August 26, 2025 • 32 mins
In this conversation, Ryan Uffens and Cody Griffin discuss various aspects of the archery industry, including personal connections, the role of customer service, product innovations at Easton, and the importance of coaching for beginners. They also share insights on hunting experiences in North Carolina, the impact COVID-19 had on the archery market, and the community culture within archery shops.
Takeaways
- Cody Griffin enjoys a multifaceted role at Easton.
- Customer service is crucial in distinguishing archery shops.
- Easton's new product, the 5-0, has been a huge success.
- Community and culture are vital in archery shops.
- Pro shops serve as community hubs for archery enthusiasts.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
You're listening to the Hunt Stealth Podcast with Ryan
Uffins, the podcast where we dive head first into the wild,
whether you're an aspiring hunter or an adventurer seeking
the untamed. Together, we'll explore the
strategies and stories that leadto success in the great outdoors
homeland. Skies a stud but.
(00:26):
That's some beautiful country out there.
Man. I didn't realize driving
through. Yeah, I worked on his bow, he
was telling me. So I guess he's got 2 bad knees
and and Rogan got him hooked up with that place in Mexico to go
get stem cell. He said he went down there and
he's like, dude. Game changer.
He's like my knee. He's like, I feel like I'm in my
20s again. You're kidding, but.
That should be legal. Too, So his boys, he's got two
(00:49):
boys that help run the ranch with him and one of his boys, I
think Austin married Taylor DirtJury.
She lives here. Yeah, because, Tom, they live in
South Weber. Get out of here.
They're next door neighbors withmy brother.
Actually came up on my explore page and I'm like, Dury, Why do
I know that name? Used to watch the Dury, you
know, the Dury Dury Outdoors. And I was like, started digging
(01:11):
through something. I'm like, wait a second, That's
Mark and Terry's, you know, nephew, niece and daughter or
whatever it might be. Yeah.
I'm like get out of here. So yeah, her dad's one of the
original juries. She married one of Tom's boys.
I gotcha. So my brother lives in South
Weber and they're they're literally across street
neighbors from them. Anyway, small world, but yeah,
(01:32):
there you go. Well, back to it then all.
Right Round 2. That's good.
Round 2. Knock this out, let's talk some
shop. Man.
So hey guys, we're down here at Wild Arrow today.
We just, well, you've probably, if you're listening to this now,
you've probably already listenedto Jeremiah and I rant on a
little bit about some other stuff, but.
(01:52):
Put everything on that. We've got Cody Griffin with us
and Cody Griffin is with Easton.Yes, and.
What's your official title there?
So my, my corporate title is, yeah, I wish promotions.
Yeah. Promotions management, all
right. So what what?
What does that job entail? Dude, it's AI.
(02:13):
So First off, I've got the funnest job at Easton.
I will declare that and I knew coming in it would be the
funnest job, but I do wear a couple hats and like one of us
managing the Target pro set. That's one of my favorite parts
of it, you know, is I want to see those guys excel at the
highest level they can. It's kind of my like, kind of
not be a coach or anything like that or a mentor, but like a
(02:35):
like a golf caddy, yeah. You know, tell them what club to
use, huh? Yeah, tell them like.
Hey, this is where you need to be at.
This is what we need to do and motivate, motivate them if they
need it. Like there's a couple of
shooters, if they're going through like a rough phrase,
I'll call them up. Like, dude, what are you doing?
You know, just kind of and then like, man, you know, you know,
you're the best in the world. If you wouldn't, you wouldn't be
on my staff, right, You know, kind of thing.
And that's cool. They get them amped up, But
(02:57):
that's one of the things the other I hope out on the social
media side. Thankfully there's a couple
people that help out on that because that's a pretty big
page. A lot of DMSA lot of you know,
people tagging our accounts and stuff like invited collabs help
out with the content side organizing that.
What else do we do? Help out with some of the video
stuff that you might see on YouTube.
(03:18):
One of the guys that helps out on that and.
Jump in on podcast at the last minute.
Yeah, last be late, be late for a podcast.
That's my goal. And then what else do we got
going on in there? Man, I hope out with events and
stuff like that. We've got a really, we got to
kill our team in there. Kimberly, she's our customer
service manager. She started like tackle events
(03:40):
and like really taking that on and just kind of helping me
assist or letting me assist her in that.
But that's the other thing. Events are.
Events are huge. You know, so if you don't nail
an event down, who? Looks bad, yeah.
Yeah, that's where we met. I got introduced to you.
Yeah. What?
What? I think it was Black Flag.
Harbertson's an introduction. Drinking some revenge in there.
(04:00):
Pink lemonade. Sparkling water.
Hey, I tried that for the first time the other day.
It was bad. I don't drink a lot of that
stuff, but. But when you do, it's Black Flag
Revenge. It got me going.
I came into the shop the other day, dude, I was dude, I'd like
I woke up at like 1:00 AM, couldn't go back to bed till
like three. I rolled into the shop and I'm
like I'm I'm not feeling I need.To bring you some crazy stuff I
got at the house. And that well, because I don't
(04:22):
drink that very often. I took that revenge and I got a
lot of stuff done that day. It was great.
So I like it. It's a good, it's a nice little
caffeinated beverage. And funny thing is, Jordan used
to work with Easton in a way. Yeah, at Centers West and I used
to do some work. I think he started working at
Easton. Yeah, I.
Think it was I know Gary was hisboss, so my boss was Jordan's
boss. OK, Yeah, yeah, yeah, He's, he's
(04:46):
been at it for a while. Those guys are.
Very OK at marketing, I guess. Yeah, we've been Gary.
Gary Strongman, 30 plus years atEaston.
Really, dude? Gary's a killer, man.
People don't realize. Like that guy's killed 2 moose,
he's killed sheep. Like he's Gary's.
Gary's a hunter. I'm a big time hunter.
Yeah. He don't like to brag.
I'll brag on him, man. Yeah, I'll brag for him.
(05:08):
So, so, well, let me ask you this, like what led you?
Because you're not, I can tell you have a little bit of an
accent that's different from therest of those here in Utah.
What? Are Utah accent don't work?
Yeah, well, like Mountain or Layton.
Yeah. We we have that.
But but yeah. So.
So where'd you grow up and then and what kind of like brought
(05:29):
you to Utah and ultimately to Easton?
Indeed, I grew up on the coast of North Carolina, just in a
little town called Richlands, socoastal North Carolina, born and
raised there, lived there for 28years and ventured out, did some
traveling and stuff like that. But ultimately what got me here
is my now what it was at the time she was my girlfriend, but
(05:50):
my wife April now she had shot me a a link.
It was a LinkedIn post about theposition being here at Easton.
She said, I think you really like it.
At the time I was working at thepro shop side of things.
I was working retail and no, man, just about everything I've
got, you know, to those guys that extreme Outfitters and you
want to talk about a powerhouse shop, man, they're like a wild
(06:10):
Arrow, North Carolina. I mean, they're they get it
done. And it's, it's cool to see the
differences in between here where we're at now, Wild Arrow
and extreme just from my East Coast and West Coast hunting.
But the one thing that's constant is the customer
service. And I think that's where that's
what separates an orchard shop from a pro shop is the customer
service, the knowledge and the the time and dedication they
(06:32):
spin behind the equipment to make sure it's right and proper,
you know, so that's really cool to see.
But. Yeah, we, we had talked, Jay and
I talked a little bit about that.
There's there's been a complaintor two online about people
getting flustered like having towait.
But it's like if you will just wait, man, like these guys give
you like. You can't rush.
As much, as much time as you need to make the decision.
(06:54):
Yeah, yeah. It yeah, I take me a while to
get to you but boy, when we do we're going to get it done just.
Right, Scooter, It's coming. That's why, that's why I tell
people like I, I was in here. I can't remember.
It was last week sometime. I'd been like Mia since I
separated my shoulder, 'cause I hadn't been shooting or
anything. And then I got back shooting.
(07:15):
I'm like, OK, I got to get back in here.
There's one guy here. I'm like dude, it's worth the
wait. Like.
Yeah, like just he's alright. There you go.
Cool. I I'd say 99% of our customers
are pretty understand. They know and it's guys that
have never been here before. I do feel bad because they walk
in and they see this organized chaos going on and they're like,
(07:37):
I don't know. And then they don't, they don't
get that good. But man, if we can, once we get
to that guy, they usually they're like, OK, that was
worth. It's few and far between.
The people complain. For sure, yeah.
And it's hard to find good help.And you've got good help here,
you know, that extreme same way we had good help, you know.
Well, and I talked, I was telling him earlier, I'm like
this time of year, I wish I had 10 guys working like yesterday.
(07:58):
I legit could have had 10 employees working because we
were that busy. But two things happened.
One trying to get a guy trained to our level.
It's. It takes years.
Yeah, years. And then two, come October, I
want to fire everybody because there's literally days in
October when I won't have a single customer come through the
door, right? So it.
That's the difference between east and West I think.
(08:19):
So like we're we're not as busy like as you, you guys move so
much volume. Like I was mind blown, like just
looking. And then you go Outback and you
see all the bill box. You're like, whoa, like we were,
we were really good account. You know, we were when I was at
extreme, they were doing 6 figure, 6 figure, you know,
dealers for like PSC, you know, run running up on 6 figures with
(08:41):
Hoyt Matthews and stuff like that.
And when I was hearing what you guys were doing, I was like,
holy crap. There is another level of this
deal and but we were, I feel like we were probably a little
bit more consistent on the well,we just had a little bit more
consistent traffic flows all. Year round, year round, Well, I
think the fact that you guys canhunt hogs year round, stuff like
that, right? Like our bow season comes and
(09:01):
goes type of hill. So, yeah, we we see peaks and
valleys in our business for sure.
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(09:23):
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(09:46):
am excited to do. I, I did a podcast with Nathan
Cox. He's a warden out of North
Carolina and he's like, come black bear hunting with us next
year. Dude, I'm going to tell you what
that's we keep that a secret. Don't tell nobody.
North Carolina's got some of theblacks best black bear in the
world. Really.
The past couple like world. Like 578900 pound.
(10:08):
Ball. Oh my gosh, yeah.
Yeah, I'm going to have to go back and and yeah, that's what
that's what Nate was saying. He's like, there's a reason,
like Jim Shock and these guys come to North Carolina to help.
Black Donald Trump junior comes out there.
Huge. I.
I got a buddy of mine that's a guy out there dare to hide and
dude. So this man is Andrew is 6 foot
(10:29):
like 7-8 maybe 9. Huge.
So like me, some of. These bears are yeah, yeah, like
me, Like me and some of these bears just.
You're like, man, it makes Andrew look small.
And he's a big boy, you know, He's just.
I think, I think the, I think the record was out of there.
I think I felt like he said it was like 900 lbs or like 880 lbs
(10:51):
or something. And it's like, like, why do they
get, why do they get so big out there?
Dude, they feed them, man. Like they get fed.
Like you want to talk about Golden Corral?
That's where Golden Corral. Those bears even have to
hibernate their man. They're out year round.
They. Drag their bellies and they scar
up their bellies. Really.
Yes, like it's a lot of pumpkin sweet potatoes.
Yeah, we're not. Wait, so who feeds them?
Like, do they just go into people's like, like?
(11:14):
They just have piles of them sitting out there bro.
It's not illegal. Like you can dump as long as I
don't believe it's it. You can feed them as long as
it's not in season. But we're we're talking dump
trucks of sweet potatoes. We're not talking a £50 sack.
We're talking little dump trucksdriving in, dropping sweet
potatoes, and they will sit on that pile and gorge until they
can't. Until they go to walk off and
(11:35):
their bellies drag. They'll roll over.
I mean it's. Holy shit.
Like black bear hunting there isa little bit different.
I actually got ran up a tree like I, I got, I got pretty
petrified one time hunting a black we're hunting.
It was whitetail season and I had seen a cub that was
underneath the tree and I I'd already laid my bow down like I
was getting down from the climber shimmying down.
And I heard something, I saw a cub and I said, Oh my gosh.
(11:58):
And I just like, I'm trying to like pull my bow because it's
attached to the climber, you know, the string tethered down
to it. And Mama bear didn't even I it's
grace of God. Mama Bear didn't see me or
anything like that, but I was frozen for quite a bit.
And let me tell you something, Jack, Pat and Charlie were
moving. Whenever, whenever I got on the
ground, I was running through the truck.
Yeah, Yep. That's crazy.
(12:20):
That's wild. Yeah.
I'm excited to get out there. That'll be a lot of fun.
But. But yeah, so.
So tell me, look what's going onin Easton right now.
Oh. Man, there's so much.
We got a lot of good stuff goingon, man.
We're sell it well. When I got there we were still
celebrating 100 plus years started in 19231922 I believe
(12:41):
2222. Yeah, 2020, 200 year. 20/22 was
100 years. So still kicking off that, which
is awesome, got some new products launched into the
market that, you know, we had, I'd say a hole in our lineup.
We didn't really realize that wehad until we launched it and
then it went berserk, you know, and that's the five O, the new
Easton 5 point O And that air isdoing well and it's it's cool to
(13:05):
see. It's cool to see a product get
made and it helps bring customers in a bow shop more for
sure brings attention, you know,to the pro shop.
And with Easton being dealer direct only, you can't go to our
website and buy these heroes. You have to go to a dealer.
So that's one thing that's cool about Easton too.
And I don't disrespect any business models that where
there's there's D2C business models, there's some business
(13:27):
models that are going to fit andwork and do all that stuff.
But it's cool to have that connection, you know, with the
with the pro shops and the guys behind the counter.
And ultimately, do they help paymy bills?
At the end of the day, that's how I see it.
So that's what I'm thankful for.Yeah, yeah, that five O's
crushed it for us this Year 5. O5-O's been killed.
I think I even underestimated how popular it was going to be.
I should have ordered a lot more.
(13:49):
I'm calling Easton once a week going.
Why can I get more? Of this.
Exactly. Yeah, Call.
I've been calling in a lot of favors this year, but yeah, guys
are loving them. Man, that's been a popular arrow
this year and. We got, we got a little bit of
innovation. There's some things that we can
do that other arrow manufacturers haven't done yet,
like an FMJ. So that's a carbon Cordero with
(14:10):
an aluminum jacket over it. And funny story, Gary Cornum
created the one of the first prototypes, not by accident, but
like by just playing around and I can't remember what model, but
basically he glued a carbon one or something like that.
Or he glued a carbon arrow inside of a, a 2216 or 2315 or
something like that and said, man, this would be cool and
(14:32):
brought it to the president and president, like heavy arrows are
out there, not in the market, you know, yadda, yadda, yadda.
And then years later, and this is in the late 90s, years later,
engineering is like, you know, it'd be cool to have an aluminum
jacket over a carbon core. Here's like I got 1.
No kidding. Dang, it was kind.
Of like a pint, I call him the early pioneer, early adapter of
the FMJ. And that's his baby man.
(14:52):
Like he's, he's helped, he helped launch that arrow, the
FMJ family arrows like from the initial launch, the first F and
GI should say and the first axis.
And the Axis arguably has been the industry standard, you know,
for. 5 mil carbons. For five, what was the one of
the first smaller diameter, you know, arrows ever made?
The first MIC, it was the first like true micro diameter shaft
(15:15):
and for 20 plus years that arrow, I don't even know if I'm
allowed to say it, but it's we've never lost sales in it.
It's only gained creased sales. You know, it's been one of our
number one premium selling arrows for two decades or more.
That's awesome. You know, so.
Yeah, I I've been shooting axis that I love that arrow.
(15:38):
You know, I was telling you likeI and I was talking to Jay.
I've been shooting like the RIP TKO.
Another good arrow, man. I can't knock them.
The competition is healthy, Yeah.
Yeah, I know. But I prefer even my axis over
that. I feel like my I don't know what
it is. And maybe it's just I haven't
shot it because like I said, when I went in and started
getting dialed in, but yeah, I'mexcited to get these new 5 OS
(16:00):
and Jackson picked him up and he's been shooting them and he
really, he really likes those. Yeah.
Yeah, it's a fast, zippy little arrow, and it's made right here
in Salt Lake City, man. It's his neighbor.
That's your neighborhood companyright there.
Neighborhood arrow. Yeah.
So for a guy that's like new to hunting, like how much does the
arrow matter? That's a really tough question
(16:23):
because it's when you're getting, I would say it's don't
get match grade. If you're just getting into it,
you're going to blue some and break some.
We make an arrow called a 6.5 bow Hunter or 6.500 and it's a
standard diameter arrow. And the nice thing is, is
they're, they're price friendly,you know, so why I, and now if
you're the type of guy I got some buddies back in North
(16:44):
Carolina do when they get into something, you can't talk them
at a premium. They're what they want the best
of the best. They're going to spend 2025
bucks an arrow, but with the 6.5coming in, you know, at a third
of the cost of that, you know it, I look at it like this,
Archery is an investment. You don't go and dump $12,000 in
a ETF right away. You slowly build that thing up.
(17:07):
That's what I try to do. And I, I, I think it's smart on
pro shops to do that. Correct me if I'm wrong,
Jeremiah, I want to get someone,it's someone that's a new
customer. I would tell them to come in.
Hey, let's get it. Like if it's a Hoipo man, check
out this Torx, you know, if you want to step it up a little bit,
check out that, you know that AX229 or 30, you know, 32,
whatever it might be. And then I'm getting them on
(17:27):
some, you know, more affordable arrows because they're going to
lose them and break them. But that's the 6.5 of the Sonic
man. Like that's a really good error
for someone to just step into and get their feet wet with.
And and then as you progress andyou really love this stuff, when
you get into it like you are, you know, then you're going to
get to more of the access to five O and.
We're on the same page that way.I tell guys all the time, like,
(17:49):
well, when I was when I was new to it, I probably have $300
worth of arrows in my grandpa's field.
I've never found right, but there's awesome broke a lot of
arrows. 200 years from now, yeah, they're going to find.
They are going to North. Carolina.
Like what did they do here? So yeah, I'm, we're on the same
page. I tell guys all the time I'm
like, if you're new to it, man, you don't need to buy premium
arrows right now because the guybehind the bow, it's still more
(18:11):
important than there's a balancing point there, right?
But yeah. And I like, I love the new air.
The five O is awesome. But every time I break 1, I feel
like I took $20 on my wallet turn and have threw it away.
Oh yeah. But.
Now I'm like, and it's through the years as I've progressed as
an Archer, like I'm not happy with just hitting a pie plate at
60. I want to group some arrows at
(18:31):
60. And that's where I told you
guys, that's where you want to jump up and buy a premium arrow
for sure, kind of new and you'restill, you know, missing the
target every now and then. And Yep, that kind of like,
yeah, you don't need to buy thathigh end premium area, you're
not there yet. Yep, but you'll get there
eventually. Eventually 100.
Percent save some money and I'd rather sell a guy two dozen of
the the six fives versus one dozen of the other.
(18:52):
One, I'd rather invest in a coaching, you know, spend that
money into getting good behind the boat.
You know what's so funny about that mental Saturn for the 20
years I've been doing this, of how few guys want good coaching
it every day. If you want to be good at
something, look at a professional athlete.
They've had a coach or a mentor in their ear their entire
(19:12):
career. Yeah.
You know, And if you want to excel, like I'm a big Joel
Turner fan, yeah, shout out, shout IQ.
Joel's got the mental game. He understands it on a
scientific level. And I know there's a lot of
people out there that'll say, you know, he took some stuff
from Lenny Basham and stuff. Lenny Basham was talking about
shooting firearms. People don't want to bring that
up there. And and all credit like winning
(19:32):
with with winning in mind. People need to read that book
too. You know, I think there's a lot
of there's a lot of correlation with being a positive, having a
positive mindset while shooting a boat.
You don't want to go out there, dude.
I've been determined, man, but we ain't hitting twelve rings a
day. We're just aiming for foam and
rubber and hoping we hit there and that don't go well.
And then when you start to change that mindset, but you
know, I, I think there's really,there's a lot of good books out
(19:54):
there. Go to your local pro shop.
You probably got a cool Joe AD program like these guys do here.
You got some phenomenal coaches here, but it's very interesting.
Like I had a guy come in yesterday, he said he shot Tak
and he's like, dude, I got bad target panic.
He's like, I can't. He literally told me he couldn't
get the pin to the foam before he wanted to punch it right.
And what was interesting came in.
I want to buy a brand new like $300 release aid and I'm like,
(20:17):
but like going to work with a coach is going to fix and cure
you better than spending money on something 100% new release
aid, right? So, but there's a lot of guys
that just have a weird mentalitythat way and and it's a good
coach. Well, so I speaking from
experience coming in to guys like you, yes, you're very good.
(20:41):
But I remember the first when I got my bow, I went back there
and I didn't have anything dialed in, but they're like,
hey, let's go back, Just fire one off.
And that arrow hit down on the metal plate and shattered.
And I was like embarrassed. It was it was embarrassing.
I think sometimes for guys that are new, it can be a little
intimidating to go out. Like I told you, I go out, I
(21:03):
went down shot. It wasn't tacked, but we went
down to this range and we were shooting and they're like, hey,
no pressure, but if you want to shoot at this 116 yard shot and
I'm like, yeah, dude, I'll send it.
First one I plugged into the dirt.
I had my both sided at 20. I was guessing where 1/16/16
was. I'm like main adjustment and
like plugged it and then I go upthere with you guys.
(21:25):
You know, lat was it last week, last week and dude, I was like
freaking red beard shows up and I'm like, dude, I was just I but
then as we I'm like, Oh, wait, Iforget.
I'm like, yeah, these guys are normal, like, but you guys were
so good to like everyone like I was.
Going to say we had you dial to 50 pretty quick.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you were shooting great
(21:45):
groups. That night, it started.
To come it started to come around after I was like, but it
is like you get around guy I mean you get around guys you
start shooting like it can be itcan be intimidating to ask for
help I mean guys all the time I'm big oh, I taught myself how
to do that you know taught learnmyself I'll.
Tell you what man, there's nothing wrong with being humble
in this sport. The people that are the most
successful are some of the most humble people.
(22:07):
If if if you can't deal with being humbled, don't start
archery at all. Egos get dropped lift at poor
buddy at the target. That's where they fall.
Yeah, I tell guys I've been doing this for 20 years, but if
I see someone else or a different shop doing something,
I'll adapt to that no problem. It's always learning, you know
you're. Green, you're growing.
(22:27):
You're ripe. You're rotten.
Man, Yeah. So yeah, I think a lot of guys
just I called the buddy system or like I'll have guys come in
that, you know, their maybe their forms not right, they're
not shooting. Gotta go.
Where'd you learn how to shoot? Right?
Well, my dad, I'm like, well, where'd your dad learn to shoot?
He's like my grandpa says, well you got 3 generations of guys
that are doing it wrong, right And so.
(22:48):
We even have the technology's changed, right?
I mean, it changes the way that you're going to shoot.
Yeah, I think the way that we set up bows and fit guys into
bows down too. Like I remember back in the day
when I first got in the sport, an old Cobra release and that
thing felt like a mile long and back then, and some guys still
do this. We'll draw an anchor with their
thumb, like clear behind their. Neck.
Oh yeah, the. Release is too long, right?
(23:10):
And so, yeah, like through the years, like how we kind of, you
know, set up and fit guys into bows and teach them the right
anchor points and and get a bow to fit to them perfectly.
I tell guys that's the most important thing in archery.
I tell guys all the time, I could sell you the very best
equipment I have in this building, but if I don't fit it
to you the right way, you're never going to learn how to
shoot a perfect right. And so start, we call it the
(23:31):
building the foundation or building the base for guys
especially like you, you're getting into, it's like we're
going to help you build that foundation and base.
Like the bow's going to fit you the right way.
Anchor positions going to be solid.
The bow's going to be tuned properly.
We see a lot of guys come in where the bow wasn't even tuned
the right way to begin with. And so we, we want to build that
foundation for you. And then the more you want help,
(23:52):
whether it's, you know, back here in the range or doing
lessons or going out to, you know, we're more than willing to
help guys. But a lot of guys just want to
come in. We set them up and then they
just leave them want to go shoottheir butt, which is totally
fine. As long as you're happy.
I told you, as long as you're happy, the result from A to B,
keep doing it your way. There's different ways to slice
that pie. But Oh yeah, if you're not happy
with the end result, you're not happy with your shooting, then
(24:14):
that's where a good coach and a good bow tech on top of that can
really make all the difference for you.
So. Indeed, it can make it a
pleasurable experience or excruciating the.
Other for sure. Well, and like I didn't even
know like you talked about like the whole like the 8085.
Oh, the let off. The let off, yeah, yeah.
So I went back and I shot your bow and I was like, it didn't
(24:36):
feel weird to me, but I liked it.
And so when we were up there, like Dallin jumped in and I was
like, hey, how hard is it to switch my let off to 80?
He's like. You know, 2 seconds later, yeah.
I'm like. But that's the thing too is it's
like, it's a, it can be intimidating to ask for help
because it's like I've been shooting a bow for five years.
(24:57):
I've been hunting, haven't killed anything for five years.
This is my fifth year and I'm still trying to figure things
out. Like they're guys that like red
beard. The dude is like a tech junkie,
like he knows everything and like, like you guys, but you
guys are just like, I want to help you have fun, enjoy what
you're doing. So I I guess my advice to
(25:17):
someone is like just humble yourself and and go into pro
shop ask for help. Yep, good advice.
That's that's the move, man. Like I said, the longer you got
to stay around the campfire too.If you want to stay in the
sport, you got to create a campfire.
And that's what these guys have done here, you know, create a
place where people are welcome and I, I want them hang out.
(25:39):
I did. I, I saw this thing.
There was a meme somebody posted.
It's like, hey, like, what's theage where like all the boys get
to go like me to the coffee shop, right?
And I'm like. You don't meet a coffee.
Shop Last of Angola. You don't need a coffee shop,
you need a pro. Shop Yeah, that's right Yep,
yeah. Culture we have here is pretty
awesome like that. That is one of the biggest
(25:59):
things that I do love is, you know, guys will come.
They don't even need to come in and buy it.
They just want to come hang out with the boys, you know, talk
shop for a minute, whatever it may be like that is.
One of the coolest things I'd say about the shop is the
friendships we've created, and the culture we've created here
has been pretty awesome. So my boy would always bust my
chops because like, hey, I'm heading down to Wild Arrow.
He's like, what are you going tobuy?
And I'm like, nothing. Yeah.
(26:20):
He's like, well, what are you going to do?
And I'm like, I don't know. I'm going to go down and talk to
the guys and just like, see, seewhat's out.
He's like, you don't think they get annoyed with that?
And I'm like, well, at some point I'm going to buy
something. That's what we call a dripping
customer is what I called it. You know, someone that would
come in. That's how it was an extreme
man. We, we had a couch.
We had some coffee on deck for anyone that wanted a coffee,
(26:43):
like we had Monsters in a cooleranyone wanted to buy.
Like it was. Honestly, during COVID, bro,
Extreme Outfitters was the placeto hang out.
Really. Yeah, this place you can get
away. You didn't.
Have to wear no mask out of yeah, that's what I was.
Man, none of it like we we were in a.
Cody was at the door, checking for masks.
You can't come in unless you can't.
Come in, you can't wear that anymore.
(27:03):
We we had signs up because we stayed open during COVID too.
I'm like hell with it. Someone wants to come shut me
down, but I put a sign up that says mask required.
But if a guy asked if we'd put it on just for courtesy, right?
But I wasn't making the guys wear it.
And a guy, I remember a guy walked in the door and he's like
a mask required. I'm like, they're optional.
He's like hell yeah. And rips it off like, yeah, he
(27:23):
was all excited. And so I.
Dude, I remember back I went into Target right and Target was
like you have to wear masks. Well, they had a sign out that
says, you know, you can't shop in the store without facial
coverings. And so I walk in my wife,
everyone's like covered. And like someone comes up like,
(27:45):
sure, you need to have a facial covering.
I'm like, oh, I've got a beard. And they were like, kid didn't
know how to respond. Yeah.
Like walked away. I eventually had like store
manager chase me down a. Bandana like a Disney place.
Me and my wife went to some little Disney Store.
Gosh. What a while time my.
Face covering was not sufficient.
Dude, it was conditioning. They were, they were conditioned
(28:08):
back to the conspiracy. They're conditioning us to see
what, what we're willing to like, put up with.
Yeah, Conformity, man. Yeah, well, how long will they
conform? You know what?
It still drives me crazy. I to this day, there's still
stores I go into where they havethe plexiglass at the registers.
Like it's still up. I'm like, come on, like.
So annoying. Zions Bank.
Really. I went into the one here in
(28:29):
Centerville yesterday, deposit some checks and I was like, you
got to be kidding me. It was just one booth, the only
one anyone was working at, but they had the plexiglass up and
I'm like, bro, let it go, man. Yeah.
That's crazy. It's still, I still see a lot of
people wearing masks, even driving in their cars.
(28:50):
Alone where I see. Oh my gosh, yeah.
People on airplanes with masks and.
It's my mom, my mom's all big onthat.
And I go, I tell her to go, hey,if you want to go buy an N95
mask and wear that, by all means.
But I said this cloth crap that you're wearing is not doing you
any bit of good, buddy. She's all about it.
But anyway. I'll tell you, COVID was
probably one of the best things that happened to.
Archery, though, you're not wrong, I'll tell you that you're
(29:13):
I, I thought my business partnerwas going to murder me that year
because, you know, COVID hit andI, I actually ordered heavy.
I went really. We really.
Yeah. So that was where we saw it and
we were like the guy back at Extreme Outfitter, Zach Lasika.
You want to talk about a hard charging guy?
He understands business. Very, very smart business wise.
(29:35):
But man, you want to talk about a risk taker bro?
We. He pulled the plugs, Yeah, he
said. This is we're burning the
bridges. I did the same thing because I'm
like I was afraid of not gettingproduct.
That's what we're afraid like we're.
Not there were so many shops that are like stopped ordering
and hit the brakes super hard and I'm like, Nope, full
throttle. And I'll tell you what, when we
started getting some of these boxes roll in and some of these
(29:56):
invoices coming, my business partner's like, what in the
hell? What are we doing?
And then after that year, he's like, good freaking job, right?
And so but yeah, you know, I mean, no one knew going into
that how, I mean, it could have went completely opposite and
been like, oh, hey, we got. That was a coin flip, buddy.
Yeah, it was for sure. But then that paid off and.
Well, everything outdoors reallykind of got a bump.
(30:19):
I mean camping people were just like wanting to get away from.
It my wife bought a camper. Yeah.
Like literally during. Really.
Yeah. Yeah. 2019-2020, Yeah.
Yeah, and it's still continuing to grow.
You got, you know, you kind of have like masculinity making a
comeback. I mean, it's been doing that for
a while. But you've got guys like Rogan
(30:40):
and Jocko and and and. Haines, all those guys have.
Been pushing it. Yeah, yeah.
For sure so. That's awesome.
Anyway, well, I know you got some client custom clientele
starting to roll in and open forbusiness, but just wanted to
thank Cody for coming and jumping on obviously how well
(31:03):
wild arrow what's your guys Instagram handle?
Why make sure people go follow you?
It's. Just wild arrow archery and
everyone forgets we spelled withan EWILDE.
They're extra, they're extra wild, yeah.
Well, it's kind of cool. A lot of people all just tell
guys this on the podcast that don't know because to to us,
it's pretty neat. But back in the late 80s, early
90s, there was a guy named D Wild and that I joke around, but
(31:24):
I called him the Michael Jordan archery back then.
Like he's born in Vegas, like he's one of the best shooters in
the world. Both.
Yeah, I mean, the Wild name, that has been awesome.
So. And he had a couple of shops up
in Idaho and he actually helped start our shop back in the day.
And so, you know, that's how people like, why do you have an
E on the end of it? And so that's why.
So guys that haven't been in thesport for a long time don't
(31:46):
really know that, but yeah. And then, you know, his boys
followed suit. You got Rio now.
Rio Wild He was one of the biggest names in archery.
Rio's probably one of the most successful, like, outdoor
shooters ever. Yeah, there's like him and three
other people I can name off top of my loose.
So yeah, for guys that are interested in that, you know,
yeah, our Instagram, go check itout while there archery, that
kind of stuff. But we want to cool, do a little
(32:08):
cool history deep dive on to go look up D in real wild.
That's that's kind of how we gotour origins and got our start
there. So super cool.
Yeah. Cody, what about you?
How can folks find you? Eastern archery, man.
That's the way. That's the that's the place to
go. And then if they want to slide
into your personal DMS. I've got to.
I created a page out of me experimenting with his algorithm
(32:29):
stuff, but it's called Beards, Bows and Barbells.
OK, that's where you can find. All right.
Well, we'll make sure we put links to everything in the show
notes, but obviously big fan of Easton.
Everything you guys are doing over there, You're obviously a
fan of Wild Arrow. Just come hang out down here all
the time. So buy some, just come hang.
(32:50):
Out with the boys, come hang out, come drink some revenge.
Yeah, we got you hooked up with that.
Yeah. All right, guys.
Well, everyone, hey, appreciate you sticking around with this.
Hopefully you've enjoyed the podcast.
We are the fastest growing hunting podcast in the nation.
Make sure hit, subscribe, give us a follow.
It's wherever you listen to podcasts on YouTube.
Hunt, Stealth, Go fall, wild arrow, Eastern archery, all that
(33:13):
fun stuff. Stay safe guys and God bless.
You're listening to the Hunt Stealth Podcast with Ryan
Uffins, the podcast where we dive head first into the wild,
whether you're an aspiring hunter or an adventurer seeking
the untamed. Together, we'll explore the
strategies and stories that leadto success in the great outdoors
homeland. Skies a stud but.
(00:26):
That's some beautiful country out there.
Man. I didn't realize driving
through. Yeah, I worked on his bow, he
was telling me. So I guess he's got 2 bad knees
and and Rogan got him hooked up with that place in Mexico to go
get stem cell. He said he went down there and
he's like, dude. Game changer.
He's like my knee. He's like, I feel like I'm in my
20s again. You're kidding, but.
That should be legal. Too, So his boys, he's got two
(00:49):
boys that help run the ranch with him and one of his boys, I
think Austin married Taylor DirtJury.
She lives here. Yeah, because, Tom, they live in
South Weber. Get out of here.
They're next door neighbors withmy brother.
Actually came up on my explore page and I'm like, Dury, Why do
I know that name? Used to watch the Dury, you
know, the Dury Dury Outdoors. And I was like, started digging
(01:11):
through something. I'm like, wait a second, That's
Mark and Terry's, you know, nephew, niece and daughter or
whatever it might be. Yeah.
I'm like get out of here. So yeah, her dad's one of the
original juries. She married one of Tom's boys.
I gotcha. So my brother lives in South
Weber and they're they're literally across street
neighbors from them. Anyway, small world, but yeah,
(01:32):
there you go. Well, back to it then all.
Right Round 2. That's good.
Round 2. Knock this out, let's talk some
shop. Man.
So hey guys, we're down here at Wild Arrow today.
We just, well, you've probably, if you're listening to this now,
you've probably already listenedto Jeremiah and I rant on a
little bit about some other stuff, but.
(01:52):
Put everything on that. We've got Cody Griffin with us
and Cody Griffin is with Easton.Yes, and.
What's your official title there?
So my, my corporate title is, yeah, I wish promotions.
Yeah. Promotions management, all
right. So what what?
What does that job entail? Dude, it's AI.
(02:13):
So First off, I've got the funnest job at Easton.
I will declare that and I knew coming in it would be the
funnest job, but I do wear a couple hats and like one of us
managing the Target pro set. That's one of my favorite parts
of it, you know, is I want to see those guys excel at the
highest level they can. It's kind of my like, kind of
not be a coach or anything like that or a mentor, but like a
(02:35):
like a golf caddy, yeah. You know, tell them what club to
use, huh? Yeah, tell them like.
Hey, this is where you need to be at.
This is what we need to do and motivate, motivate them if they
need it. Like there's a couple of
shooters, if they're going through like a rough phrase,
I'll call them up. Like, dude, what are you doing?
You know, just kind of and then like, man, you know, you know,
you're the best in the world. If you wouldn't, you wouldn't be
on my staff, right, You know, kind of thing.
And that's cool. They get them amped up, But
(02:57):
that's one of the things the other I hope out on the social
media side. Thankfully there's a couple
people that help out on that because that's a pretty big
page. A lot of DMSA lot of you know,
people tagging our accounts and stuff like invited collabs help
out with the content side organizing that.
What else do we do? Help out with some of the video
stuff that you might see on YouTube.
(03:18):
One of the guys that helps out on that and.
Jump in on podcast at the last minute.
Yeah, last be late, be late for a podcast.
That's my goal. And then what else do we got
going on in there? Man, I hope out with events and
stuff like that. We've got a really, we got to
kill our team in there. Kimberly, she's our customer
service manager. She started like tackle events
(03:40):
and like really taking that on and just kind of helping me
assist or letting me assist her in that.
But that's the other thing. Events are.
Events are huge. You know, so if you don't nail
an event down, who? Looks bad, yeah.
Yeah, that's where we met. I got introduced to you.
Yeah. What?
What? I think it was Black Flag.
Harbertson's an introduction. Drinking some revenge in there.
(04:00):
Pink lemonade. Sparkling water.
Hey, I tried that for the first time the other day.
It was bad. I don't drink a lot of that
stuff, but. But when you do, it's Black Flag
Revenge. It got me going.
I came into the shop the other day, dude, I was dude, I'd like
I woke up at like 1:00 AM, couldn't go back to bed till
like three. I rolled into the shop and I'm
like I'm I'm not feeling I need.To bring you some crazy stuff I
got at the house. And that well, because I don't
(04:22):
drink that very often. I took that revenge and I got a
lot of stuff done that day. It was great.
So I like it. It's a good, it's a nice little
caffeinated beverage. And funny thing is, Jordan used
to work with Easton in a way. Yeah, at Centers West and I used
to do some work. I think he started working at
Easton. Yeah, I.
Think it was I know Gary was hisboss, so my boss was Jordan's
boss. OK, Yeah, yeah, yeah, He's, he's
(04:46):
been at it for a while. Those guys are.
Very OK at marketing, I guess. Yeah, we've been Gary.
Gary Strongman, 30 plus years atEaston.
Really, dude? Gary's a killer, man.
People don't realize. Like that guy's killed 2 moose,
he's killed sheep. Like he's Gary's.
Gary's a hunter. I'm a big time hunter.
Yeah. He don't like to brag.
I'll brag on him, man. Yeah, I'll brag for him.
(05:08):
So, so, well, let me ask you this, like what led you?
Because you're not, I can tell you have a little bit of an
accent that's different from therest of those here in Utah.
What? Are Utah accent don't work?
Yeah, well, like Mountain or Layton.
Yeah. We we have that.
But but yeah. So.
So where'd you grow up and then and what kind of like brought
(05:29):
you to Utah and ultimately to Easton?
Indeed, I grew up on the coast of North Carolina, just in a
little town called Richlands, socoastal North Carolina, born and
raised there, lived there for 28years and ventured out, did some
traveling and stuff like that. But ultimately what got me here
is my now what it was at the time she was my girlfriend, but
(05:50):
my wife April now she had shot me a a link.
It was a LinkedIn post about theposition being here at Easton.
She said, I think you really like it.
At the time I was working at thepro shop side of things.
I was working retail and no, man, just about everything I've
got, you know, to those guys that extreme Outfitters and you
want to talk about a powerhouse shop, man, they're like a wild
(06:10):
Arrow, North Carolina. I mean, they're they get it
done. And it's, it's cool to see the
differences in between here where we're at now, Wild Arrow
and extreme just from my East Coast and West Coast hunting.
But the one thing that's constant is the customer
service. And I think that's where that's
what separates an orchard shop from a pro shop is the customer
service, the knowledge and the the time and dedication they
(06:32):
spin behind the equipment to make sure it's right and proper,
you know, so that's really cool to see.
But. Yeah, we, we had talked, Jay and
I talked a little bit about that.
There's there's been a complaintor two online about people
getting flustered like having towait.
But it's like if you will just wait, man, like these guys give
you like. You can't rush.
As much, as much time as you need to make the decision.
(06:54):
Yeah, yeah. It yeah, I take me a while to
get to you but boy, when we do we're going to get it done just.
Right, Scooter, It's coming. That's why, that's why I tell
people like I, I was in here. I can't remember.
It was last week sometime. I'd been like Mia since I
separated my shoulder, 'cause I hadn't been shooting or
anything. And then I got back shooting.
(07:15):
I'm like, OK, I got to get back in here.
There's one guy here. I'm like dude, it's worth the
wait. Like.
Yeah, like just he's alright. There you go.
Cool. I I'd say 99% of our customers
are pretty understand. They know and it's guys that
have never been here before. I do feel bad because they walk
in and they see this organized chaos going on and they're like,
(07:37):
I don't know. And then they don't, they don't
get that good. But man, if we can, once we get
to that guy, they usually they're like, OK, that was
worth. It's few and far between.
The people complain. For sure, yeah.
And it's hard to find good help.And you've got good help here,
you know, that extreme same way we had good help, you know.
Well, and I talked, I was telling him earlier, I'm like
this time of year, I wish I had 10 guys working like yesterday.
(07:58):
I legit could have had 10 employees working because we
were that busy. But two things happened.
One trying to get a guy trained to our level.
It's. It takes years.
Yeah, years. And then two, come October, I
want to fire everybody because there's literally days in
October when I won't have a single customer come through the
door, right? So it.
That's the difference between east and West I think.
(08:19):
So like we're we're not as busy like as you, you guys move so
much volume. Like I was mind blown, like just
looking. And then you go Outback and you
see all the bill box. You're like, whoa, like we were,
we were really good account. You know, we were when I was at
extreme, they were doing 6 figure, 6 figure, you know,
dealers for like PSC, you know, run running up on 6 figures with
(08:41):
Hoyt Matthews and stuff like that.
And when I was hearing what you guys were doing, I was like,
holy crap. There is another level of this
deal and but we were, I feel like we were probably a little
bit more consistent on the well,we just had a little bit more
consistent traffic flows all. Year round, year round, Well, I
think the fact that you guys canhunt hogs year round, stuff like
that, right? Like our bow season comes and
(09:01):
goes type of hill. So, yeah, we we see peaks and
valleys in our business for sure.
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(09:23):
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(09:46):
am excited to do. I, I did a podcast with Nathan
Cox. He's a warden out of North
Carolina and he's like, come black bear hunting with us next
year. Dude, I'm going to tell you what
that's we keep that a secret. Don't tell nobody.
North Carolina's got some of theblacks best black bear in the
world. Really.
The past couple like world. Like 578900 pound.
(10:08):
Ball. Oh my gosh, yeah.
Yeah, I'm going to have to go back and and yeah, that's what
that's what Nate was saying. He's like, there's a reason,
like Jim Shock and these guys come to North Carolina to help.
Black Donald Trump junior comes out there.
Huge. I.
I got a buddy of mine that's a guy out there dare to hide and
dude. So this man is Andrew is 6 foot
(10:29):
like 7-8 maybe 9. Huge.
So like me, some of. These bears are yeah, yeah, like
me, Like me and some of these bears just.
You're like, man, it makes Andrew look small.
And he's a big boy, you know, He's just.
I think, I think the, I think the record was out of there.
I think I felt like he said it was like 900 lbs or like 880 lbs
(10:51):
or something. And it's like, like, why do they
get, why do they get so big out there?
Dude, they feed them, man. Like they get fed.
Like you want to talk about Golden Corral?
That's where Golden Corral. Those bears even have to
hibernate their man. They're out year round.
They. Drag their bellies and they scar
up their bellies. Really.
Yes, like it's a lot of pumpkin sweet potatoes.
Yeah, we're not. Wait, so who feeds them?
Like, do they just go into people's like, like?
(11:14):
They just have piles of them sitting out there bro.
It's not illegal. Like you can dump as long as I
don't believe it's it. You can feed them as long as
it's not in season. But we're we're talking dump
trucks of sweet potatoes. We're not talking a £50 sack.
We're talking little dump trucksdriving in, dropping sweet
potatoes, and they will sit on that pile and gorge until they
can't. Until they go to walk off and
(11:35):
their bellies drag. They'll roll over.
I mean it's. Holy shit.
Like black bear hunting there isa little bit different.
I actually got ran up a tree like I, I got, I got pretty
petrified one time hunting a black we're hunting.
It was whitetail season and I had seen a cub that was
underneath the tree and I I'd already laid my bow down like I
was getting down from the climber shimmying down.
And I heard something, I saw a cub and I said, Oh my gosh.
(11:58):
And I just like, I'm trying to like pull my bow because it's
attached to the climber, you know, the string tethered down
to it. And Mama bear didn't even I it's
grace of God. Mama Bear didn't see me or
anything like that, but I was frozen for quite a bit.
And let me tell you something, Jack, Pat and Charlie were
moving. Whenever, whenever I got on the
ground, I was running through the truck.
Yeah, Yep. That's crazy.
(12:20):
That's wild. Yeah.
I'm excited to get out there. That'll be a lot of fun.
But. But yeah, so.
So tell me, look what's going onin Easton right now.
Oh. Man, there's so much.
We got a lot of good stuff goingon, man.
We're sell it well. When I got there we were still
celebrating 100 plus years started in 19231922 I believe
(12:41):
2222. Yeah, 2020, 200 year. 20/22 was
100 years. So still kicking off that, which
is awesome, got some new products launched into the
market that, you know, we had, I'd say a hole in our lineup.
We didn't really realize that wehad until we launched it and
then it went berserk, you know, and that's the five O, the new
Easton 5 point O And that air isdoing well and it's it's cool to
(13:05):
see. It's cool to see a product get
made and it helps bring customers in a bow shop more for
sure brings attention, you know,to the pro shop.
And with Easton being dealer direct only, you can't go to our
website and buy these heroes. You have to go to a dealer.
So that's one thing that's cool about Easton too.
And I don't disrespect any business models that where
there's there's D2C business models, there's some business
(13:27):
models that are going to fit andwork and do all that stuff.
But it's cool to have that connection, you know, with the
with the pro shops and the guys behind the counter.
And ultimately, do they help paymy bills?
At the end of the day, that's how I see it.
So that's what I'm thankful for.Yeah, yeah, that five O's
crushed it for us this Year 5. O5-O's been killed.
I think I even underestimated how popular it was going to be.
I should have ordered a lot more.
(13:49):
I'm calling Easton once a week going.
Why can I get more? Of this.
Exactly. Yeah, Call.
I've been calling in a lot of favors this year, but yeah, guys
are loving them. Man, that's been a popular arrow
this year and. We got, we got a little bit of
innovation. There's some things that we can
do that other arrow manufacturers haven't done yet,
like an FMJ. So that's a carbon Cordero with
(14:10):
an aluminum jacket over it. And funny story, Gary Cornum
created the one of the first prototypes, not by accident, but
like by just playing around and I can't remember what model, but
basically he glued a carbon one or something like that.
Or he glued a carbon arrow inside of a, a 2216 or 2315 or
something like that and said, man, this would be cool and
(14:32):
brought it to the president and president, like heavy arrows are
out there, not in the market, you know, yadda, yadda, yadda.
And then years later, and this is in the late 90s, years later,
engineering is like, you know, it'd be cool to have an aluminum
jacket over a carbon core. Here's like I got 1.
No kidding. Dang, it was kind.
Of like a pint, I call him the early pioneer, early adapter of
the FMJ. And that's his baby man.
(14:52):
Like he's, he's helped, he helped launch that arrow, the
FMJ family arrows like from the initial launch, the first F and
GI should say and the first axis.
And the Axis arguably has been the industry standard, you know,
for. 5 mil carbons. For five, what was the one of
the first smaller diameter, you know, arrows ever made?
The first MIC, it was the first like true micro diameter shaft
(15:15):
and for 20 plus years that arrow, I don't even know if I'm
allowed to say it, but it's we've never lost sales in it.
It's only gained creased sales. You know, it's been one of our
number one premium selling arrows for two decades or more.
That's awesome. You know, so.
Yeah, I I've been shooting axis that I love that arrow.
(15:38):
You know, I was telling you likeI and I was talking to Jay.
I've been shooting like the RIP TKO.
Another good arrow, man. I can't knock them.
The competition is healthy, Yeah.
Yeah, I know. But I prefer even my axis over
that. I feel like my I don't know what
it is. And maybe it's just I haven't
shot it because like I said, when I went in and started
getting dialed in, but yeah, I'mexcited to get these new 5 OS
(16:00):
and Jackson picked him up and he's been shooting them and he
really, he really likes those. Yeah.
Yeah, it's a fast, zippy little arrow, and it's made right here
in Salt Lake City, man. It's his neighbor.
That's your neighborhood companyright there.
Neighborhood arrow. Yeah.
So for a guy that's like new to hunting, like how much does the
arrow matter? That's a really tough question
(16:23):
because it's when you're getting, I would say it's don't
get match grade. If you're just getting into it,
you're going to blue some and break some.
We make an arrow called a 6.5 bow Hunter or 6.500 and it's a
standard diameter arrow. And the nice thing is, is
they're, they're price friendly,you know, so why I, and now if
you're the type of guy I got some buddies back in North
(16:44):
Carolina do when they get into something, you can't talk them
at a premium. They're what they want the best
of the best. They're going to spend 2025
bucks an arrow, but with the 6.5coming in, you know, at a third
of the cost of that, you know it, I look at it like this,
Archery is an investment. You don't go and dump $12,000 in
a ETF right away. You slowly build that thing up.
(17:07):
That's what I try to do. And I, I, I think it's smart on
pro shops to do that. Correct me if I'm wrong,
Jeremiah, I want to get someone,it's someone that's a new
customer. I would tell them to come in.
Hey, let's get it. Like if it's a Hoipo man, check
out this Torx, you know, if you want to step it up a little bit,
check out that, you know that AX229 or 30, you know, 32,
whatever it might be. And then I'm getting them on
(17:27):
some, you know, more affordable arrows because they're going to
lose them and break them. But that's the 6.5 of the Sonic
man. Like that's a really good error
for someone to just step into and get their feet wet with.
And and then as you progress andyou really love this stuff, when
you get into it like you are, you know, then you're going to
get to more of the access to five O and.
We're on the same page that way.I tell guys all the time, like,
(17:49):
well, when I was when I was new to it, I probably have $300
worth of arrows in my grandpa's field.
I've never found right, but there's awesome broke a lot of
arrows. 200 years from now, yeah, they're going to find.
They are going to North. Carolina.
Like what did they do here? So yeah, I'm, we're on the same
page. I tell guys all the time I'm
like, if you're new to it, man, you don't need to buy premium
arrows right now because the guybehind the bow, it's still more
(18:11):
important than there's a balancing point there, right?
But yeah. And I like, I love the new air.
The five O is awesome. But every time I break 1, I feel
like I took $20 on my wallet turn and have threw it away.
Oh yeah. But.
Now I'm like, and it's through the years as I've progressed as
an Archer, like I'm not happy with just hitting a pie plate at
60. I want to group some arrows at
(18:31):
60. And that's where I told you
guys, that's where you want to jump up and buy a premium arrow
for sure, kind of new and you'restill, you know, missing the
target every now and then. And Yep, that kind of like,
yeah, you don't need to buy thathigh end premium area, you're
not there yet. Yep, but you'll get there
eventually. Eventually 100.
Percent save some money and I'd rather sell a guy two dozen of
the the six fives versus one dozen of the other.
(18:52):
One, I'd rather invest in a coaching, you know, spend that
money into getting good behind the boat.
You know what's so funny about that mental Saturn for the 20
years I've been doing this, of how few guys want good coaching
it every day. If you want to be good at
something, look at a professional athlete.
They've had a coach or a mentor in their ear their entire
(19:12):
career. Yeah.
You know, And if you want to excel, like I'm a big Joel
Turner fan, yeah, shout out, shout IQ.
Joel's got the mental game. He understands it on a
scientific level. And I know there's a lot of
people out there that'll say, you know, he took some stuff
from Lenny Basham and stuff. Lenny Basham was talking about
shooting firearms. People don't want to bring that
up there. And and all credit like winning
(19:32):
with with winning in mind. People need to read that book
too. You know, I think there's a lot
of there's a lot of correlation with being a positive, having a
positive mindset while shooting a boat.
You don't want to go out there, dude.
I've been determined, man, but we ain't hitting twelve rings a
day. We're just aiming for foam and
rubber and hoping we hit there and that don't go well.
And then when you start to change that mindset, but you
know, I, I think there's really,there's a lot of good books out
(19:54):
there. Go to your local pro shop.
You probably got a cool Joe AD program like these guys do here.
You got some phenomenal coaches here, but it's very interesting.
Like I had a guy come in yesterday, he said he shot Tak
and he's like, dude, I got bad target panic.
He's like, I can't. He literally told me he couldn't
get the pin to the foam before he wanted to punch it right.
And what was interesting came in.
I want to buy a brand new like $300 release aid and I'm like,
(20:17):
but like going to work with a coach is going to fix and cure
you better than spending money on something 100% new release
aid, right? So, but there's a lot of guys
that just have a weird mentalitythat way and and it's a good
coach. Well, so I speaking from
experience coming in to guys like you, yes, you're very good.
(20:41):
But I remember the first when I got my bow, I went back there
and I didn't have anything dialed in, but they're like,
hey, let's go back, Just fire one off.
And that arrow hit down on the metal plate and shattered.
And I was like embarrassed. It was it was embarrassing.
I think sometimes for guys that are new, it can be a little
intimidating to go out. Like I told you, I go out, I
(21:03):
went down shot. It wasn't tacked, but we went
down to this range and we were shooting and they're like, hey,
no pressure, but if you want to shoot at this 116 yard shot and
I'm like, yeah, dude, I'll send it.
First one I plugged into the dirt.
I had my both sided at 20. I was guessing where 1/16/16
was. I'm like main adjustment and
like plugged it and then I go upthere with you guys.
(21:25):
You know, lat was it last week, last week and dude, I was like
freaking red beard shows up and I'm like, dude, I was just I but
then as we I'm like, Oh, wait, Iforget.
I'm like, yeah, these guys are normal, like, but you guys were
so good to like everyone like I was.
Going to say we had you dial to 50 pretty quick.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you were shooting great
(21:45):
groups. That night, it started.
To come it started to come around after I was like, but it
is like you get around guy I mean you get around guys you
start shooting like it can be itcan be intimidating to ask for
help I mean guys all the time I'm big oh, I taught myself how
to do that you know taught learnmyself I'll.
Tell you what man, there's nothing wrong with being humble
in this sport. The people that are the most
successful are some of the most humble people.
(22:07):
If if if you can't deal with being humbled, don't start
archery at all. Egos get dropped lift at poor
buddy at the target. That's where they fall.
Yeah, I tell guys I've been doing this for 20 years, but if
I see someone else or a different shop doing something,
I'll adapt to that no problem. It's always learning, you know
you're. Green, you're growing.
(22:27):
You're ripe. You're rotten.
Man, Yeah. So yeah, I think a lot of guys
just I called the buddy system or like I'll have guys come in
that, you know, their maybe their forms not right, they're
not shooting. Gotta go.
Where'd you learn how to shoot? Right?
Well, my dad, I'm like, well, where'd your dad learn to shoot?
He's like my grandpa says, well you got 3 generations of guys
that are doing it wrong, right And so.
(22:48):
We even have the technology's changed, right?
I mean, it changes the way that you're going to shoot.
Yeah, I think the way that we set up bows and fit guys into
bows down too. Like I remember back in the day
when I first got in the sport, an old Cobra release and that
thing felt like a mile long and back then, and some guys still
do this. We'll draw an anchor with their
thumb, like clear behind their. Neck.
Oh yeah, the. Release is too long, right?
(23:10):
And so, yeah, like through the years, like how we kind of, you
know, set up and fit guys into bows and teach them the right
anchor points and and get a bow to fit to them perfectly.
I tell guys that's the most important thing in archery.
I tell guys all the time, I could sell you the very best
equipment I have in this building, but if I don't fit it
to you the right way, you're never going to learn how to
shoot a perfect right. And so start, we call it the
(23:31):
building the foundation or building the base for guys
especially like you, you're getting into, it's like we're
going to help you build that foundation and base.
Like the bow's going to fit you the right way.
Anchor positions going to be solid.
The bow's going to be tuned properly.
We see a lot of guys come in where the bow wasn't even tuned
the right way to begin with. And so we, we want to build that
foundation for you. And then the more you want help,
(23:52):
whether it's, you know, back here in the range or doing
lessons or going out to, you know, we're more than willing to
help guys. But a lot of guys just want to
come in. We set them up and then they
just leave them want to go shoottheir butt, which is totally
fine. As long as you're happy.
I told you, as long as you're happy, the result from A to B,
keep doing it your way. There's different ways to slice
that pie. But Oh yeah, if you're not happy
with the end result, you're not happy with your shooting, then
(24:14):
that's where a good coach and a good bow tech on top of that can
really make all the difference for you.
So. Indeed, it can make it a
pleasurable experience or excruciating the.
Other for sure. Well, and like I didn't even
know like you talked about like the whole like the 8085.
Oh, the let off. The let off, yeah, yeah.
So I went back and I shot your bow and I was like, it didn't
(24:36):
feel weird to me, but I liked it.
And so when we were up there, like Dallin jumped in and I was
like, hey, how hard is it to switch my let off to 80?
He's like. You know, 2 seconds later, yeah.
I'm like. But that's the thing too is it's
like, it's a, it can be intimidating to ask for help
because it's like I've been shooting a bow for five years.
(24:57):
I've been hunting, haven't killed anything for five years.
This is my fifth year and I'm still trying to figure things
out. Like they're guys that like red
beard. The dude is like a tech junkie,
like he knows everything and like, like you guys, but you
guys are just like, I want to help you have fun, enjoy what
you're doing. So I I guess my advice to
(25:17):
someone is like just humble yourself and and go into pro
shop ask for help. Yep, good advice.
That's that's the move, man. Like I said, the longer you got
to stay around the campfire too.If you want to stay in the
sport, you got to create a campfire.
And that's what these guys have done here, you know, create a
place where people are welcome and I, I want them hang out.
(25:39):
I did. I, I saw this thing.
There was a meme somebody posted.
It's like, hey, like, what's theage where like all the boys get
to go like me to the coffee shop, right?
And I'm like. You don't meet a coffee.
Shop Last of Angola. You don't need a coffee shop,
you need a pro. Shop Yeah, that's right Yep,
yeah. Culture we have here is pretty
awesome like that. That is one of the biggest
(25:59):
things that I do love is, you know, guys will come.
They don't even need to come in and buy it.
They just want to come hang out with the boys, you know, talk
shop for a minute, whatever it may be like that is.
One of the coolest things I'd say about the shop is the
friendships we've created, and the culture we've created here
has been pretty awesome. So my boy would always bust my
chops because like, hey, I'm heading down to Wild Arrow.
He's like, what are you going tobuy?
And I'm like, nothing. Yeah.
(26:20):
He's like, well, what are you going to do?
And I'm like, I don't know. I'm going to go down and talk to
the guys and just like, see, seewhat's out.
He's like, you don't think they get annoyed with that?
And I'm like, well, at some point I'm going to buy
something. That's what we call a dripping
customer is what I called it. You know, someone that would
come in. That's how it was an extreme
man. We, we had a couch.
We had some coffee on deck for anyone that wanted a coffee,
(26:43):
like we had Monsters in a cooleranyone wanted to buy.
Like it was. Honestly, during COVID, bro,
Extreme Outfitters was the placeto hang out.
Really. Yeah, this place you can get
away. You didn't.
Have to wear no mask out of yeah, that's what I was.
Man, none of it like we we were in a.
Cody was at the door, checking for masks.
You can't come in unless you can't.
Come in, you can't wear that anymore.
(27:03):
We we had signs up because we stayed open during COVID too.
I'm like hell with it. Someone wants to come shut me
down, but I put a sign up that says mask required.
But if a guy asked if we'd put it on just for courtesy, right?
But I wasn't making the guys wear it.
And a guy, I remember a guy walked in the door and he's like
a mask required. I'm like, they're optional.
He's like hell yeah. And rips it off like, yeah, he
(27:23):
was all excited. And so I.
Dude, I remember back I went into Target right and Target was
like you have to wear masks. Well, they had a sign out that
says, you know, you can't shop in the store without facial
coverings. And so I walk in my wife,
everyone's like covered. And like someone comes up like,
(27:45):
sure, you need to have a facial covering.
I'm like, oh, I've got a beard. And they were like, kid didn't
know how to respond. Yeah.
Like walked away. I eventually had like store
manager chase me down a. Bandana like a Disney place.
Me and my wife went to some little Disney Store.
Gosh. What a while time my.
Face covering was not sufficient.
Dude, it was conditioning. They were, they were conditioned
(28:08):
back to the conspiracy. They're conditioning us to see
what, what we're willing to like, put up with.
Yeah, Conformity, man. Yeah, well, how long will they
conform? You know what?
It still drives me crazy. I to this day, there's still
stores I go into where they havethe plexiglass at the registers.
Like it's still up. I'm like, come on, like.
So annoying. Zions Bank.
Really. I went into the one here in
(28:29):
Centerville yesterday, deposit some checks and I was like, you
got to be kidding me. It was just one booth, the only
one anyone was working at, but they had the plexiglass up and
I'm like, bro, let it go, man. Yeah.
That's crazy. It's still, I still see a lot of
people wearing masks, even driving in their cars.
(28:50):
Alone where I see. Oh my gosh, yeah.
People on airplanes with masks and.
It's my mom, my mom's all big onthat.
And I go, I tell her to go, hey,if you want to go buy an N95
mask and wear that, by all means.
But I said this cloth crap that you're wearing is not doing you
any bit of good, buddy. She's all about it.
But anyway. I'll tell you, COVID was
probably one of the best things that happened to.
Archery, though, you're not wrong, I'll tell you that you're
(29:13):
I, I thought my business partnerwas going to murder me that year
because, you know, COVID hit andI, I actually ordered heavy.
I went really. We really.
Yeah. So that was where we saw it and
we were like the guy back at Extreme Outfitter, Zach Lasika.
You want to talk about a hard charging guy?
He understands business. Very, very smart business wise.
(29:35):
But man, you want to talk about a risk taker bro?
We. He pulled the plugs, Yeah, he
said. This is we're burning the
bridges. I did the same thing because I'm
like I was afraid of not gettingproduct.
That's what we're afraid like we're.
Not there were so many shops that are like stopped ordering
and hit the brakes super hard and I'm like, Nope, full
throttle. And I'll tell you what, when we
started getting some of these boxes roll in and some of these
(29:56):
invoices coming, my business partner's like, what in the
hell? What are we doing?
And then after that year, he's like, good freaking job, right?
And so but yeah, you know, I mean, no one knew going into
that how, I mean, it could have went completely opposite and
been like, oh, hey, we got. That was a coin flip, buddy.
Yeah, it was for sure. But then that paid off and.
Well, everything outdoors reallykind of got a bump.
(30:19):
I mean camping people were just like wanting to get away from.
It my wife bought a camper. Yeah.
Like literally during. Really.
Yeah. Yeah. 2019-2020, Yeah.
Yeah, and it's still continuing to grow.
You got, you know, you kind of have like masculinity making a
comeback. I mean, it's been doing that for
a while. But you've got guys like Rogan
(30:40):
and Jocko and and and. Haines, all those guys have.
Been pushing it. Yeah, yeah.
For sure so. That's awesome.
Anyway, well, I know you got some client custom clientele
starting to roll in and open forbusiness, but just wanted to
thank Cody for coming and jumping on obviously how well
(31:03):
wild arrow what's your guys Instagram handle?
Why make sure people go follow you?
It's. Just wild arrow archery and
everyone forgets we spelled withan EWILDE.
They're extra, they're extra wild, yeah.
Well, it's kind of cool. A lot of people all just tell
guys this on the podcast that don't know because to to us,
it's pretty neat. But back in the late 80s, early
90s, there was a guy named D Wild and that I joke around, but
(31:24):
I called him the Michael Jordan archery back then.
Like he's born in Vegas, like he's one of the best shooters in
the world. Both.
Yeah, I mean, the Wild name, that has been awesome.
So. And he had a couple of shops up
in Idaho and he actually helped start our shop back in the day.
And so, you know, that's how people like, why do you have an
E on the end of it? And so that's why.
So guys that haven't been in thesport for a long time don't
(31:46):
really know that, but yeah. And then, you know, his boys
followed suit. You got Rio now.
Rio Wild He was one of the biggest names in archery.
Rio's probably one of the most successful, like, outdoor
shooters ever. Yeah, there's like him and three
other people I can name off top of my loose.
So yeah, for guys that are interested in that, you know,
yeah, our Instagram, go check itout while there archery, that
kind of stuff. But we want to cool, do a little
(32:08):
cool history deep dive on to go look up D in real wild.
That's that's kind of how we gotour origins and got our start
there. So super cool.
Yeah. Cody, what about you?
How can folks find you? Eastern archery, man.
That's the way. That's the that's the place to
go. And then if they want to slide
into your personal DMS. I've got to.
I created a page out of me experimenting with his algorithm
(32:29):
stuff, but it's called Beards, Bows and Barbells.
OK, that's where you can find. All right.
Well, we'll make sure we put links to everything in the show
notes, but obviously big fan of Easton.
Everything you guys are doing over there, You're obviously a
fan of Wild Arrow. Just come hang out down here all
the time. So buy some, just come hang.
(32:50):
Out with the boys, come hang out, come drink some revenge.
Yeah, we got you hooked up with that.
Yeah. All right, guys.
Well, everyone, hey, appreciate you sticking around with this.
Hopefully you've enjoyed the podcast.
We are the fastest growing hunting podcast in the nation.
Make sure hit, subscribe, give us a follow.
It's wherever you listen to podcasts on YouTube.
Hunt, Stealth, Go fall, wild arrow, Eastern archery, all that
(33:13):
fun stuff. Stay safe guys and God bless.
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