January 26, 2023 • 45 mins
This week Janis and Jordan tackle some questions sent in from podcast listeners. They discuss headlamp options, tripod and tripod head setups, big game calibers and more!
Products discussed:
Black Diamond 500-r headlamp - https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en_US/product/storm-500-r/
Petzl Actik Core headlamp - https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Headlamps/ACTIK-CORE
Petzl E-Light backup headlamp - https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Headlamps/ePLUSLITE
Slik Tripods 634 and 624 - https://slikusa.com/collections/carbon-fiber-leg-only
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Welcome to the gear Talk podcast. I'm here your honest MATELUS,
and it's my co host Jordan Budd is here as well.
Today we are talking UM, and we're not talking, We're
gonna answer listener questions UM. As a reminder, if you
(00:34):
have questions for US, ideas, critiques, whatever, UM, you can
send it into gear Talk at the meat Eator dot
com if you prefer email. UM. If you'd like to
comment on a particular episode, you can do that on
our podcasts homepage on the mediator dot com. Just go
(00:57):
to podcasts, find gear Talk, then find this particul the
episode and comment there. You can also find Jordan and
I on our respective Instagram handles, Jordan's dot bud or Underscore.
But tell us, Jordan, you're ready to go. I'm ready
to rock, man, Let's just get right in. Yeah, this
(01:17):
is a good one that everybody thinks about this one
a lot. Uh. Garrett Backman rode in and ask us,
what do you recommend for headlamps? Flashlights? Go for it.
I can say I don't really carry a flashlight. UM,
so I don't have a good one for for flashlights specifically,
(01:38):
But last year I started using a headlamp called the
petsel Actic Core, and uh, it's it's a rechargeable. It
actually has these little square batteries flipping the back, and
that little battery has like a USB two point oh
attachment on it, so you can plug it in and
charge the battery. So you can have multiple batteries that
(02:00):
you can keep switching back and forth to keep them,
you know, the charged one and keep flipping it. Or
if that you run out of those or your battery
goes dead or whatever, you can take that out and
still use triple A batteries inside of it. So a
little bit of a redundancy thing there. Um, and it's
(02:21):
pretty sweet. I love the thing. Super has three settings
for brightness, and the brightest one is like really bright,
Like it's as bright as any headlamp I've ever I've
ever had. And uh, if it if it gets to
where it's like starting to time out on the top one,
it'll just it'll flash once and it'll just kick you
(02:42):
down to the next setting, So it won't just die
all together, it'll it'll just kick you down to the
next light setting. So I've had super good luck with that.
I love that thing, and it's not it's not it's
not too big around these just giant. I know this
guy done in Arkansas carries around the head lamp. It's
(03:02):
so heavy it's got to be mounted to a helmet. Yeah,
I'm kidding, I'm talking about I'm talking about Clay. Those
are sun spotlights. I own one. It is absolutely the
ship when you're out there a coon hunting. Clay likes
to carry coon light just generally in the back country
wherever he is. It's a little too much for me
(03:24):
to carry. I just don't feel like I need, you know,
a being that can shoot four yards um. That being said,
it's got a lot to say about this. I used
to always carry I think it was a sog some
kind of a torch, you know that use those like
super high dollar batteries like the the the CR one
(03:46):
two three's. Is that what it was. Yeah, he used
a couple of those, and then a couple of times
it came in handy route finding when it's like it
gets dark on you. You got into some place that
you know, and it was easy to get in there,
and then all of a sudden you're like looking around
in the dark. Your head lamp can't reach far enough
(04:07):
and you're getting in amongst some bouldery cliffy kind of
country and I would pull out this you know super
beam light and all of a sudden, you can you know,
blasted to yards and you're like, oh, okay, there's that
little grassy ramp that gets me out of the spot
that I'm in. Um, but I can say that, like right,
like in the last whatever four or five years, I
(04:29):
haven't been carrying that. I've been just relying on, you know,
doing a better job of you know, marking way points
if I'm going into actually did a hunt this year
that was like that. Like we went up in the
dark and it was sketchy, like we found a literal
goat trail more probably a deer trail, but it was sketchy. Um.
(04:49):
The guy I was with actually gets a little bit
of vertigo. It was fine in the dark because he
couldn't really see how exposed we were. The exposure was
only maybe twenty ft. But then when we came down midday, Uh,
he was like, just go right in front of me,
I'll look at your back and we'll make it. But
it's like, anyways, just to say that it's a little
(05:11):
bit sketchy, but when I go through stuff like that,
just mark a waypoint on my onyx to be like,
this is how you get down, you know, or back
up or whatever. But back to head lamps. Um, I've
never tried that one. I'm gonna put on my list
of things to check out. But I've been using for
a while now versions of the Black Diamonds Storm. The
(05:38):
current one I think I have is the Fire sounds
very similar to yours, except I don't think you can
actually I don't know if you can get separate batteries
to charge up for it, which is a which is
a smart move, but it does you can't take the
batteries out and drop in some triple a's uh when
you need to in a pinch. What I like about
these in general, and at first I was scared to
(06:00):
use these chargeable ones because I thought, man, there's no
way that you're just gonna get the life out of it.
But I found that on full week long hunts, six
seven days using it every day in the morning for
you know, an hour or more every day, and even
for an hour or more, and that includes you know,
(06:22):
time in the field or if you get back and
you're you know, cleaning out the truck or you know,
prep and gear for the next day whatever. It might be.
Certainly several two to three hours a day, um, maybe longer.
But I feel like I've been very surpleasantly surprised that
I've yet to be on a you know, anything under
(06:42):
a seven day hunt or up to a seven day
hunt where I've lost battery or you know, maybe towards
the end you like you said, it will kind of
drop down in settings and you'll be using like a
dimmer light. But again, very impressed that it lasts, um,
uh the whole time, and that uh, that black diamond
(07:02):
one that I've been using has a mini USB to
charge it, and my uh you know battery packs that
I carry also have mini USB, so off a one
battery pack. You know, I'm charging my phone, my head lamp, um,
my little garment, uh, you know, in reach device, which
(07:26):
that thing. Now. I don't know if you've heard, but man,
there's a new one out that I don't even know
what they're calling. Yeah, they're calling it it's a communicator. Seriously,
I've left it on now it's been going for like
four weeks. What yeah, yeah, it's a little black box.
(07:47):
Just because I wanted to see because they're claiming it's
like twenty eight days, and I think that's what it's
like use and I think I'm like, I've surpassed that
with very light use. Um, because I usually just turn
it on and stick it in my my pant pocket
when I'm going line hunting. That way, it's just on.
And if it really comes down to an emergency situation
(08:08):
where I need it in a pinch, I don't have
to then turn it on like I'm gonna pull out
my phone, go to the messenger app and and I'll
be you know, sending out a message. But it's incredible. Yeah,
I got mine from Buddy Woodberry over it uh W
Hunting Supply, which which is where I get all my
(08:28):
hound hunting gear, leashes, leashes, and the antenna's mostly because
Mingus is an antenna schuer. Although this last one he
doesn't seem to be chewing on. I'm gonna look over
right now, it's gonna be chewing on his antenna. But
um yeah, the uh we should talk about that at
another time more. But it's incredible. The battery life, which
(08:51):
is just comes back to how I don't need to
use my brick anymore to charge up my inn reached device,
which leaves more energy left charge up my phone in
my head lamp, which I'm telling you I had over
a week long hunt. I haven't had to charge it
up um this one. Have you had similar luck with
that Petzel? Yeah? Similar luck probably. I think the longest
(09:14):
time I've been on it with is like a week
where I could say it was completely charged when I started,
and then towards the end, you know, it might be
down to like the medium beam, but I don't think
I ever went below the medium beam UM last of
the whole time, I they've come a long ways. Like
I tried one of the very first I think it's
(09:35):
called the Revolt from uh from Black Diamond. It was
like the very first one that they came out with,
and I just like I could not keep especially in
colder weather, couldnt keep that thing charged and uh and
then at that time, you couldn't take you couldn't put
different batteries in. It was kind of that's what you had.
And uh. Yeah this, I think they they've come leaps
(09:58):
and bounds with reach our arging um rechargeable items just
kind of as a whole. I think batteries are getting better.
I mean they're getting lighter and and able to hold
a charge longer, just you know, just like you were
talking about the inn reach. So yeah, do you carry
to headlamps? Do you carry back up? Ever? Yes? I do. Actually,
(10:22):
I'm glad you brought that up. I believe it's called
the petzel E light. The light, Yeah, we use the
same one then. Yeah, I mean it's I mean, does
it even weigh an ounce? No, No, there's nothing to it,
and you can just like I usually have mine in
my vinyl harness and sometimes it's nice, like when you're
in your tent. It just it doesn't kick off a
(10:42):
big light at all, but it would get you out
of a rough spot if you had to use it. Um,
but it's nice. It's kind of like it's a softer light,
I think, so like inside your tents. Nice. You can
um like the adjustable band that comes with it. It's
not like a big thick head band like a normal
headlamp is. It's like super thin. You could like put
(11:05):
it around your wrist and the light like flips and
twirls degrees, so you can do you can do a
lot more things with that that headlamp too, instead of
it just like sitting in your pack and not getting
any use. No, I mean, and that's what it does there. Um,
there's a lot of gear. I feel like when you're
backpack and hunting that it is there for emergencies. I mean,
(11:29):
even my rain gear just sits in the bottom of
pack so much more than it actually gets used. Um.
But last time I pulled that out my buddy Joe
Smith who helped me on my buddy Ethan and identa
and elk hunt where we drew tags in Colorado's uh
(11:49):
nine after like I don't know eleven or twelve years
of applying and um, we'd hiked way into some skinny
little drainage to look at some off trail like walking
a drainage, which I think I'm realizing I just hate
unless there's a cut trail in it. They just sucked
because they're just there's always a ton of logs in there.
(12:10):
But we get in there, we hunted out, didn't see
an elk, and remind saw an elk in the way
for our distance, but nothing where we were like it
where it was even approachable for the evening hunt and
like we're getting ready to leave and she was like, oh, man,
forgot the headlamp busted out my pets or elite and
heat multiple times over the course of the next ninety
(12:31):
minutes while we're hiking out. Was like, dude, this thing
is saving my butt right now. Um so yeah for
the ounce it is. And I think they're cheap too.
It's like bucks or something, right, Yeah, they're super cheap. Yeah,
and uh, I think there's like other versions of it
now that are supposed to be a little like still
(12:55):
super lightweight and a little headband, but they like the
lights just brighter, just how smart features. But yeah, yeah,
I'm seeing that. I'm seeing the e light two point
oh for thirty bucks ish uh sweet on the internet. Yeah,
good backup option for sure. I want to move on
to the next. Uh. This one was asked a while ago.
(13:19):
I can't I believe it was a I can't remember
if it was the woman's husband or the woman herself
that rode in from Alaska, but the question that it
seems like they hunt hard a lot, wet in wet
conditions in Alaska. Her husband's super stoked on his you know,
fl rain gear pants, and she's like, dude, how come
(13:42):
you guys can't make it in women's sizing. UM. So
I asked Ben Flandro from First Light, like, what's up
with that? I kind of knew the answer, but he
gave me a nice concise answer. He says, at its
most basic, ramp pants typically are oversized to fit over
(14:02):
the top of better fitting men's and women's pants. That
being the case, a more unisex fit is often sufficient
to cover both men's and women's needs. When you couple
that with the production minimums and smaller volumes across the
women's market, this is one area we choose to employ
a more unisex direction. And I think the second part
(14:24):
of that is what's what's important to understand that there
are production minimums, meaning that like, if you want to
make a women's pants, you can't just make a thousand
total or whatever it is, whatever, however many you think
you're gonna be able to sell, and and there's gonna
be more sure you could probably do, you know, at
(14:47):
a specialized factory, you could do less. It's just gonna
cost more drive up the price. Um. And then the
flip side of that is that the smaller volume of
the women's more market. And I know that there's a
lot of people out there there gonna say, well, no,
there's you know, so many women are hunting now and
it's like the fastest growing sector of you know hunting.
(15:11):
That all may be true, but when you look at
the numbers, there's just aren't enough women buying these rain
pants to make it worth while for companies. And there
are some women's specific companies out there. Um, what's that one?
The one's been around for a while? Is it like
prois Prous? Yeah? Yeah, yeah. Have you ever tried their gear? No?
(15:33):
I have not, honestly. Yeah. Um, I think Sick has
got some you know, women's stuff. I don't know if
they have you know, women's specific rain gear, but um,
I don't know. So that's the answer to why First
Light doesn't make women's specific rain wear. Anything you want
to add to that, um, not really, Like I I
(15:56):
have never had an issue with it, mostly because I'm
probably not a representation. Like I'm pretty tall, got pretty
broad shoulders, like the men's stuff. Just it fits me.
It fits me, okay, like it fits me good enough,
especially for like rain gear. I can put it over
the top of whatever I'm wearing and I don't feel
like it's really boxy. Like that's another thing to think of.
(16:18):
Two is like I don't think just because it's men's
it's going to be super boxing and like baggy and
crazy like it's it's slim fitting stuff. I think, especially
the new omen Um, I think the fit of it,
like the pants are pretty slim. Uh, it's not just
super big, boxy baggy stuff. But I'm also like five
(16:39):
ten hundred sixty five pounds, Like I'm not you know,
just what five two five three twenty pounds like the
men's small might not fit you as well as like,
you know, all the men's medium stuff. It's me really well,
So I'm not like a great representation on that. But
(17:00):
um but I think it just comes down to like
the women's market type deal, Like it just kinda it
is what it is. And I think we're doing really
good for some of these companies that are making as
much women stuff as they are and really trying to
put thought and stuff into it. Um hm, I think
we're pretty we're doing pretty good for having that. So yeah,
(17:22):
and I think too, it's it's good to add that,
like even for me as much as I wear that
omen rain paint a lot right now, lion hunting in
the snow. It's not like it's it does not fit
me like a pair of blue jeans does. Like you're
just not getting that glovy super customed. Like you know,
(17:44):
the sizing is uh large long, you know, medium long,
whatever it is. So it's it's not like I get
to choose a thirty three ways and the thirty five
in sem um. It just doesn't it doesn't exist. So
even for the size, if it's the best is the
large long, but I have to like pull in the
(18:06):
waist a little bit, you know, kind of adjust it. Um.
But it's still a you know, i'd call it a
bat for me, a baggy fitting pant. And it's not
something not something like the you know the core Get
foundry that just fits, you know, nice and tight to
my waist and you know, just snugger more like a
(18:26):
pair of blue jeans. Yeah. Yeah, just like just like
Ben talked about, like it's just more of a unisex
style piece anyway, Like just all of them are, you know,
rain gear in general is just kind of that way.
So yeah, and I feel like with the room that
they've given those rain jackets, uh for layering and for
(18:51):
bino harnesses, like I'm always kind of fight them on that.
I would even like them to be even slimmer fitting.
But I would imagine that it if you have a
bigger chest, that there's there's plenty of room in that
omen rain jacket for that. Hopefully that covered it well
and all made sense moving onward. Tripods tripod um on
(19:26):
Instagram at DV on our score, Sportsman rode in, what's
a decent trap pod that won't break the bank? I
have a two or fifty dollar Vanguard, but it's flimsy.
You wanna start, Yeah, I've I've used the Outdoorsman's a lot,
which is not really the that's just like an expensive tripod,
(19:47):
and it's a good tripod. But lately, this last year
I bought a slick CF six to four to save
some bulk, save some weight, and it's two bucks. It's
a tick under two pounds. It's like one point eight
pounds um. And then I put the Outdoorsman's head on
(20:07):
top of it and got pretty dang good system for
under three pounds. And I found that to be pretty good,
especially like packing. It's got the twist locks, so they're
super low profile, like sometimes the flick locks or the
lever locks, we'll just be a little bulky and get
hung up on your pack like on straps or whatever
(20:28):
pulling it out. Um, the twist locks keep that the
profile pretty slim, easy to pull it out of your pack.
And um, it's still like I think you're you get
into a tipping point with like trying to be super
lightweight on things, and especially with tripods, like how stable
they are in the wind. Um, I don't think that
(20:50):
this one that I've got is like, I don't I
wouldn't call it flimsy, but if the wind's really ripping,
like it's gonna vibrate your optics more so, then I
think like a heavier like aluminum tripod would. Um. So
I think that's something to think about. But man, that's
what I've been using. That's two bucks and good system something. Yeah,
(21:12):
And I took a quick look at I've never I've
never heard of Vanguard tripods, and I'm guessing that, like
like a lot of the more affordable tripod setups, when
you buy theirs, you get ahead with it. So that's
like a combo head. And uh, the thing with the
heads that usually come if you're going to get ahead.
(21:34):
That just comes with the legs. You're probably it's just sure,
it's probably a lot lighter, but man, you're just sacrificing
so much. And just you know the smoothness of the movements. Um.
You know, the a lot of them will just have
one like handle that you twist open. It kind of
opens up the whole ball or whatever is the the
moving mechanism in it versus having separate tilt and pan.
(21:58):
And when you really sit down to start just pounding
the glass, it just doesn't work well at all. Um.
You know you're having to hold it. And anytime you
have to do extra holding um as opposed to just
looking and using like I usually just used the bridge
of my nose to move my binoculars around as I'm
you know, glassing. Um, anytime you have to use you know,
(22:22):
your hands, arms or whatever, it doesn't seem like a lot,
but just having instead of having them at your sides
and having them up and hanging onto a handle. Sure
you're like, oh, I can do that forever. Well, I
challenge you because I bet and you can do it
for twenty minutes or even thirty minutes. But after two hours,
your hand is tired, and you're gonna start glassing less,
(22:44):
not as hard whatever, and the person that has the
better setup is going to be you know, it's still
going after it hard. UM the Slick CF pros or
what I use as well. UM. I've had my original one.
I'd had to say it was a seven thirty three model.
I probably bought it in right around two thousand two
(23:09):
or three, so it's coming on twenty years. It still works.
The little rubber twist things that go around around the
twist blocks have sometimes come loose and I've just you know,
jammed some glue in there. UM. I actually sent it
back to Slick and they replace the foamy outer part
for me. UM. So very high quality product, lightweight. UM.
(23:33):
I prefer the carbon fiber over and aluminum because it's
ah quieter and it doesn't get cold to the touch.
Sometimes that aluminum is so cold and cold conditions that
even with a glove on, you're walking around hanging on
your tripod and you know, your fingers just the heat
just gets sucked right out of them. The way to
(23:54):
understand these tripods, because you're gonna go to uh whatever
Ben h photo video and be like, oh my god,
Slick makesfferent carbon fiber tripods. The the in the three numbers,
the six, the six, seven, eight. I don't even know
if they make a five, but that basically stands for
(24:16):
the diameter, the thickness, the strength of the legs themselves.
So the sixes to me are I own six, seven,
and eight. The six is great because it's the lightest weight,
but like you said, it's flimsy, it's and it just
in any kind of windy condition, you're high end optics
(24:38):
that are that worth thousands of dollars are gonna look
like crap because they're vibrating in the wind and you
can't get a steady picture. There's nothing worse. I hate
looking through someone's super nice spotting scope and it's shaken
because they have it on have it on a on
a cheap tripod. One second, alright, So with the Slick
(25:04):
carbon fiber tripods that like, each model comes uh with
like a it's like a three number model, like six
to four, like the one Jordan just said six three
four six three three seven three three. I'm having a
hard time figuring out what the middle number stands for.
But the first number is gonna be the diameter and
(25:25):
the strength stability of the of the legs themselves. The
last number it's gonna be how many sections of of
legs that you have, uh or sorry, how many sections
the leg has itself. So like a seven thirty three
is gonna be kind of that middle ground of stiffness
(25:46):
and sturdiness and weight, and it's gonna have uh, three sections. Um,
I'm guessing that middle one has something to do with
what the total height is gonna be. Um, that was
your guest, Jordan. But I know that with my the
six thirty three and the seven thirty three that I
(26:06):
just bought this year, both of them will get tall
enough with the center post that for me as a
six two person, you know, if I sort of spread
my legs out or you know, bend my knees a
little bit, I can look straight through my binoculars um
off of them. Uh. The sixth series is, like you said,
(26:27):
a little bit light, a little bit wobbly. Seventh series
to me is just perfect. It gets a little bit heavier. Um,
but again it's like when it when it, when it
really matters and you're trying to get a good look
at something, you're gonna be happy that you have the
stability of the seven. The eight, UM, I just don't
(26:48):
use it that much. Um Uh. It's just if I
knew that was only going to be looking, you know,
next to the truck and jumping out of the truck
and setting up a tripod, I would use the eights.
Or if I had just some really giant glass which
I don't own, anything like the co of Big Eyes
or any of those big dogs, it would come those
(27:10):
would come into use more often. So um, that's how
they work. My recommendation is the seven series. Um, you
can either go seven thirty three or seven thirty four.
If you go with the four section legs, it's gonna
come out to roughly probably the same total height, but
(27:31):
because there's four sections, it becomes more compact, so I
have compact versions. I don't know if it's necessarily any better,
because where the tripod lives on my backpack, it can
be another six or eight inches longer and it's still
just fine being there. Like, I don't need it necessarily
shorter because it lives in either you know, a long
(27:53):
pocket on the outside or just strapped to the outside
of the pack anyway, so it can pretty much be
as long as the pack and not really getting in
my way. Um. But both of those trying to get
back to telling, um, telling how the dB sports from
what a what a decent tripod is. It won't break
(28:14):
the bank, but I wanted to explain that. So if
you're looking, you kind of know what you're looking at. Uh.
Those two come in right the six four two pounds,
thirty four is two and a half pounds. Uh. Both
you're gonna find it right in that to fifty range
plus for minus ten twucks. Um. So that's just for
(28:36):
the legs, and I think it that's a great deal
for just the legs. UM. For what you're getting, Like
I said, I've got a set that are almost twenty
years old and are still rocking. UM. And you're gonna
do better glassing and you're gonna just have a better
product if you buy yourself a nice head. Uh. Like
(28:58):
Jordan's said, there's that doors and pain and head at UM.
I tried out this fall and was very happy using
the Surui. I don't know how to product or something
cru s I r Ui the v A five at
a hundred fifty bucks. It was just over a pound.
(29:19):
So your total kit is um, you know, still well
under four pounds UM or just over three pounds depending
on which legs you go with, and you're just gonna
have a much better glassing experience by going with a
nice head like that. Total price you're gonna be in
at about four hundred dollars. You know. I don't know
(29:41):
if that might break the bank for some If you're
already spending two fifty, I think you can spend the
extra one fifty and really get yourself something solid. Uh,
that's gonna that's gonna really do do the job right. Yeah,
And that I've heard there's like quite a few of
Buddy or whatever a minor running that v A five
(30:02):
head and they love it. And um, I haven't personally
ran it, but there's another one to that that I
ran for a while. It's called the ben Row S
two and it's a little bit smaller than the v
A five UM, and it's not gonna it's not gonna
handle really big optics well like nine five or something
(30:23):
like that, but like your standard like eighty millimeter spot
or it's gonna be fine for um And that is right,
it's right, and around that it's cheaper than a hundred
fifty bucks it might be closer to a hundred or like, um,
but I think like that is like the best bang
(30:43):
for your buck is like that six thirty four or
even the twenty four UM with like that v A
five head, Like if you want the best bang for
your buck, that's gonna last a long time. I think that.
I think that's where it's at. And um, like you said,
you've been using your six three or four forever and
it's still kicking, Like it's not something that's just gonna
(31:05):
you're gonna have to repurchase in a couple of years,
like it's gonna kind of I don't know. This is
one thing I've just I've gone to where I have to,
Like you're just switching heads all the time and changing
tripods and trying to sell and buy new ones, and
it's like, if you just get a good system to
start with, you're going to be so much happier. Mm hmmm. Yeah.
(31:28):
And those heads they all come with a with a
plate or two when you buy the head, and then
you can just buy another plate or two depend on
how many other things you're gonna put on the tripod
that you can then just attach to those things so
that way it's quick to go between binocular spotting, scope,
shooting rests, uh, you know, whatever else you might be
(31:51):
plopping on top of your your set of sticks. And
I do want to say, like like there's ways to
get around the flimsiness of um of like the lighter tripods, uh,
keeping them low to the ground, you know, not opening
it up fully. So again that's why it's like it
(32:13):
depends on like you've got to know what you're using
it for and like if you can sacrifice the weight,
because even on a sheet punt, it's like, Okay, you're
probably just gonna use the binoculars to find the sheep
um and then you're gonna put that spotter on that
tripod and you're just gonna you know, then take the
time to like study a sheep. It's probably not moving
too much. It's just there. So it's okay to set
(32:35):
it up very low to the ground because the higher
goes like the whole thing just starts shaking more and
the more the wind is going to affect it. So
keep it lower. It's gonna be more stable and the
less wind is gonna hit it. You can get you know,
find yourself a wind block, build yourself, a wind block,
whatever it takes. So there's there's ways around it. Um
that can you know, justify you know, the lighter tripod
(33:00):
which is whatever it is a half a pound and um,
I'll remind you that a half a pound for one
item doesn't seem like that it's that much. But when
you do half a pound here and then another half
a pound there, and next thing you know, you've shaved
ten pounds off your pack, and that is a lot. Yeah,
and it helps with the bulk, to which I've really
(33:23):
appreciated the last couple of years of trying to trying
to lighten stuff up. It just really helps with your
your overall pack size and bulk. Um. Yeah, I think
like some of these new slick tripods, to the newer
versions of them, they have a little hook on the
bottom of the center post that you can like hang
I don't know, like your backpack strap or whatever. You
(33:44):
could put it on there, or a bag of rocks
or something if you needed to think that. That's how
they sell it is like it's makes meant to hold
put like to add a weight to it and to
just stabilize your whole system. And uh so yeah, when
you see that hook, don't take it off because it
might come in here. Sweet all right, I think we
(34:04):
got time for one more. Um. I think the Yeah.
The question we get a ton of and circulates around
is rifle calibers. So we have a question from James
Boulet and he says, I'm looking to expand to a
(34:25):
guided mule deer hunt in moose hunt. In my question,
do y'all is caliber? I use a three O eight
for white tail deer in Connecticut as farthest shot maybe
hundred fifty yards, and that's extremely far for his state. However,
going out west and up north, I can see shooting
around two hundred yards. What caliber do you guys slash
(34:45):
girls use free your hunts. There's a lot of talk
of these new high BC rounds such as the seven
PRC and three prc um. I'm not sure if these
rounds will stay around or not. I do reload all
of my own ammunition from nine mil to three o eight.
And he's looking for professional input as to the best
(35:06):
all around cartridge that he can use for big game
and what we use. And he also says he believes
he's seen Mr Ronnella using Savage High Country rifle. I
can't comment on the last part. I think, yeah, just
comment on that. I can't. We certain we for a
while we had a deal with Savage. We used their rifles. Uh.
(35:27):
They were great. Uh. We were pleasantly surprised that just
about all of them with factory emma would would shoot,
you know, right around an inch. Um. I can't remember
the name of the model. I think it was the
one ten um. Whether or not they still make it,
I don't know. But Steve's now using a couple of
different weather it be Mark fives. The reason he's us
(35:49):
the Mark five is because they offer that in a
left handed version, where that vanguard met eatter doesn't come
in left handed version. UM can you speak to the
new high Is he right in saying that people are
calling the seven million PRC and THRC higher BC? I'm not,
(36:10):
because that's just gonna be your bullet, Like yeah, that's
how I understand it too, just like Wisbeye cartridges, you know, like, yeah,
they got more, They got a lot of a lot
of powder behind them. Um. BC stands for ballistic coefficient,
which is basically the shape of the bullet and how
(36:33):
it reacts to the air That is going through the
higher the BC basically the sleeker it is and the
less it's being slowed down or the less drags being
imparted on it as it flies through the air. That's
a real basic version of it. So I don't think
that somehow, because there's a new cartridge behind a seven
(36:53):
millimeter bullet that's gonna make it a higher BC. So
it might be just a little bit confused there. I
don't know much about those. I know that the six
and the six five PRC have been you know, a
lot of fanfare the last five years, and it seems
like the seven millimeter and are equally going to be
(37:13):
getting some excitement. Um. I'm sure they're great. I'm sure
they're probably better for whatever reason accuracy, um, you know,
burn rate of powder or whatever it might be. Um,
I've kind of fallen out of like the super tentable, uh,
you know, different calibers conversation. It's is one of those
(37:36):
is one of those things that just fell out the
wayside when um I had kids. So I'm hoping that
once that slows down a little bit, I'll be able
to like mess around with that more. Um. But yeah,
I'm sure they're great. Rounds. But honestly, the three oh eight,
I believe he's already got a gun that he can
(37:57):
go hunting out west with and uh and easily shoot
if he's if he's only shooting shooting out to three
hundred yards UM, then uh like easily can do that. Uh.
You know, you could just bump up to a hundred
eighty grain or I'm guessing you can load a three
(38:18):
oh a win with a two grain bullet um and
that would be plenty for for a moose or mule
deer out to the you know, three yard range. Um. Yeah, yeah,
I agree, I think like, especially for a mule deer hunt,
that's plenty, uh like a moose. I haven't been on
(38:40):
a lot of moose hunts, um, but if I were
going to go on a moose hunt, I think I
would want to go to probably like a three hundred
win or even just a regular seven mag um. We
always so like I used to work for a company.
It was a rifle company. It was they mostly were
like a on the long range deal. But you know
(39:03):
they they really like to push like a seven mag
Like that's big cartridge um and you can handle the
recoil better than like a three D win so you're
able to track your shot, like when you shoot, you
just don't get like if you have to make a
follow up shot. It's just something that you can shoot
(39:24):
better and like more confident too. You can just reload
and get on target faster, so you're not dealing with
a ton of recoil. Um. Yeah, it's really like a
lot of the new like you know the whiz Bane
cartridges and things we're talking about that I just don't
get super like ballistically nerded out on a lot of
(39:46):
that stuff. Um. I try to keep it pretty pretty simple,
but yeah, I think I mean in the in the
in the end, like the performance difference at three yards
cartridges is just not gonna be enough to make a difference.
Where what makes a difference is how how you shoot
(40:08):
the rifle, how you shoot the round, if you can
handle the recoil, if you're confident putting the bullet where
it needs to go. Now, obviously you can't go and
be shooting moose with you could, but I wouldn't recommend
doing it with anything under probably a seven millimeter, which
would be like a two. Right, you can shoot I'm
sure you can shoot him with uh six fives and
(40:30):
and get the job done. But something big, something bigger
is just gonna have a little bit more impact and
allow for a little bit more variance in your shot
placement and still get the job done. So we're not
advocating to go super small, but I do advocate that, like,
you just got to be comfortable with your gun. No,
(40:50):
you're a gun, and make sure that you're not just
like way too under. You can't really be weight to
you over because if the goal is to kill something,
you can do it. But you can't get too over
and have too much recoil which causes you to flinch
and you're not making good shots. Um it can uh
way too big of a gun gets more expensive to shoot.
(41:12):
Uh yeah. So and I don't know, I think he
was just asking about caliber. We can cover off on
gun models later. The only thing I would say too,
is like there's a lot of manufacturers out there pushing
super not necessarily pushing, but making super light stuff. Man.
I tell everybody, like, just lose a couple of pounds
(41:33):
off your belly instead of the gun. You're gonna end
up carrying the same amount of weight. Um, and you're
gonna more than likely gonna shoot the heavier gun a
little bit better. Those heavier rifles just sit still for
you and they don't wobble around those These light rifles
(41:55):
can be much more difficult to shoot. Just like we
were talking about the tripods. You know, win can start
a effecting that you're just gonna see it in the crosshairs,
you know, all of you know, unless you've got your
shooting form down perfectly, you know, the torque is going
to affect the gun more lots of different variables, um So,
(42:16):
And you pay for the lighter, lighter guns. So I
would definitely recommend that you know, by a lighter tripod.
You know, figure out your backpack in some other way
to get it lighter. Like I said, just I feel
like the hunters out there, it could probably pretty easily
lose five uh pounds of extra weight they're just carrying
on their body versus having take trying to spend you know,
(42:39):
thousand dollars will lose it on their rifle. Um Like
I said, the heavier rifle is just easier to shoot
more accurately. Yeah. Yeah, Another thing I want to touch
on with calibers too. If you're trying to choose a
new caliber. Like I try to think about it too
sometimes of how available old ammunition is, because like, in
(43:02):
case something were to happen, like seven mm is pretty universal,
easier to find it like a smaller town hardware store
or something, if something were to happen, whereas likerc they
might not have that, or especially like you know, really
things that you're going to usually reload, like they might
(43:23):
not even have anything similar to that. So I try
to keep that in mind too, like can't get all
wrapped up in it. But um, if you're not like
a like a ballistics nerd and want to try these
new whisbane cartridges and like really know what you're doing,
like I personally would stick with the tried and true
stuff that's going to be easier to find on the shelf. Yeah,
(43:46):
and all of it still works great to seventies kill animals,
thirty odd six is kill animals, seven millimeter wind meg
meg um. You know, when I started guiding, like early
two thousands, the WSM very new cartridge, you could have
called it the Whizbank cartridge. Then it's stuck around right
like people like the three WSM um. It's pretty commonly
(44:11):
found now. I would say to like if you go
into the gat local gas station. Yeah, there's a good
chance they'll be a three WSM in there. PRC. Maybe
that'll be like that, but it will be ten years
from now, not not in the next couple So all
things to think about. But I think getting a rifle
that you're confident in and you can consistently practice with
(44:35):
to make good shots is super important. Agreed. Now, all right, Jordan,
tell everybody where to send further questions they like this, Yeah, yeah,
wrapping it up. So, if you have a question that
you would like us to answer, or you have UM
ideas for a future podcast, you can send them into
gear talk at the meter dot com and you can
(44:56):
also hop on the meters website to the gear talk
podcast page and you can comment on these specific episodes
if you have a follow up question or something, and
we'll try to get back to here, and then our
personal instagrams you can hit up as well, UM, Janice,
underscorepor tell us and then Jordan dot Bud and we'll
(45:16):
add them to the list. One another thing, if you
want to add add something to this particular conversation, you
can go to the meter web page UM and find
this podcast. UM particular podcast page, and then there's a
comment section and you can add to the conversation that
we just had today. Yeah. Perfect,
Welcome to the gear Talk podcast. I'm here your honest MATELUS,
and it's my co host Jordan Budd is here as well.
Today we are talking UM, and we're not talking, We're
gonna answer listener questions UM. As a reminder, if you
(00:34):
have questions for US, ideas, critiques, whatever, UM, you can
send it into gear Talk at the meat Eator dot
com if you prefer email. UM. If you'd like to
comment on a particular episode, you can do that on
our podcasts homepage on the mediator dot com. Just go
(00:57):
to podcasts, find gear Talk, then find this particul the
episode and comment there. You can also find Jordan and
I on our respective Instagram handles, Jordan's dot bud or Underscore.
But tell us, Jordan, you're ready to go. I'm ready
to rock, man, Let's just get right in. Yeah, this
(01:17):
is a good one that everybody thinks about this one
a lot. Uh. Garrett Backman rode in and ask us,
what do you recommend for headlamps? Flashlights? Go for it.
I can say I don't really carry a flashlight. UM,
so I don't have a good one for for flashlights specifically,
(01:38):
But last year I started using a headlamp called the
petsel Actic Core, and uh, it's it's a rechargeable. It
actually has these little square batteries flipping the back, and
that little battery has like a USB two point oh
attachment on it, so you can plug it in and
charge the battery. So you can have multiple batteries that
(02:00):
you can keep switching back and forth to keep them,
you know, the charged one and keep flipping it. Or
if that you run out of those or your battery
goes dead or whatever, you can take that out and
still use triple A batteries inside of it. So a
little bit of a redundancy thing there. Um, and it's
(02:21):
pretty sweet. I love the thing. Super has three settings
for brightness, and the brightest one is like really bright,
Like it's as bright as any headlamp I've ever I've
ever had. And uh, if it if it gets to
where it's like starting to time out on the top one,
it'll just it'll flash once and it'll just kick you
(02:42):
down to the next setting, So it won't just die
all together, it'll it'll just kick you down to the
next light setting. So I've had super good luck with that.
I love that thing, and it's not it's not it's
not too big around these just giant. I know this
guy done in Arkansas carries around the head lamp. It's
(03:02):
so heavy it's got to be mounted to a helmet. Yeah,
I'm kidding, I'm talking about I'm talking about Clay. Those
are sun spotlights. I own one. It is absolutely the
ship when you're out there a coon hunting. Clay likes
to carry coon light just generally in the back country
wherever he is. It's a little too much for me
(03:24):
to carry. I just don't feel like I need, you know,
a being that can shoot four yards um. That being said,
it's got a lot to say about this. I used
to always carry I think it was a sog some
kind of a torch, you know that use those like
super high dollar batteries like the the the CR one
(03:46):
two three's. Is that what it was. Yeah, he used
a couple of those, and then a couple of times
it came in handy route finding when it's like it
gets dark on you. You got into some place that
you know, and it was easy to get in there,
and then all of a sudden you're like looking around
in the dark. Your head lamp can't reach far enough
(04:07):
and you're getting in amongst some bouldery cliffy kind of
country and I would pull out this you know super
beam light and all of a sudden, you can you know,
blasted to yards and you're like, oh, okay, there's that
little grassy ramp that gets me out of the spot
that I'm in. Um, but I can say that, like right,
like in the last whatever four or five years, I
(04:29):
haven't been carrying that. I've been just relying on, you know,
doing a better job of you know, marking way points
if I'm going into actually did a hunt this year
that was like that. Like we went up in the
dark and it was sketchy, like we found a literal
goat trail more probably a deer trail, but it was sketchy. Um.
(04:49):
The guy I was with actually gets a little bit
of vertigo. It was fine in the dark because he
couldn't really see how exposed we were. The exposure was
only maybe twenty ft. But then when we came down midday, Uh,
he was like, just go right in front of me,
I'll look at your back and we'll make it. But
it's like, anyways, just to say that it's a little
(05:11):
bit sketchy, but when I go through stuff like that,
just mark a waypoint on my onyx to be like,
this is how you get down, you know, or back
up or whatever. But back to head lamps. Um, I've
never tried that one. I'm gonna put on my list
of things to check out. But I've been using for
a while now versions of the Black Diamonds Storm. The
(05:38):
current one I think I have is the Fire sounds
very similar to yours, except I don't think you can
actually I don't know if you can get separate batteries
to charge up for it, which is a which is
a smart move, but it does you can't take the
batteries out and drop in some triple a's uh when
you need to in a pinch. What I like about
these in general, and at first I was scared to
(06:00):
use these chargeable ones because I thought, man, there's no
way that you're just gonna get the life out of it.
But I found that on full week long hunts, six
seven days using it every day in the morning for
you know, an hour or more every day, and even
for an hour or more, and that includes you know,
(06:22):
time in the field or if you get back and
you're you know, cleaning out the truck or you know,
prep and gear for the next day whatever. It might be.
Certainly several two to three hours a day, um, maybe longer.
But I feel like I've been very surpleasantly surprised that
I've yet to be on a you know, anything under
(06:42):
a seven day hunt or up to a seven day
hunt where I've lost battery or you know, maybe towards
the end you like you said, it will kind of
drop down in settings and you'll be using like a
dimmer light. But again, very impressed that it lasts, um,
uh the whole time, and that uh, that black diamond
(07:02):
one that I've been using has a mini USB to
charge it, and my uh you know battery packs that
I carry also have mini USB, so off a one
battery pack. You know, I'm charging my phone, my head lamp, um,
my little garment, uh, you know, in reach device, which
(07:26):
that thing. Now. I don't know if you've heard, but man,
there's a new one out that I don't even know
what they're calling. Yeah, they're calling it it's a communicator. Seriously,
I've left it on now it's been going for like
four weeks. What yeah, yeah, it's a little black box.
(07:47):
Just because I wanted to see because they're claiming it's
like twenty eight days, and I think that's what it's
like use and I think I'm like, I've surpassed that
with very light use. Um, because I usually just turn
it on and stick it in my my pant pocket
when I'm going line hunting. That way, it's just on.
And if it really comes down to an emergency situation
(08:08):
where I need it in a pinch, I don't have
to then turn it on like I'm gonna pull out
my phone, go to the messenger app and and I'll
be you know, sending out a message. But it's incredible. Yeah,
I got mine from Buddy Woodberry over it uh W
Hunting Supply, which which is where I get all my
(08:28):
hound hunting gear, leashes, leashes, and the antenna's mostly because
Mingus is an antenna schuer. Although this last one he
doesn't seem to be chewing on. I'm gonna look over
right now, it's gonna be chewing on his antenna. But
um yeah, the uh we should talk about that at
another time more. But it's incredible. The battery life, which
(08:51):
is just comes back to how I don't need to
use my brick anymore to charge up my inn reached device,
which leaves more energy left charge up my phone in
my head lamp, which I'm telling you I had over
a week long hunt. I haven't had to charge it
up um this one. Have you had similar luck with
that Petzel? Yeah? Similar luck probably. I think the longest
(09:14):
time I've been on it with is like a week
where I could say it was completely charged when I started,
and then towards the end, you know, it might be
down to like the medium beam, but I don't think
I ever went below the medium beam UM last of
the whole time, I they've come a long ways. Like
I tried one of the very first I think it's
(09:35):
called the Revolt from uh from Black Diamond. It was
like the very first one that they came out with,
and I just like I could not keep especially in
colder weather, couldnt keep that thing charged and uh and
then at that time, you couldn't take you couldn't put
different batteries in. It was kind of that's what you had.
And uh. Yeah this, I think they they've come leaps
(09:58):
and bounds with reach our arging um rechargeable items just
kind of as a whole. I think batteries are getting better.
I mean they're getting lighter and and able to hold
a charge longer, just you know, just like you were
talking about the inn reach. So yeah, do you carry
to headlamps? Do you carry back up? Ever? Yes? I do. Actually,
(10:22):
I'm glad you brought that up. I believe it's called
the petzel E light. The light, Yeah, we use the
same one then. Yeah, I mean it's I mean, does
it even weigh an ounce? No, No, there's nothing to it,
and you can just like I usually have mine in
my vinyl harness and sometimes it's nice, like when you're
in your tent. It just it doesn't kick off a
(10:42):
big light at all, but it would get you out
of a rough spot if you had to use it. Um,
but it's nice. It's kind of like it's a softer light,
I think, so like inside your tents. Nice. You can
um like the adjustable band that comes with it. It's
not like a big thick head band like a normal
headlamp is. It's like super thin. You could like put
(11:05):
it around your wrist and the light like flips and
twirls degrees, so you can do you can do a
lot more things with that that headlamp too, instead of
it just like sitting in your pack and not getting
any use. No, I mean, and that's what it does there. Um,
there's a lot of gear. I feel like when you're
backpack and hunting that it is there for emergencies. I mean,
(11:29):
even my rain gear just sits in the bottom of
pack so much more than it actually gets used. Um.
But last time I pulled that out my buddy Joe
Smith who helped me on my buddy Ethan and identa
and elk hunt where we drew tags in Colorado's uh
(11:49):
nine after like I don't know eleven or twelve years
of applying and um, we'd hiked way into some skinny
little drainage to look at some off trail like walking
a drainage, which I think I'm realizing I just hate
unless there's a cut trail in it. They just sucked
because they're just there's always a ton of logs in there.
(12:10):
But we get in there, we hunted out, didn't see
an elk, and remind saw an elk in the way
for our distance, but nothing where we were like it
where it was even approachable for the evening hunt and
like we're getting ready to leave and she was like, oh, man,
forgot the headlamp busted out my pets or elite and
heat multiple times over the course of the next ninety
(12:31):
minutes while we're hiking out. Was like, dude, this thing
is saving my butt right now. Um so yeah for
the ounce it is. And I think they're cheap too.
It's like bucks or something, right, Yeah, they're super cheap. Yeah,
and uh, I think there's like other versions of it
now that are supposed to be a little like still
(12:55):
super lightweight and a little headband, but they like the
lights just brighter, just how smart features. But yeah, yeah,
I'm seeing that. I'm seeing the e light two point
oh for thirty bucks ish uh sweet on the internet. Yeah,
good backup option for sure. I want to move on
to the next. Uh. This one was asked a while ago.
(13:19):
I can't I believe it was a I can't remember
if it was the woman's husband or the woman herself
that rode in from Alaska, but the question that it
seems like they hunt hard a lot, wet in wet
conditions in Alaska. Her husband's super stoked on his you know,
fl rain gear pants, and she's like, dude, how come
(13:42):
you guys can't make it in women's sizing. UM. So
I asked Ben Flandro from First Light, like, what's up
with that? I kind of knew the answer, but he
gave me a nice concise answer. He says, at its
most basic, ramp pants typically are oversized to fit over
(14:02):
the top of better fitting men's and women's pants. That
being the case, a more unisex fit is often sufficient
to cover both men's and women's needs. When you couple
that with the production minimums and smaller volumes across the
women's market, this is one area we choose to employ
a more unisex direction. And I think the second part
(14:24):
of that is what's what's important to understand that there
are production minimums, meaning that like, if you want to
make a women's pants, you can't just make a thousand
total or whatever it is, whatever, however many you think
you're gonna be able to sell, and and there's gonna
be more sure you could probably do, you know, at
(14:47):
a specialized factory, you could do less. It's just gonna
cost more drive up the price. Um. And then the
flip side of that is that the smaller volume of
the women's more market. And I know that there's a
lot of people out there there gonna say, well, no,
there's you know, so many women are hunting now and
it's like the fastest growing sector of you know hunting.
(15:11):
That all may be true, but when you look at
the numbers, there's just aren't enough women buying these rain
pants to make it worth while for companies. And there
are some women's specific companies out there. Um, what's that one?
The one's been around for a while? Is it like
prois Prous? Yeah? Yeah, yeah. Have you ever tried their gear? No?
(15:33):
I have not, honestly. Yeah. Um, I think Sick has
got some you know, women's stuff. I don't know if
they have you know, women's specific rain gear, but um,
I don't know. So that's the answer to why First
Light doesn't make women's specific rain wear. Anything you want
to add to that, um, not really, Like I I
(15:56):
have never had an issue with it, mostly because I'm
probably not a representation. Like I'm pretty tall, got pretty
broad shoulders, like the men's stuff. Just it fits me.
It fits me, okay, like it fits me good enough,
especially for like rain gear. I can put it over
the top of whatever I'm wearing and I don't feel
like it's really boxy. Like that's another thing to think of.
(16:18):
Two is like I don't think just because it's men's
it's going to be super boxing and like baggy and
crazy like it's it's slim fitting stuff. I think, especially
the new omen Um, I think the fit of it,
like the pants are pretty slim. Uh, it's not just
super big, boxy baggy stuff. But I'm also like five
(16:39):
ten hundred sixty five pounds, Like I'm not you know,
just what five two five three twenty pounds like the
men's small might not fit you as well as like,
you know, all the men's medium stuff. It's me really well,
So I'm not like a great representation on that. But
(17:00):
um but I think it just comes down to like
the women's market type deal, Like it just kinda it
is what it is. And I think we're doing really
good for some of these companies that are making as
much women stuff as they are and really trying to
put thought and stuff into it. Um hm, I think
we're pretty we're doing pretty good for having that. So yeah,
(17:22):
and I think too, it's it's good to add that,
like even for me as much as I wear that
omen rain paint a lot right now, lion hunting in
the snow. It's not like it's it does not fit
me like a pair of blue jeans does. Like you're
just not getting that glovy super customed. Like you know,
(17:44):
the sizing is uh large long, you know, medium long,
whatever it is. So it's it's not like I get
to choose a thirty three ways and the thirty five
in sem um. It just doesn't it doesn't exist. So
even for the size, if it's the best is the
large long, but I have to like pull in the
(18:06):
waist a little bit, you know, kind of adjust it. Um.
But it's still a you know, i'd call it a
bat for me, a baggy fitting pant. And it's not
something not something like the you know the core Get
foundry that just fits, you know, nice and tight to
my waist and you know, just snugger more like a
(18:26):
pair of blue jeans. Yeah. Yeah, just like just like
Ben talked about, like it's just more of a unisex
style piece anyway, Like just all of them are, you know,
rain gear in general is just kind of that way.
So yeah, and I feel like with the room that
they've given those rain jackets, uh for layering and for
(18:51):
bino harnesses, like I'm always kind of fight them on that.
I would even like them to be even slimmer fitting.
But I would imagine that it if you have a
bigger chest, that there's there's plenty of room in that
omen rain jacket for that. Hopefully that covered it well
and all made sense moving onward. Tripods tripod um on
(19:26):
Instagram at DV on our score, Sportsman rode in, what's
a decent trap pod that won't break the bank? I
have a two or fifty dollar Vanguard, but it's flimsy.
You wanna start, Yeah, I've I've used the Outdoorsman's a lot,
which is not really the that's just like an expensive tripod,
(19:47):
and it's a good tripod. But lately, this last year
I bought a slick CF six to four to save
some bulk, save some weight, and it's two bucks. It's
a tick under two pounds. It's like one point eight
pounds um. And then I put the Outdoorsman's head on
(20:07):
top of it and got pretty dang good system for
under three pounds. And I found that to be pretty good,
especially like packing. It's got the twist locks, so they're
super low profile, like sometimes the flick locks or the
lever locks, we'll just be a little bulky and get
hung up on your pack like on straps or whatever
(20:28):
pulling it out. Um, the twist locks keep that the
profile pretty slim, easy to pull it out of your pack.
And um, it's still like I think you're you get
into a tipping point with like trying to be super
lightweight on things, and especially with tripods, like how stable
they are in the wind. Um, I don't think that
(20:50):
this one that I've got is like, I don't I
wouldn't call it flimsy, but if the wind's really ripping,
like it's gonna vibrate your optics more so, then I
think like a heavier like aluminum tripod would. Um. So
I think that's something to think about. But man, that's
what I've been using. That's two bucks and good system something. Yeah,
(21:12):
And I took a quick look at I've never I've
never heard of Vanguard tripods, and I'm guessing that, like
like a lot of the more affordable tripod setups, when
you buy theirs, you get ahead with it. So that's
like a combo head. And uh, the thing with the
heads that usually come if you're going to get ahead.
(21:34):
That just comes with the legs. You're probably it's just sure,
it's probably a lot lighter, but man, you're just sacrificing
so much. And just you know the smoothness of the movements. Um.
You know, the a lot of them will just have
one like handle that you twist open. It kind of
opens up the whole ball or whatever is the the
moving mechanism in it versus having separate tilt and pan.
(21:58):
And when you really sit down to start just pounding
the glass, it just doesn't work well at all. Um.
You know you're having to hold it. And anytime you
have to do extra holding um as opposed to just
looking and using like I usually just used the bridge
of my nose to move my binoculars around as I'm
you know, glassing. Um, anytime you have to use you know,
(22:22):
your hands, arms or whatever, it doesn't seem like a lot,
but just having instead of having them at your sides
and having them up and hanging onto a handle. Sure
you're like, oh, I can do that forever. Well, I
challenge you because I bet and you can do it
for twenty minutes or even thirty minutes. But after two hours,
your hand is tired, and you're gonna start glassing less,
(22:44):
not as hard whatever, and the person that has the
better setup is going to be you know, it's still
going after it hard. UM the Slick CF pros or
what I use as well. UM. I've had my original one.
I'd had to say it was a seven thirty three model.
I probably bought it in right around two thousand two
(23:09):
or three, so it's coming on twenty years. It still works.
The little rubber twist things that go around around the
twist blocks have sometimes come loose and I've just you know,
jammed some glue in there. UM. I actually sent it
back to Slick and they replace the foamy outer part
for me. UM. So very high quality product, lightweight. UM.
(23:33):
I prefer the carbon fiber over and aluminum because it's
ah quieter and it doesn't get cold to the touch.
Sometimes that aluminum is so cold and cold conditions that
even with a glove on, you're walking around hanging on
your tripod and you know, your fingers just the heat
just gets sucked right out of them. The way to
(23:54):
understand these tripods, because you're gonna go to uh whatever
Ben h photo video and be like, oh my god,
Slick makesfferent carbon fiber tripods. The the in the three numbers,
the six, the six, seven, eight. I don't even know
if they make a five, but that basically stands for
(24:16):
the diameter, the thickness, the strength of the legs themselves.
So the sixes to me are I own six, seven,
and eight. The six is great because it's the lightest weight,
but like you said, it's flimsy, it's and it just
in any kind of windy condition, you're high end optics
(24:38):
that are that worth thousands of dollars are gonna look
like crap because they're vibrating in the wind and you
can't get a steady picture. There's nothing worse. I hate
looking through someone's super nice spotting scope and it's shaken
because they have it on have it on a on
a cheap tripod. One second, alright, So with the Slick
(25:04):
carbon fiber tripods that like, each model comes uh with
like a it's like a three number model, like six
to four, like the one Jordan just said six three
four six three three seven three three. I'm having a
hard time figuring out what the middle number stands for.
But the first number is gonna be the diameter and
(25:25):
the strength stability of the of the legs themselves. The
last number it's gonna be how many sections of of
legs that you have, uh or sorry, how many sections
the leg has itself. So like a seven thirty three
is gonna be kind of that middle ground of stiffness
(25:46):
and sturdiness and weight, and it's gonna have uh, three sections. Um,
I'm guessing that middle one has something to do with
what the total height is gonna be. Um, that was
your guest, Jordan. But I know that with my the
six thirty three and the seven thirty three that I
(26:06):
just bought this year, both of them will get tall
enough with the center post that for me as a
six two person, you know, if I sort of spread
my legs out or you know, bend my knees a
little bit, I can look straight through my binoculars um
off of them. Uh. The sixth series is, like you said,
(26:27):
a little bit light, a little bit wobbly. Seventh series
to me is just perfect. It gets a little bit heavier. Um,
but again it's like when it when it, when it
really matters and you're trying to get a good look
at something, you're gonna be happy that you have the
stability of the seven. The eight, UM, I just don't
(26:48):
use it that much. Um Uh. It's just if I
knew that was only going to be looking, you know,
next to the truck and jumping out of the truck
and setting up a tripod, I would use the eights.
Or if I had just some really giant glass which
I don't own, anything like the co of Big Eyes
or any of those big dogs, it would come those
(27:10):
would come into use more often. So um, that's how
they work. My recommendation is the seven series. Um, you
can either go seven thirty three or seven thirty four.
If you go with the four section legs, it's gonna
come out to roughly probably the same total height, but
(27:31):
because there's four sections, it becomes more compact, so I
have compact versions. I don't know if it's necessarily any better,
because where the tripod lives on my backpack, it can
be another six or eight inches longer and it's still
just fine being there. Like, I don't need it necessarily
shorter because it lives in either you know, a long
(27:53):
pocket on the outside or just strapped to the outside
of the pack anyway, so it can pretty much be
as long as the pack and not really getting in
my way. Um. But both of those trying to get
back to telling, um, telling how the dB sports from
what a what a decent tripod is. It won't break
(28:14):
the bank, but I wanted to explain that. So if
you're looking, you kind of know what you're looking at. Uh.
Those two come in right the six four two pounds,
thirty four is two and a half pounds. Uh. Both
you're gonna find it right in that to fifty range
plus for minus ten twucks. Um. So that's just for
(28:36):
the legs, and I think it that's a great deal
for just the legs. UM. For what you're getting, Like
I said, I've got a set that are almost twenty
years old and are still rocking. UM. And you're gonna
do better glassing and you're gonna just have a better
product if you buy yourself a nice head. Uh. Like
(28:58):
Jordan's said, there's that doors and pain and head at UM.
I tried out this fall and was very happy using
the Surui. I don't know how to product or something
cru s I r Ui the v A five at
a hundred fifty bucks. It was just over a pound.
(29:19):
So your total kit is um, you know, still well
under four pounds UM or just over three pounds depending
on which legs you go with, and you're just gonna
have a much better glassing experience by going with a
nice head like that. Total price you're gonna be in
at about four hundred dollars. You know. I don't know
(29:41):
if that might break the bank for some If you're
already spending two fifty, I think you can spend the
extra one fifty and really get yourself something solid. Uh,
that's gonna that's gonna really do do the job right. Yeah,
And that I've heard there's like quite a few of
Buddy or whatever a minor running that v A five
(30:02):
head and they love it. And um, I haven't personally
ran it, but there's another one to that that I
ran for a while. It's called the ben Row S
two and it's a little bit smaller than the v
A five UM, and it's not gonna it's not gonna
handle really big optics well like nine five or something
(30:23):
like that, but like your standard like eighty millimeter spot
or it's gonna be fine for um And that is right,
it's right, and around that it's cheaper than a hundred
fifty bucks it might be closer to a hundred or like, um,
but I think like that is like the best bang
(30:43):
for your buck is like that six thirty four or
even the twenty four UM with like that v A
five head, Like if you want the best bang for
your buck, that's gonna last a long time. I think that.
I think that's where it's at. And um, like you said,
you've been using your six three or four forever and
it's still kicking, Like it's not something that's just gonna
(31:05):
you're gonna have to repurchase in a couple of years,
like it's gonna kind of I don't know. This is
one thing I've just I've gone to where I have to,
Like you're just switching heads all the time and changing
tripods and trying to sell and buy new ones, and
it's like, if you just get a good system to
start with, you're going to be so much happier. Mm hmmm. Yeah.
(31:28):
And those heads they all come with a with a
plate or two when you buy the head, and then
you can just buy another plate or two depend on
how many other things you're gonna put on the tripod
that you can then just attach to those things so
that way it's quick to go between binocular spotting, scope,
shooting rests, uh, you know, whatever else you might be
(31:51):
plopping on top of your your set of sticks. And
I do want to say, like like there's ways to
get around the flimsiness of um of like the lighter tripods, uh,
keeping them low to the ground, you know, not opening
it up fully. So again that's why it's like it
(32:13):
depends on like you've got to know what you're using
it for and like if you can sacrifice the weight,
because even on a sheet punt, it's like, Okay, you're
probably just gonna use the binoculars to find the sheep
um and then you're gonna put that spotter on that
tripod and you're just gonna you know, then take the
time to like study a sheep. It's probably not moving
too much. It's just there. So it's okay to set
(32:35):
it up very low to the ground because the higher
goes like the whole thing just starts shaking more and
the more the wind is going to affect it. So
keep it lower. It's gonna be more stable and the
less wind is gonna hit it. You can get you know,
find yourself a wind block, build yourself, a wind block,
whatever it takes. So there's there's ways around it. Um
that can you know, justify you know, the lighter tripod
(33:00):
which is whatever it is a half a pound and um,
I'll remind you that a half a pound for one
item doesn't seem like that it's that much. But when
you do half a pound here and then another half
a pound there, and next thing you know, you've shaved
ten pounds off your pack, and that is a lot. Yeah,
and it helps with the bulk, to which I've really
(33:23):
appreciated the last couple of years of trying to trying
to lighten stuff up. It just really helps with your
your overall pack size and bulk. Um. Yeah, I think
like some of these new slick tripods, to the newer
versions of them, they have a little hook on the
bottom of the center post that you can like hang
I don't know, like your backpack strap or whatever. You
(33:44):
could put it on there, or a bag of rocks
or something if you needed to think that. That's how
they sell it is like it's makes meant to hold
put like to add a weight to it and to
just stabilize your whole system. And uh so yeah, when
you see that hook, don't take it off because it
might come in here. Sweet all right, I think we
(34:04):
got time for one more. Um. I think the Yeah.
The question we get a ton of and circulates around
is rifle calibers. So we have a question from James
Boulet and he says, I'm looking to expand to a
(34:25):
guided mule deer hunt in moose hunt. In my question,
do y'all is caliber? I use a three O eight
for white tail deer in Connecticut as farthest shot maybe
hundred fifty yards, and that's extremely far for his state. However,
going out west and up north, I can see shooting
around two hundred yards. What caliber do you guys slash
(34:45):
girls use free your hunts. There's a lot of talk
of these new high BC rounds such as the seven
PRC and three prc um. I'm not sure if these
rounds will stay around or not. I do reload all
of my own ammunition from nine mil to three o eight.
And he's looking for professional input as to the best
(35:06):
all around cartridge that he can use for big game
and what we use. And he also says he believes
he's seen Mr Ronnella using Savage High Country rifle. I
can't comment on the last part. I think, yeah, just
comment on that. I can't. We certain we for a
while we had a deal with Savage. We used their rifles. Uh.
(35:27):
They were great. Uh. We were pleasantly surprised that just
about all of them with factory emma would would shoot,
you know, right around an inch. Um. I can't remember
the name of the model. I think it was the
one ten um. Whether or not they still make it,
I don't know. But Steve's now using a couple of
different weather it be Mark fives. The reason he's us
(35:49):
the Mark five is because they offer that in a
left handed version, where that vanguard met eatter doesn't come
in left handed version. UM can you speak to the
new high Is he right in saying that people are
calling the seven million PRC and THRC higher BC? I'm not,
(36:10):
because that's just gonna be your bullet, Like yeah, that's
how I understand it too, just like Wisbeye cartridges, you know, like, yeah,
they got more, They got a lot of a lot
of powder behind them. Um. BC stands for ballistic coefficient,
which is basically the shape of the bullet and how
(36:33):
it reacts to the air That is going through the
higher the BC basically the sleeker it is and the
less it's being slowed down or the less drags being
imparted on it as it flies through the air. That's
a real basic version of it. So I don't think
that somehow, because there's a new cartridge behind a seven
(36:53):
millimeter bullet that's gonna make it a higher BC. So
it might be just a little bit confused there. I
don't know much about those. I know that the six
and the six five PRC have been you know, a
lot of fanfare the last five years, and it seems
like the seven millimeter and are equally going to be
(37:13):
getting some excitement. Um. I'm sure they're great. I'm sure
they're probably better for whatever reason accuracy, um, you know,
burn rate of powder or whatever it might be. Um,
I've kind of fallen out of like the super tentable, uh,
you know, different calibers conversation. It's is one of those
(37:36):
is one of those things that just fell out the
wayside when um I had kids. So I'm hoping that
once that slows down a little bit, I'll be able
to like mess around with that more. Um. But yeah,
I'm sure they're great. Rounds. But honestly, the three oh eight,
I believe he's already got a gun that he can
(37:57):
go hunting out west with and uh and easily shoot
if he's if he's only shooting shooting out to three
hundred yards UM, then uh like easily can do that. Uh.
You know, you could just bump up to a hundred
eighty grain or I'm guessing you can load a three
(38:18):
oh a win with a two grain bullet um and
that would be plenty for for a moose or mule
deer out to the you know, three yard range. Um. Yeah, yeah,
I agree, I think like, especially for a mule deer hunt,
that's plenty, uh like a moose. I haven't been on
(38:40):
a lot of moose hunts, um, but if I were
going to go on a moose hunt, I think I
would want to go to probably like a three hundred
win or even just a regular seven mag um. We
always so like I used to work for a company.
It was a rifle company. It was they mostly were
like a on the long range deal. But you know
(39:03):
they they really like to push like a seven mag
Like that's big cartridge um and you can handle the
recoil better than like a three D win so you're
able to track your shot, like when you shoot, you
just don't get like if you have to make a
follow up shot. It's just something that you can shoot
(39:24):
better and like more confident too. You can just reload
and get on target faster, so you're not dealing with
a ton of recoil. Um. Yeah, it's really like a
lot of the new like you know the whiz Bane
cartridges and things we're talking about that I just don't
get super like ballistically nerded out on a lot of
(39:46):
that stuff. Um. I try to keep it pretty pretty simple,
but yeah, I think I mean in the in the
in the end, like the performance difference at three yards
cartridges is just not gonna be enough to make a difference.
Where what makes a difference is how how you shoot
(40:08):
the rifle, how you shoot the round, if you can
handle the recoil, if you're confident putting the bullet where
it needs to go. Now, obviously you can't go and
be shooting moose with you could, but I wouldn't recommend
doing it with anything under probably a seven millimeter, which
would be like a two. Right, you can shoot I'm
sure you can shoot him with uh six fives and
(40:30):
and get the job done. But something big, something bigger
is just gonna have a little bit more impact and
allow for a little bit more variance in your shot
placement and still get the job done. So we're not
advocating to go super small, but I do advocate that, like,
you just got to be comfortable with your gun. No,
(40:50):
you're a gun, and make sure that you're not just
like way too under. You can't really be weight to
you over because if the goal is to kill something,
you can do it. But you can't get too over
and have too much recoil which causes you to flinch
and you're not making good shots. Um it can uh
way too big of a gun gets more expensive to shoot.
(41:12):
Uh yeah. So and I don't know, I think he
was just asking about caliber. We can cover off on
gun models later. The only thing I would say too,
is like there's a lot of manufacturers out there pushing
super not necessarily pushing, but making super light stuff. Man.
I tell everybody, like, just lose a couple of pounds
(41:33):
off your belly instead of the gun. You're gonna end
up carrying the same amount of weight. Um, and you're
gonna more than likely gonna shoot the heavier gun a
little bit better. Those heavier rifles just sit still for
you and they don't wobble around those These light rifles
(41:55):
can be much more difficult to shoot. Just like we
were talking about the tripods. You know, win can start
a effecting that you're just gonna see it in the crosshairs,
you know, all of you know, unless you've got your
shooting form down perfectly, you know, the torque is going
to affect the gun more lots of different variables, um So,
(42:16):
And you pay for the lighter, lighter guns. So I
would definitely recommend that you know, by a lighter tripod.
You know, figure out your backpack in some other way
to get it lighter. Like I said, just I feel
like the hunters out there, it could probably pretty easily
lose five uh pounds of extra weight they're just carrying
on their body versus having take trying to spend you know,
(42:39):
thousand dollars will lose it on their rifle. Um Like
I said, the heavier rifle is just easier to shoot
more accurately. Yeah. Yeah, Another thing I want to touch
on with calibers too. If you're trying to choose a
new caliber. Like I try to think about it too
sometimes of how available old ammunition is, because like, in
(43:02):
case something were to happen, like seven mm is pretty universal,
easier to find it like a smaller town hardware store
or something, if something were to happen, whereas likerc they
might not have that, or especially like you know, really
things that you're going to usually reload, like they might
(43:23):
not even have anything similar to that. So I try
to keep that in mind too, like can't get all
wrapped up in it. But um, if you're not like
a like a ballistics nerd and want to try these
new whisbane cartridges and like really know what you're doing,
like I personally would stick with the tried and true
stuff that's going to be easier to find on the shelf. Yeah,
(43:46):
and all of it still works great to seventies kill animals,
thirty odd six is kill animals, seven millimeter wind meg
meg um. You know, when I started guiding, like early
two thousands, the WSM very new cartridge, you could have
called it the Whizbank cartridge. Then it's stuck around right
like people like the three WSM um. It's pretty commonly
(44:11):
found now. I would say to like if you go
into the gat local gas station. Yeah, there's a good
chance they'll be a three WSM in there. PRC. Maybe
that'll be like that, but it will be ten years
from now, not not in the next couple So all
things to think about. But I think getting a rifle
that you're confident in and you can consistently practice with
(44:35):
to make good shots is super important. Agreed. Now, all right, Jordan,
tell everybody where to send further questions they like this, Yeah, yeah,
wrapping it up. So, if you have a question that
you would like us to answer, or you have UM
ideas for a future podcast, you can send them into
gear talk at the meter dot com and you can
(44:56):
also hop on the meters website to the gear talk
podcast page and you can comment on these specific episodes
if you have a follow up question or something, and
we'll try to get back to here, and then our
personal instagrams you can hit up as well, UM, Janice,
underscorepor tell us and then Jordan dot Bud and we'll
(45:16):
add them to the list. One another thing, if you
want to add add something to this particular conversation, you
can go to the meter web page UM and find
this podcast. UM particular podcast page, and then there's a
comment section and you can add to the conversation that
we just had today. Yeah. Perfect,
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