot of billing and I was
checking emails and I said, Jason, you have so many
(46:29):
voicemails and I just don't know what to do right now.
And are you checking your voicemails? And you said, yep,
I'll check him in just a second. And he actually
pushed a button and deleted all of them. And I said,
what did you do that for? He goes, I'm just
so overwhelmed. I need some help, and so so we
you know, we pushed through.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
And well now that's why, like people are re swawn
by email, like my phone even to this day, you know,
we gave my old phone number up to to the
customer service and let them take it over. You know,
I've got a new phone number and still to this day, like,
I love talking to my friends, but I can't get
(47:11):
anything done if I'm answering all the text all all
the voicemails, all the everything. And so back in that time,
back on the old iPhones, I could just hit a
button to delete all my voicemails and then that just
fixed the problem. I like, it was crazy. It was
just like a huge weight lifted off your shoulder. As
soon as you push that button, you were good to go.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
Yeah, And it wasn't always just work stuff. I mean
there's probably five or six for me saying Jason, where
are you at? What are you doing? And and it
was it was weird. I mean I didn't really always
check his messages because I don't. We're not one of
those families that I look at his phone a lot.
But being part of the business, it kind of got
to the point where I had to listen to a
few things and I'm like, hey, so on so called
(47:48):
and they need a call, you know, and so it
was just it was more convenient. But he didn't. He
didn't always before I did that. He didn't always take
care of those messages.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
Hey I'm busy guy. No, I appreciate, yeah, coming on here.
I know you're hesitant, but I always thought it would
be good to hear your side and your upbringing and
kind of how this you know, I get. I don't
want to say credit I am. I'm the face of
the company, but the reality is it's been you know, me,
you and I through this whole thing, and you know,
(48:19):
the last ten years has definitely probably been more you
than me, aside from me just getting to design the
new stuff and making sure it works.
Speaker 2 (48:26):
I don't know about that, but yeah, that's a.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
Lot of meat. Well, thank you for coming on, honey.
Until next time. I hope you guys are enjoying the
cutting the existence and elk season is getting close, so
I'm excited to kind of start getting into that
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