February 23, 2023 • 53 mins
This week Jordan and Janis break down Jordan’s gear list for an upcoming spring black bear hunt. Janis picks apart the list with questions in order to get to the bottom of why Jordan carries what she does. Backpacks, rain gear, tarps, bullets and stoves are all in the discussion along with much more.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Welcome back to the gear Talk. J're in here, I've
got Yannie with me, and uh, dude, what's been happening lately?
Hound hunting That's where I'm at. Oh yeah, a little
bit skiing, but mostly hound hunting, which, if you haven't
been following along, that basically consists of me driving around
(00:36):
both of my truck and snowmobile and hiking around in
snowy conditions and looking for but not finding any lion
or Bobcat tracks. That's what happens nine out of ten
times I go out. So I feel like I'm coming
up on another track because I feel like I'm I'm
(00:57):
again looking at like a two week maybe three week
dry stretch. That's not quite true. I've found a couple
of time tracks in the last two weeks, but both
times I feel like I've been at least a day
maybe too late. And you know, if you find that
track in the dark in the morning and you have
all day, maybe you could cut loose on it and
(01:19):
end up somewhere with the cat. But a lot of
times I'm you know, I have until like noon one,
and so I feel like I need to find something
that looks like it's from the night the day before. Gotcha,
I have yet to be on a cat hunt. Maybe soon.
Oh well, you're gonna have to drive over to the
old Montana or sometime you can come drive around, drive
(01:42):
around with me, look for tracks, give it a rip. Yeah. Sweet.
So we are going to we're gonna talk about my
bear hunting gear list for early June that is coming up,
and we're gonna do it a little different. Instead of
us both having our gearless and going back and forth
and what we're gonna take with us, we're just going
(02:03):
to go through mine and I hope you don't like
tear it apart, but you're gonna challenge challenge some of
the things a little bit. Yeah, I just want to.
I think, yeah, we kind of chow us to do
this format because we can just concentrate on Jordan's list
and I can just ask you questions of like, oh,
why did you choose that? Because maybe because honestly, our
(02:25):
gear lists probably aren't going to be that different. Yeah,
But I think it's when I see a gear list,
if I see one just printed somewhere, I often have
questions about it and want to ask that person like, oh,
why did you choose that? Instead of that, because I've
always heard that you want to carry this when you're
bear hunting, you know. So yeah, yeah, we'll give it.
We'll give it a shot and see how it goes.
(02:48):
Maybe next year we could post our gear list, or
we could even do it this year for other hunts,
and then folks could ask questions about those gear lists
and we could answer that in an upcoming episode. Good idea,
lots of We've had quite a few requests actually for
just a printed gear list to give people. So yeah,
(03:08):
it's a good idea, and I've got him. Man. I've
been making gearless now for probably dang near two decades.
I was making gearless when I was a guide. I
would send to clients you're a guide outfit or you
know they some people have still not gotten the memo
about how you really shouldn't bring cotton on a western hunt. Yeah.
(03:31):
Do you go a full Excel spreadsheet with like graphs
and stuff? Uh graphs, No, but I mean I go
Excel spreadsheet for sure, and um yeah, I'd like to
make it look all pretty and have you know, some
some weights in there. I published one a couple of
years ago on the Meat Eater. I think if you
type in like Yannie's Colorado sheep Hunt, it would come
(03:54):
up um and uh. I published that one and we
did a little article around it, and that was on
an Excel spreadsheet. Cool cool cool Um. This one I'm
looking at now. Jordan did not send me an Excel
spreadsh just in a word doc ormat yep it is.
(04:15):
I've gone the Xcel route before. I just trying to
be speedy on this one. I guess I don't know sure.
The key is I think like dating them and then
keeping them around so that you can reference them and
you know, look back and think about things that have changed.
And I don't know if I mentioned this, but I've
been saying it lately about these gear lists. A lot
(04:35):
of them are so similar. Like this list, you could
change a couple of things probably and take it and go,
you know, archery, l cunning. Oh yeah, change your weapon
and probably wouldn't have some orange whatever, you know what
I mean, you'd be really close. But I feel like
these the lists that I have going now are these
like smaller lists that don't they have like ten or
(04:55):
less items that are very specific, right, Like I don't
need an know that I'm taking a tent and I'm
taking a sleeping bag, right, That's just that's just like
it's always going to come with me. But like speaking
of a bear hunt, I realized that there's a lot
of downtime in that having a book on a bear hunt,
I feel like more than any other hunt. Maybe a
(05:17):
moose hunt would be similar, but like a book, I
feel like it's crucial on a bear hunt. I did
not put a book in here. You're gonna hunt harder
than me. Oh, I don't know about that, all right.
So the first thing on the on Jordan's twenty twenty
three bear hunting gear lists for early June. When I
saw it, I was like, my first question was in
(05:41):
my head was, Okay, is this for day hunting? Are
you backpacking? And then tell me, obviously you don't know
whether conditions are going to be, like, but what sort
of weather conditions are you expecting going into this hunt? Yeah,
so we uh were expecting I would expect anyways, Uh,
(06:02):
lows and like the low thirties, high twenties is what
I'm thinking. Um, in like the mornings and then highs
of fifty typically, but man early June in the mountains,
it could snow easy. Um, we could have fifty is
not to me, that's not warm. No, that's not that warm.
Especially you get you get a breeze, going get kind
(06:24):
of some overcast like misty air type stuff like, oh yeah,
and that's the timy year for it. You know that
spring like everything is just like wet, even if it's
not raining, it's just like seems to be kind of wet. Yeah.
It never seems like you go on a dry spring
bear hunt. No, I don't think you do. Um. So, yeah,
(06:45):
we're gonna this is gonna be Uh, we're gonna be
staying in a cabin, which is gonna be kind of nice. Um,
we got a group of people, so we've got it. Uh,
we did a cabin this year instead of trying to
do like a wall tent or a backpack hunt. Some
you know, some of the reason this is gonna be
(07:05):
this is an Idaho hunt, like a central Ish Idaho hunt.
It's gonna be a new area for me as far
as bear hunting goes. And I feel like I'm I'm
gonna want to travel more, like put more miles on
the vehicle and also my boots as far as like
in the mornings, I want to be more mobile. I
(07:26):
haven't bear hunted like a ton, but I have shot
one and I've filmed a few, and all the outfitters
we've ever gone with, they're like, yeah, typically bear hunting
is a little slow in the mornings, picks up in
the afternoons. And so I was going to use that
morning time to almost do like a little bit of scouting,
(07:47):
glass a long ways away and just cover some area
and then figure out where I want to go sit
for the afternoon, and then probably hike in, get on
a good ridge where I can glass a lot and
uh see you a long ways and just sit there
and glass and wait for wait for them to come out,
and then make a move. Yeah, what time do you
(08:09):
like to be set up by h like for your
for your sit. That's gonna go all the way until dark,
like one, yeah, one, two right in there. That's been
my I'm no, I'm no Joe bear hunter, but that's
been my experience too. Um, some places it's like very
like to the extreme where you're like, don't even go
(08:31):
out and until just be in position for the last
sixty minutes of the day, and all of sudden there's
just bears everywhere. Um, but in the mountains, I mean,
do you still have a chance of catching them midday
and catching them in the morning. Um, but yeah, it's
sure seems like that lasts two three hours. Is that's
when you really want to be paying attention and pouring
(08:52):
the coals to it. Yeah. We've even I filmed a
couple hunts where the guides don't even get you up
until you know, you don't even go out till ten
o'clock in the morning. You just like kind of leisually
get up, having nice breakfast and then start going out
and glassen and then being one spot sitting where you
(09:13):
think there's like the best spot for a bear to
come out for. Yeah, that lasts little bit so that
it never It's like it's not like it's gonna hurt
you being out all day and looking except that, you know,
especially if you're if you're coming into June. You're going
in June, right, Yep, you're within a couple three weeks
(09:34):
of the summer solstice. I mean you're looking at some
of the long ass days and on those kind of hunts,
if you're pounding it and hiking an hour before daylight
and then hiking an hour after daylight. Man, you are
that's a long day in a short night, and you
can just get worn out. So it's that thing where
(09:55):
you have to balance, you know, and be trained up
for it, but have to balance like, Okay, how worn
out do I want to be, you know, by how
much effort I'm putting out and balance that with like
being on top of your game for prime time, you know,
for those last three hours of the day. Because if
you've just gone hard for three days really for no
(10:16):
you know, well I don't want to say for no reason,
but again, you've worn yourself out, and then all of
a sudden you're not like giving it one hundred and
ten percent on the third day from you know, five
pm till eight pm, you might be missing out. Yeah,
So let's start with the optics you have on your list.
Sig Zulu nine eleven by forty five's you're gonna have
(10:40):
the stuffed in the FHF fob Buyo Harness, which is
super nice, super comfy. If you haven't checked that out,
check it out. You got the sig Oscar eight eighty
millimeter spotting scope. You're gonna have that on top of
a h Slick six twenty four tripod with the outdoorsman's
(11:04):
pan head. Of course you got the Outdoorsman's bino adapter
for your tripod, and um, the all in digi sculping
set up for doing something digi sculping. Talk me through, Like,
I think we're on the same page with you know,
(11:24):
obviously tripod mounted optics for finding h critters, But what
um is your Do you use the sculpe more for
finding the bears or more for judging bears? More for
judging bears? For me, they are hard things to judge
if you want to shoot a nice one, and uh,
(11:47):
I think being able to zoom in tight and get
a good look at their head and some of their
bodily features. Um, it's worth carrying the scope for me.
And honestly it's just hard for me to leave a
spotting scope behind. I just like being able to uh,
you know, even deer or elk or whatever else you've
seen out there, just being able to look at him. Um,
(12:09):
I like doing that. But yeah, moly, mostly scary carrying
the scope to h to judge them, and then I
mean even some you know, sometimes at long distances, it's
nice just having the scope to to glass around and
pick out some things in a discent hillside. Yea, yeah,
(12:29):
you know some people do it. Jason Phelps does that
a whole bunch man, And I just I've tried it,
and I just like closing that one eye like that
and just looking through that single scope. I can't do
it for more than ten minutes and I start to
get a headache from squinting. Maybe I just needed tough
enough and do it some more. But I don't know.
UM question I have for you, how do you tell
(12:52):
me what pack you're using and then tell me for
all of this optics stuff, drypods, you know, uh, spot sculps.
How are you carrying all that stuff on that on
that pack or in that pack? I guess. Yeah. So
I I've started to like test out a lot of backpacks,
(13:13):
which has been really fun. So I got a couple of,
like far as I can choose from. I've been running
the new XOK four frame a little bit with some
of their new bags, which has been nice. And then
the Stone Glacier Crux frame has been super nice as well,
like just fits my body really good. So I like
to have packs like for many one of those companies,
(13:38):
the bag size is going to be around five thousand
cubic inchest for me. It's like that's even like backpack
status for a lot of people as far as how
big that is. But it's like we'll get down to
the clothing list, but a lot of that stuff is
like kind of bulky, and just being able to carry
everything inside the bag is nice. So optics wise, like
(13:59):
I am my spotting scope inside the bag for the
most part, and then I think my tripod's pretty hardy,
so I just keep that strapped to the outside. One
thing I wanted to bring up that I do if
I'm like walking down a ridge, like you know, stopping
and glassing a lot, or I think I want to
look through my scope really quick, I'll leave my spotting
(14:22):
scope on my tripod, like hooked up on my tripod head,
and then I'll strap it to the back of my pack.
So the tripod is like laying horizontal along the lid,
and then it's all like hooked up, ready to rock.
I just need to un clip it real quick, spread
the legs out, and then yeah, I got my scope.
(14:45):
So that's uh. It's something that I definitely messed around
with a lot and usually won't like I'll have like
especially in that in those exo packs. I like that
one vertical zipper on the outside that I'll put my
spotter in and then I'll have my tripod one of
those just along the sides. It just seems like more
often than not where your look at game is fleeting,
(15:06):
and not because he might have even spooked it, but
just because you know, you spot him and the herd
just happens to be going over the ridge, or it
happens it's like late morning and they happen to be
going into the timber, and literally seconds count because if
you get that thing out real quick and you put
it on that bear as he's walking into the timber
and you're like, holy shit, that looked like a big bore,
(15:28):
your decision is made for the day. You're like, we're
camping right here. Or you might move a little bit
to get a better advantage or get within range or whatever,
but like you got a plan where if you're fumbling
around and you don't do it and you just looked
at him through handheld you know, tens you're like, yeah,
I don't know, was it good? Maybe, And then you
know you're kind of indecisive and you don't know. So
(15:50):
I feel like having like a super solid you know,
a system for getting to your spot or quickly is important.
All right, So anything else you want to add about
your optics setup, I don't think so, um that all
(16:10):
in digit scoping case, we get questions about digit scoping
like all the time, and uh, that's a new product.
I think it hit the market last year. And man
as far as speediness to get your phone on your
scope and like not have to mess with the alignment,
there's not another one I found that is quicker than
(16:32):
that thing. No, agree, I used, But for a long
time I used a before there was even such a
thing as digiscope cases on iPhones, I had a h
like a point and shoot camera that had a we
would I would go and buy UH compatible filters for
(16:55):
like UM for a different sized lens and filters that
you could screw together, and we would knock out the
glass and you would take one side of it and
basically glue it to a like a PBC pipe fitting
that would fit over your the eyepiece of your spotting scope.
(17:16):
And then you'd take the other threaded piece and glue
that as centered as you could to a point and
shoot camera and then that way you could basically screw
the your little connector piece to the camera and then
pop it onto the spotting sculle um. A bunch of
us used to do that down in Arizona before it
(17:38):
came out, but then since then I went to phone Scope,
and then last year at least this is when I
got them. I got a mag view, use that on
the caribou hunt that we did, and then shortly after
it got the all in. Its spelled oll i in,
but they pronounced it all in M and one hundred
percent by far, you are telling the truth that all in.
(18:00):
It just snaps on there. It uses the magnet just
like the mag view, but it's like perfectly centered every
single time. I don't know exactly how they did that,
how they work those magnets to make it, but it is.
There's no more like, oh, I'm kind of off left
to right, or I'm kind of off up and down.
(18:21):
I've got a vignette in the upper right hand corner.
You just put it on there, and it is money.
It is like I'm I'll just got like once you
try it, you will never go back. You'll never go back. No, Yeah,
And that's why I wanted. That's why I wanted to
talk about it, because it's certainly like it's really worth
the worth a shot. And uh yeah, I just think
(18:43):
back to how many times I've thrown my phone or
been messing with my phone, like trying to get on
a deer or something, and h gosh, just been like,
not only do you miss you know you're messing around
with like trying to to center that thing to make
sure you get footage of him. Not only do you
miss that, but you miss other times you could just
(19:04):
been looking at him with your eyes and getting a
better feel for what they are. So yeah, just again,
seconds matter, man, Just like being ready with your spotting scope.
This is another time when seconds are crucial and it's
so good to get. My buddy Jay Scott always says this, like,
don't worry about getting pictures because you don't know how
(19:26):
it's going to be facing what angle you're getting, Like,
just run a video, get your hands off of it
so that it's not shaky, and you can always you know,
move around through the video and stop it and pause
it and take screenshots. But get as much video as
you can because you're probably gonna get different angles, you know,
if it's a buck, hopefully you get to see you know,
(19:46):
one side and then the rear view and the front view.
But you have videos where it's at with that. Man. Yeah,
all right, water bottle. You had the Yetti Yonder water
bottle here and uh, I'm like, what's wrong with analogene,
Jordan Man. Part of it is the Yonder bottle is
(20:09):
new and I had to try it. But uh, one
thing I like about it as far as like I
always run Analogene pocket on my pack. They're like fit
to the size of a you know, regular analogene bottle.
Sometimes with one hand, they're like a pain to get
in and out and that YETI is like ever so
(20:29):
slightly uh not as big around, and it's a little
bit taller than a normal nalogene, so much easier to
get out of in and out of there. And I
still don't think it's like um like loose sloppy, like's
like it's going to fall out. Um. But uh yeah,
that's one thing I like. Another thing I like is
with a nalgene. Uh, it's like you know, the wide mouth.
(20:54):
Sometimes it's not hard to drink out of um, but
it's it'd be hard to drink out sometimes, like just
the wide mouth being able to drink out of. It
can be you can just get water on you whatever.
I used to get a thing called a cap cap
from human gear. It's called a cap cap. It's basically
a cap that's the size of like in the wide
(21:17):
mouth nalogene screws on, and then on that cap there's
another smaller cap with like just a smaller hole to
drink out of, So just a little easier to drink
out of. The YETI like already has that built in.
So once you figure the price, the I think the
YETI is like ten bucks over what a normal nalogene is.
(21:43):
But once you get a normal nalogene and then you
buy that cap cap lid, you're basically the same price.
Their cap is supposed to be leakproof. I haven't had
any issues with that so far. I've have had troubles
with my nalogenes leaking before out of the lid. But
as far is like the the materials from what I
(22:03):
could find, it's they're using basically the same stuff. It's
like a BPA free plastic, but you're also carrying a
hydro pack three leader water cell. Yeah, the the Eddie
is only a leader. So if I'm gonna go, you know,
up for the day, I'd like to carry more than
the leader of water with me. So that hydro pack
(22:25):
basically it's just a small little water bladder like in there.
It's only three leaders. It just rolls up to basically nothing.
If you're not using it, and then you get to
a stream or something, you can fill it up, fill
the fill your water bottle from that and then stare
a pin it and roll So you didn't carry a
(22:47):
staupen too, just in case you gotta refill out of
the creek. Yeah, yeah, I think that's a I think
that's a good idea. You don't know what kind of
situation you're going to get yourself in in the afternoon. Okay,
(23:11):
you got on your list a NW, which I'm guessing
is Northwest retention. Yeah, West retention chess holder with a
sig P three sixty five XL and nine millimeter. Yeah. Uh,
why you are you? Are you hunting grizz country? Why
are you carrying a pistol? Not hunting grizz country? Man?
(23:33):
A lot of it is like for one, sometimes a
lot of the time I'll have my cross folded up
on my pack. Um, if I'm walking in and uh,
oftentimes you just get away from your rifle somehow. You
know you're up like glass in for all afternoon. You
walk over the hill to like go glass another little
(23:54):
area or whatever. You don't take your rifle with you,
which like seems ridiculous as I talk about it. So
there's that and then a lot of time times like
I'm hunting by myself and it's more of a comfort
thing I think for me than than maybe so much
as like a predator deal. But man, you never know.
You see videos of those mountain lions chasing people with
(24:17):
the old Instagram. It seems to be a mountain lion
creeping down on somebody just about once a week. Yeah. Yeah,
if I was in Grazs Country, i'd carried ten mil
um like we did when we were in Alaska. Yea
all right rifle. You're going six six hour cross and
six five creed more And yeah, I own that rifle too.
(24:45):
I haven't killed an animal with it yet, I'm packing
it around. Um, I like I like carrying it. Yeah. Um,
but you feel like six five creed more is all
you need for a black bear. I feel like it is.
You know, like I think black bears the other black
(25:07):
brother that I've killed a shout with a seven mag
The vitals on a bear sit back a little bit
further than like a deer and elk, so I don't
feel like I'm gonna really have to hug the shoulder
and or like want to try to punch through the shoulder.
I just want to get lungs, so in that area
of the body, I feel like it's pretty soft. You know.
(25:29):
There's like a lot of game and fish websites and
such like their minimums. What they recommend is like a
thousand foot pounds energy for a bear at the target,
and I'm good with that basically out to five hundred yards.
I think at four hundred yards, I'm like thirteen hundred
foot pounds. So, um, I feel like if I can
(25:51):
keep four hundred and in get a good broadside shot
that I don't have any troubles. I won't have any
troubles with that. And a good bullet. That Accubond is
good bullet and has been a good bullet for me.
I've killed a few deer with it, and um, yeah,
I feel pretty confident about it. Yeah, I love that
one hundred and forty grain Nausler accubond in the six five.
(26:15):
I used to pack two hundred grain accubons into a
three hundred Winchester shortmag and that was my elk killing
gun for quite a few years. And uh yeah, I
always had great luck with the accubon. Yeah. Well, how
do you feel on that creed More? Yeah, you know, um,
I know there's talk out there that people are saying
it's not enough gun for certain critters, and you know
(26:39):
it's a little bit puny. Um. You know again, you
got to know the you got. You have to have
your expectations set properly. You gotta know your limitations. Like
you just said, like you know, how many footpounds you
have at four hundred yards, sounds like you're gonna, you know,
kill him is dead there. You know that bullet as
anything else. So yeah, I think it's plenty. I think
(27:01):
I've only shot deer sized well with the six five
creed More. Yes, but I've shot three giant cow elk
with a six five fifty five swee, which is even
a little bit slower than the six five creed More.
But same bullets, you know, same same weight and bullets
and have had amazing results, Like two hundred fifty yards
(27:24):
giant cow elk takes three steps, tips over and is dead.
So yeah, I think I think you'll be good. Depends,
like I said, it's expectations. Man, do you want to
you know, is it gonna knock that bear off its feet?
Probably not? If you're looking for that, Yeah, you probably
need to go to three hundred. Um, you know, just
(27:46):
just you know, hit him with some more weight. But
I think that. Man, I sure like shooting these a
little bit lighter calibers because they're just easier to shoot.
I can, especially now run in a side islandser I
can stay in my sculpe and watch that bullet hit.
So I'm gonna be way better and way faster on
(28:06):
a follow up shot if needed. Um. Yeah, like it? Yeah,
all right, you're you're topping it with a sig whiskey
six three to eighteen scope. Um, any any particular reason
you picked that one? Man? It's I used it on
my sheep hunt last or two years ago, and I've
(28:28):
used it like a bit since. And man, it's just
like it's a it's a compact scope, it's twenty three ounces,
it has like it hasn't exposed turret, which I like. Um.
I like being able to dial and has a more
compact turret, doesn't stick up as much as some some
other ones. UM, So that's one reason I like it too.
(28:50):
And it just has performed really well for me. Seems
to be durable. Um, the dialing is pretty positive. So yeah,
so I about that one. I think the three to
eighteen I really like that that range of power for
a scope, like three power, you can really turn it down,
(29:10):
like really widen your field of view up and just
if you're in tight on something or if you just
need to find something like just trying to acquire some
backing out, being able to back that far out is nice.
And then the eighteen is a sweet spot too. I
think like that eighteen to twenty power right in there
(29:31):
has been a sweet spot for me. I grew up
on three to nine's and I just think you bump
up that power a bit to like a fifteen or twenty,
you can just be so much more precise on your
shot with a higher power and you don't always have
to use all the power too. So that's something I
(29:52):
like about. Oh No, and like we learned maybe we
haven't talked about this than anybody yet. But in the
past talking to the optics guys. You know, it's like
anything at max you know, power on a scope. It's
just like redlining your car, right, Can it do that? Yes?
Is it going to perform optimum? No? So if you
(30:13):
have an eighteen or twenty top end, then at twelve
and fifteen you've got this amazing you know, clear quality,
you know, clear picture. Everything's great. We're on three to nine.
Once you you know, jam it all the way to nine,
you're sort of at the the upper end of its
capabilities and you're starting to lose you know, focus, light
(30:34):
gathering capabilities. It's just not performing, you know, at its optimum.
So yeah, there's a reason right there to you know,
even though you might never dial to twenty, it's good
to have that upper end there so that at fifteen
you know you've got you've got an amazing uh picture,
Yeah you're looking. Yeah it short action precision two roundholder.
(30:57):
I've seen this thing on your rifles. Six the side
of your rifle. You stick two rounds in there, and um,
I want you to explain why you why you run
that more like a just in case I need two rounds. Like,
if you lose a magazine or something, you can single
feed those two. Um, I can't. I can't imagine where. Yeah,
(31:20):
if you have a five round magazine, I can't imagine
where I need more than five for anything. But um,
a couple of times, Kyle Hunting, I have like not
refilled my mag and I've had two and like shot
a couple of times and got another shot and been
like oh shit and been able to pull around out
of that and just single feed it. Um it's I
(31:43):
don't know, it's probably a little overkill. Um it kind
of looks cool on the side of that thing, but uh,
I don't know. Well, I mean, here's a question, how
many how many when you go on this day hunt
for bears? How many cartridges are you carrying? Total? I
would probably just have a five round bag, five plus
(32:04):
the two though, yeah, and nothing in your pack? No, Yeah,
So you're going in seven And I think that like
most of us, I think usually fall in that seven
to ten range of you know, how many you're packing
around with you? And yeah, it's like, where are you
gonna put those two rounds? You could put them in
(32:25):
your pocket, but I hate having two or three rounds
jingle jangling around in my pocket. Yeah. Um, it's annoying,
it's noisy, it's making noise. You're not being stealth, uh
so Yeah, having a little slick spot like that. Um. Like,
I've had those stock packs in the past that have
the it's like a pocket, but on the inside your
(32:45):
pocket it's got the little AMMO sleeves and uh I
like that set up too, and kind of for the
same reason. You know all your ammos there. If you
do run through your five rounds in your mag, then
you know you can refill right there. You don't have
to all of a sudden go, oh my gosh, where
where did I put those into my pack? What pocket
are they in? Yeah, don't use them very often, but
(33:08):
when you need them, you're really gonna need them. Type
of a deal. Yeah. You also had on your list
FHF gun case strapped to the back of the pickup seats.
Have you run that back there yet? Yeah, dude, I
like a lot. Yeah, I've got the really short one.
(33:28):
I remember how long that one is. But it's the
short one and it fits the cross perfect as long
as you don't have like a can on it or something. Yeah,
it's just something you really don't think about. I'm used
to just you know, like a like a cheap, cheap
gun case. But if just the amount of things you
(33:50):
can do with that fh one is um pretty nice.
Having it on the back of your seats, gets it
off the floor. People can sit in the back seats.
You don't have to worry about it so much. Um. Yeah,
it's been nice. Yeah, that was my question because I
haven't set up mine yet in the back of the truck.
But is there still enough room where you could sit
in the backseat and that thing's not going to be
(34:12):
up in your grill? Yeah, if you were super tall,
I think that like your knees could hit it. Um,
but I I wouldn't. Um suppose it depends how big
your backseat is too. Um yeah, but yeah it's a
good good product for sure, all right. Clothes Yeah, pretty
(34:33):
standard for Meum, the Wick hoodie, the Wick boot top
bottoms to match it, and then core get Foundry pants.
Pretty standard, the Origin hoodie, the Catalyst jacket. One thing
about the Catalyst jacket. A lot of some people, for
like back country scenarios, don't believe in soft shells for
(34:53):
some reason. Um, But in that early, Like we were
talking about, you don't really know what you're gonna get weather.
A lot of times it's just kind of like jury cold,
might be windy. Having that catalyst jacket over the top
of a fleece when you're like walking around on ridges,
it can just be super comfortable. I just really like
(35:14):
that setup. Then I'm gonna be taking a jacket. I'm
just gonna we got told that we could tease it
out a little bit. There's a new jacket that's basically
combining a puffy jacket with a rain jacket that's gonna
be coming out and I think that is like a
perfect jacket for this kind of situation where you're gonna
be glassing a lot, sitting, you're gonna be on a ridge.
(35:37):
For sure, want to have a puffy jacket with you
more than like you're probably gonna need a rain jacket.
And with that, with that setup, just having like a
rain jacket doesn't matter if it's this one or just
a rain jacket in general, it's your it's windproof also,
so even if it's not raining it's super windy, I
like throwing a rain jacket on. And so when you
(35:59):
take this combo puffy rain gear. You're not taking rain
gear and or a rain jacket, and you're not taking
any other puffy for insulation. Your insulation at that point
just gonna be that jacket. And then you're yeah, origin hoodie.
Really it's gonna be it yea, and what else what
else you got on there? I think if the un
(36:22):
I'm gonna bring the lunka padre pants, the puffy pants.
That's something that is kind of like a floating thing
in my pack that I could just leave in the vehicle.
If it's tends to be like warmer in the afternoon, Um,
I could leave out for sure, Almond rain pants. Man. Again, like,
even if it's not going to rain a lot of
times it's just wet wherever you're sitting, being able to
(36:43):
throw rain pants on and keep dry is like huge
keeps the wind cut off. You M that's great. Usually
take a couple pairs of gloves with me catalysts gloves
and then the heavier alpine gloves. UM, I like that
combo or just having those two with me. Um furnace
beanie just regular ball cap. And then for boots, those
(37:05):
Crispy Bristol pro boots that they have two hundred grams
of insulation in them, and that's a pretty sweet spot
for me. So it's kind of my clothing layout. And
just like you're saying before, you could take this thing
and go LK hunting with it, like, there's not much
that would change in that, right, Yeah, I think the
(37:27):
only yeah, the only thing that, yeah, it might change.
I don't know if I was going backpacking, I don't
know if i'd be any lighter or heavier. I gotta
look at my list, but yeah, I think you can
go a little bit heavier on a day hunt, right
because you know you're you know, going in, coming out,
and it's not like you gonna have to carry that
stuff for days on end. Yeah. I think maybe for
(37:50):
like a backpack hunt, I might for multiple nights of
backpack hunting, I might not take a catalyst jacket. Um.
That's pretty much it I think for me. All right. Uh,
some smaller items in reach Mini two for sure, Statellite
communications emergencies, your Petzel active core head lamp or golly
(38:13):
trek and polls tarp yep. Yeah, nine ounces nine by
five Um, that I think is a great call man
on a bear hunt, Like the conditions we've been describing
it so nice to have a little tarp set up
a little you know, you get yourself a nice glassing location,
(38:34):
and then if you have that tarp, it's like, no
matter what blows in, you're in there staying comfy. And
even if you have rain gear, it's like even the
best rain gear after a while it starts to wed out.
It's you know, it's better to keep all that gear dry.
(38:54):
Um and and yeah, it's like always much better to
spend into weather out of storm under a tarp that weighs,
you know, just over a half a pound versus just
standing there under a tree, you know, taking it on
your rain jacket. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I love that
thing to just simply block wind like it can just
(39:15):
do wonders. I usually bring a coffee kit with me
for the days i've been. Last year I bought MSR
Pocket Rocket Deluxe and uh I got a Tokes five
fifty milliter cup. The total weight of both those things
is like six ounces, and that's unreal, oh man. I
(39:36):
went from a system that probably weighed maybe twelve to that,
and it just seems like a world of difference, and
so definitely not scared to take to carry that with me. Yeah.
I also like I threw on my list a little
ten ounce mug like the Yeddy ones. One one reason
(39:59):
I like though, is because like that little Tokes five
fifty meal cup. It like the thing it's not paper thin,
but it's like really thin, and it gets cold like instantly.
So if you don't just want to feel like you
have to chug your your coffee or tea or whatever, um,
having somewhat of an insulated cup, it's been really nice.
(40:22):
And I would say that's like more of a thing
that I would bring if I was hunting with other people. Um,
but definitely an insulated cup of some kind over those
little stainless ones, Like they just get cold so fast. Yeah,
it's kind of I'm guessing I don't know, I've never
seen a Tokes cup, but I'm guessing it's it's probably
(40:43):
a titanium yeah, yeah, yeah, they also make a stainless one.
I don't remember which one I have, but yeah, they're
so thin that. The other problem with him is too
is like when the stuff is hot in there, that
the titanium or whatever it is, stainless steel. Um, they're
like super conductors and so you get your hot coffee
(41:04):
and then you put your lips to that to that
cup and just burns you. You know, it's wicked. Yeah.
So yeah, I don't feel like there's like the perfect
solution yet to that, because the only time I like
skip carrying a little insulated mug, and I still just
use like an old school ARII plastic one if it's
(41:26):
gonna be warm enough where I'm like, you know what,
I'm not really that interested in drinking hot stuff. The
only reason I have the pot and the stove is
to for really for cooking dinners, you know, for just
rehydrating meals, um. You know. Then I'll then I'll skip it,
you know, and if I want, I can drink some
lukewarm water, you know, if if I want to make
that into tea or whatever. But yeah, otherwise, if you're
(41:48):
gonna sit around and enjoy a hot drink, you might
as well just bring that little insulated cup with Yeah. Yeah,
it does make it a little nicer climate. Air sitting pad.
Gotta have one of those, because you're just gonna be
sitting there pound in the glass. Yeah, yeah, I gotta
have it. Usually I use just like I think most
people use, like those thermores little like phone pads. But
(42:12):
I got this little climate. It's like just a blow
up little air pad like seat, man, so nice. It
cannot be that durable, but I've had it for three
seasons now, using it kind of on and off, and
it's been good for me. Man. I had a therm
arrest one of those, and it just never seemed to
(42:34):
quite hold air air as well as I wanted to.
Maybe they've prob I'm sure they've got made it better
because this thing's old. There's things at least ten fifteen
years old. So nothing against therm Arrest. They make great products,
but um, I just feel like putting that much pressure
on the air, you know, it could be the difference
just in our size. You know, I'm putting a lot
more pressure being a two hundred pound person than you are.
(42:58):
But you who um all right? Our Galli game bag set,
the Montana Knife Company, Stone goat knife, and an outdoor
edge everyday Carrie knife. Always good to have two knives
well back up, I think so yeah, And having like
that having a fixed blade and then having a replaceable
(43:19):
blade is kind of nice. And that replaceable blade that
EDC one, I just like that is just the knife
that I carry my pocket knife for the back country.
So mum, then you got a first aid kit and
um some other little essentials like fire starter, tenacious tape
for fixing gear, three standard stuff. I would say, yeah, turnique, Yeah,
(43:44):
stuff you just got to have with you at all times. Yeah.
What do you carry all that stuff in? Now? Do
you have like a is it just a like a
synergy bag from FHFF or do you have one of
those organizer deals? It is just a synergy a little
synergy bag. Yeah, I U. I take that back. I
had it in a Synergy bag and then I started
(44:05):
carrying it one thing. Some stuff like that is like
I have a lot of stuff in the little synergy
bags and then they all look the same to every
to anybody else is trying to get my pack. So yea,
if some ever happened and somebody else was trying to
find my first aid kid, they'd be rummaging through some stuff.
And actually Leah brought it up. She's like, something ever
(44:27):
happened to you, I'd be like rummaging through all this
stuff trying to figure out where the hell your first
aid kid is. Um, so I just got a little
sea the summit, like one of those tiny little rolltop
dry bags. I got a red one and I wrote
first Aid on it in marker. There you go. So
that's where that stuff lives now. But now you know,
(44:47):
if you ever run into Jordan, she's down in the
back country, red red package in her backpack has first
aid gear And yeah, yeah it does all right, total packway,
extra clothing and binoculars and pistol in there, no rifle,
no water in there. And yet twenty four pounds. I
(45:09):
feel like that's pretty good, man, especially considering all the
optics that you're that you're packing in there. That's the
heavy stuff, man. Yeah, twenty four pounds. You add add
three liters of water in there, you're about thirty. So
I don't know, but I look back through that list
and I don't know what I would take out, you know,
(45:29):
even my coffee. It's like you're gonna save ten ounces
with a if you have a fuel canister. You know.
I don't know if there's some things I could skim
down on, but I feel pretty good about it. A
couple thoughts on that one ounces add up to pounds,
pounds add up to pain. But again being on day
(45:50):
hunt you know, you can have the ability to adjust
every evening, maybe even mid today if you happen to
be back at the truck mid day. It happened. And
it's like I always tell everybody, and I do it myself.
It's like the first hunt of the year if it's
been a while, I'm a little bit heavy. And after
that first day out and you're back at camp, like
(46:12):
you very quickly start going through there and be like, oh,
you know what, I didn't make coffee today. It's the weather.
It's not supposed to change the next two days. Like
leaving the coffee back, you know, or you know what,
never took that soft shell out of the pack, had
plenty with me, with the other layers I had, you know,
it's gone, and all of a sudden, like it just
seems like every hunt I go on. As the hunt progresses,
(46:35):
you're just like, okay, I can I think I'll just
do with one knife, you know, yeah, And like, because
you know, it really does. When you take a couple
things here and there drop them out, all of a sudden,
you went from twenty four pounds down to twenty you know,
maybe even under, and it makes a difference. And against
(46:56):
that fine balance. I think between having the stuff to
keep you comfortable and keep you out there, but not
carrying so much that you're also wearing yourself out that
could cause you to be tired and make it harder
to stay out there. All good points. Anything you'd add
to the whole list is this how far I have
I've gotten with my bear hunt gear list? And again
(47:20):
it's that special little list I was talking about where
it's it's not all of the hunting stuff that Jordan
just talked about, but these are specifically like just small.
They don't have to be small, I guess, but just
specific items that I feel like I would really gain
an advantage by having these with me on a bear home. Okay,
(47:42):
Number one already talked about it as a book, but
I wrote down reading materials upload to phone. It's like
these days it's very easy to upload a book to
a phone, so or you can probably even you know,
download your favorite magazine so you don't have to be
carrying the weight of an extra book. You've got reading
material in there. I have sunflower seeds on there. And
(48:05):
when Jordan had a list of snacks, I just I
just breezed over it. Yeah, but some of our seeds
are it's not even I mean, sure you're getting some
salt out of it. Maybe there's a few calories too,
but it's one of those things should be right there.
I should have chewing gum on there too. But I
feel like on these bear hunts, long days and there's
combs of time where everybody's gonna fight a little bit
(48:25):
of boredom, and you can bust out a bag of
sunflower seeds and all of a sudden, everybody's you know,
spitting shells around and getting some salt in and a
nice way to pass. Even if it's just you know,
twenty thirty minutes, it gets you closer to the magic
hour umbrella. You know, I don't know if I would
(48:47):
go umbrella and tart probably, but it's a thought. These days,
you can get some incredibly light umbrellas. And again even
with ice rang gear. Man, if you're like really gonna
experience a heavy deluge, like pop that thing up and
(49:09):
you can keep you know, it's like it's basically like
just having a little mini tarp ball sun boom, just
you know, in a second, popped up keeping your gear dry.
You know, a lot of times we have cameras and
stuff with us. You can pop that up and still
be working with something and getting it tucked away. Um
and uh so yeah, umbrella could be cool. And then
a predator call, um, you know, the dying jack rabbit
(49:34):
whatever you want to call it. Uh, you know, it's
just that kind of standard predator call. If you have
a bear that you know goes into timber on you,
you're within range and and you're thinking, man, be sure nice,
I can maybe get him back out, like a predator call,
can get that bear to stick his nose back out
(49:54):
of the timber and give you another opportunity for a shot. Man,
I didn't think about that. Yeah, good one. Now I'm
not blowing on one of those things in grizz country. Yeah,
but if I know there's not a grizz, or at
least I think there's not a grizz within you know,
fifty hundred miles. Uh. I like I like rocking the
predator call. Wait that rounds me out? Nice list. I
(50:15):
hope you hope, you hope you get a Have you
killed a bear before? Killed one bear? One bear? I
yet to get one. Did you? You went with Clay
a couple of years ago? Yeah, yeah, play put me
on a nice one and I did not make a
good shot. He was going to disappear in the canyon
bottom and you know, I took a strong quarter in
two shot and I think I just missed him a
(50:36):
little bit, right, I mean he's still you can watch
there's a video of it. You can watch Clay and
I go bear hunting and you can see I hit him.
But I think I pretty much like shot through his
um front left leg um, but I don't think I entered,
you know, the body cavity, kind of like he definitely
felt it. He picks up his leg, runs off, but
(50:58):
zero to no blood. You know, we've we did everything
we could. But anyways, um and then yeah, I spent
I spent a solid five six days hunting last year
or two for a bear. Saw a bunch of bears.
I think we saw like nine bears, but just not
the one, um, you know, not just not a mature bore.
So cool. Yeah, I'm excited to go this spring too.
(51:22):
I'm going out with Corey Calkins. He's uh. I like
hunting with these X hunting guides, especially when you get
to hunt in the state they used to guide in
because they usually have a couple of spots and a
couple of tricks up there. Yeah I never hurt. Yeah, Yeah,
I'm excited to get after it. Give a hell of
a new area. Sweet sweet. All right, well, um, for
(51:48):
you guys listening at home, remember to participate in the
gear Talk podcast by you can email to gear Talk
at the meteor dot com. You can to the episodes
page which is at the meteor dot com going to podcasts,
find gear Talk, find this particular episode or whatever episode
(52:10):
you want to comment on. You can listen to the
episodes there as well. But there's a comment thread there
and Jordan I are on there answering questions, um, just
being part of the conversation and getting getting ideas for
for farther for new episodes. So um, please if you
(52:30):
can participate, and obviously you can dm us on the
old Instagram two. Um easy to find Jordan, You're just
I always forget just Jordan Bud right, yeah, Jordan dot Bud,
Jordan dot Bud, Yannis dot poo tell us and this
is gear Talk podcast Metior. Thanks for listening.
Welcome back to the gear Talk. J're in here, I've
got Yannie with me, and uh, dude, what's been happening lately?
Hound hunting That's where I'm at. Oh yeah, a little
bit skiing, but mostly hound hunting, which, if you haven't
been following along, that basically consists of me driving around
(00:36):
both of my truck and snowmobile and hiking around in
snowy conditions and looking for but not finding any lion
or Bobcat tracks. That's what happens nine out of ten
times I go out. So I feel like I'm coming
up on another track because I feel like I'm I'm
(00:57):
again looking at like a two week maybe three week
dry stretch. That's not quite true. I've found a couple
of time tracks in the last two weeks, but both
times I feel like I've been at least a day
maybe too late. And you know, if you find that
track in the dark in the morning and you have
all day, maybe you could cut loose on it and
(01:19):
end up somewhere with the cat. But a lot of
times I'm you know, I have until like noon one,
and so I feel like I need to find something
that looks like it's from the night the day before. Gotcha,
I have yet to be on a cat hunt. Maybe soon.
Oh well, you're gonna have to drive over to the
old Montana or sometime you can come drive around, drive
(01:42):
around with me, look for tracks, give it a rip. Yeah. Sweet.
So we are going to we're gonna talk about my
bear hunting gear list for early June that is coming up,
and we're gonna do it a little different. Instead of
us both having our gearless and going back and forth
and what we're gonna take with us, we're just going
(02:03):
to go through mine and I hope you don't like
tear it apart, but you're gonna challenge challenge some of
the things a little bit. Yeah, I just want to.
I think, yeah, we kind of chow us to do
this format because we can just concentrate on Jordan's list
and I can just ask you questions of like, oh,
why did you choose that? Because maybe because honestly, our
(02:25):
gear lists probably aren't going to be that different. Yeah,
But I think it's when I see a gear list,
if I see one just printed somewhere, I often have
questions about it and want to ask that person like, oh,
why did you choose that? Instead of that, because I've
always heard that you want to carry this when you're
bear hunting, you know. So yeah, yeah, we'll give it.
We'll give it a shot and see how it goes.
(02:48):
Maybe next year we could post our gear list, or
we could even do it this year for other hunts,
and then folks could ask questions about those gear lists
and we could answer that in an upcoming episode. Good idea,
lots of We've had quite a few requests actually for
just a printed gear list to give people. So yeah,
(03:08):
it's a good idea, and I've got him. Man. I've
been making gearless now for probably dang near two decades.
I was making gearless when I was a guide. I
would send to clients you're a guide outfit or you
know they some people have still not gotten the memo
about how you really shouldn't bring cotton on a western hunt. Yeah.
(03:31):
Do you go a full Excel spreadsheet with like graphs
and stuff? Uh graphs, No, but I mean I go
Excel spreadsheet for sure, and um yeah, I'd like to
make it look all pretty and have you know, some
some weights in there. I published one a couple of
years ago on the Meat Eater. I think if you
type in like Yannie's Colorado sheep Hunt, it would come
(03:54):
up um and uh. I published that one and we
did a little article around it, and that was on
an Excel spreadsheet. Cool cool cool Um. This one I'm
looking at now. Jordan did not send me an Excel
spreadsh just in a word doc ormat yep it is.
(04:15):
I've gone the Xcel route before. I just trying to
be speedy on this one. I guess I don't know sure.
The key is I think like dating them and then
keeping them around so that you can reference them and
you know, look back and think about things that have changed.
And I don't know if I mentioned this, but I've
been saying it lately about these gear lists. A lot
(04:35):
of them are so similar. Like this list, you could
change a couple of things probably and take it and go,
you know, archery, l cunning. Oh yeah, change your weapon
and probably wouldn't have some orange whatever, you know what
I mean, you'd be really close. But I feel like
these the lists that I have going now are these
like smaller lists that don't they have like ten or
(04:55):
less items that are very specific, right, Like I don't
need an know that I'm taking a tent and I'm
taking a sleeping bag, right, That's just that's just like
it's always going to come with me. But like speaking
of a bear hunt, I realized that there's a lot
of downtime in that having a book on a bear hunt,
I feel like more than any other hunt. Maybe a
(05:17):
moose hunt would be similar, but like a book, I
feel like it's crucial on a bear hunt. I did
not put a book in here. You're gonna hunt harder
than me. Oh, I don't know about that, all right.
So the first thing on the on Jordan's twenty twenty
three bear hunting gear lists for early June. When I
saw it, I was like, my first question was in
(05:41):
my head was, Okay, is this for day hunting? Are
you backpacking? And then tell me, obviously you don't know
whether conditions are going to be, like, but what sort
of weather conditions are you expecting going into this hunt? Yeah,
so we uh were expecting I would expect anyways, Uh,
(06:02):
lows and like the low thirties, high twenties is what
I'm thinking. Um, in like the mornings and then highs
of fifty typically, but man early June in the mountains,
it could snow easy. Um, we could have fifty is
not to me, that's not warm. No, that's not that warm.
Especially you get you get a breeze, going get kind
(06:24):
of some overcast like misty air type stuff like, oh yeah,
and that's the timy year for it. You know that
spring like everything is just like wet, even if it's
not raining, it's just like seems to be kind of wet. Yeah.
It never seems like you go on a dry spring
bear hunt. No, I don't think you do. Um. So, yeah,
(06:45):
we're gonna this is gonna be Uh, we're gonna be
staying in a cabin, which is gonna be kind of nice. Um,
we got a group of people, so we've got it. Uh,
we did a cabin this year instead of trying to
do like a wall tent or a backpack hunt. Some
you know, some of the reason this is gonna be
(07:05):
this is an Idaho hunt, like a central Ish Idaho hunt.
It's gonna be a new area for me as far
as bear hunting goes. And I feel like I'm I'm
gonna want to travel more, like put more miles on
the vehicle and also my boots as far as like
in the mornings, I want to be more mobile. I
(07:26):
haven't bear hunted like a ton, but I have shot
one and I've filmed a few, and all the outfitters
we've ever gone with, they're like, yeah, typically bear hunting
is a little slow in the mornings, picks up in
the afternoons. And so I was going to use that
morning time to almost do like a little bit of scouting,
(07:47):
glass a long ways away and just cover some area
and then figure out where I want to go sit
for the afternoon, and then probably hike in, get on
a good ridge where I can glass a lot and
uh see you a long ways and just sit there
and glass and wait for wait for them to come out,
and then make a move. Yeah, what time do you
(08:09):
like to be set up by h like for your
for your sit. That's gonna go all the way until dark,
like one, yeah, one, two right in there. That's been
my I'm no, I'm no Joe bear hunter, but that's
been my experience too. Um, some places it's like very
like to the extreme where you're like, don't even go
(08:31):
out and until just be in position for the last
sixty minutes of the day, and all of sudden there's
just bears everywhere. Um, but in the mountains, I mean,
do you still have a chance of catching them midday
and catching them in the morning. Um, but yeah, it's
sure seems like that lasts two three hours. Is that's
when you really want to be paying attention and pouring
(08:52):
the coals to it. Yeah. We've even I filmed a
couple hunts where the guides don't even get you up
until you know, you don't even go out till ten
o'clock in the morning. You just like kind of leisually
get up, having nice breakfast and then start going out
and glassen and then being one spot sitting where you
(09:13):
think there's like the best spot for a bear to
come out for. Yeah, that lasts little bit so that
it never It's like it's not like it's gonna hurt
you being out all day and looking except that, you know,
especially if you're if you're coming into June. You're going
in June, right, Yep, you're within a couple three weeks
(09:34):
of the summer solstice. I mean you're looking at some
of the long ass days and on those kind of hunts,
if you're pounding it and hiking an hour before daylight
and then hiking an hour after daylight. Man, you are
that's a long day in a short night, and you
can just get worn out. So it's that thing where
(09:55):
you have to balance, you know, and be trained up
for it, but have to balance like, Okay, how worn
out do I want to be, you know, by how
much effort I'm putting out and balance that with like
being on top of your game for prime time, you know,
for those last three hours of the day. Because if
you've just gone hard for three days really for no
(10:16):
you know, well I don't want to say for no reason,
but again, you've worn yourself out, and then all of
a sudden you're not like giving it one hundred and
ten percent on the third day from you know, five
pm till eight pm, you might be missing out. Yeah,
So let's start with the optics you have on your list.
Sig Zulu nine eleven by forty five's you're gonna have
(10:40):
the stuffed in the FHF fob Buyo Harness, which is
super nice, super comfy. If you haven't checked that out,
check it out. You got the sig Oscar eight eighty
millimeter spotting scope. You're gonna have that on top of
a h Slick six twenty four tripod with the outdoorsman's
(11:04):
pan head. Of course you got the Outdoorsman's bino adapter
for your tripod, and um, the all in digi sculping
set up for doing something digi sculping. Talk me through, Like,
I think we're on the same page with you know,
(11:24):
obviously tripod mounted optics for finding h critters, But what
um is your Do you use the sculpe more for
finding the bears or more for judging bears? More for
judging bears? For me, they are hard things to judge
if you want to shoot a nice one, and uh,
(11:47):
I think being able to zoom in tight and get
a good look at their head and some of their
bodily features. Um, it's worth carrying the scope for me.
And honestly it's just hard for me to leave a
spotting scope behind. I just like being able to uh,
you know, even deer or elk or whatever else you've
seen out there, just being able to look at him. Um,
(12:09):
I like doing that. But yeah, moly, mostly scary carrying
the scope to h to judge them, and then I
mean even some you know, sometimes at long distances, it's
nice just having the scope to to glass around and
pick out some things in a discent hillside. Yea, yeah,
(12:29):
you know some people do it. Jason Phelps does that
a whole bunch man, And I just I've tried it,
and I just like closing that one eye like that
and just looking through that single scope. I can't do
it for more than ten minutes and I start to
get a headache from squinting. Maybe I just needed tough
enough and do it some more. But I don't know.
UM question I have for you, how do you tell
(12:52):
me what pack you're using and then tell me for
all of this optics stuff, drypods, you know, uh, spot sculps.
How are you carrying all that stuff on that on
that pack or in that pack? I guess. Yeah. So
I I've started to like test out a lot of backpacks,
(13:13):
which has been really fun. So I got a couple of,
like far as I can choose from. I've been running
the new XOK four frame a little bit with some
of their new bags, which has been nice. And then
the Stone Glacier Crux frame has been super nice as well,
like just fits my body really good. So I like
to have packs like for many one of those companies,
(13:38):
the bag size is going to be around five thousand
cubic inchest for me. It's like that's even like backpack
status for a lot of people as far as how
big that is. But it's like we'll get down to
the clothing list, but a lot of that stuff is
like kind of bulky, and just being able to carry
everything inside the bag is nice. So optics wise, like
(13:59):
I am my spotting scope inside the bag for the
most part, and then I think my tripod's pretty hardy,
so I just keep that strapped to the outside. One
thing I wanted to bring up that I do if
I'm like walking down a ridge, like you know, stopping
and glassing a lot, or I think I want to
look through my scope really quick, I'll leave my spotting
(14:22):
scope on my tripod, like hooked up on my tripod head,
and then I'll strap it to the back of my pack.
So the tripod is like laying horizontal along the lid,
and then it's all like hooked up, ready to rock.
I just need to un clip it real quick, spread
the legs out, and then yeah, I got my scope.
(14:45):
So that's uh. It's something that I definitely messed around
with a lot and usually won't like I'll have like
especially in that in those exo packs. I like that
one vertical zipper on the outside that I'll put my
spotter in and then I'll have my tripod one of
those just along the sides. It just seems like more
often than not where your look at game is fleeting,
(15:06):
and not because he might have even spooked it, but
just because you know, you spot him and the herd
just happens to be going over the ridge, or it
happens it's like late morning and they happen to be
going into the timber, and literally seconds count because if
you get that thing out real quick and you put
it on that bear as he's walking into the timber
and you're like, holy shit, that looked like a big bore,
(15:28):
your decision is made for the day. You're like, we're
camping right here. Or you might move a little bit
to get a better advantage or get within range or whatever,
but like you got a plan where if you're fumbling
around and you don't do it and you just looked
at him through handheld you know, tens you're like, yeah,
I don't know, was it good? Maybe, And then you
know you're kind of indecisive and you don't know. So
(15:50):
I feel like having like a super solid you know,
a system for getting to your spot or quickly is important.
All right, So anything else you want to add about
your optics setup, I don't think so, um that all
(16:10):
in digit scoping case, we get questions about digit scoping
like all the time, and uh, that's a new product.
I think it hit the market last year. And man
as far as speediness to get your phone on your
scope and like not have to mess with the alignment,
there's not another one I found that is quicker than
(16:32):
that thing. No, agree, I used, But for a long
time I used a before there was even such a
thing as digiscope cases on iPhones, I had a h
like a point and shoot camera that had a we
would I would go and buy UH compatible filters for
(16:55):
like UM for a different sized lens and filters that
you could screw together, and we would knock out the
glass and you would take one side of it and
basically glue it to a like a PBC pipe fitting
that would fit over your the eyepiece of your spotting scope.
(17:16):
And then you'd take the other threaded piece and glue
that as centered as you could to a point and
shoot camera and then that way you could basically screw
the your little connector piece to the camera and then
pop it onto the spotting sculle um. A bunch of
us used to do that down in Arizona before it
(17:38):
came out, but then since then I went to phone Scope,
and then last year at least this is when I
got them. I got a mag view, use that on
the caribou hunt that we did, and then shortly after
it got the all in. Its spelled oll i in,
but they pronounced it all in M and one hundred
percent by far, you are telling the truth that all in.
(18:00):
It just snaps on there. It uses the magnet just
like the mag view, but it's like perfectly centered every
single time. I don't know exactly how they did that,
how they work those magnets to make it, but it is.
There's no more like, oh, I'm kind of off left
to right, or I'm kind of off up and down.
(18:21):
I've got a vignette in the upper right hand corner.
You just put it on there, and it is money.
It is like I'm I'll just got like once you
try it, you will never go back. You'll never go back. No, Yeah,
And that's why I wanted. That's why I wanted to
talk about it, because it's certainly like it's really worth
the worth a shot. And uh yeah, I just think
(18:43):
back to how many times I've thrown my phone or
been messing with my phone, like trying to get on
a deer or something, and h gosh, just been like,
not only do you miss you know you're messing around
with like trying to to center that thing to make
sure you get footage of him. Not only do you
miss that, but you miss other times you could just
(19:04):
been looking at him with your eyes and getting a
better feel for what they are. So yeah, just again,
seconds matter, man, Just like being ready with your spotting scope.
This is another time when seconds are crucial and it's
so good to get. My buddy Jay Scott always says this, like,
don't worry about getting pictures because you don't know how
(19:26):
it's going to be facing what angle you're getting, Like,
just run a video, get your hands off of it
so that it's not shaky, and you can always you know,
move around through the video and stop it and pause
it and take screenshots. But get as much video as
you can because you're probably gonna get different angles, you know,
if it's a buck, hopefully you get to see you know,
(19:46):
one side and then the rear view and the front view.
But you have videos where it's at with that. Man. Yeah,
all right, water bottle. You had the Yetti Yonder water
bottle here and uh, I'm like, what's wrong with analogene,
Jordan Man. Part of it is the Yonder bottle is
(20:09):
new and I had to try it. But uh, one
thing I like about it as far as like I
always run Analogene pocket on my pack. They're like fit
to the size of a you know, regular analogene bottle.
Sometimes with one hand, they're like a pain to get
in and out and that YETI is like ever so
(20:29):
slightly uh not as big around, and it's a little
bit taller than a normal nalogene, so much easier to
get out of in and out of there. And I
still don't think it's like um like loose sloppy, like's
like it's going to fall out. Um. But uh yeah,
that's one thing I like. Another thing I like is
with a nalgene. Uh, it's like you know, the wide mouth.
(20:54):
Sometimes it's not hard to drink out of um, but
it's it'd be hard to drink out sometimes, like just
the wide mouth being able to drink out of. It
can be you can just get water on you whatever.
I used to get a thing called a cap cap
from human gear. It's called a cap cap. It's basically
a cap that's the size of like in the wide
(21:17):
mouth nalogene screws on, and then on that cap there's
another smaller cap with like just a smaller hole to
drink out of, So just a little easier to drink
out of. The YETI like already has that built in.
So once you figure the price, the I think the
YETI is like ten bucks over what a normal nalogene is.
(21:43):
But once you get a normal nalogene and then you
buy that cap cap lid, you're basically the same price.
Their cap is supposed to be leakproof. I haven't had
any issues with that so far. I've have had troubles
with my nalogenes leaking before out of the lid. But
as far is like the the materials from what I
(22:03):
could find, it's they're using basically the same stuff. It's
like a BPA free plastic, but you're also carrying a
hydro pack three leader water cell. Yeah, the the Eddie
is only a leader. So if I'm gonna go, you know,
up for the day, I'd like to carry more than
the leader of water with me. So that hydro pack
(22:25):
basically it's just a small little water bladder like in there.
It's only three leaders. It just rolls up to basically nothing.
If you're not using it, and then you get to
a stream or something, you can fill it up, fill
the fill your water bottle from that and then stare
a pin it and roll So you didn't carry a
(22:47):
staupen too, just in case you gotta refill out of
the creek. Yeah, yeah, I think that's a I think
that's a good idea. You don't know what kind of
situation you're going to get yourself in in the afternoon. Okay,
(23:11):
you got on your list a NW, which I'm guessing
is Northwest retention. Yeah, West retention chess holder with a
sig P three sixty five XL and nine millimeter. Yeah. Uh,
why you are you? Are you hunting grizz country? Why
are you carrying a pistol? Not hunting grizz country? Man?
(23:33):
A lot of it is like for one, sometimes a
lot of the time I'll have my cross folded up
on my pack. Um, if I'm walking in and uh,
oftentimes you just get away from your rifle somehow. You
know you're up like glass in for all afternoon. You
walk over the hill to like go glass another little
(23:54):
area or whatever. You don't take your rifle with you,
which like seems ridiculous as I talk about it. So
there's that and then a lot of time times like
I'm hunting by myself and it's more of a comfort
thing I think for me than than maybe so much
as like a predator deal. But man, you never know.
You see videos of those mountain lions chasing people with
(24:17):
the old Instagram. It seems to be a mountain lion
creeping down on somebody just about once a week. Yeah. Yeah,
if I was in Grazs Country, i'd carried ten mil
um like we did when we were in Alaska. Yea
all right rifle. You're going six six hour cross and
six five creed more And yeah, I own that rifle too.
(24:45):
I haven't killed an animal with it yet, I'm packing
it around. Um, I like I like carrying it. Yeah. Um,
but you feel like six five creed more is all
you need for a black bear. I feel like it is.
You know, like I think black bears the other black
(25:07):
brother that I've killed a shout with a seven mag
The vitals on a bear sit back a little bit
further than like a deer and elk, so I don't
feel like I'm gonna really have to hug the shoulder
and or like want to try to punch through the shoulder.
I just want to get lungs, so in that area
of the body, I feel like it's pretty soft. You know.
(25:29):
There's like a lot of game and fish websites and
such like their minimums. What they recommend is like a
thousand foot pounds energy for a bear at the target,
and I'm good with that basically out to five hundred yards.
I think at four hundred yards, I'm like thirteen hundred
foot pounds. So, um, I feel like if I can
(25:51):
keep four hundred and in get a good broadside shot
that I don't have any troubles. I won't have any
troubles with that. And a good bullet. That Accubond is
good bullet and has been a good bullet for me.
I've killed a few deer with it, and um, yeah,
I feel pretty confident about it. Yeah, I love that
one hundred and forty grain Nausler accubond in the six five.
(26:15):
I used to pack two hundred grain accubons into a
three hundred Winchester shortmag and that was my elk killing
gun for quite a few years. And uh yeah, I
always had great luck with the accubon. Yeah. Well, how
do you feel on that creed More? Yeah, you know, um,
I know there's talk out there that people are saying
it's not enough gun for certain critters, and you know
(26:39):
it's a little bit puny. Um. You know again, you
got to know the you got. You have to have
your expectations set properly. You gotta know your limitations. Like
you just said, like you know, how many footpounds you
have at four hundred yards, sounds like you're gonna, you know,
kill him is dead there. You know that bullet as
anything else. So yeah, I think it's plenty. I think
(27:01):
I've only shot deer sized well with the six five
creed More. Yes, but I've shot three giant cow elk
with a six five fifty five swee, which is even
a little bit slower than the six five creed More.
But same bullets, you know, same same weight and bullets
and have had amazing results, Like two hundred fifty yards
(27:24):
giant cow elk takes three steps, tips over and is dead.
So yeah, I think I think you'll be good. Depends,
like I said, it's expectations. Man, do you want to
you know, is it gonna knock that bear off its feet?
Probably not? If you're looking for that, Yeah, you probably
need to go to three hundred. Um, you know, just
(27:46):
just you know, hit him with some more weight. But
I think that. Man, I sure like shooting these a
little bit lighter calibers because they're just easier to shoot.
I can, especially now run in a side islandser I
can stay in my sculpe and watch that bullet hit.
So I'm gonna be way better and way faster on
(28:06):
a follow up shot if needed. Um. Yeah, like it? Yeah,
all right, you're you're topping it with a sig whiskey
six three to eighteen scope. Um, any any particular reason
you picked that one? Man? It's I used it on
my sheep hunt last or two years ago, and I've
(28:28):
used it like a bit since. And man, it's just
like it's a it's a compact scope, it's twenty three ounces,
it has like it hasn't exposed turret, which I like. Um.
I like being able to dial and has a more
compact turret, doesn't stick up as much as some some
other ones. UM, So that's one reason I like it too.
(28:50):
And it just has performed really well for me. Seems
to be durable. Um, the dialing is pretty positive. So yeah,
so I about that one. I think the three to
eighteen I really like that that range of power for
a scope, like three power, you can really turn it down,
(29:10):
like really widen your field of view up and just
if you're in tight on something or if you just
need to find something like just trying to acquire some
backing out, being able to back that far out is nice.
And then the eighteen is a sweet spot too. I
think like that eighteen to twenty power right in there
(29:31):
has been a sweet spot for me. I grew up
on three to nine's and I just think you bump
up that power a bit to like a fifteen or twenty,
you can just be so much more precise on your
shot with a higher power and you don't always have
to use all the power too. So that's something I
(29:52):
like about. Oh No, and like we learned maybe we
haven't talked about this than anybody yet. But in the
past talking to the optics guys. You know, it's like
anything at max you know, power on a scope. It's
just like redlining your car, right, Can it do that? Yes?
Is it going to perform optimum? No? So if you
(30:13):
have an eighteen or twenty top end, then at twelve
and fifteen you've got this amazing you know, clear quality,
you know, clear picture. Everything's great. We're on three to nine.
Once you you know, jam it all the way to nine,
you're sort of at the the upper end of its
capabilities and you're starting to lose you know, focus, light
(30:34):
gathering capabilities. It's just not performing, you know, at its optimum.
So yeah, there's a reason right there to you know,
even though you might never dial to twenty, it's good
to have that upper end there so that at fifteen
you know you've got you've got an amazing uh picture,
Yeah you're looking. Yeah it short action precision two roundholder.
(30:57):
I've seen this thing on your rifles. Six the side
of your rifle. You stick two rounds in there, and um,
I want you to explain why you why you run
that more like a just in case I need two rounds. Like,
if you lose a magazine or something, you can single
feed those two. Um, I can't. I can't imagine where. Yeah,
(31:20):
if you have a five round magazine, I can't imagine
where I need more than five for anything. But um,
a couple of times, Kyle Hunting, I have like not
refilled my mag and I've had two and like shot
a couple of times and got another shot and been
like oh shit and been able to pull around out
of that and just single feed it. Um it's I
(31:43):
don't know, it's probably a little overkill. Um it kind
of looks cool on the side of that thing, but uh,
I don't know. Well, I mean, here's a question, how
many how many when you go on this day hunt
for bears? How many cartridges are you carrying? Total? I
would probably just have a five round bag, five plus
(32:04):
the two though, yeah, and nothing in your pack? No, Yeah,
So you're going in seven And I think that like
most of us, I think usually fall in that seven
to ten range of you know, how many you're packing
around with you? And yeah, it's like, where are you
gonna put those two rounds? You could put them in
(32:25):
your pocket, but I hate having two or three rounds
jingle jangling around in my pocket. Yeah. Um, it's annoying,
it's noisy, it's making noise. You're not being stealth, uh
so Yeah, having a little slick spot like that. Um. Like,
I've had those stock packs in the past that have
the it's like a pocket, but on the inside your
(32:45):
pocket it's got the little AMMO sleeves and uh I
like that set up too, and kind of for the
same reason. You know all your ammos there. If you
do run through your five rounds in your mag, then
you know you can refill right there. You don't have
to all of a sudden go, oh my gosh, where
where did I put those into my pack? What pocket
are they in? Yeah, don't use them very often, but
(33:08):
when you need them, you're really gonna need them. Type
of a deal. Yeah. You also had on your list
FHF gun case strapped to the back of the pickup seats.
Have you run that back there yet? Yeah, dude, I
like a lot. Yeah, I've got the really short one.
(33:28):
I remember how long that one is. But it's the
short one and it fits the cross perfect as long
as you don't have like a can on it or something. Yeah,
it's just something you really don't think about. I'm used
to just you know, like a like a cheap, cheap
gun case. But if just the amount of things you
(33:50):
can do with that fh one is um pretty nice.
Having it on the back of your seats, gets it
off the floor. People can sit in the back seats.
You don't have to worry about it so much. Um. Yeah,
it's been nice. Yeah, that was my question because I
haven't set up mine yet in the back of the truck.
But is there still enough room where you could sit
in the backseat and that thing's not going to be
(34:12):
up in your grill? Yeah, if you were super tall,
I think that like your knees could hit it. Um,
but I I wouldn't. Um suppose it depends how big
your backseat is too. Um yeah, but yeah it's a
good good product for sure, all right. Clothes Yeah, pretty
(34:33):
standard for Meum, the Wick hoodie, the Wick boot top
bottoms to match it, and then core get Foundry pants.
Pretty standard, the Origin hoodie, the Catalyst jacket. One thing
about the Catalyst jacket. A lot of some people, for
like back country scenarios, don't believe in soft shells for
(34:53):
some reason. Um, But in that early, Like we were
talking about, you don't really know what you're gonna get weather.
A lot of times it's just kind of like jury cold,
might be windy. Having that catalyst jacket over the top
of a fleece when you're like walking around on ridges,
it can just be super comfortable. I just really like
(35:14):
that setup. Then I'm gonna be taking a jacket. I'm
just gonna we got told that we could tease it
out a little bit. There's a new jacket that's basically
combining a puffy jacket with a rain jacket that's gonna
be coming out and I think that is like a
perfect jacket for this kind of situation where you're gonna
be glassing a lot, sitting, you're gonna be on a ridge.
(35:37):
For sure, want to have a puffy jacket with you
more than like you're probably gonna need a rain jacket.
And with that, with that setup, just having like a
rain jacket doesn't matter if it's this one or just
a rain jacket in general, it's your it's windproof also,
so even if it's not raining it's super windy, I
like throwing a rain jacket on. And so when you
(35:59):
take this combo puffy rain gear. You're not taking rain
gear and or a rain jacket, and you're not taking
any other puffy for insulation. Your insulation at that point
just gonna be that jacket. And then you're yeah, origin hoodie.
Really it's gonna be it yea, and what else what
else you got on there? I think if the un
(36:22):
I'm gonna bring the lunka padre pants, the puffy pants.
That's something that is kind of like a floating thing
in my pack that I could just leave in the vehicle.
If it's tends to be like warmer in the afternoon, Um,
I could leave out for sure, Almond rain pants. Man. Again, like,
even if it's not going to rain a lot of
times it's just wet wherever you're sitting, being able to
(36:43):
throw rain pants on and keep dry is like huge
keeps the wind cut off. You M that's great. Usually
take a couple pairs of gloves with me catalysts gloves
and then the heavier alpine gloves. UM, I like that
combo or just having those two with me. Um furnace
beanie just regular ball cap. And then for boots, those
(37:05):
Crispy Bristol pro boots that they have two hundred grams
of insulation in them, and that's a pretty sweet spot
for me. So it's kind of my clothing layout. And
just like you're saying before, you could take this thing
and go LK hunting with it, like, there's not much
that would change in that, right, Yeah, I think the
(37:27):
only yeah, the only thing that, yeah, it might change.
I don't know if I was going backpacking, I don't
know if i'd be any lighter or heavier. I gotta
look at my list, but yeah, I think you can
go a little bit heavier on a day hunt, right
because you know you're you know, going in, coming out,
and it's not like you gonna have to carry that
stuff for days on end. Yeah. I think maybe for
(37:50):
like a backpack hunt, I might for multiple nights of
backpack hunting, I might not take a catalyst jacket. Um.
That's pretty much it I think for me. All right. Uh,
some smaller items in reach Mini two for sure, Statellite
communications emergencies, your Petzel active core head lamp or golly
(38:13):
trek and polls tarp yep. Yeah, nine ounces nine by
five Um, that I think is a great call man
on a bear hunt, Like the conditions we've been describing
it so nice to have a little tarp set up
a little you know, you get yourself a nice glassing location,
(38:34):
and then if you have that tarp, it's like, no
matter what blows in, you're in there staying comfy. And
even if you have rain gear, it's like even the
best rain gear after a while it starts to wed out.
It's you know, it's better to keep all that gear dry.
(38:54):
Um and and yeah, it's like always much better to
spend into weather out of storm under a tarp that weighs,
you know, just over a half a pound versus just
standing there under a tree, you know, taking it on
your rain jacket. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I love that
thing to just simply block wind like it can just
(39:15):
do wonders. I usually bring a coffee kit with me
for the days i've been. Last year I bought MSR
Pocket Rocket Deluxe and uh I got a Tokes five
fifty milliter cup. The total weight of both those things
is like six ounces, and that's unreal, oh man. I
(39:36):
went from a system that probably weighed maybe twelve to that,
and it just seems like a world of difference, and
so definitely not scared to take to carry that with me. Yeah.
I also like I threw on my list a little
ten ounce mug like the Yeddy ones. One one reason
(39:59):
I like though, is because like that little Tokes five
fifty meal cup. It like the thing it's not paper thin,
but it's like really thin, and it gets cold like instantly.
So if you don't just want to feel like you
have to chug your your coffee or tea or whatever, um,
having somewhat of an insulated cup, it's been really nice.
(40:22):
And I would say that's like more of a thing
that I would bring if I was hunting with other people. Um,
but definitely an insulated cup of some kind over those
little stainless ones, Like they just get cold so fast. Yeah,
it's kind of I'm guessing I don't know, I've never
seen a Tokes cup, but I'm guessing it's it's probably
(40:43):
a titanium yeah, yeah, yeah, they also make a stainless one.
I don't remember which one I have, but yeah, they're
so thin that. The other problem with him is too
is like when the stuff is hot in there, that
the titanium or whatever it is, stainless steel. Um, they're
like super conductors and so you get your hot coffee
(41:04):
and then you put your lips to that to that
cup and just burns you. You know, it's wicked. Yeah.
So yeah, I don't feel like there's like the perfect
solution yet to that, because the only time I like
skip carrying a little insulated mug, and I still just
use like an old school ARII plastic one if it's
(41:26):
gonna be warm enough where I'm like, you know what,
I'm not really that interested in drinking hot stuff. The
only reason I have the pot and the stove is
to for really for cooking dinners, you know, for just
rehydrating meals, um. You know. Then I'll then I'll skip it,
you know, and if I want, I can drink some
lukewarm water, you know, if if I want to make
that into tea or whatever. But yeah, otherwise, if you're
(41:48):
gonna sit around and enjoy a hot drink, you might
as well just bring that little insulated cup with Yeah. Yeah,
it does make it a little nicer climate. Air sitting pad.
Gotta have one of those, because you're just gonna be
sitting there pound in the glass. Yeah, yeah, I gotta
have it. Usually I use just like I think most
people use, like those thermores little like phone pads. But
(42:12):
I got this little climate. It's like just a blow
up little air pad like seat, man, so nice. It
cannot be that durable, but I've had it for three
seasons now, using it kind of on and off, and
it's been good for me. Man. I had a therm
arrest one of those, and it just never seemed to
(42:34):
quite hold air air as well as I wanted to.
Maybe they've prob I'm sure they've got made it better
because this thing's old. There's things at least ten fifteen
years old. So nothing against therm Arrest. They make great products,
but um, I just feel like putting that much pressure
on the air, you know, it could be the difference
just in our size. You know, I'm putting a lot
more pressure being a two hundred pound person than you are.
(42:58):
But you who um all right? Our Galli game bag set,
the Montana Knife Company, Stone goat knife, and an outdoor
edge everyday Carrie knife. Always good to have two knives
well back up, I think so yeah, And having like
that having a fixed blade and then having a replaceable
(43:19):
blade is kind of nice. And that replaceable blade that
EDC one, I just like that is just the knife
that I carry my pocket knife for the back country.
So mum, then you got a first aid kit and
um some other little essentials like fire starter, tenacious tape
for fixing gear, three standard stuff. I would say, yeah, turnique, Yeah,
(43:44):
stuff you just got to have with you at all times. Yeah.
What do you carry all that stuff in? Now? Do
you have like a is it just a like a
synergy bag from FHFF or do you have one of
those organizer deals? It is just a synergy a little
synergy bag. Yeah, I U. I take that back. I
had it in a Synergy bag and then I started
(44:05):
carrying it one thing. Some stuff like that is like
I have a lot of stuff in the little synergy
bags and then they all look the same to every
to anybody else is trying to get my pack. So yea,
if some ever happened and somebody else was trying to
find my first aid kid, they'd be rummaging through some stuff.
And actually Leah brought it up. She's like, something ever
(44:27):
happened to you, I'd be like rummaging through all this
stuff trying to figure out where the hell your first
aid kid is. Um, so I just got a little
sea the summit, like one of those tiny little rolltop
dry bags. I got a red one and I wrote
first Aid on it in marker. There you go. So
that's where that stuff lives now. But now you know,
(44:47):
if you ever run into Jordan, she's down in the
back country, red red package in her backpack has first
aid gear And yeah, yeah it does all right, total packway,
extra clothing and binoculars and pistol in there, no rifle,
no water in there. And yet twenty four pounds. I
(45:09):
feel like that's pretty good, man, especially considering all the
optics that you're that you're packing in there. That's the
heavy stuff, man. Yeah, twenty four pounds. You add add
three liters of water in there, you're about thirty. So
I don't know, but I look back through that list
and I don't know what I would take out, you know,
(45:29):
even my coffee. It's like you're gonna save ten ounces
with a if you have a fuel canister. You know.
I don't know if there's some things I could skim
down on, but I feel pretty good about it. A
couple thoughts on that one ounces add up to pounds,
pounds add up to pain. But again being on day
(45:50):
hunt you know, you can have the ability to adjust
every evening, maybe even mid today if you happen to
be back at the truck mid day. It happened. And
it's like I always tell everybody, and I do it myself.
It's like the first hunt of the year if it's
been a while, I'm a little bit heavy. And after
that first day out and you're back at camp, like
(46:12):
you very quickly start going through there and be like, oh,
you know what, I didn't make coffee today. It's the weather.
It's not supposed to change the next two days. Like
leaving the coffee back, you know, or you know what,
never took that soft shell out of the pack, had
plenty with me, with the other layers I had, you know,
it's gone, and all of a sudden, like it just
seems like every hunt I go on. As the hunt progresses,
(46:35):
you're just like, okay, I can I think I'll just
do with one knife, you know, yeah, And like, because
you know, it really does. When you take a couple
things here and there drop them out, all of a sudden,
you went from twenty four pounds down to twenty you know,
maybe even under, and it makes a difference. And against
(46:56):
that fine balance. I think between having the stuff to
keep you comfortable and keep you out there, but not
carrying so much that you're also wearing yourself out that
could cause you to be tired and make it harder
to stay out there. All good points. Anything you'd add
to the whole list is this how far I have
I've gotten with my bear hunt gear list? And again
(47:20):
it's that special little list I was talking about where
it's it's not all of the hunting stuff that Jordan
just talked about, but these are specifically like just small.
They don't have to be small, I guess, but just
specific items that I feel like I would really gain
an advantage by having these with me on a bear home. Okay,
(47:42):
Number one already talked about it as a book, but
I wrote down reading materials upload to phone. It's like
these days it's very easy to upload a book to
a phone, so or you can probably even you know,
download your favorite magazine so you don't have to be
carrying the weight of an extra book. You've got reading
material in there. I have sunflower seeds on there. And
(48:05):
when Jordan had a list of snacks, I just I
just breezed over it. Yeah, but some of our seeds
are it's not even I mean, sure you're getting some
salt out of it. Maybe there's a few calories too,
but it's one of those things should be right there.
I should have chewing gum on there too. But I
feel like on these bear hunts, long days and there's
combs of time where everybody's gonna fight a little bit
(48:25):
of boredom, and you can bust out a bag of
sunflower seeds and all of a sudden, everybody's you know,
spitting shells around and getting some salt in and a
nice way to pass. Even if it's just you know,
twenty thirty minutes, it gets you closer to the magic
hour umbrella. You know, I don't know if I would
(48:47):
go umbrella and tart probably, but it's a thought. These days,
you can get some incredibly light umbrellas. And again even
with ice rang gear. Man, if you're like really gonna
experience a heavy deluge, like pop that thing up and
(49:09):
you can keep you know, it's like it's basically like
just having a little mini tarp ball sun boom, just
you know, in a second, popped up keeping your gear dry.
You know, a lot of times we have cameras and
stuff with us. You can pop that up and still
be working with something and getting it tucked away. Um
and uh so yeah, umbrella could be cool. And then
a predator call, um, you know, the dying jack rabbit
(49:34):
whatever you want to call it. Uh, you know, it's
just that kind of standard predator call. If you have
a bear that you know goes into timber on you,
you're within range and and you're thinking, man, be sure nice,
I can maybe get him back out, like a predator call,
can get that bear to stick his nose back out
(49:54):
of the timber and give you another opportunity for a shot. Man,
I didn't think about that. Yeah, good one. Now I'm
not blowing on one of those things in grizz country. Yeah,
but if I know there's not a grizz, or at
least I think there's not a grizz within you know,
fifty hundred miles. Uh. I like I like rocking the
predator call. Wait that rounds me out? Nice list. I
(50:15):
hope you hope, you hope you get a Have you
killed a bear before? Killed one bear? One bear? I
yet to get one. Did you? You went with Clay
a couple of years ago? Yeah, yeah, play put me
on a nice one and I did not make a
good shot. He was going to disappear in the canyon
bottom and you know, I took a strong quarter in
two shot and I think I just missed him a
(50:36):
little bit, right, I mean he's still you can watch
there's a video of it. You can watch Clay and
I go bear hunting and you can see I hit him.
But I think I pretty much like shot through his
um front left leg um, but I don't think I entered,
you know, the body cavity, kind of like he definitely
felt it. He picks up his leg, runs off, but
(50:58):
zero to no blood. You know, we've we did everything
we could. But anyways, um and then yeah, I spent
I spent a solid five six days hunting last year
or two for a bear. Saw a bunch of bears.
I think we saw like nine bears, but just not
the one, um, you know, not just not a mature bore.
So cool. Yeah, I'm excited to go this spring too.
(51:22):
I'm going out with Corey Calkins. He's uh. I like
hunting with these X hunting guides, especially when you get
to hunt in the state they used to guide in
because they usually have a couple of spots and a
couple of tricks up there. Yeah I never hurt. Yeah, Yeah,
I'm excited to get after it. Give a hell of
a new area. Sweet sweet. All right, well, um, for
(51:48):
you guys listening at home, remember to participate in the
gear Talk podcast by you can email to gear Talk
at the meteor dot com. You can to the episodes
page which is at the meteor dot com going to podcasts,
find gear Talk, find this particular episode or whatever episode
(52:10):
you want to comment on. You can listen to the
episodes there as well. But there's a comment thread there
and Jordan I are on there answering questions, um, just
being part of the conversation and getting getting ideas for
for farther for new episodes. So um, please if you
(52:30):
can participate, and obviously you can dm us on the
old Instagram two. Um easy to find Jordan, You're just
I always forget just Jordan Bud right, yeah, Jordan dot Bud,
Jordan dot Bud, Yannis dot poo tell us and this
is gear Talk podcast Metior. Thanks for listening.
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