November 10, 2025 • 43 mins
Ready to stop throwing Hail Mary hunts and start building a plan that works? We open the playbook for 2026 and share every path you can take to become your own guide, from the Trophy Tactics course to small-group coaching and immersive field days. You’ll hear exactly who each option serves, how to choose based on your schedule and learning style, and why disciplined note taking and quick troubleshooting turn trail cam photos into tagged bucks.
We walk through the online and in-person Trophy Tactics formats with clear dates, deposits, and discounts, then dig into the monthly coaching program that runs May through January. Coaching adds structure, SMART goals, and real-time support between sessions, so you never feel stuck when a target buck shifts patterns. Two included field days make the system tactile: you’ll evaluate habitat on the ground in March, then build a complete set in August—kill spot, wind, access, stand, blind, drags, and scent—so you’re ready when the season opens.
Alumni Mark and Alex share how they translated the framework into results. One used weekly online cadence to reflect, question, and stack skills; the other leaned on a fast “test set” pivot and a new blind to capitalize when a buck daylighted in a different spot. Their stories underscore the core idea: success is no accident. Data, timing, and decisive moves beat panic every time.
We also unveil the next step: the Hunters’ Gathering, an expanded, multi-day, multi-species weekend at Cascades Camp. Learn blacktail from us, elk strategies with Trent Fisher of Born and Raised, bear tactics with Heather Aldrich, and turkey calling and setups with our own Alex Cheney. Food and lodging are included, capacity is limited, and you’ll get hours of access to ask questions, compare notes, and leave with a kit to hit the ground running.
If this is your year to move from guesswork to a system, pick your lane—course, coaching, field days, or the full Gathering—and commit. Subscribe, share with a hunting buddy, and leave a review telling us which class you’re eyeing next.
Nilch’i Wind Checks - An easy to use, must have gear addition to our hunts
Dead Down Wind
Scent Elimination Products
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:10):
Welcome back to the Blacktail Coach podcast.
I'm Aaron.
SPEAKER_03 (00:12):
And I'm Dave.
SPEAKER_00 (00:13):
And we have two special guests with us this
week.
Mark Boone and Alex Cheney arewith us.
So this year, like we did lastyear, we want to do the
Blacktail Coach 2026 episode andtell you all what's coming up,
when it's coming up, how you canget signed up, all those
nitty-gritty details, how youcan support us.
(00:34):
And Alex and Mark are herebecause, as the hair club for
men, before they were prostaffed, they were a client.
So that's how we do ourrecruiting.
So Alex has taken, he went toour first boot camp, and then he
went through coaching last year.
And then Mark did our onlinetrophy tactics course and the
(00:55):
field days.
So they we want them here togive a perspective of why that
they signed up and kind of thosedetails.
So I know a lot of guys or a lotof our listeners have emailed us
asking, what should I take?
What's the best fit for me?
So hopefully this answers thatby having these guys talk about
(01:16):
why they did that.
So we'll start off.
We have the trophy tacticscourse.
We're offering that againonline.
That'll be March 3rd throughApril 7th.
We have two in-person courses,March 7th in Olympia and March
21st in Woodland.
So once you sign up, we'll sendyou the exact address and the
hours.
The online course meets forabout an hour and 15 minutes a
(01:39):
week.
And then the in-person is aboutsix, seven hours.
SPEAKER_03 (01:44):
Just depends on how many questions the guys ask and
how long I ramble on.
SPEAKER_00 (01:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (01:48):
That's how many rabbit holes I run down.
SPEAKER_00 (01:49):
And there can be a lot of rabbit holes, and that's
a great time to ask questions.
Actually, all of them we makesure that we get all the
questions answered.
Yep.
But with that, to secure yourspot, it's a$100 deposit.
The total cost for the class is$400.
We do offer a family discount.
So if a second, third, fourthfamily, any family member beyond
the first family member whosigns up gets a 25% discount.
(02:13):
So it's 300.
We also do active duty andveterans get the 25% discount.
So the class ends up being$300.
The deposit is still$100.
But I do want to tell everyone,as of right now, during
recording, which is we'rerecording on November 1st, our
online course is limited to 20total participants, and we're
(02:36):
sitting at 11 people who haveregistered so far.
So that's going to fill up, Ithink, within the week after
this episode airs.
SPEAKER_03 (02:45):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (02:45):
And once it does, we will create a wait list and
maybe add a second class if weget enough guys.
But we want to make sure that ifthat is something that's of
interest to you, that you aresigning up for the online
course.
Plenty of room still left forthe in-person in Olympia and
Woodland.
Mark, so you took the onlinecourse and the trophy tactics.
(03:06):
So what was your thinking withthat?
Mine was all the schedule andflexibility on the online okay.
SPEAKER_01 (03:12):
Yeah.
Being gone out of town, I knew Iwas always going to be back by
six o'clock or whatever theclass was, but weekends are full
and busy for me.
Yeah.
So if you got busy weekends, gotbusy weekends.
I'll tell you though, one of theadvantages that I had, or I feel
like it could offer, is I got tothink about that one topic for
that whole week.
(03:33):
Come up with questions.
And I wrote down questions.
I remember asking you, you know,I mean, that's just what I did
the whole week thinking aboutwhat you know about this.
And so when I came back thatsecond, I would have never even
thought of that.
SPEAKER_03 (03:44):
You that's a great point to make that you got the
whole week to go over all ofthat, your notes, and then turn
around and pepper you.
Yeah.
Because we do so many classes,Aaron and I, it just and Jimmy
too, the pro staff help out somuch.
We do so many that it just itkind of runs one into another
and you kind of forget being onthe other side of the table
(04:07):
trying to because we've done itso many times, you know what I
mean?
So it's like, well, they shouldhave understood it because I
presented it the same way I didlast time, and but that's a
great, that's good.
I didn't even think of that.
SPEAKER_01 (04:17):
I can see an advantage of an all-day class is
that you get to see that wholebig picture right from the
get-go, right?
This one, you get a little teaseof one topic, and then you're
thinking about it all week, andthen you get another topic, and
finally by the second, third,fourth session, you're really
putting it all together, andyou're like, oh, now it's
clicking.
So it's taking three, four weeksof that versus one day before
(04:40):
you start trusting what I'msaying.
SPEAKER_00 (04:42):
You get a whole week to write down your notes, and
you are a definite note taker.
Yes.
You take lots of notes, and wedo have classes.
I would say the guys who are themost successful in any of our
classes, boot camp, anything,are the ones who take a lot of
notes.
So keep that in mind.
You might not have taken a lotof notes in school.
(05:04):
This is where you want to take alot of notes because I think
that really translates tosuccess.
SPEAKER_03 (05:09):
And this is more important than school.
SPEAKER_00 (05:11):
Yes, more important.
SPEAKER_02 (05:12):
Your education outside of this is yeah, you
know, when you're to usetrigonometry.
Yeah, and taking those notes,I'm able to reference them back
year after year.
Yeah.
Just to refresh my memory ormake sure I got everything in
order.
Keeps you on track.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_03 (05:28):
I think it builds a sense of confidence too when you
start looking at, okay, so I didthis really well last year.
This is something I need to workon.
And then you can add to thosenotes as you're doing it.
Okay, tried this, didn't work.
Reason it didn't work was this,this, and this.
Because ultimately, I'm showingguys how I do it.
And like the locating, I knowBud, he's better at it than I
(05:49):
am.
And and kudos to him.
That's no skin off my back.
I that's awesome.
You know, he's better at it thanI am, and that's great.
So it's like I call him all thetime.
What do you what would you do?
What what how are you gettinghim to do this?
That kind of stuff, and what areyou looking for?
And so we kind of bounce stuffoff each other, and that's kind
of our community, too, is totroubleshoot a lot of the stuff
(06:09):
that comes together.
SPEAKER_00 (06:10):
Between each other, yeah.
Well, for Bud, it's well, thefirst thing I do is I walk five
miles behind the gate, or I runfive miles behind the gate.
He does that, and the rest of usknow better.
SPEAKER_01 (06:23):
One thing I'd say on the online class, Aaron, is that
you want to be a little bit techsavvy, but at least have a newer
computer or something because Iknow a couple people in my class
two years ago, they didn't knowhow to or they didn't have where
they can ask the questions, getoff a mute and ask some of the
questions, where they could havegot some more advantage of being
an in-person because they didn'thave that two-way communication.
(06:45):
Right.
So you want to at least makesure that you're tech savvy or
have the equipment for that.
SPEAKER_00 (06:49):
A computer with camera and microphone.
Because we had someone, nocamera, no microphone, and then
they didn't actually ask.
I don't I don't know if theyactually asked a whole lot of
questions.
So it just limits what yourparticipation, and we don't want
you to be limited with beingable to ask questions or
(07:11):
participate.
So that was, I remember thatclass because there were a lot
of people that even though theycould have had their camera on,
a lot of them turned theircameras off.
And it was harder for Dave, Iknow that, because he needs to
see your faces.
SPEAKER_03 (07:25):
It sounds funny to say that, but it's absolutely
true.
Of all the classes we offer,that online class is my least
favorite because I don't, it'shard to read expression.
You know, it's like texting.
You can read a lot into what'sbeing texted to you.
Well, when you guys startshifting or their camera keeps
going on and off, or they sigh,deep sigh, or something like
(07:47):
that.
I'm like, okay, am I lullingthis crowd into a sleep here?
You know, and it's like, arethey getting this?
It's just harder for me.
I I enjoy the in-person.
SPEAKER_00 (07:56):
Uh or being able to pick up body language of okay,
that person has a question, butthey they're not asking the
question.
So you can ask them right andfollow up.
SPEAKER_03 (08:05):
Yeah.
So I always prefer thein-person.
I mean, the one thing I hatewill say about all of this since
we've started it is we've met abunch of great people.
Yeah.
You know, and that's really beena blessing to me.
SPEAKER_00 (08:16):
But regardless of online, in-person, boot camp,
all the combinations work.
Yeah.
So it has worked two years now,and we're going to do a second
success story with you, Mark.
Two years in a row, you've takenthe field days, we'll talk about
those next, and the trophytactics online, and you got it
(08:37):
done.
Alex went to the boot camp, hegot it done as well.
His first year that he reallyimplemented.
After that you went to the bootcamp, you'd gotten an ankle
injury, and so you couldn'tactually hunt or at least
implement the system.
So when you did get into it, yougot it done.
Correct.
SPEAKER_02 (08:52):
Yeah, after the boot camp, I ended up rupturing my
Achilles, so I wasn't able tohunt that year.
And then that's why I wanted todo the coaching in 24.
So I didn't want another yeargoing by without giving myself
the best chance of harvesting amature blacktail.
SPEAKER_00 (09:07):
So let's get into the coaching.
It meets on the third Tuesday ofevery month from May to January.
It does include the field days.
That is included in the cost.
It's a$200 deposit.
The total cost is$800.
It includes both in-person fielddays, the locating and
establishing a set, which are inMarch and August.
(09:29):
And that we meet, I think aboutan hour and a half.
It can vary, but groups of nomore than five people.
So you're getting one-on-oneattention and we work your hunt
plan.
So we talk about your set, wetalk about your deer coming in,
and Dave walks you through thewhole process or Jimmy.
(09:50):
So Jimmy's one of our othercoaches that runs a couple of
things.
SPEAKER_03 (09:54):
We just come alongside you guys.
I mean, our biggest thing isyour success.
And so it's our opportunity,like I said, to come alongside
you and don't give you all theanswers right away, but help you
learn to troubleshoot, help youlearn how to implement what we
teach you.
And again, this is my system,it's not the way, it's just the
way I do it.
(10:14):
And there's guys out there thathunt differently that are
probably more successful than Iam, but I'm willing to share
what I know.
SPEAKER_00 (10:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (10:21):
And so we just come alongside of you and we
encourage you and we show youhow to do things and we help you
learn how to troubleshoot.
And so I'm an electrician bytrade.
One thing that I figured out asa journeyman when I'm teaching
an apprentice, if thatapprentice can figure out
troubleshooting, if they cangrasp troubleshooting, then what
they've done is they've reallyfigured out how things work.
(10:44):
Because if you can't figure outhow it works, you can't
troubleshoot.
When we break it down like thatand we start saying, So what
brought us here?
Why are you putting that there?
When are you putting that?
And we're doing all these thingsthat would cause you to really
stop and think that we're notrandomly doing things, things
are done with a purpose, andthat purpose is this, and we do
(11:05):
it then, and it really helps aperson start putting that puzzle
together.
And Mark was saying off-airhere, you know, when you reach a
point where it's like it allstarts clicking.
SPEAKER_00 (11:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (11:15):
And you understand how those deer are thinking, and
you know where you need to beand when you need to be there,
and you your confidence leveljust skyrockets, and that's what
we're after.
SPEAKER_00 (11:26):
So one of the things also that I wanted to mention
about that is you get, I'musually in on the coaching
sessions as well, but you getDave's phone number, you get my
phone number, Jimmy.
If he is one of our coaches thattakes guys through coaching, you
get all of our phone numbers.
If you need help in the middleof the month, you don't have to
wait or you don't have to emailus.
(11:47):
You guys are the priority.
So when you send us a textmessage, we respond as quickly
as possible.
And it might take a couple days,but we're trying to make sure
that we're responding to thosefirst, that you guys or ladies,
if you're taking it, you're theones who get the priority.
So with troubleshooting, thatactually makes me think because
(12:10):
you went through the coaching,Alex, and you did some
troubleshooting in your set.
You checked in with Dave aboutthat, but it ultimately is what
made you successful.
SPEAKER_02 (12:20):
Yep, that's I would say yeah.
So for me, the coaching, youknow, we met once a month, helps
keep you on track.
You know what you need to do forthe next month of your homework
to stay on task, helps holdyourself accountable.
You set goals for yourself on,you know, what size of buck you
want, depending on where you'reat with your hunting level.
You also get a hunt planner, andthen like you're going through
(12:42):
this with a group of guys.
So like you get to ask themquestions, you get to bounce
ideas off of each other, theirsuccess, what struggles they're
going through, what they'redoing to get over those
struggles.
And then, like, when it came inthe clutch for me was when I was
doing a test set.
So Curry came into my originalset, he was only there one
(13:03):
night, and then I was freakingout because he didn't come back.
So I did a test set about a halfmile away.
SPEAKER_03 (13:07):
We never experienced that.
SPEAKER_02 (13:08):
And uh, but then Curry started coming to my
original set, and he was comingin a week and a half straight
every night, just right afterdark.
And then the first daylightpicture I ever got of him was at
the test set.
I was like, holy smokes, youknow, and then so I called Dave,
I'm all freaking out.
SPEAKER_03 (13:24):
I was like, he he's it's miraculous that he got a
hold of me because I gave him ameat packing plant phone number.
SPEAKER_02 (13:29):
So I called Dave, I was like, hey, I got that, got
my target buck daylighted on mytest set.
I was like, is it too late to gobuy a brand new blind and go set
it up?
He's like, nope, not at all.
So I went to the store, bought abrand new blind, set it up, you
know, sprayed it down with deaddown wind, and then I brushed it
in, and uh, he didn't come inthat night, but he ended up
coming in the next day.
(13:50):
But long story short, by thetime I set up that blind four
days later is when I was able toharvest him.
It happened pretty quick.
SPEAKER_03 (13:58):
Yeah, that's a good feeling though, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02 (14:00):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (14:00):
I mean when 20-yard shot, right?
20 yards, yep.
Yeah, how far was yours?
21.
21.
SPEAKER_03 (14:05):
When when you can have the confidence, like
knowing that okay, this is wherehe's coming in.
You know, I found his bedroom,this is the bedroom door, he's
coming in right here, and he'sdaylighted already.
He's gonna daylight again.
And then to be able to set upwith the anticipation, I'm gonna
get a shot at this guy.
And it's funny because we getguys sending pictures all the
time via text, via the Facebookor website or email.
(14:30):
And we hear that panic in theirvoice all the time.
Guys that haven't taken thecourse, okay.
We were talking about thistoday.
We get the guys that it's like,okay, I need to throw a Hail
Mary and it's got to cometogether because I've only got
two or three days left, andthey're frustrated and
everything.
Aaron, I think you made a greatpoint about this.
Uh, that with this, if you jumpinto it, there is no Hail Mary.
SPEAKER_00 (14:52):
There is no Hail Mary.
And you guys, would you agreethat this isn't a Hail Mary type
of you have a plan and you knowit's gonna work.
SPEAKER_01 (15:01):
You're seeing the box, yeah, it's very
intentional.
SPEAKER_03 (15:03):
Yeah, and that plan isn't put together like you
didn't start it and reach thefruition of having that book two
days before the end of season.
You work the summer, and it'snot a lot of work.
SPEAKER_02 (15:15):
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (15:16):
You know, it's like, okay, I'm gonna go walk in the
woods for 15 minutes or 20minutes or whatever, check out
this book, and you do that oncea month, and by the time season
gets here, you're good to go.
SPEAKER_01 (15:25):
But because you took the coaching, Alex, you you
actually called Dave, you hadhis number, and you were able to
do that.
Where Dave, you and I've beenout looking at sites and some
stuff down south, and I cancontest.
I mean, we're taking a littlebreak, and all of a sudden you
get you're replying to textmessages.
We get back to the truck, you'retaking calls, you you know, and
that was during the prime time,you know, right?
(15:48):
The late season and stuff, butand you're the system works the
best then.
But you take you really wanteverybody to succeed.
I absolutely do.
SPEAKER_03 (15:57):
And I hope my boss isn't listening to this podcast
because during the workday I geta lot of text messages and phone
calls and whatnot.
But that is, and anybody whoknows me knows that my heart is
to bless people, and that's whyI'm doing this.
This is not uh done out of anypride or arrogance.
I want guys to be successful,and man, when one of you guys
(16:17):
gets a buck, I'm ecstatic.
Aaron and Austin can attest tothat.
Man, I just get excited, youknow.
Oh, yeah, he's running out therewanting to help Alex shot curry,
and I drove what is it fromhere?
SPEAKER_02 (16:29):
Hour and 50-15, yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (16:30):
Minutes to his place just to go and help him recover.
I love it.
Yeah, and I love seeing guysachieve a goal.
There's a lot of times in lifewhere we take those dreams and
those goals and we set them backand we say, you know what?
Maybe that's not attainable forme.
And we get a lot of guys,especially come into these
classes and whatnot, and theysay this is really hard.
(16:52):
And there's nothing wrong withthis.
And I want to preface what I'mabout to say with that.
There's nothing wrong with whatI'm about to say.
I don't mind it, but there's analternative to it.
But we have guys that come inand say, Man, I'd be happy with
a doe or a spike or a fork andhorn.
And inside I'm grinning becauseI know what the potential of
(17:13):
what they could be killing.
And I think both of you guys area testament to that.
You both first year using this,you both shot your biggest black
tail ever.
And Mark, you went second yearusing the system and you topped
the first year.
SPEAKER_01 (17:28):
It's funny you say that.
That was my goal to shoot a forkand horn with my bow.
That for you know, we do that.
SPEAKER_00 (17:34):
We set a goal.
We set a goal.
SPEAKER_01 (17:35):
Yeah, I mean, that's the part the intent, right?
You know, it's very intentional.
That was my goal.
I just wanted to kill somethingwith a bow.
I've never done that before.
Let's try it.
Until you start seeing thesedeer come in, then your goals
might change, right?
Most people or a lot of people,newer people that get into
hunting, that's just what theywant to do.
SPEAKER_03 (17:53):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (17:53):
Which is fine.
And the system will allow it.
SPEAKER_03 (17:55):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You're gonna get shot up orsomething.
SPEAKER_00 (17:58):
You will always it would be hard, you'd be hard
pressed not to get meat for thefreezer with this system.
SPEAKER_03 (18:05):
That would be well, that being said, we did have one
guy who had 19 yeah, yeah.
19 bears throughout the season.
I'm sorry, I can't compete withthat.
SPEAKER_01 (18:15):
So he still got meat in the freezer.
SPEAKER_03 (18:17):
But well, he didn't feel the bear day.
SPEAKER_00 (18:19):
So with the coaching and actually bringing up a
really good point.
So the way it's set up is at thevery first session, we set your
goal for the year.
Smart goal, and it's the simple,measurable, achievable,
realistic, and timely.
That's how you make a smartgoal.
So everybody has a goal, a veryspecific goal of what they want
(18:41):
to do for the year.
How we achieve that goal is inby something called action
steps.
And we uh work on okay, here'syour action steps, here's what
you need to do for the month.
So you know exactly before inMay, you know what you need to
do before our session meets inJune.
You know what you need to dobefore our session meets in
(19:05):
July.
Every single month, you learnall that.
And the way we wrap it up is inJanuary, well, there's no
hunting, is you summarize yourseason so that you build, and
we've done an episode on this,you build one season off the
last.
Yeah, next season off the last.
That is always the goal, is thatyou figure out what you're gonna
(19:30):
do for next season.
And we talk about Hail Marys andwe get calls and stuff, and we
do, whether you're in coachingor in a class or you just listen
to the podcast, we do want toanswer your questions.
We can't always get to the HailMarys at the last minute because
well, this year Dave was out oftown working, I was in stand
(19:52):
hunting, and it just it didn'tquite work out to be able to
answer a couple of them.
SPEAKER_03 (19:57):
We got one last night, yeah.
You know, and it was Oregon, sohe's still got a little bit of
time, but it's like I got two orthree days left before we have
to go back to work.
SPEAKER_00 (20:06):
And it's not that we don't want to, it's just if
you're waiting for those HailMarys, I don't want to promise
something that we can't deliver.
So we always do want to try toanswer all the questions we can
and everything.
SPEAKER_03 (20:18):
But you know what's funny is you're describing all
this, Aaron, and I'm thinking ofthe movie Moneyball.
SPEAKER_00 (20:23):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_03 (20:24):
And if you haven't seen that, watch it.
It's a great show.
Kind of what we're doing here iseverybody thinks that if I go
and sit in a seminar and Ilisten to this guy, I'm gonna
walk out of there and I'm gonnaknow everything I need to know.
And this hunting is gonna be alot easier just because I went
there and listened to him, andmaybe I rubbed shoulders or
shook his hand or whatever.
(20:44):
I've gleaned something off ofthis guy that's magical, and I'm
gonna start filling tags, youknow.
And the reality is that so ourmotto is success is no accident.
And this is kind of a money ballcourse in the sense that we're
gonna break it down, we're gonnahelp you take and look at this
more analytically as far asbuilding a schedule, a calendar.
(21:07):
What days am I going out?
Why am I going out?
So that it kind of reinforces inyour mind how to collect data.
Yeah, because that's what mosthunters don't want, they don't
know how to do.
I don't say they don't want to,they don't know how.
You know, again, I go back tothe trail cameras or interpret
the data.
Guys get trail cameras and theyget it for entertainment, right?
(21:29):
But once you start taking acourse, you realize hey, uh
there's so many more aspects tothis trail camera that I'm not
utilizing as far as winddirection, as far as barometer,
as far as the date they came in,as far as what trail they were
on.
And guys just don't know to usethat like that.
SPEAKER_00 (21:45):
And I know both Alex and Mark, you both have talked
about and kind of expressed, andI or I've just seen it, that you
know how to interpret the datathat you're seeing, pictures on
your cameras, or just thatinformation.
You've learned how to interpretthat and adjust or make a plan
(22:09):
based off of that.
So year over year, and we'll getmore into that with your success
story, Mark, but it wasgathering some information to
make a plan off thatinformation.
And Alex, and I remember youwould always use the for well, I
put out a couple of cameras forresearch purposes, and you kept
for research purposes, but thenyour research proved that you
(22:33):
needed to go move over to thatother set and it paid off and
everything.
So we're gonna move along andtalk about so with the coaching,
you get the two in-person fielddays.
So the locating field day, March28th.
If you want to do thatstandalone, that's$200.
Now you can actually take thatwithout taking the trophy
(22:54):
tactics course because that is apiece that we can teach that's a
standalone course.
And I think a lot of guysactually prove that it's useful.
All of our early season guys, sowe had Alex and Cully and Mark
who got early season bucks,where it was a lot of that's
based off of just locatingskills.
(23:15):
Right.
Right.
So if you want to take thatMarch 28th,$200, and we go over
the classroom aspect oflocating, then we go out in the
field and we show you what we'retalking about.
Habitat that's too young,habitat that's perfect, habitat
that's just on its tail end, andhabitat you want to avoid like
(23:37):
the plague.
You know, basically coveringbecause there's not going to be
any, you're just not going toget a big bucket in certain
habitats.
Or it's going to be pure luck.
SPEAKER_02 (23:46):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (23:46):
And then there's the establishing a set.
One second, Aaron.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (23:49):
You said go over, but it's not just going over
those different sets of timberor those.
You're getting a visual.
SPEAKER_00 (23:56):
Yeah.
We walk out into the field.
SPEAKER_01 (23:59):
We walk out in the field, and that's huge.
You're firsthand seeing how faryou're going from the road, how
far Dave's going from the road.
When he gets to a set, what itlooks like.
Where's the core area thatyou're trying to find, this
bedding area compared to thetrails, intersections, edges,
that kind of stuff.
It is so valuable of thatvisual.
And I'm a visual person, right?
SPEAKER_03 (24:19):
Yeah, the hands-on visual, like you're saying, is
key.
It's priceless.
Aaron, you've heard me say this.
You guys have heard me say this.
You can't kill what you can'tlocate.
So it's the most underutilizedskill that hunters use.
Well, I've been taught to huntclear cuts.
And it's like, okay, that'sgood.
But let me teach you anotherway.
You don't have to use this way,but be open to some stuff.
(24:41):
They start realizing, oh, andthis is what Dave means when he
says thick.
This is what Dave means when hesays it's an edge.
This is the kind of edge youwant to look for.
This is the habitat that Dave'stalking about.
I mean, we take you out in thefield.
I actually take you to one of mysets.
Yeah.
And it's like it's all publicland.
You know, and it's we don't huntany private.
SPEAKER_01 (25:00):
Yeah.
When I took that online classand I recommended that to a
couple people, and I said, justalso take those field days.
Those are so key.
I mean, you can only show somuch online, right?
Maybe you can show more inperson, ex you know, explain or
describe it a little bit more.
But I highly recommend if you'reonline, if you can't afford it,
get to those field days or ifyour schedule meets up, that's
(25:22):
valuable.
SPEAKER_03 (25:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (25:24):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (25:25):
We've had a lot of positive reaction to the field
days.
SPEAKER_00 (25:28):
Did we have field days when you yes, we did when
you went through coaching,right?
Yes, when I went throughcoaching.
Yes.
Because that was one that Ithink we actually started those
based off of feedback from thecoaching.
Boy, it would be great to seethat.
So again, it's March.
So you'd have to sign up forcoaching before the March 28th
(25:48):
class.
And that the establishing a setis actually our August session.
It's kind of a downtime foryou've done all your locating,
you're not ready, quite ready todo a set yet.
So we go out and we show you howto create your set.
The kill spot, brushing in ablind, how you would hang up a
(26:12):
tree stand, the whole gamut ofdoing everything, how to do
drags and how where to hangscents and every aspect.
Now that is only open to peoplewho have taken the trophy
tactics course.
The reason for that is outsideof as a standalone, it just
(26:33):
doesn't have the context.
You would be asking, well, whywould what is this?
What's the point of this?
There's just no context.
So you need the context of thetrophy tactics, the whole
course.
So that's$150.
August 8th is when that'll meet.
But that one is really good forthe visual people who just need
(26:54):
to see all of that done.
SPEAKER_03 (26:56):
During the trophy tactics course, you get the
reasoning behind every movementthat we make out there in the
field as far as the set and thelocating, you know.
So if you don't have that trophytactics course, the locating you
can do standalone, but it helpsto have the trophy tactic
because then we go back to allthe reasoning that you learned
in the trophy tactic, why we'redoing what we're doing, why the
(27:19):
deer is doing what they'redoing, and you're able to start
piecing that puzzle together.
SPEAKER_00 (27:23):
Okay, so we're gonna move along.
I'm looking at the time here.
And the last thing I wanted tomention, so we were gonna talk
about boot camp.
It's not only that you're goingto get the full trophy tactics
course and the equivalent ofboth field days in that weekend.
So Alex went to our first one,which was at a not so it's at
(27:45):
Cascades Camp and ConferenceCenter, if you want to look it
up.
Great location, great people.
We did the first one at Cispus,and Alex, you were part of that.
Yes, I was the inaugural.
But tell us what were yourthoughts about that?
SPEAKER_02 (27:57):
Yeah, so I was looking at the different classes
you guys offer, the boot campand the trophy tactics and
everything.
I've been hunting black tailsfor 17 years at the time and got
a buck every year, but they'veall been spikes in two points,
and I was just ready to try toup my game and get to that next
level.
So figured uh do this black tailclass with you guys and try to
better my odds.
(28:17):
But I ended up choosing the bootcamp because I'm a hands-on
learner and I figured the bootcamp would be the best class for
me.
You get visual learnings on thelocating part, actually
establishing a set in the field.
You know, Dave teaches you howto set up a tree stand, brush in
a blind, where to put the treestand and blind versus where
(28:40):
your set's actually at.
And also there's a lot ofopportunity to ask questions
because you get the wholeweekend to ask questions versus
if you do the trophy tactics,you only get that four to six
hours to ask questions.
Yeah, this is versus the bootcamp.
You get all weekend.
SPEAKER_03 (28:56):
Yeah, breakfast, lunch, yeah, dinner.
We're rubbing elbows all thetime.
Yeah, so yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (29:02):
So the year that you went, Alex, that's where you met
Scott Cullum, our other prostaff member.
Yes.
And you guys have since becomeyou didn't know him before then
at all.
Nope.
Nope.
He lives up in Enum Claw.
Yes.
And you're in on Alaska.
Yep.
And so guys from different partsof the state who would have no
(29:23):
reason to run into each other.
And now you guys are huntingbuddies, basically.
You know, you don't go outnecessarily together, but you've
gone out turkey hunting withthem, but you've got that friend
now.
SPEAKER_02 (29:36):
Absolutely.
And he's come down to my place,especially that first year after
or during the coaching, becausehe also did the coaching with
me.
He came down to my place andchecked out some of my sets, and
you know, we bounced questionsback and forth.
I went up to his place and wedid the same thing.
And I'm like, no, I think weshould go over here, or you
know, just pros and cons toboth.
And so, you know, he's just uh agood buddy to be able to call up
(29:59):
and just bounce questions offeach other and check in.
SPEAKER_00 (30:01):
Yeah, and that happened with the class from two
years ago because we had we hadsomeone from Vernon.
And someone from Aberdeen andsomeone from Snohomish who all
kept in contact with each other,checking in about how's your
season going, how are thingsgoing.
And that was the biggest thingthat first year.
(30:22):
Wow.
We didn't expect you guys tonecessarily hit it off quite
like that.
It really was a blessing to usbecause it meant more than we
were just teaching you a skillthat we were giving you a
something bigger to be part of.
This community where you couldcall somebody if you needed help
(30:45):
locating your harvest out in thewoods.
There's potentially people whoyou could give a call to or who
come out and help.
SPEAKER_02 (30:53):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
After I shot Curry last year, Icalled Dave and he was willing
to drop everything.
Actually, I'm pretty sure I gotyou out of like a f a dinner,
which you were pretty okay.
SPEAKER_03 (31:03):
Oh my wife's in the other room here.
SPEAKER_02 (31:06):
Anyways, so like Dave was more than happy to come
out, help me look for the deer.
But you're in laws, don'tlisten.
SPEAKER_00 (31:11):
So you're okay.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (31:13):
But he came up and you know, both of them helped me
find my deer that night.
And then two days later, Budshot a deer, and I went and
helped him retrieve that too.
Oh, nice.
And yeah, Mark and I we met lastyear at the field days, and now
we keep in touch quite a bit andtexting quite a bit and calling
each other.
SPEAKER_03 (31:27):
Yeah, and that's not uncommon.
We find and I think it's becauseI think guys are realizing, hey,
there's more than one person outthere that's crazy about black
tail.
SPEAKER_02 (31:35):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (31:36):
We've kind of been the redheaded stepchild as far
as the deer community because soisolated up here on the west
side of the Cascades in thePacific Northwest, because all
you see on TV is the whitetail,mullies, and elk and all that
stuff.
And we've got blacktail, andthey're a beautiful, beautiful
animal, and they're elusive,they're super hard to get.
That's I think what is addictingabout it.
(31:58):
When you finally figure it outand you come to these things and
you realize, man, there's a lotof guys that are really into
this blacktail thing.
SPEAKER_01 (32:04):
Yeah, but when you learn this system, it's the
non-ego, non-competitive kind ofclass and system, right?
You find out there's a lot moredeer, a lot more bucks in tons
of areas that you ever thoughtabout.
It's just learning how to go andfind the glassing point and
challenge everybody to get tothat glassing point first,
(32:24):
right?
It is there's so many deer outthere, and this system teaches
you that.
And I think that's what helps.
It's like Alex, you got yourspots, I got mine, they're close
to each other's homes.
We could compare notes orwhatever.
I know I wasn't involved in theboot camp, but you're spending
the whole weekend with thosepeople, but even just doing the
field days or being in class,I'm communicating with, I don't
know, five, six, seven people,you know, just comparing notes
(32:46):
and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_00 (32:47):
So yeah, and I think some people have just on
Facebook and then they take theclass.
Oh, you're so and so, and youput a face to the name that
you've been commenting back andforth with on the Facebook page
or something.
SPEAKER_01 (32:59):
And now, so we started this and we got the
community part, you know, right?
But hey, Alex and I are going ona moose hunt in a couple years.
We just signed up, so justbecause of that, you know, we
spent some money you might oweus back.
SPEAKER_03 (33:12):
Yeah, you replaced me?
You filled my spot?
I did.
SPEAKER_01 (33:15):
Oh, I didn't know that was a oh no.
SPEAKER_00 (33:18):
We're still trying to put together a pig hunt
between all of us to go out anddo that because we've just been
dying.
Something in the off season.
Something in the off-season foryears.
So now we want to talk about thechange that has come to boot
camp.
So when we first started bootcamp, almost immediately the
idea was to expand it to includeother species.
(33:41):
And we're at the point now wherethat is happening this year.
We are going to expand it toinclude multiple species.
So, Dave, tell us what to expectthis year.
SPEAKER_03 (33:51):
Okay.
So, Aaron, drum roll, please.
Today we are announcing whatwe're going to call the hunters'
gathering.
And the hunter's gathering iswhat takes the place at boot
camp, a multi-species weekend.
So we've partnered up with somepeople here that we feel are
just awesome as far as theirsuccess as hunters and
(34:13):
outdoorsmen or outdoors person.
Some really great speakers linedup already.
We have Trent Fisher from Bornand Raised, absolutely
world-class guy.
That that whole group is justawesome.
Trent will be doing Elk andteaching his method and his
techniques and strategies.
I will be doing blacktail, but Iwill do my full blacktail trophy
(34:34):
tactics course, how I do it,when I do it, all that.
And then we've also got HeatherAldrich, who is a magnificent
bear hunter.
She is phenomenal.
She will be there and she willbe teaching her course and her
strategies, techniques, all ofthat stuff.
And then we've got our very ownAlex Cheney, who is a pro staff,
but he's also a pro staff forPhelps Calls for Turkey.
(34:57):
He has completed the WashingtonSlam like nine times.
SPEAKER_00 (35:00):
Nine times now.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (35:02):
Yeah.
He's just he took my son outthis last year and they called
in seven birds in one weekend.
That's incredible.
That's insane.
But we have all these peoplelined up.
It's going to be a greatweekend.
We're super excited about it.
And man, this is the year tojump in, guys, because it's
going to be incredible.
SPEAKER_00 (35:20):
Yeah.
So really, instead of just onetrophy tactics course, you're
going to get four this year.
It's expanding.
Everybody, the point of this iseducation.
It's to teach those who wantthose skills, who want to
improve their skills, or youmight be a super successful
(35:41):
hunter, but you know thatthere's always more to learn.
So this is going to benefit you.
You've heard Heather and Alex onthe podcast for multiple shows
where we covered both Turkey andBear.
They approach Turkey and Bearthe same way that Dave
approaches Blacktail.
SPEAKER_03 (35:59):
And everybody knows Trent.
SPEAKER_00 (36:00):
And everybody knows.
SPEAKER_03 (36:01):
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, great guy.
If you've ever met him, you lovehim because he's just super,
super awesome and verysuccessful on both Rosies and
Rockies, and excited to hear himbreak down his hunts.
SPEAKER_00 (36:15):
Yeah.
So we are just really lookingforward to this.
So let's get into the details onthis.
To accommodate all of this, weare actually going to expand to
an extra day.
So this is going to happen fromThursday, April 9th through
Sunday, April 12th, noon to noonon each day, so that we get the
(36:37):
full courses for each of these.
It's happening again at theCascades Camp and Conference
Center outside of Yelm,Washington.
And the cost is going to be$14.95.
SPEAKER_03 (36:48):
It's a screaming deal.
SPEAKER_00 (36:49):
Yeah.
Because the idea, and Dave'salways talked about this, is so
that you become your own guide.
And just think if you were to doa guided turkey hunt, bear hunt,
blacktail hunt, elk hunt, howmuch you would spend on that.
SPEAKER_03 (37:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:03):
So you will have the tools and the skills needed to
do all that yourself, to do allthe work yourself.
So again, food and lodging isall provided for the entire
weekend.
We will send you home with ourhunter's essentials kit, and
it'll basically just the goodybag with something related to
(37:24):
each of these species so thatyou have a tool to hit the
ground running for next year.
SPEAKER_03 (37:29):
And it's three, four days of just rubbing elbows with
all of these speakers and reallydigging down to the nitty-gritty
of what they do.
So it's not just when they're upspeaking, you're going to be
able to sit down with them atmeals, you're going to be able
to talk to them in the evenings,throughout the day, out in the
field.
It's going to be awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (37:47):
Yeah.
So let's talk about some of thediscounts.
So previously, we have done analumni discount for some of our
courses.
This is a new course, but wedecided that if you have
previously attended one of ourboot camps, we are going to do a
$250 discount.
If you've previously attended,we still have the family
(38:09):
discount.
So first member will pay fullprice.
Every other member of yourfamily who decides to attend,
$250 off.
And we're also doing a$250 offdiscount for active duty or
military veterans.
Just let us know at the time ofregistration if you meet any of
those categories, and we willmake sure that we get that up to
(38:31):
you.
It's a$250 deposit.
This is limited in space.
We don't have access to thewhole camp, so get signed up as
soon as you decide that you wantto go.
We're encouraging everyone tosign up as quickly as possible.
The balance of what's due isn'tdue until April 1st.
So we'll give you time to budgetthat out.
(38:53):
Maybe get the tax return in.
So we're really looking forward.
We always have a blast at theseevents.
As you've just previously heardfrom Alex talking about being at
these events, they are a greatevent.
This just all came together, thefinal details, but we were
(39:15):
really excited to get thisinformation out to all of you.
Absolutely.
Love to see you there.
SPEAKER_03 (39:20):
Is there a cap on it, Aaron?
SPEAKER_00 (39:22):
Of attendance wise?
Attendance is a hundred guys.
SPEAKER_03 (39:26):
So the first hundred guys that register are gonna be
in you're gonna have a spot.
After that, it goes on to awaiting list in the event that
somebody drops out.
But it's gonna be awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (39:37):
We do expect this to be pushing that to maxing out.
Yeah.
Just because we've known ofother similar type events that
have happened in the past andthey've sold out.
And with the addition of Trent,born and raised, being there and
teaching what he knows aboutelk, Alex teaching what he knows
(39:58):
about turkey, Heather.
Everybody here has the sameapproach that Dave has about
hunting black tail.
And as you've listened to thepodcast over the last year plus,
you're gonna get a good idea ofwhat you're going to be learning
over that weekend.
SPEAKER_03 (40:12):
Yeah, they're all very passionate.
SPEAKER_00 (40:14):
Lots of pens and notebooks will be provided for
note-taking, and we're justreally excited to see you there.
SPEAKER_03 (40:20):
Yeah, it's gonna be a good time.
Gonna be a lot of greatmemories.
SPEAKER_00 (40:24):
Going to start wrapping things up because this
is turning into a long episode.
But one of the things I wantedto mention is in January, from
January 28th to February 1st, wewill be at the Puallop show,
sportsman show, as we have beenfor the last, I believe, four
years now, same spot.
And the Portland Sportsman Show,February 10th through the or the
(40:46):
11th through the 15th, I believethose are the dates.
So we will be there.
Please come by the booth, talkto us, tell us your story, bring
in your antlase.
How we can help you with yourhunts and everything.
So any final thoughts fromanyone before we move on.
SPEAKER_03 (41:05):
Hope to see everybody at a class, you know,
something and stuff.
Ultimately, we're just trying tohelp guys be successful.
SPEAKER_00 (41:11):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (41:11):
So get proof is in the pudding.
We've got Mark and we've gotAlex here, and we've got a lot
more success stories outside ofthem.
But I think that's somethingthat you can glean from all of
this is that we all started inthe same boat.
We were all frustrated andtrying to figure this out, you
know, and so it was nice to havejust somebody that they can
relate to and say, you knowwhat, that that's me.
(41:33):
Because right now thefrustration is real.
This time of year, all the waythrough December, guys, uh the
frustration is real.
I've walked how many days in therain, I've gone out in the cold,
I haven't seen a big buck, orall I ever get is this or this
or this.
And it's like, well, no, we gotan opportunity, if you guys want
it, to help show you anotherway, I guess.
(41:55):
Not a better way, just anotherway.
SPEAKER_00 (41:57):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (41:58):
Yeah, and right now it's kind of stress-free for me,
anyways.
I see all these hunting rigs atevery gate, and you know,
they're trying to fill theirtags, knowing my season's gonna
start here in a few weeks.
Yeah, no one's hunting in theareas that I'm hunting because
everyone's hunting clear cuts.
Right.
So it's a different mindset, Iguess, is what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00 (42:14):
Same here.
Thank you for your continuedlistening.
If you could hit like,subscribe, follow all those
things on your podcast platformthat you listen to us.
We really appreciate it.
Send us a comment, send us anidea for a podcast that you'd
like to hear.
Always love to hear those.
And until next week.
Welcome back to the Blacktail Coach podcast.
I'm Aaron.
SPEAKER_03 (00:12):
And I'm Dave.
SPEAKER_00 (00:13):
And we have two special guests with us this
week.
Mark Boone and Alex Cheney arewith us.
So this year, like we did lastyear, we want to do the
Blacktail Coach 2026 episode andtell you all what's coming up,
when it's coming up, how you canget signed up, all those
nitty-gritty details, how youcan support us.
(00:34):
And Alex and Mark are herebecause, as the hair club for
men, before they were prostaffed, they were a client.
So that's how we do ourrecruiting.
So Alex has taken, he went toour first boot camp, and then he
went through coaching last year.
And then Mark did our onlinetrophy tactics course and the
(00:55):
field days.
So they we want them here togive a perspective of why that
they signed up and kind of thosedetails.
So I know a lot of guys or a lotof our listeners have emailed us
asking, what should I take?
What's the best fit for me?
So hopefully this answers thatby having these guys talk about
(01:16):
why they did that.
So we'll start off.
We have the trophy tacticscourse.
We're offering that againonline.
That'll be March 3rd throughApril 7th.
We have two in-person courses,March 7th in Olympia and March
21st in Woodland.
So once you sign up, we'll sendyou the exact address and the
hours.
The online course meets forabout an hour and 15 minutes a
(01:39):
week.
And then the in-person is aboutsix, seven hours.
SPEAKER_03 (01:44):
Just depends on how many questions the guys ask and
how long I ramble on.
SPEAKER_00 (01:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (01:48):
That's how many rabbit holes I run down.
SPEAKER_00 (01:49):
And there can be a lot of rabbit holes, and that's
a great time to ask questions.
Actually, all of them we makesure that we get all the
questions answered.
Yep.
But with that, to secure yourspot, it's a$100 deposit.
The total cost for the class is$400.
We do offer a family discount.
So if a second, third, fourthfamily, any family member beyond
the first family member whosigns up gets a 25% discount.
(02:13):
So it's 300.
We also do active duty andveterans get the 25% discount.
So the class ends up being$300.
The deposit is still$100.
But I do want to tell everyone,as of right now, during
recording, which is we'rerecording on November 1st, our
online course is limited to 20total participants, and we're
(02:36):
sitting at 11 people who haveregistered so far.
So that's going to fill up, Ithink, within the week after
this episode airs.
SPEAKER_03 (02:45):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (02:45):
And once it does, we will create a wait list and
maybe add a second class if weget enough guys.
But we want to make sure that ifthat is something that's of
interest to you, that you aresigning up for the online
course.
Plenty of room still left forthe in-person in Olympia and
Woodland.
Mark, so you took the onlinecourse and the trophy tactics.
(03:06):
So what was your thinking withthat?
Mine was all the schedule andflexibility on the online okay.
SPEAKER_01 (03:12):
Yeah.
Being gone out of town, I knew Iwas always going to be back by
six o'clock or whatever theclass was, but weekends are full
and busy for me.
Yeah.
So if you got busy weekends, gotbusy weekends.
I'll tell you though, one of theadvantages that I had, or I feel
like it could offer, is I got tothink about that one topic for
that whole week.
(03:33):
Come up with questions.
And I wrote down questions.
I remember asking you, you know,I mean, that's just what I did
the whole week thinking aboutwhat you know about this.
And so when I came back thatsecond, I would have never even
thought of that.
SPEAKER_03 (03:44):
You that's a great point to make that you got the
whole week to go over all ofthat, your notes, and then turn
around and pepper you.
Yeah.
Because we do so many classes,Aaron and I, it just and Jimmy
too, the pro staff help out somuch.
We do so many that it just itkind of runs one into another
and you kind of forget being onthe other side of the table
(04:07):
trying to because we've done itso many times, you know what I
mean?
So it's like, well, they shouldhave understood it because I
presented it the same way I didlast time, and but that's a
great, that's good.
I didn't even think of that.
SPEAKER_01 (04:17):
I can see an advantage of an all-day class is
that you get to see that wholebig picture right from the
get-go, right?
This one, you get a little teaseof one topic, and then you're
thinking about it all week, andthen you get another topic, and
finally by the second, third,fourth session, you're really
putting it all together, andyou're like, oh, now it's
clicking.
So it's taking three, four weeksof that versus one day before
(04:40):
you start trusting what I'msaying.
SPEAKER_00 (04:42):
You get a whole week to write down your notes, and
you are a definite note taker.
Yes.
You take lots of notes, and wedo have classes.
I would say the guys who are themost successful in any of our
classes, boot camp, anything,are the ones who take a lot of
notes.
So keep that in mind.
You might not have taken a lotof notes in school.
(05:04):
This is where you want to take alot of notes because I think
that really translates tosuccess.
SPEAKER_03 (05:09):
And this is more important than school.
SPEAKER_00 (05:11):
Yes, more important.
SPEAKER_02 (05:12):
Your education outside of this is yeah, you
know, when you're to usetrigonometry.
Yeah, and taking those notes,I'm able to reference them back
year after year.
Yeah.
Just to refresh my memory ormake sure I got everything in
order.
Keeps you on track.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_03 (05:28):
I think it builds a sense of confidence too when you
start looking at, okay, so I didthis really well last year.
This is something I need to workon.
And then you can add to thosenotes as you're doing it.
Okay, tried this, didn't work.
Reason it didn't work was this,this, and this.
Because ultimately, I'm showingguys how I do it.
And like the locating, I knowBud, he's better at it than I
(05:49):
am.
And and kudos to him.
That's no skin off my back.
I that's awesome.
You know, he's better at it thanI am, and that's great.
So it's like I call him all thetime.
What do you what would you do?
What what how are you gettinghim to do this?
That kind of stuff, and what areyou looking for?
And so we kind of bounce stuffoff each other, and that's kind
of our community, too, is totroubleshoot a lot of the stuff
(06:09):
that comes together.
SPEAKER_00 (06:10):
Between each other, yeah.
Well, for Bud, it's well, thefirst thing I do is I walk five
miles behind the gate, or I runfive miles behind the gate.
He does that, and the rest of usknow better.
SPEAKER_01 (06:23):
One thing I'd say on the online class, Aaron, is that
you want to be a little bit techsavvy, but at least have a newer
computer or something because Iknow a couple people in my class
two years ago, they didn't knowhow to or they didn't have where
they can ask the questions, getoff a mute and ask some of the
questions, where they could havegot some more advantage of being
an in-person because they didn'thave that two-way communication.
(06:45):
Right.
So you want to at least makesure that you're tech savvy or
have the equipment for that.
SPEAKER_00 (06:49):
A computer with camera and microphone.
Because we had someone, nocamera, no microphone, and then
they didn't actually ask.
I don't I don't know if theyactually asked a whole lot of
questions.
So it just limits what yourparticipation, and we don't want
you to be limited with beingable to ask questions or
(07:11):
participate.
So that was, I remember thatclass because there were a lot
of people that even though theycould have had their camera on,
a lot of them turned theircameras off.
And it was harder for Dave, Iknow that, because he needs to
see your faces.
SPEAKER_03 (07:25):
It sounds funny to say that, but it's absolutely
true.
Of all the classes we offer,that online class is my least
favorite because I don't, it'shard to read expression.
You know, it's like texting.
You can read a lot into what'sbeing texted to you.
Well, when you guys startshifting or their camera keeps
going on and off, or they sigh,deep sigh, or something like
(07:47):
that.
I'm like, okay, am I lullingthis crowd into a sleep here?
You know, and it's like, arethey getting this?
It's just harder for me.
I I enjoy the in-person.
SPEAKER_00 (07:56):
Uh or being able to pick up body language of okay,
that person has a question, butthey they're not asking the
question.
So you can ask them right andfollow up.
SPEAKER_03 (08:05):
Yeah.
So I always prefer thein-person.
I mean, the one thing I hatewill say about all of this since
we've started it is we've met abunch of great people.
Yeah.
You know, and that's really beena blessing to me.
SPEAKER_00 (08:16):
But regardless of online, in-person, boot camp,
all the combinations work.
Yeah.
So it has worked two years now,and we're going to do a second
success story with you, Mark.
Two years in a row, you've takenthe field days, we'll talk about
those next, and the trophytactics online, and you got it
(08:37):
done.
Alex went to the boot camp, hegot it done as well.
His first year that he reallyimplemented.
After that you went to the bootcamp, you'd gotten an ankle
injury, and so you couldn'tactually hunt or at least
implement the system.
So when you did get into it, yougot it done.
Correct.
SPEAKER_02 (08:52):
Yeah, after the boot camp, I ended up rupturing my
Achilles, so I wasn't able tohunt that year.
And then that's why I wanted todo the coaching in 24.
So I didn't want another yeargoing by without giving myself
the best chance of harvesting amature blacktail.
SPEAKER_00 (09:07):
So let's get into the coaching.
It meets on the third Tuesday ofevery month from May to January.
It does include the field days.
That is included in the cost.
It's a$200 deposit.
The total cost is$800.
It includes both in-person fielddays, the locating and
establishing a set, which are inMarch and August.
(09:29):
And that we meet, I think aboutan hour and a half.
It can vary, but groups of nomore than five people.
So you're getting one-on-oneattention and we work your hunt
plan.
So we talk about your set, wetalk about your deer coming in,
and Dave walks you through thewhole process or Jimmy.
(09:50):
So Jimmy's one of our othercoaches that runs a couple of
things.
SPEAKER_03 (09:54):
We just come alongside you guys.
I mean, our biggest thing isyour success.
And so it's our opportunity,like I said, to come alongside
you and don't give you all theanswers right away, but help you
learn to troubleshoot, help youlearn how to implement what we
teach you.
And again, this is my system,it's not the way, it's just the
way I do it.
(10:14):
And there's guys out there thathunt differently that are
probably more successful than Iam, but I'm willing to share
what I know.
SPEAKER_00 (10:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (10:21):
And so we just come alongside of you and we
encourage you and we show youhow to do things and we help you
learn how to troubleshoot.
And so I'm an electrician bytrade.
One thing that I figured out asa journeyman when I'm teaching
an apprentice, if thatapprentice can figure out
troubleshooting, if they cangrasp troubleshooting, then what
they've done is they've reallyfigured out how things work.
(10:44):
Because if you can't figure outhow it works, you can't
troubleshoot.
When we break it down like thatand we start saying, So what
brought us here?
Why are you putting that there?
When are you putting that?
And we're doing all these thingsthat would cause you to really
stop and think that we're notrandomly doing things, things
are done with a purpose, andthat purpose is this, and we do
(11:05):
it then, and it really helps aperson start putting that puzzle
together.
And Mark was saying off-airhere, you know, when you reach a
point where it's like it allstarts clicking.
SPEAKER_00 (11:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (11:15):
And you understand how those deer are thinking, and
you know where you need to beand when you need to be there,
and you your confidence leveljust skyrockets, and that's what
we're after.
SPEAKER_00 (11:26):
So one of the things also that I wanted to mention
about that is you get, I'musually in on the coaching
sessions as well, but you getDave's phone number, you get my
phone number, Jimmy.
If he is one of our coaches thattakes guys through coaching, you
get all of our phone numbers.
If you need help in the middleof the month, you don't have to
wait or you don't have to emailus.
(11:47):
You guys are the priority.
So when you send us a textmessage, we respond as quickly
as possible.
And it might take a couple days,but we're trying to make sure
that we're responding to thosefirst, that you guys or ladies,
if you're taking it, you're theones who get the priority.
So with troubleshooting, thatactually makes me think because
(12:10):
you went through the coaching,Alex, and you did some
troubleshooting in your set.
You checked in with Dave aboutthat, but it ultimately is what
made you successful.
SPEAKER_02 (12:20):
Yep, that's I would say yeah.
So for me, the coaching, youknow, we met once a month, helps
keep you on track.
You know what you need to do forthe next month of your homework
to stay on task, helps holdyourself accountable.
You set goals for yourself on,you know, what size of buck you
want, depending on where you'reat with your hunting level.
You also get a hunt planner, andthen like you're going through
(12:42):
this with a group of guys.
So like you get to ask themquestions, you get to bounce
ideas off of each other, theirsuccess, what struggles they're
going through, what they'redoing to get over those
struggles.
And then, like, when it came inthe clutch for me was when I was
doing a test set.
So Curry came into my originalset, he was only there one
(13:03):
night, and then I was freakingout because he didn't come back.
So I did a test set about a halfmile away.
SPEAKER_03 (13:07):
We never experienced that.
SPEAKER_02 (13:08):
And uh, but then Curry started coming to my
original set, and he was comingin a week and a half straight
every night, just right afterdark.
And then the first daylightpicture I ever got of him was at
the test set.
I was like, holy smokes, youknow, and then so I called Dave,
I'm all freaking out.
SPEAKER_03 (13:24):
I was like, he he's it's miraculous that he got a
hold of me because I gave him ameat packing plant phone number.
SPEAKER_02 (13:29):
So I called Dave, I was like, hey, I got that, got
my target buck daylighted on mytest set.
I was like, is it too late to gobuy a brand new blind and go set
it up?
He's like, nope, not at all.
So I went to the store, bought abrand new blind, set it up, you
know, sprayed it down with deaddown wind, and then I brushed it
in, and uh, he didn't come inthat night, but he ended up
coming in the next day.
(13:50):
But long story short, by thetime I set up that blind four
days later is when I was able toharvest him.
It happened pretty quick.
SPEAKER_03 (13:58):
Yeah, that's a good feeling though, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02 (14:00):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (14:00):
I mean when 20-yard shot, right?
20 yards, yep.
Yeah, how far was yours?
21.
21.
SPEAKER_03 (14:05):
When when you can have the confidence, like
knowing that okay, this is wherehe's coming in.
You know, I found his bedroom,this is the bedroom door, he's
coming in right here, and he'sdaylighted already.
He's gonna daylight again.
And then to be able to set upwith the anticipation, I'm gonna
get a shot at this guy.
And it's funny because we getguys sending pictures all the
time via text, via the Facebookor website or email.
(14:30):
And we hear that panic in theirvoice all the time.
Guys that haven't taken thecourse, okay.
We were talking about thistoday.
We get the guys that it's like,okay, I need to throw a Hail
Mary and it's got to cometogether because I've only got
two or three days left, andthey're frustrated and
everything.
Aaron, I think you made a greatpoint about this.
Uh, that with this, if you jumpinto it, there is no Hail Mary.
SPEAKER_00 (14:52):
There is no Hail Mary.
And you guys, would you agreethat this isn't a Hail Mary type
of you have a plan and you knowit's gonna work.
SPEAKER_01 (15:01):
You're seeing the box, yeah, it's very
intentional.
SPEAKER_03 (15:03):
Yeah, and that plan isn't put together like you
didn't start it and reach thefruition of having that book two
days before the end of season.
You work the summer, and it'snot a lot of work.
SPEAKER_02 (15:15):
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (15:16):
You know, it's like, okay, I'm gonna go walk in the
woods for 15 minutes or 20minutes or whatever, check out
this book, and you do that oncea month, and by the time season
gets here, you're good to go.
SPEAKER_01 (15:25):
But because you took the coaching, Alex, you you
actually called Dave, you hadhis number, and you were able to
do that.
Where Dave, you and I've beenout looking at sites and some
stuff down south, and I cancontest.
I mean, we're taking a littlebreak, and all of a sudden you
get you're replying to textmessages.
We get back to the truck, you'retaking calls, you you know, and
that was during the prime time,you know, right?
(15:48):
The late season and stuff, butand you're the system works the
best then.
But you take you really wanteverybody to succeed.
I absolutely do.
SPEAKER_03 (15:57):
And I hope my boss isn't listening to this podcast
because during the workday I geta lot of text messages and phone
calls and whatnot.
But that is, and anybody whoknows me knows that my heart is
to bless people, and that's whyI'm doing this.
This is not uh done out of anypride or arrogance.
I want guys to be successful,and man, when one of you guys
(16:17):
gets a buck, I'm ecstatic.
Aaron and Austin can attest tothat.
Man, I just get excited, youknow.
Oh, yeah, he's running out therewanting to help Alex shot curry,
and I drove what is it fromhere?
SPEAKER_02 (16:29):
Hour and 50-15, yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (16:30):
Minutes to his place just to go and help him recover.
I love it.
Yeah, and I love seeing guysachieve a goal.
There's a lot of times in lifewhere we take those dreams and
those goals and we set them backand we say, you know what?
Maybe that's not attainable forme.
And we get a lot of guys,especially come into these
classes and whatnot, and theysay this is really hard.
(16:52):
And there's nothing wrong withthis.
And I want to preface what I'mabout to say with that.
There's nothing wrong with whatI'm about to say.
I don't mind it, but there's analternative to it.
But we have guys that come inand say, Man, I'd be happy with
a doe or a spike or a fork andhorn.
And inside I'm grinning becauseI know what the potential of
(17:13):
what they could be killing.
And I think both of you guys area testament to that.
You both first year using this,you both shot your biggest black
tail ever.
And Mark, you went second yearusing the system and you topped
the first year.
SPEAKER_01 (17:28):
It's funny you say that.
That was my goal to shoot a forkand horn with my bow.
That for you know, we do that.
SPEAKER_00 (17:34):
We set a goal.
We set a goal.
SPEAKER_01 (17:35):
Yeah, I mean, that's the part the intent, right?
You know, it's very intentional.
That was my goal.
I just wanted to kill somethingwith a bow.
I've never done that before.
Let's try it.
Until you start seeing thesedeer come in, then your goals
might change, right?
Most people or a lot of people,newer people that get into
hunting, that's just what theywant to do.
SPEAKER_03 (17:53):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (17:53):
Which is fine.
And the system will allow it.
SPEAKER_03 (17:55):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You're gonna get shot up orsomething.
SPEAKER_00 (17:58):
You will always it would be hard, you'd be hard
pressed not to get meat for thefreezer with this system.
SPEAKER_03 (18:05):
That would be well, that being said, we did have one
guy who had 19 yeah, yeah.
19 bears throughout the season.
I'm sorry, I can't compete withthat.
SPEAKER_01 (18:15):
So he still got meat in the freezer.
SPEAKER_03 (18:17):
But well, he didn't feel the bear day.
SPEAKER_00 (18:19):
So with the coaching and actually bringing up a
really good point.
So the way it's set up is at thevery first session, we set your
goal for the year.
Smart goal, and it's the simple,measurable, achievable,
realistic, and timely.
That's how you make a smartgoal.
So everybody has a goal, a veryspecific goal of what they want
(18:41):
to do for the year.
How we achieve that goal is inby something called action
steps.
And we uh work on okay, here'syour action steps, here's what
you need to do for the month.
So you know exactly before inMay, you know what you need to
do before our session meets inJune.
You know what you need to dobefore our session meets in
(19:05):
July.
Every single month, you learnall that.
And the way we wrap it up is inJanuary, well, there's no
hunting, is you summarize yourseason so that you build, and
we've done an episode on this,you build one season off the
last.
Yeah, next season off the last.
That is always the goal, is thatyou figure out what you're gonna
(19:30):
do for next season.
And we talk about Hail Marys andwe get calls and stuff, and we
do, whether you're in coachingor in a class or you just listen
to the podcast, we do want toanswer your questions.
We can't always get to the HailMarys at the last minute because
well, this year Dave was out oftown working, I was in stand
(19:52):
hunting, and it just it didn'tquite work out to be able to
answer a couple of them.
SPEAKER_03 (19:57):
We got one last night, yeah.
You know, and it was Oregon, sohe's still got a little bit of
time, but it's like I got two orthree days left before we have
to go back to work.
SPEAKER_00 (20:06):
And it's not that we don't want to, it's just if
you're waiting for those HailMarys, I don't want to promise
something that we can't deliver.
So we always do want to try toanswer all the questions we can
and everything.
SPEAKER_03 (20:18):
But you know what's funny is you're describing all
this, Aaron, and I'm thinking ofthe movie Moneyball.
SPEAKER_00 (20:23):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_03 (20:24):
And if you haven't seen that, watch it.
It's a great show.
Kind of what we're doing here iseverybody thinks that if I go
and sit in a seminar and Ilisten to this guy, I'm gonna
walk out of there and I'm gonnaknow everything I need to know.
And this hunting is gonna be alot easier just because I went
there and listened to him, andmaybe I rubbed shoulders or
shook his hand or whatever.
(20:44):
I've gleaned something off ofthis guy that's magical, and I'm
gonna start filling tags, youknow.
And the reality is that so ourmotto is success is no accident.
And this is kind of a money ballcourse in the sense that we're
gonna break it down, we're gonnahelp you take and look at this
more analytically as far asbuilding a schedule, a calendar.
(21:07):
What days am I going out?
Why am I going out?
So that it kind of reinforces inyour mind how to collect data.
Yeah, because that's what mosthunters don't want, they don't
know how to do.
I don't say they don't want to,they don't know how.
You know, again, I go back tothe trail cameras or interpret
the data.
Guys get trail cameras and theyget it for entertainment, right?
(21:29):
But once you start taking acourse, you realize hey, uh
there's so many more aspects tothis trail camera that I'm not
utilizing as far as winddirection, as far as barometer,
as far as the date they came in,as far as what trail they were
on.
And guys just don't know to usethat like that.
SPEAKER_00 (21:45):
And I know both Alex and Mark, you both have talked
about and kind of expressed, andI or I've just seen it, that you
know how to interpret the datathat you're seeing, pictures on
your cameras, or just thatinformation.
You've learned how to interpretthat and adjust or make a plan
(22:09):
based off of that.
So year over year, and we'll getmore into that with your success
story, Mark, but it wasgathering some information to
make a plan off thatinformation.
And Alex, and I remember youwould always use the for well, I
put out a couple of cameras forresearch purposes, and you kept
for research purposes, but thenyour research proved that you
(22:33):
needed to go move over to thatother set and it paid off and
everything.
So we're gonna move along andtalk about so with the coaching,
you get the two in-person fielddays.
So the locating field day, March28th.
If you want to do thatstandalone, that's$200.
Now you can actually take thatwithout taking the trophy
(22:54):
tactics course because that is apiece that we can teach that's a
standalone course.
And I think a lot of guysactually prove that it's useful.
All of our early season guys, sowe had Alex and Cully and Mark
who got early season bucks,where it was a lot of that's
based off of just locatingskills.
(23:15):
Right.
Right.
So if you want to take thatMarch 28th,$200, and we go over
the classroom aspect oflocating, then we go out in the
field and we show you what we'retalking about.
Habitat that's too young,habitat that's perfect, habitat
that's just on its tail end, andhabitat you want to avoid like
(23:37):
the plague.
You know, basically coveringbecause there's not going to be
any, you're just not going toget a big bucket in certain
habitats.
Or it's going to be pure luck.
SPEAKER_02 (23:46):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (23:46):
And then there's the establishing a set.
One second, Aaron.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (23:49):
You said go over, but it's not just going over
those different sets of timberor those.
You're getting a visual.
SPEAKER_00 (23:56):
Yeah.
We walk out into the field.
SPEAKER_01 (23:59):
We walk out in the field, and that's huge.
You're firsthand seeing how faryou're going from the road, how
far Dave's going from the road.
When he gets to a set, what itlooks like.
Where's the core area thatyou're trying to find, this
bedding area compared to thetrails, intersections, edges,
that kind of stuff.
It is so valuable of thatvisual.
And I'm a visual person, right?
SPEAKER_03 (24:19):
Yeah, the hands-on visual, like you're saying, is
key.
It's priceless.
Aaron, you've heard me say this.
You guys have heard me say this.
You can't kill what you can'tlocate.
So it's the most underutilizedskill that hunters use.
Well, I've been taught to huntclear cuts.
And it's like, okay, that'sgood.
But let me teach you anotherway.
You don't have to use this way,but be open to some stuff.
(24:41):
They start realizing, oh, andthis is what Dave means when he
says thick.
This is what Dave means when hesays it's an edge.
This is the kind of edge youwant to look for.
This is the habitat that Dave'stalking about.
I mean, we take you out in thefield.
I actually take you to one of mysets.
Yeah.
And it's like it's all publicland.
You know, and it's we don't huntany private.
SPEAKER_01 (25:00):
Yeah.
When I took that online classand I recommended that to a
couple people, and I said, justalso take those field days.
Those are so key.
I mean, you can only show somuch online, right?
Maybe you can show more inperson, ex you know, explain or
describe it a little bit more.
But I highly recommend if you'reonline, if you can't afford it,
get to those field days or ifyour schedule meets up, that's
(25:22):
valuable.
SPEAKER_03 (25:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (25:24):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (25:25):
We've had a lot of positive reaction to the field
days.
SPEAKER_00 (25:28):
Did we have field days when you yes, we did when
you went through coaching,right?
Yes, when I went throughcoaching.
Yes.
Because that was one that Ithink we actually started those
based off of feedback from thecoaching.
Boy, it would be great to seethat.
So again, it's March.
So you'd have to sign up forcoaching before the March 28th
(25:48):
class.
And that the establishing a setis actually our August session.
It's kind of a downtime foryou've done all your locating,
you're not ready, quite ready todo a set yet.
So we go out and we show you howto create your set.
The kill spot, brushing in ablind, how you would hang up a
(26:12):
tree stand, the whole gamut ofdoing everything, how to do
drags and how where to hangscents and every aspect.
Now that is only open to peoplewho have taken the trophy
tactics course.
The reason for that is outsideof as a standalone, it just
(26:33):
doesn't have the context.
You would be asking, well, whywould what is this?
What's the point of this?
There's just no context.
So you need the context of thetrophy tactics, the whole
course.
So that's$150.
August 8th is when that'll meet.
But that one is really good forthe visual people who just need
(26:54):
to see all of that done.
SPEAKER_03 (26:56):
During the trophy tactics course, you get the
reasoning behind every movementthat we make out there in the
field as far as the set and thelocating, you know.
So if you don't have that trophytactics course, the locating you
can do standalone, but it helpsto have the trophy tactic
because then we go back to allthe reasoning that you learned
in the trophy tactic, why we'redoing what we're doing, why the
(27:19):
deer is doing what they'redoing, and you're able to start
piecing that puzzle together.
SPEAKER_00 (27:23):
Okay, so we're gonna move along.
I'm looking at the time here.
And the last thing I wanted tomention, so we were gonna talk
about boot camp.
It's not only that you're goingto get the full trophy tactics
course and the equivalent ofboth field days in that weekend.
So Alex went to our first one,which was at a not so it's at
(27:45):
Cascades Camp and ConferenceCenter, if you want to look it
up.
Great location, great people.
We did the first one at Cispus,and Alex, you were part of that.
Yes, I was the inaugural.
But tell us what were yourthoughts about that?
SPEAKER_02 (27:57):
Yeah, so I was looking at the different classes
you guys offer, the boot campand the trophy tactics and
everything.
I've been hunting black tailsfor 17 years at the time and got
a buck every year, but they'veall been spikes in two points,
and I was just ready to try toup my game and get to that next
level.
So figured uh do this black tailclass with you guys and try to
better my odds.
(28:17):
But I ended up choosing the bootcamp because I'm a hands-on
learner and I figured the bootcamp would be the best class for
me.
You get visual learnings on thelocating part, actually
establishing a set in the field.
You know, Dave teaches you howto set up a tree stand, brush in
a blind, where to put the treestand and blind versus where
(28:40):
your set's actually at.
And also there's a lot ofopportunity to ask questions
because you get the wholeweekend to ask questions versus
if you do the trophy tactics,you only get that four to six
hours to ask questions.
Yeah, this is versus the bootcamp.
You get all weekend.
SPEAKER_03 (28:56):
Yeah, breakfast, lunch, yeah, dinner.
We're rubbing elbows all thetime.
Yeah, so yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (29:02):
So the year that you went, Alex, that's where you met
Scott Cullum, our other prostaff member.
Yes.
And you guys have since becomeyou didn't know him before then
at all.
Nope.
Nope.
He lives up in Enum Claw.
Yes.
And you're in on Alaska.
Yep.
And so guys from different partsof the state who would have no
(29:23):
reason to run into each other.
And now you guys are huntingbuddies, basically.
You know, you don't go outnecessarily together, but you've
gone out turkey hunting withthem, but you've got that friend
now.
SPEAKER_02 (29:36):
Absolutely.
And he's come down to my place,especially that first year after
or during the coaching, becausehe also did the coaching with
me.
He came down to my place andchecked out some of my sets, and
you know, we bounced questionsback and forth.
I went up to his place and wedid the same thing.
And I'm like, no, I think weshould go over here, or you
know, just pros and cons toboth.
And so, you know, he's just uh agood buddy to be able to call up
(29:59):
and just bounce questions offeach other and check in.
SPEAKER_00 (30:01):
Yeah, and that happened with the class from two
years ago because we had we hadsomeone from Vernon.
And someone from Aberdeen andsomeone from Snohomish who all
kept in contact with each other,checking in about how's your
season going, how are thingsgoing.
And that was the biggest thingthat first year.
(30:22):
Wow.
We didn't expect you guys tonecessarily hit it off quite
like that.
It really was a blessing to usbecause it meant more than we
were just teaching you a skillthat we were giving you a
something bigger to be part of.
This community where you couldcall somebody if you needed help
(30:45):
locating your harvest out in thewoods.
There's potentially people whoyou could give a call to or who
come out and help.
SPEAKER_02 (30:53):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
After I shot Curry last year, Icalled Dave and he was willing
to drop everything.
Actually, I'm pretty sure I gotyou out of like a f a dinner,
which you were pretty okay.
SPEAKER_03 (31:03):
Oh my wife's in the other room here.
SPEAKER_02 (31:06):
Anyways, so like Dave was more than happy to come
out, help me look for the deer.
But you're in laws, don'tlisten.
SPEAKER_00 (31:11):
So you're okay.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (31:13):
But he came up and you know, both of them helped me
find my deer that night.
And then two days later, Budshot a deer, and I went and
helped him retrieve that too.
Oh, nice.
And yeah, Mark and I we met lastyear at the field days, and now
we keep in touch quite a bit andtexting quite a bit and calling
each other.
SPEAKER_03 (31:27):
Yeah, and that's not uncommon.
We find and I think it's becauseI think guys are realizing, hey,
there's more than one person outthere that's crazy about black
tail.
SPEAKER_02 (31:35):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (31:36):
We've kind of been the redheaded stepchild as far
as the deer community because soisolated up here on the west
side of the Cascades in thePacific Northwest, because all
you see on TV is the whitetail,mullies, and elk and all that
stuff.
And we've got blacktail, andthey're a beautiful, beautiful
animal, and they're elusive,they're super hard to get.
That's I think what is addictingabout it.
(31:58):
When you finally figure it outand you come to these things and
you realize, man, there's a lotof guys that are really into
this blacktail thing.
SPEAKER_01 (32:04):
Yeah, but when you learn this system, it's the
non-ego, non-competitive kind ofclass and system, right?
You find out there's a lot moredeer, a lot more bucks in tons
of areas that you ever thoughtabout.
It's just learning how to go andfind the glassing point and
challenge everybody to get tothat glassing point first,
(32:24):
right?
It is there's so many deer outthere, and this system teaches
you that.
And I think that's what helps.
It's like Alex, you got yourspots, I got mine, they're close
to each other's homes.
We could compare notes orwhatever.
I know I wasn't involved in theboot camp, but you're spending
the whole weekend with thosepeople, but even just doing the
field days or being in class,I'm communicating with, I don't
know, five, six, seven people,you know, just comparing notes
(32:46):
and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_00 (32:47):
So yeah, and I think some people have just on
Facebook and then they take theclass.
Oh, you're so and so, and youput a face to the name that
you've been commenting back andforth with on the Facebook page
or something.
SPEAKER_01 (32:59):
And now, so we started this and we got the
community part, you know, right?
But hey, Alex and I are going ona moose hunt in a couple years.
We just signed up, so justbecause of that, you know, we
spent some money you might oweus back.
SPEAKER_03 (33:12):
Yeah, you replaced me?
You filled my spot?
I did.
SPEAKER_01 (33:15):
Oh, I didn't know that was a oh no.
SPEAKER_00 (33:18):
We're still trying to put together a pig hunt
between all of us to go out anddo that because we've just been
dying.
Something in the off season.
Something in the off-season foryears.
So now we want to talk about thechange that has come to boot
camp.
So when we first started bootcamp, almost immediately the
idea was to expand it to includeother species.
(33:41):
And we're at the point now wherethat is happening this year.
We are going to expand it toinclude multiple species.
So, Dave, tell us what to expectthis year.
SPEAKER_03 (33:51):
Okay.
So, Aaron, drum roll, please.
Today we are announcing whatwe're going to call the hunters'
gathering.
And the hunter's gathering iswhat takes the place at boot
camp, a multi-species weekend.
So we've partnered up with somepeople here that we feel are
just awesome as far as theirsuccess as hunters and
(34:13):
outdoorsmen or outdoors person.
Some really great speakers linedup already.
We have Trent Fisher from Bornand Raised, absolutely
world-class guy.
That that whole group is justawesome.
Trent will be doing Elk andteaching his method and his
techniques and strategies.
I will be doing blacktail, but Iwill do my full blacktail trophy
(34:34):
tactics course, how I do it,when I do it, all that.
And then we've also got HeatherAldrich, who is a magnificent
bear hunter.
She is phenomenal.
She will be there and she willbe teaching her course and her
strategies, techniques, all ofthat stuff.
And then we've got our very ownAlex Cheney, who is a pro staff,
but he's also a pro staff forPhelps Calls for Turkey.
(34:57):
He has completed the WashingtonSlam like nine times.
SPEAKER_00 (35:00):
Nine times now.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (35:02):
Yeah.
He's just he took my son outthis last year and they called
in seven birds in one weekend.
That's incredible.
That's insane.
But we have all these peoplelined up.
It's going to be a greatweekend.
We're super excited about it.
And man, this is the year tojump in, guys, because it's
going to be incredible.
SPEAKER_00 (35:20):
Yeah.
So really, instead of just onetrophy tactics course, you're
going to get four this year.
It's expanding.
Everybody, the point of this iseducation.
It's to teach those who wantthose skills, who want to
improve their skills, or youmight be a super successful
(35:41):
hunter, but you know thatthere's always more to learn.
So this is going to benefit you.
You've heard Heather and Alex onthe podcast for multiple shows
where we covered both Turkey andBear.
They approach Turkey and Bearthe same way that Dave
approaches Blacktail.
SPEAKER_03 (35:59):
And everybody knows Trent.
SPEAKER_00 (36:00):
And everybody knows.
SPEAKER_03 (36:01):
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, great guy.
If you've ever met him, you lovehim because he's just super,
super awesome and verysuccessful on both Rosies and
Rockies, and excited to hear himbreak down his hunts.
SPEAKER_00 (36:15):
Yeah.
So we are just really lookingforward to this.
So let's get into the details onthis.
To accommodate all of this, weare actually going to expand to
an extra day.
So this is going to happen fromThursday, April 9th through
Sunday, April 12th, noon to noonon each day, so that we get the
(36:37):
full courses for each of these.
It's happening again at theCascades Camp and Conference
Center outside of Yelm,Washington.
And the cost is going to be$14.95.
SPEAKER_03 (36:48):
It's a screaming deal.
SPEAKER_00 (36:49):
Yeah.
Because the idea, and Dave'salways talked about this, is so
that you become your own guide.
And just think if you were to doa guided turkey hunt, bear hunt,
blacktail hunt, elk hunt, howmuch you would spend on that.
SPEAKER_03 (37:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:03):
So you will have the tools and the skills needed to
do all that yourself, to do allthe work yourself.
So again, food and lodging isall provided for the entire
weekend.
We will send you home with ourhunter's essentials kit, and
it'll basically just the goodybag with something related to
(37:24):
each of these species so thatyou have a tool to hit the
ground running for next year.
SPEAKER_03 (37:29):
And it's three, four days of just rubbing elbows with
all of these speakers and reallydigging down to the nitty-gritty
of what they do.
So it's not just when they're upspeaking, you're going to be
able to sit down with them atmeals, you're going to be able
to talk to them in the evenings,throughout the day, out in the
field.
It's going to be awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (37:47):
Yeah.
So let's talk about some of thediscounts.
So previously, we have done analumni discount for some of our
courses.
This is a new course, but wedecided that if you have
previously attended one of ourboot camps, we are going to do a
$250 discount.
If you've previously attended,we still have the family
(38:09):
discount.
So first member will pay fullprice.
Every other member of yourfamily who decides to attend,
$250 off.
And we're also doing a$250 offdiscount for active duty or
military veterans.
Just let us know at the time ofregistration if you meet any of
those categories, and we willmake sure that we get that up to
(38:31):
you.
It's a$250 deposit.
This is limited in space.
We don't have access to thewhole camp, so get signed up as
soon as you decide that you wantto go.
We're encouraging everyone tosign up as quickly as possible.
The balance of what's due isn'tdue until April 1st.
So we'll give you time to budgetthat out.
(38:53):
Maybe get the tax return in.
So we're really looking forward.
We always have a blast at theseevents.
As you've just previously heardfrom Alex talking about being at
these events, they are a greatevent.
This just all came together, thefinal details, but we were
(39:15):
really excited to get thisinformation out to all of you.
Absolutely.
Love to see you there.
SPEAKER_03 (39:20):
Is there a cap on it, Aaron?
SPEAKER_00 (39:22):
Of attendance wise?
Attendance is a hundred guys.
SPEAKER_03 (39:26):
So the first hundred guys that register are gonna be
in you're gonna have a spot.
After that, it goes on to awaiting list in the event that
somebody drops out.
But it's gonna be awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (39:37):
We do expect this to be pushing that to maxing out.
Yeah.
Just because we've known ofother similar type events that
have happened in the past andthey've sold out.
And with the addition of Trent,born and raised, being there and
teaching what he knows aboutelk, Alex teaching what he knows
(39:58):
about turkey, Heather.
Everybody here has the sameapproach that Dave has about
hunting black tail.
And as you've listened to thepodcast over the last year plus,
you're gonna get a good idea ofwhat you're going to be learning
over that weekend.
SPEAKER_03 (40:12):
Yeah, they're all very passionate.
SPEAKER_00 (40:14):
Lots of pens and notebooks will be provided for
note-taking, and we're justreally excited to see you there.
SPEAKER_03 (40:20):
Yeah, it's gonna be a good time.
Gonna be a lot of greatmemories.
SPEAKER_00 (40:24):
Going to start wrapping things up because this
is turning into a long episode.
But one of the things I wantedto mention is in January, from
January 28th to February 1st, wewill be at the Puallop show,
sportsman show, as we have beenfor the last, I believe, four
years now, same spot.
And the Portland Sportsman Show,February 10th through the or the
(40:46):
11th through the 15th, I believethose are the dates.
So we will be there.
Please come by the booth, talkto us, tell us your story, bring
in your antlase.
How we can help you with yourhunts and everything.
So any final thoughts fromanyone before we move on.
SPEAKER_03 (41:05):
Hope to see everybody at a class, you know,
something and stuff.
Ultimately, we're just trying tohelp guys be successful.
SPEAKER_00 (41:11):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (41:11):
So get proof is in the pudding.
We've got Mark and we've gotAlex here, and we've got a lot
more success stories outside ofthem.
But I think that's somethingthat you can glean from all of
this is that we all started inthe same boat.
We were all frustrated andtrying to figure this out, you
know, and so it was nice to havejust somebody that they can
relate to and say, you knowwhat, that that's me.
(41:33):
Because right now thefrustration is real.
This time of year, all the waythrough December, guys, uh the
frustration is real.
I've walked how many days in therain, I've gone out in the cold,
I haven't seen a big buck, orall I ever get is this or this
or this.
And it's like, well, no, we gotan opportunity, if you guys want
it, to help show you anotherway, I guess.
(41:55):
Not a better way, just anotherway.
SPEAKER_00 (41:57):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (41:58):
Yeah, and right now it's kind of stress-free for me,
anyways.
I see all these hunting rigs atevery gate, and you know,
they're trying to fill theirtags, knowing my season's gonna
start here in a few weeks.
Yeah, no one's hunting in theareas that I'm hunting because
everyone's hunting clear cuts.
Right.
So it's a different mindset, Iguess, is what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00 (42:14):
Same here.
Thank you for your continuedlistening.
If you could hit like,subscribe, follow all those
things on your podcast platformthat you listen to us.
We really appreciate it.
Send us a comment, send us anidea for a podcast that you'd
like to hear.
Always love to hear those.
And until next week.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com