Water is Life - Mastering Water Sources for Hunting Success

Kurt: All right, guys, welcome back to the Western Obsessions Hunt Podcast. We go over tactics, gear, real hunts from the guys that live it. Hunting is not a hobby. It's an obsession. We are all obsessed. I got Jeremy, I got Clint, and between the three of us, we have a lot of hunting experience, guiding experience in the West. I will not say it's a million years of experience. I will back off on this hunt podcast and say True numbers is probably I'd say 50 accumulative years of like 50 to 60 years of hunt experience between the three of us. So we're gonna go over some we always go over some gear, some tactics, but I think today we want to talk a little bit about what we got going on on the upcoming season, go over some hunts that we got, and maybe even break down some tactics or like how we got the hunt and what we're planning to do. So welcome, boys, to the podcast.
Jeremy Reese: Hello, hello.
Kurt: All right. Well, let's start let's just start about talking about some hunts that we got going on. Clint, I know you don't take your boy in that you have like an alligator hunt, which is super cool. I've thought about going on an alligator hunt. I just have not dug into that. How'd you find an alligator hunt for your boy?
Clint Butts: Well, originally he wanted to do a bear hunt. That's what he really wanted to do. So I was trying to do a hunt in Canada with him, but because of guiding schedules and different stuff like that, I wasn't able to make it work. And he
Kurt: How did you pitch that like hey hoi I know you want to do a bear hunt, but an alligator's the same thing, man? Bear, alligator, it's the same.
Jeremy Reese: Hahaha
Clint Butts: Yeah. No, he came he he came to me with it. He you should see this guy's list. I mean, he's got some stuff that I never even thought of trying to go hunt. But so I told him, I was like, Man, we're not
Kurt: Ha ha ha.
Clint Butts: gonna do this black bear hunt in Canada. I've I've got a guide and, you know, everything else that's going on. He's like, Okay. He goes, Well, what do you want to do? And I was like, I don't know. We'll figure something out. Well then he came to me like a day or two later and he's like, Dad, I really want to do an alligator hunt. I was like, Man, that would be awesome. I was like, Okay, we'll see what we can do. Well, the way it ended up coming together was I booked a hunt with a guy, an elk hunt that I'm guiding him on. So we were on the phone talking and and he lives in South Carolina and I was like, Man, I go, You can do a lot of alligator hunting down there? He's like, yeah. He's like, I'm so sick and tired of alligators. And
Kurt: Hmm.
Clint Butts: I go, man, my son really wants to do an alligator hunt at some point. And he's like, dude, I'll hook you up. So we've we kind of talked about it. The thing about South Carolina is it's a draw. And as
Kurt: Mm.
Clint Butts: a non-resident, I put in for a tag and I didn't get drawn. I found this out last week. So
Kurt: Mm.
Clint Butts: I talked to my buddy, the the hunter. He's like, Don't worry about it. Don't cancel plans. He's like, I think I might be able to get a landowner tag. So it's not a hundred percent as of yet, but he's gonna see what he can do on getting a landowner tag. And I hope it works out because I've always wanted to do an alligator hunt. This is not like what you see on swamp people where you're setting limb lines and stuff like that. this is you're out on a boat, you're kind of cruising shorelines, you find one, they go underwater, you snag them. You know, get get a treble hook in reel in. It's it's like catching a shark, basically. So I'm excited about it. I think if we can make it work this year, that's gonna be great. If not, we should be able to get tags for twenty I guess it'd be twenty seven. but if that don't work out, I don't know what we're gonna do. He wants to go on an Axis hunt, so I might look into something in Texas and see if we can run down there. But Hopefully it all works out. Yeah. Other than that, like I didn't draw any tags this year in between guiding helping you on the moose hunt in Alaska. I don't know if I'll really get out much for myself personally. But I mean there's always white tail, so we'll we'll go kill some white tail, that's for sure.
Kurt: Mm. I've never realized that you know, I think about alligator hunting. I'm thinking like going down to f go down to Florida and there's thousands of alligators everywhere and you just kill whatever you want. I didn't even realize that you have to draw a tag in South Carolina. I didn't think that I didn't know that was a thing.
Clint Butts: Yeah, and I don't know, maybe in Florida they have over the counter tags. I'm not sure. I don't think so. I mean, even like in Louisiana, I'm pretty sure that's kind of a a like you're allotted th so many tags. I don't think that I I don't know. I haven't really looked into other states. I didn't even really dig into South Carolina. It's just my buddy just kind of gave me the quick rundown on what it consists of. But we're we're gonna get down there at some point.
Jeremy Reese: What's the season on that? Like the dates and stuff like that?
Clint Butts: specific dates, I just asked him, I said, okay, when's the best time to go? I think it's sometime
Jeremy Reese: Right.
Clint Butts: in the fall. I believe it starts because I was afraid I think it starts the beginning of September and goes through like the middle of October because when I asked him, I said, when's the best time to go down? When he told me we were gonna be in Colorado at that time. So I'm pretty sure it's like the first of September, second. and so as soon as I get back from
Kurt: Yeah.
Clint Butts: Alaska, then I'm jumping in the truck with Hoyt and we're beating it to South Carolina if it works out. And then I think there's like
Jeremy Reese: Nice.
Clint Butts: another couple weeks after we leave. But I think it's
Jeremy Reese: Nice.
Clint Butts: one of those things like anything, I mean, man, especially on like a five, six week season, them alligators are gonna get hammered. And probably by the end of season they're gonna be so gun shy anytime they see a boat. three miles away they're going under. So
Jeremy Reese: Right.
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: I'm hoping that they they won't be I don't know, we'll see because I I think these landowner or these vouchers is for landowner tags. if I understood him right. I'm just going along for the ride. I'm trusting him that he's got it figured out, which he seems to be a squirted away guy. So
Kurt: Ha ha.
Clint Butts: we should be in good shape.
Kurt: Yeah. That's why I like the that's the best time, man. And just like throwing caution to the wind and I don't know how many times I've gone over to Mexico, like who you hunting with? I don't know. Have you met him before?
Clint Butts: Okay.
Kurt: No. And I've
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: come close to going to jail in some hairy situations, but like I that's the that's the best, man. You just gotta throw caution in the wind and wherever you end up you end up, right? Yeah. No, I'm sure
Clint Butts: Yeah. Yeah.
Kurt: this guy's great. I'm sure he's great. Do you have you guys figured out Have has Hoyt already talked about what he wants to do with the skin of the alligator? We're going boots or what are we doing?
Clint Butts: No dude, we're going full body mount.
Kurt: Whoa All right.
Clint Butts: The here's the thing. So Eric, you
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: know Eric. He he does taxidermy work. Him and his brother, they went to I think it was South Carolina too, and they both got one. That's the thing, like, of course you want the biggest alligator you can, but that means I mean, I don't have room to put a twelve foot alligator in my house. So I told Hoyt, I was like, dude, if you want a full body, we're gonna have to kind of limit the size. You if we could do like maybe an eight footer or something like that, because Eric the Eric did a mount, showed me some pictures. It is so cool. It mounts to the wall. He's got like some habitat that with it, like it's there's like a log and stuff behind it. And I told Eric, I was like, if we kill one that's eight foot somewhere in there, that's what I'm having done. So I'll have Eric do it. But yeah, it's it's
Kurt: Nice. Yeah.
Jeremy Reese: Nice.
Clint Butts: a really cool mount. I mean, I figure how often do you go alligator hunting? So
Kurt: Yeah. So
Jeremy Reese: That's wild.
Clint Butts: But yeah, that's that's the plan.
Kurt: so no other tags besides al may possibly alligator and some whitetail back in the home state of Oklahoma?
Clint Butts: Yeah, I mean September I I've got elk hunters the first of September. You and I are headed to Alaska for twelve, thirteen days total, come back, hit South Carolina, come back home for a week or so, and then I gotta jump back into Colorado to guide rifle hunters, elk rifle hunters. And to be a hundred percent honest with you, after running and gunning like that, I It's probably best if I just stay home for a little bit.
Kurt: Yeah.
Clint Butts: I mean if I can, you know, if I can figure out something to where you know, if it's a landowner tag or something, maybe third rifle, you know, do an elk hunt, but no, I I feel like the way this fall lined out, I'm gonna be so busy with guiding and that kind of stuff that I probably won't have a lot of time to to do much for myself.
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: But my brother did call me the other day. He got us a new piece of property in Kansas, which is awesome. It's a great piece of property. unfortunately, I didn't even apply for a tag, but I told him I'll get up there some point one weekend, we'll get out there, get some stuff figured out, get some stands set up, and you know, even if I just go out there with him and and help him get a good white tail, that that'll be great. And there's always dough season. We'll go out in January and and go shoot some does.
Kurt: You know, I just had the thought is you know, I've been wanting to put together like a team hunt or team outing, right? A Kansas
Jeremy Reese: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: Whitetail hunt would be or a whitetail hunt in
Clint Butts: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: general I think would be great. You know, we can
Jeremy Reese: For sure.
Kurt: grab a pe at least a piece of ground and then like we all just go and like, you know, hang out and hunt white tail for a week, that be great.
Jeremy Reese: Yeah, that would be fun.
Clint Butts: Yeah, that'd be fun.
Kurt: Yeah.
Clint Butts: Yep. I think an Axis hunt would
Jeremy Reese: All right, next year.
Kurt: Yeah.
Clint Butts: be fun though if we can't do the alligator hunt. I think it'd be fun to go down to Texas and see if we can't
Kurt: Yeah.
Clint Butts: figure something out or an odd ad hunt. That'd be cool. But
Kurt: Mm-hmm. Yep. Jeremy,
Clint Butts: We'll see.
Kurt: w what you got? What you got lined up for this year?
Jeremy Reese: Busy, busy, busy. I leave two weeks to go to Utah for archery mule deer hunt. And I'll probably spend, I don't know, seven to 10 days over there, see if I can get it done. Then I have New Mexico.
Kurt: Lo hold on, let's pa let me let's talk about that hunt real quick. Archer Mule Deer Hunt, Utah, August. Right? Are we looking at like higher country? Hot as
Jeremy Reese: Yeah. Well, so where I'm where my tags at statistically, it's around the 70s that time of year. So hopefully it's 70s to 80s. It'll be warm for sure. I'm I'm going to go. I was supposed to go scouting two weeks ago. I had to cancel that. But me and my boy are going to leave on Thursday. I mean, him are going to go over there for four days. try and find some good water. Once I find water, mean, you know, I think that's gonna be the key to everything, especially this year, especially in
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Reese: Utah. But yeah.
Clint Butts: Yeah, I just talked to a guy, he's from Utah, he's like he's lived there his whole life. He's like, I have never seen anything like this. And
Jeremy Reese: Yeah.
Clint Butts: that's exactly what we were talking about. Water's gonna be crucial.
Jeremy Reese: For sure. Yeah, I I'd talk to a guy actually not too long ago as well, and that's exactly what he said. He's like you just need to find water man. That's it. You're going to find life once you find water, which I mean I know that obviously, but you know. Those typical areas that have water probably don't have water this year, so it's just going to
Kurt: Yeah.
Jeremy Reese: take a lot of time looking around and finding it. So I'm going to spend this this weekend doing that. We're going to leave Thursday afternoon and. Go try our best to find it. Probably
Kurt: Yeah.
Jeremy Reese: look for water more than I look for deer, honestly.
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: You know, that's a really good point. I think we should dig in and talk a little tactics here on on the water thing, right? Like I I was on a a hunt one time and I'd e scouted ahead of time, but I didn't get boots on the ground. And I was in an area that I you know, I thought there was food, water, cover, right? The three major things you look for. And I'm in there in a day. Maybe a day and a half, I can't remember, but a good amount of time and I'm not seeing anything. I'm like, what is going on here? Like, not seeing
Jeremy Reese: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: nothing. And so I finally went down to where I thought the water was and it was dry. So there was no water in the area and no animals, right? Like it's so crucial because like you said, water is life. You find water, you will find l life. And there's no really no need to be hunting in any drainages, any areas if there's not water there.
Jeremy Reese: for sure. I talked to a guy two days ago and he told me that he was hunting Utah last year. He kind of with the with the early spring that they were having he was like, okay, I just need to find food and food is going to be key. Well, he didn't realize how much it dried up over the summer and how much they went into a drought. And so he's hunting and he's like, he's not seeing anything. So he had to he's like, sat back changed up what I was thinking. I went and found water and once I found water there was deer everywhere. He's like, but, you know, it just goes to show you, you do need to, you know, put some time in and not only e-scout, but I mean, obviously that's only what some guys can do at times, but you know, getting boots on the ground is the best way to do it.
Clint Butts: the E scouting at least it gives you a a a starting point. You can find some some good stuff and be like, Yeah, r I think this looks really good but yeah, like you're saying, if you don't get in there well like what you were talking about, Kurt, there was just you thought you had something figured out but it wasn't what you thought and so you had to, you know, pivot and go find something something somewhere else in
Kurt: Mm-hmm. Yeah, and as soon as I found water, it was great. Right? Yeah. Water's
Clint Butts: Yeah, yeah.
Jeremy Reese: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: key, man. Like food is all around Yeah, some some areas, some facing slopes are gonna be better with food than others. But you know, but they're they're they can pretty much find food anywhere. Water. Now water, that's the water.
Jeremy Reese: What?
Clint Butts: Have you guys noticed though, like you said something if you're in a drainage and there's no water, don't even waste your time. I there I think there's a lot of truth to that, but like especially with elk hunting, I've seen elk that I know, I mean, unless there was some spring somewhere in there, but I know the area is really good that I'm a I'm not aware of. Like they'll travel they'll travel
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: a ways. They may climb a mountain and go back on the backside. for betting or for whatever reason, but then they'll climb right back up that thing and come down to where the water is.
Kurt: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: yeah, I definitely think as a whole, you know, they're relatively close to water, but close to an elk is different than what it close is to us. You know what I mean? They'll travel
Kurt: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: some country for the water and then they'll it may be a half three quarters of a mile. They'll travel back somewhere else and
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: Yeah, it's it's like in their mind, you know, like I said, it's all relative. They can cover three quarters of a mile in minutes. Yeah. It takes us two hours, depending upon where it's at.
Kurt: Pretty quick. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And more
Jeremy Reese: Yeah.
Kurt: than likely the the reason is they didn't like the bedding that was near the water, so they found what they did like for bedding, whether it be off pressure or more shade or you know, darker timbered, you know, heavier stuff, whatever it is. More
Clint Butts: Exactly.
Kurt: and a lot of times they love the bedding that's actually got some airflow to it too. So, you know, they just like that bedding better. But yeah, like to your point. know, three quarters of a mile for us would take it could take us a few hours with a lot of energy output. For these guys it's just minutes. Yeah. Yeah.
Clint Butts: Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Kurt: Anyway, Jeremy, back into your hunt. So you guys are gonna go do
Jeremy Reese: Yeah.
Kurt: some scouting, get some boots on the ground. Again, we're talking about how important that is. E scouting's great
Jeremy Reese: Yeah.
Kurt: and that can get you, okay, here's what I think is an access route. Here's what I th I like that this area, the territory. I believe there's water in here, but you don't know until you get boots on the ground of your
Jeremy Reese: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: Utah. So you're gonna go out there. What what el what else you got going on?
Jeremy Reese: So then later in the year November, I have that New Mexico mule deer tag with one of our favorite outfitters down there.
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Reese: You'll be joining me on that hunt, I believe.
Kurt: Yep, yep, yep.
Jeremy Reese: That's gonna be fun. I'm super excited about that. I know it's not necessarily like a big trophy unit, but we're gonna be seeing a ton of deer all the time. Like it's gonna be sweet. So that's gonna be super exciting. That's rifle. Um, but yeah, I've also never hunted that kind of terrain or anything in Southern New Mexico. So I'm looking forward to just trying that out too. I imagine that's a another place as well, where regardless of the time of year, water still a big necessity for him. So.
Kurt: Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure. No, I'm excited
Clint Butts: I was thinking that was an elk hunt. It's a deer hunt?
Jeremy Reese: Where you been at, Clint?
Kurt: Ha ha ha.
Clint Butts: I swear you told me it was an elk.
Jeremy Reese: No!
Kurt: I I think we might need to sit have you have a checkup,
Jeremy Reese: Yeah.
Kurt: dude. I
Clint Butts: I
Kurt: need to talk to your wife and be, yo, listen, let's just just tell them that you're gonna take him to the park, give them some peanut butter, and you need to take him directly to the doctor and figure out what's going on.
Clint Butts: Laugh all you want, guys.
Jeremy Reese: Give him some peanut butter.
Kurt: Give him a jar of peanut butter, keep him busy.
Clint Butts: Take me to the vet.
Jeremy Reese: You God, that's
Kurt: Mm.
Clint Butts: This is the crap
Jeremy Reese: funny.
Clint Butts: I have to deal with people right here. Every
Kurt: Yeah.
Clint Butts: day, every day. I'm the heart and soul of this team,
Jeremy Reese: Uhhh...
Clint Butts: but for some reason I'm the laughing stock too.
Kurt: Yeah. Hey, every team needs a good punching bag. no, I'm excited
Jeremy Reese: Yeah, come on, you're good sport. God.
Kurt: for that mule deer, huh? 'Cause I want to get down there, hang out with our favorite outfitter and hang out with you and it sounds like the terrain I I really enjoy that like, you know, foothills rolling type of stuff where you you could sit there and just glass for hours and hours and
Jeremy Reese: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: hours and I I really enjoy that type of hunt and that's what it kinda sounds like, huh?
Jeremy Reese: Yeah, for sure. It's also like, it's those foothills, but they're sandhills basically. So
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Reese: the way that it was described to me, it's like, yeah, it looks super easy, but once you really try to get across there quick, it's actually kind of a pain in the butt just because you're trudging through sand and stuff like that. So it'll be cool.
Kurt: fan. Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Reese: But I mean, you know, obviously we're going to be on private land and stuff for that. But it's just what happens the way. I drew the tag and got lucky enough to go and do this hunt. So I'm very, very excited to do that one.
Kurt: And that's a gun hunt, right? You're putting away your the longbow for that. How you feel about that?
Jeremy Reese: I am, I am putting away. I'm cool. I like to go rifle. I go rifle hunting every year. but after that, I'm really going to go back to traditional stuff cause me and Clint, I have another, I have an elk tag and a, another mule deer tag in Montana. And me and Clint might run up in December during the heritage muzzleloader season in Montana. bring my flintlock and see what we can get done with that. So,
Kurt: Dang, that's cool.
Jeremy Reese: yeah.
Clint Butts: Yeah, that'll be f that'll be a blast.
Jeremy Reese: Yeah, that'll be... Yeah.
Kurt: Flint your flint lock muzzy. Yeah, that's cool. You know, I would
Jeremy Reese: I'm excited about that.
Kurt: I would hunt with a trad bow or a longbow, but I like eating meat and killing things, so
Jeremy Reese: Hey man, I filled my freezer with it last year. I'm alright.
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: I'm just giving you a hard time, man. I
Jeremy Reese: I will say though, opening day last year of archery season, I had a bull come in, I was sitting in a wallow, I had a bull come into 50 yards and I was just like, what am I doing right now? I had him dead to
Kurt: Ha ha ha.
Clint Butts: Ha ha.
Jeremy Reese: rights. I'm like looking at my bull, I don't want
Clint Butts: Ha ha
Jeremy Reese: this thing anymore. I'm just kidding. But yeah, there's definitely some moments where I'm like, dude, what am I thinking right now? I had that one in the bag, but who knows.
Kurt: But
Clint Butts: But the thing is, if you'd have had a compound, he would have been out there at a hundred yards and you'd have like, Dad gummit, what am I doing? Should have brought a rifle.
Kurt: Mm hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Reese: Yeah, for sure. 100%. 100%.
Kurt: Yep. Yep. Yep. Absolutely. No. No, I I think I've n honestly I've never really even messed around with trad bow or longbow. And I think it'd be a lot of fun. And and and there's something about like the most challenging way to take an animal that's just you're just proud of, man. Like even taking a doe or a cow. I would just be very proud of doing that with a longbow, you know, so
Jeremy Reese: Yeah, yeah, I mean, well, that little buck that you see right there behind me, I shot him last year. That was my first whitetail buck with my longbow. I
Clint Butts: That's cool.
Jeremy Reese: shot longbow for a long time growing up. I switched to compound and I bought another longbow and I was like 20 years old. I thought I wanted to do it again and then I started guiding. So I put it away. started shooting compound again and two years ago I was talking with a buddy who's, I mean he's legit, he's primitive, he's actually, he made a self bow this year, made his own arrows, he's napping some arrow heads and stuff like that and he's as legit as it gets. But he's like, man you should start doing it again. So I just started shooting with him and I got sucked back into it and I, I spent a lot of time last year shooting that bow and I just fell in love with it. It's so much fun and it's super fun just to take my boy out in the yard and I bought him a little long bow and just for him to shoot, doesn't matter
Clint Butts: Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Reese: what it's at, he just fling arrows wherever, you know. I don't
Kurt: Yeah.
Jeremy Reese: have to worry about
Clint Butts: Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Reese: it ricocheting off and hitting the neighbor's cat or something.
Kurt: Haha. Hey, what long what bow did you buy your boy? 'cause I I have like a little compound but the compound's still too hard to pull back for him, so I wanna get him something that'll actually stick in targets, you know.
Jeremy Reese: Yeah, it's a so a guy out of I believe he's out of Cody, It's a Yellowstone longbows. Yellowstone customs, I think is what it is. It was like 120 bucks or something like that. They call it the button buck, but it's a it's man. He loves it. He just likes to walk around with it. To be honest with you, he just walks around
Kurt: Yeah.
Jeremy Reese: the yard with it and.
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Jeremy Reese: Whenever I take him hunting, he carries it around to just. to think that he's doing something, but yeah, it's a blast, man.
Kurt: Yeah. Dude,
Clint Butts: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: I I used to do the same thing, man, but but mine was BB gun, right? Like I'd go hunting with my family
Jeremy Reese: Yeah. Yeah.
Clint Butts: Yep.
Kurt: and I'd have my BB gun and I'm like, I think I'm going to kill that deer
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: with that BB gun, you know? But I loved it, man. It was
Clint Butts: Ha ha ha.
Jeremy Reese: Sure but
Kurt: awesome.
Jeremy Reese: It's so funny because he's I said before he's been on a couple kills with me now and now every time that he sees one of the like the Antelope that me and him shot together. shot a mule deer in Wyoming. He's like, there's my buck and I was like your buck I Shot it and he goes no, it's my buck and I was like, okay, all right. Sounds good. I guess it's yours
Kurt: That's good, man. Clint, what'd
Jeremy Reese: It's awesome.
Kurt: you start Hoyt out with?
Clint Butts: I started off with a man, I can't remember who made it. It was a very, very cheap compound.
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: well if you want to go back even further than that, we bought him one of those I I don't even know if you can buy anymore at Walmart, but it was one with the arrow that had the suction cup on it. Yeah.
Kurt: Yeah. Yeah.
Clint Butts: That like when he was like two, three, he had that. And then when he was like four or five, I bought these compounds. I bought them at Bass Pro. Gali, I can't remember who made I think Bear made it. And that's what they started off with. Both of them did. But it wasn't enough to like actually get an arrow in the target and have it stick. But
Kurt: Mm.
Clint Butts: man, he's like he's got a Hoyt RX seven right here in front of me now. It's crazy how when you think about that from where he started to where he's at now, he's got a better bow than I do probably. And but I've I got a killer deal on it for him. But
Kurt: Nice. Yeah, and that's that's the part, right? Like I take my little boy Tay out and he's got a suction cup bow and and he's like, But dad, they're not sticking in the target like yours and I'm like, yeah.
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: You we need to get you something that may may stick in a little bit. Something, you
Jeremy Reese: Yeah.
Kurt: know, it can do. So I I need to look for that.
Clint Butts: I remember when I was a kid, this was back when TVs like the screen was actually glass, not what it is now. I don't know what these new TVs, plastic or something. But when I was a kid, me, my dad and brother, we all had one of those suction cup bows and we would watch TV or hunting show or something with VHS we'd put in a hunting show or something. And we would shoot the deer or elk with the suction cup, we'd
Kurt: Ha ha ha.
Clint Butts: shoot the TV and try to get
Kurt: Heck yeah, man. That's some virtual reality right there, dude. Yeah.
Clint Butts: Something to do. Yeah, yeah. We were ahead of the game.
Jeremy Reese: Yeah
Kurt: Way ahead of the game.
Jeremy Reese: That's awesome.
Kurt: Well Jeremy, is that what else you got? I mean obviously you're doing a lot of guiding this year, but for your own hunts, you got that archery hunt in Utah, you got that rifle deer hunt. Did you say you have one more, right? That you're doing? Muzzloder, the flint lock. Yeah. That'd
Jeremy Reese: Yeah, the muzzleloader the muzzleloader hunt in Montana Flintlock. Yeah,
Kurt: be cool.
Jeremy Reese: so we'll see I I'm still practicing being accurate with it. It's a
Kurt: Yeah.
Jeremy Reese: it's a tough shooter for sure, but it's a sweet gun. My uncle had it custom built a while ago and he just wasn't shooting it and I asked him when Montana got the heritage season. I was like hey. You know, you want to sell that? And he was like, yeah, 400 bucks or something like that. I was like, deal, let's do it.
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Reese: But it's beautiful gun. I just like to walk around with it to think that I'm Jeremiah Johnson most of the time. So.
Kurt: For sure. For
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: sure. One of the greatest movies of all time, man.
Jeremy Reese: For sure.
Kurt: Yeah. W what was your favorite
Clint Butts: Hands down. Yeah.
Kurt: scene of that movie, Jeremiah Johnson?
Jeremy Reese: Well, I just like, you know, the meme that they have of it still where he looks up from the guy and he just. That's my. But he just nods at the Indian that rides out.
Kurt: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, where you're actually catching the fish. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: I think mine is probably Good. Yeah. Yeah. That's my favorite scene. That's my favorite scene,
Clint Butts: The funniest part is when they're trying to put the sneak on the elk and they're hiding behind the horse. That that's the funniest part. What if the elk sees our legs? Huh? Yeah. Yeah, it's great.
Jeremy Reese: for sure.
Kurt: yeah. Elk don't know how many legs a horse has.
Clint Butts: Ha ha
Kurt: And he shoots off the back of that horse and gets knocked out by
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: Yeah, that's my favorite one. Yeah. Speaking of muzzloter, I a muzzlader hunt coming up that I need to start prepping for. I'm way behind the curve, man. I used to shoot a lot of muzzloter, actually. My dad would take me to some muzzleader shoots and like a competition shoot. And there was l hardly ever any kids there, so I always shot with the adults. And I used to be a really good shot with it. Like I would win and the adults would get pissed because they're yeah,
Clint Butts: Really?
Kurt: like this kid is coming in here winning. And it w you know, it was taking home the bacon. A lot of times they would have like a ham or like a big thing of bacon that you would win to you know, to I only went to probably a handful of but like, you know, I enjoyed it. And one thing I noticed about the a muzzle loader, like you gotta clean that gun every I'd say six, seven shots, ten at the max. 'Cause it it'll get dirty pretty quick and it'll it'll start being off. And do you notice that too when you're shooting, Jeremy?
Jeremy Reese: I have to like take my entire barrel off of this thing and like soak it in the tub. Yeah, it's it's a whole process. Yeah. Yeah,
Kurt: Yep. And stinks. Sulfur. Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Reese: it's a whole process to do it. But yeah, I definitely notice it. I just I always blame it on myself regardless, just because it's not like my shooting was better or worse. They all suck still. So. Exactly, exactly.
Clint Butts: Ha ha.
Kurt: Yeah, you actually have to shoot a group to see if something goes off, huh?
Clint Butts: Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Reese: When I'm like holding this big thing out there. I mean, it's a huge rifle. I'll show it to you
Kurt: yeah.
Jeremy Reese: sometime.
Kurt: They're heavy too, like super heavy in the barrel. Yeah. Like
Clint Butts: yeah. Yeah.
Jeremy Reese: Right.
Kurt: to freehand shoot that, like, you got about five seconds and you better be pulling the trigger and that's all you got. Yeah.
Jeremy Reese: Yeah, for sure, for sure.
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: Yeah, so I got a muzzleloader hunt in New Mexico for elk. I only have a couple days to do it because I gotta help some guys with their elk hunt too. But have that one I'm excited about. That'll be fun. And there's something about Like what I like about a muzzle loader hunt, especially for elk, is you get to hunt them while they're in the rut. And I'm usually bow hunting them in the rut, right? Like Clint like you just said,
Jeremy Reese: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: he's a hundred yards out. And I'm like, I what am I doing with this bow in my hands right now?
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: You know what I mean? I can't get any closer. Like yeah, I've been in that situation so many times. So I'm excited. It's actually my first elk muzzle loader hunt that I'll be going on, so I'm excited about that. And then and then Well, before that, Clint and I take off to Alaska on a archery moose hunt. Clint is bringing his three hundred win. Three hundred win, Mag, right? Yeah. We did talk about that because Justin,
Clint Butts: Yeah. Yeah.
Kurt: Justin's calling me, basically calling me an idiot. He's like, dude, you're gonna be out there with a bow
Clint Butts: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: and that bull's gonna be two hundred yards and not wanting to come in and
Jeremy Reese: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: it's a hunt of your lifetime. You're not bringing in gun. I'm like, well, when you put it like that. Maybe I should bring a gun, right? So
Jeremy Reese: Yeah, for sure. Yeah, no, I,
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Jeremy Reese: he brought that up to me a few times. He's like, have you tried to talk Kurt into taking a gun? I'm like, yeah, he's not gonna take one though. I don't think he's gonna, and then he, me and Justin had a call with Kurt the other day and Justin acted like we were gonna start the conversation and he goes, hold on really quick, really quick. What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you not
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Jeremy Reese: bringing a rifle?
Clint Butts: Well, I actually texted Kurt and asked him, Hey, would you be mad if I bring the three hundred Wind Mag because I guy I mean we're in Grizzly Country. I mean, a
Jeremy Reese: Thank
Clint Butts: guy needs
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: to have something and I know we'll we'll bring, you know, ten millimeters and stuff, but I mean still having a high powered rifle is it's it's probably the better thing to bring. I was just wondering 'cause I really was gonna bring it as kind of like a survival type tool or weapon. But I didn't know if that was gonna jack Kurt up if I show up with a rifle and then his game plan starts to get scrambled and But I told Kurt,
Kurt: For sure. For sure. Well, you know, when you text me that
Clint Butts: I promise him, I won't I won't bring it up. I it's gonna be in a soft
Kurt: Ha ha ha.
Clint Butts: case strapped to my bag and until he gives me the nod, which would
Kurt: Yeah.
Clint Butts: probably be day ten.
Kurt: Probably. Well, when you text me that
Jeremy Reese: 4 minute 10
Kurt: like that could be two. When you text me that, I was like, why wait, why would you want to bring a 300 wind mag? Like, why do you want to do that? And was completely confused because my head was just
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: hundred percent archery. I didn't even think about bringing a gun. Didn't even cross my mind. Right? Because I'll be honest
Jeremy Reese: Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: with you, like whenever I've seen I've this was my second archery moose hunt. Whenever I've seen moose, it doesn't seem like it'd be that hard to put on a stock. on a on a bull moose. You know, and I know I'm like hunting in or Colorado where they're not hunted hardly at all, right? And you could probably walk right up to the dang thing and it wouldn't go anywhere. But we've seen quite a few in Alaska and was there on a grizzly bear hunt and I was twenty yards from a a y a bull. It was springtime, so he had some some growth on it, but not a lot. So my head is like, it's probab it's not gonna be that hard if I see one to get a stock on it. And I know the area pretty decent. Like I never even thought about a gun. But now that there's going to be a gun there, I'm gonna see the moose, we're gonna spot it, and I'm just gonna leave my bow on the hillside and I'm just gonna bring
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: a gun. That's probably what's gonna happen. It's so hard, man. When
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: you have a gun right there, it is so hard to say, nah, let's do this with a bow when you're like, you know it just well, for me there's no guarantee, you never know where that bullet's going, but you know, like but the chances are with a rifle you're gonna kill that animal.
Jeremy Reese: Well, in that same area, you're right. You caught a lot of flak for the way that you shot last time you were over there, so.
Kurt: Yeah.
Clint Butts: Yeah, he he just s shut it all down.
Jeremy Reese: Yeah, he actually he didn't want to repeat. He even want to answer
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Jeremy Reese: what I was saying. He acted
Kurt: You guys still there?
Jeremy Reese: like it broke up and stuff and just just paused
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Jeremy Reese: himself. We lost you for a little bit.
Kurt: Sorry.
Clint Butts: d n now he's back.
Kurt: I know I I cut out. Yeah. Sorry, what were you saying?
Jeremy Reese: I was just saying how the last time you were in that same area, you caught a lot of flag for the way that you shot.
Kurt: Yeah. I blame it on us other people's rifles, right? Like that I've never shot. That's what I blame it on. But no, who knows? I have
Jeremy Reese: Fair enough.
Kurt: no clue. I take responsibility for all of my misses. So anyway, that should be exciting. We got their ten days and Clint here's another thing that you guys are not listening, you just don't think I'm an idiot. I am a half idiot, but I'm lucky at hunting. So I'm half idiot, half lucky. That's how I get things done. so Clint's like, hey, I was talking to Ray, and he thinks we should probably bring an Arctic oven or like an actual good tent there.
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: I'm like, what are you talking about, man? Like I I barely even use a tent. And n and then thinking about like, you know It is Alaska and their chances are pretty good that we may get socked in a few days of rain and not even be get out of our tent. It we probably it would be nice to have something a bit comfortable that we could start a fire in if we needed to and in case we get soaked or s in case something goes completely sideways too. We fall on the river, we could dry out our
Clint Butts: Right.
Kurt: stuff. So like I actually this morning I just purchased an Arctic oven tent with the
Clint Butts: no joke.
Kurt: mm.
Clint Butts: Dude, that's awesome.
Kurt: with a titanium stove, the lighter weight stove, yeah, burner. That
Clint Butts: Wood burner. What size did you get?
Kurt: it's a one man, but I figure that we could fit, you know, me and you.
Clint Butts: Yeah. We can snuggle. I ain't scared.
Jeremy Reese: I did.
Kurt: Actually it s it said
Clint Butts: Yeah. Kurt's gonna have this real nice Arctic oven. I'm out
Kurt: it said
Jeremy Reese: I
Clint Butts: there freezing my butt off in some crappy one man tent and sleeping on the ground.
Kurt: it said half man to one. So it you could fits it fits up
Clint Butts: Okay, perfect.
Kurt: to one man, but if you put a stove in there then you you can't even get in the tent with a stove, so no I'm playing with you.
Clint Butts: Okay. All right.
Kurt: It's it's like a three man, three to four man tent. It's like the I was contemplating the God, what was it? It's Arctic of a tin, which I think it's like ninety square feet, and I think you could fit three to four pretty easy with a stove. And I went
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: down to the igloo, which is still a three man tent with a stove, so yeah. Man, those things are expensive though. Holy cow.
Clint Butts: Yeah, that's perfect. Holy cow. Yeah, and especially when you start getting up and like Ray and I, we stayed in a ten by ten. I think it was a ten by ten with a stove. You could have fit two more guys in there. but what's so nice is they have that vestibule that comes off the front to where you can
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: store all your gear and yeah, yeah, that's awesome. That's gonna be great.
Kurt: Yeah. So I I shipped that up to Alaska, so we'll we'll hopefully our Bush guy, Bush pilot, will have it on the plane for us. So But
Clint Butts: Okay.
Kurt: no, I was just gonna use my four season two man tent and I was gonna have Clint bring that too. But then I started thinking, man, if we get socked in a couple days 'cause there's there might be a two, three days you don't even leave your tent, right? Like that could be a very long time in a two man tent, you know. That's probably
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: gonna be soaked by the end of three days of rain, you know, so
Jeremy Reese: Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: I got that muzzy elk, then I got that Alaska moose, hunt, and then And that's really besides me helping some guys and filming your hunt, Jeremy, that's really all I've got unless I add on a mule deer hunt or a whitetail at the end of the season, which I'm thinking about.
Jeremy Reese: Weren't you talking about doing some antelope, archery antelope?
Kurt: yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I forgot about that. I'll start Archer Antelope here in a couple of weeks.
Clint Butts: Yeah, when does that start?
Jeremy Reese: Got a
Clint Butts: Like the twelfth or something like that? Of fifteenth? Yeah.
Kurt: August fifteenth, and that's near my house. So I got a buddy that has a little bit of land just twenty minutes from me, and I I just do day hunts out there, so which is super fun, man. Like it and man,
Jeremy Reese: nice. yeah.
Kurt: I I cannot sit in a tent for the life of me. I've tried multiple times of like all right, I'm gonna
Clint Butts: In a blind.
Kurt: sit this tent in a blind. Yeah, I'm gonna sit in a blind over water all day today. That's what I'm going to do. An hour
Jeremy Reese: hard.
Kurt: later, I'm out of the tent. And I'm spot stock. I just get so bored.
Jeremy Reese: for
Kurt: I just so I all I do is, you know, I'll I'll drive glass. If if there's a a goat and a goods position that I can put on a stock, then I'll I'll go on a stock. But it's a fun hunt, man. I get a day hunt, come home to the f the family. I'm not missing any family time. And sometimes I'll take Tay out there and and the wife and they'll sit in the truck while I go put on a stock and they enjoy that. So yeah.
Jeremy Reese: for
Clint Butts: How in the world did you do your wolf hunt if you can't sit in a blind for more than an hour? Yeah,
Jeremy Reese: He had his laptop.
Kurt: I did. Yeah. Just whispering
Clint Butts: that's right. He did. Yeah, he was working the whole time.
Jeremy Reese: He just worked the whole time. He's calling calling hunters the whole time. He's sitting in there.
Kurt: to hunters.
Clint Butts: Yeah, that's right.
Jeremy Reese: They're like, they're like, man, this guy's really into it. He's even just whispering to me as we're talking about the hunt.
Kurt: Don't you know that's how you build the best bond with a hunter? You gotta whisper sweet nothings over the phone, man. No, I I actually, you know, I wanted to bring a Starlink because sitting in the blind all day long. I man, you guys know I like to work, right? So I hiked in a battery packed generator. Like a DeWalt battery packed generator. And I just strapped it on my back and I hiked it in, you know, because a snowmobile in You know, about a mile from the blind or half mile from the blind, you gotta hike in the rest of the way so you don't blow wolves out, right? So I'm hike it in, I set up my battery pack generator, which is super quiet, right? And then I plug it in the Starlink, and then I'm just on my computer working and messing around and that's probably why I missed two wolves while I was there.
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: Then I would hike the battery pack generator out, charge it overnight, and hike it back in the next day, man. It was actually a lot of fun. I enjoyed it.
Clint Butts: What time of year did you go
Jeremy Reese: That's crazy.
Clint Butts: on that hunt?
Kurt: Gosh, I think it was January. I think it was end of January.
Clint Butts: Was it January?
Kurt: Mm-hmm. Yeah, it wasn't as cold as what I thought it was gonna be. The you know, heaters in the wood box blind. It was actually pretty comfortable. Yeah.
Clint Butts: Gotcha.
Jeremy Reese: Aren't when's your oh, I guess that stag hunts in 27, isn't it? Yeah.
Kurt: That's next year. Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep, that's next year. So Well, guys what are you know, let's talk a little bit about gear for the hunts. Any certain gear you guys need for that alligator hunt, Clint?
Clint Butts: No, not really. the guy I'm going with, he's just such a cool dude. Just a great guy. yeah, he's like, Clint, you guys just get here and we'll it here's the thing that I've learned about like those alligator hunts. It's a team effort. It really is. It's not like just one dude's going out there with a heavy duty spin and rod and taking the whole thing by himself. I mean,
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: it's all all hands on deck type thing. So yeah, they have all the gear and all that kind of stuff and yeah I'm really looking forward to it. it'd be nice to go out there and get in some you know, just get out on a boat and I man I I'm normally on the boat all the time this time of year especially but just between Alaska and getting geared up for this hunting season, making sure getting enough work in. I haven't spent enough time on the boat this year. So I'm really looking forward to just getting out and getting on the water.
Kurt: You guys are gonna throw on some like muck boots or something like that? 'Cause I'm sure they're gonna get some water in that bow.
Clint Butts: No, I mean Hoy Hoy he's like an expert at it now. He's watched every YouTube video
Kurt: Ha ha.
Clint Butts: on alligator hunting there is. And dudes are just out there and, you know, hook T shirt or hook long sleeve shirts and shorts and flip flops and yeah. Yeah, I'm not I'm not really worried about that. For the Alaska hunt though, I think I am gonna change up some of my gear. I I was fine. when I was out there month or so ago. But it could have been a little bit better. Like my down was not as heavy as I wanted it to be or could have been. So
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: I have a set, it's a CU set made for Whitetail. I'm actually selling it to a buddy and I'm gonna upgrade on my down. And I don't know. I mean when you and I are out there, it may not be as cold as it was, but good grief during that that spring hunt, It was it was cold. That stinking wind comes off the glacier blowing 60 miles an hour. yeah, and the temperature was like mid thirties. So I'm gonna
Kurt: Yeah.
Clint Butts: I'm gonna upgrade my down. And again, I don't know if I'll need it, but at least I'll have it.
Kurt: Yeah, I'm a big fan of a big puffy down coat. I don't use them very often, but when you wanna use you need And they're super nice. Yeah. Yeah.
Jeremy Reese: For sure. For sure. I even bought
Clint Butts: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jeremy Reese: some down pants for sitting in glass and stuff like that and they're super nice. man, it's awesome.
Kurt: That's a game changer, isn't it? Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: Yeah. The down I have is actually made for like kind of like a a mid layer. So it's not as thick and as is heavy. It fits a little bit tight. But the stuff I'm looking at getting, it's it's an outer layer. So it's it's gonna be a little bit more comfortable, definitely gonna be thicker as far as the loft and stuff goes. But I mean, man, it can be I mean, even in Colorado, man, it's been middle of September, you're on a ridge glassing. It may be mid sixties, but at that elevation of thirteen thousand feet and the wind's blowing, it gets it gets chilly. So to have something in
Kurt: yeah. Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Reese: Mm-hmm, for sure.
Clint Butts: your bag that you can just throw on, yeah, makes all the difference in the world.
Jeremy Reese: 100 %
Kurt: Jeremy, what are you doing different this year? You got anything different?
Jeremy Reese: not really, man. I, I kind of try to stick to all the same stuff. I mean, I always buy new gear, but it's, typically end up buying the same stuff just because I know it works and I like it a lot.
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Reese: I just bought, just bought some new Kui stuff the other day. I talked to Mr. Kui himself there, Clint, and he talked me into what I wanted to get. So.
Clint Butts: Only but the best, Clark.
Kurt: Man, I tell you what, Clint's been preaching Couyu since I met him. I met him probably
Clint Butts: Ha ha.
Kurt: ten years ago on a mountain, right? Where and that's one of the
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: first sentence that came out of his mouth, Couyu. Gotta get you some Couyou.
Clint Butts: You ain't gonna kill anything with that first light stuff. What are you doing? I don't even remember I dude, I think you were like
Kurt: Yeah, whatever I add on, right? Gotta get you some cooyu.
Clint Butts: in real tree bass pro cotton pants. Yeah. Yeah.
Kurt: Yeah. I had a hodgepodge. Yeah. Hodge Podge's stuff for sure. But so yeah, some so just replacing some Q stuff. What about like the you know,
Jeremy Reese: Yeah
Kurt: if a warmer what do you guys do with like hot weather? Like I'm you know, I'm be running around pronghorn hunting in a hundred degree heat, right? So I really like the synthetic. I like usually I'm not a big synthetic fan. when I'm elk hunting or whatever, 'cause it it does stink once you wear it a few times and I'm just not a big fan. I like that merino wool as an underlayer, but like
Clint Butts: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: when I'm prong worn on it and I want a man, I want that synthetic. I want a hood for sun protection.
Clint Butts: Yeah. Yeah.
Kurt: I want it s long sleeves. I I don't want to get burnt, right? I want sun protection and I want something that will wick out and and dry out fast for me.
Jeremy Reese: Yeah, I have a born primitive sun shirt that I really like to use early season. That's super nice. Keeps me cool. But I
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Reese: do like the hood factor of it too. That's a game changer in itself right there for sitting and glassing for a long time too, man. That's nice.
Kurt: Yep. I'm a huge fan of a hood. I like a hood.
Jeremy Reese: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: I even like the
Clint Butts: For sure.
Kurt: built-in mask too. So there's a few brands. I won't name brands. Coo you. Clan. But anyway, I like a hood with a built-in
Clint Butts: Yeah. I'll preach it every day.
Kurt: yeah. The built-in mask. I won't use the mask all the time, but it's nice, man. Like 'cause if you get ripping, you just throw a hood on with the mask and that covers up pretty well. So I'll do like a hood on my underlayer. I'll do a hood and midway mid and then my outer. I have like three hoods that I'm running. And I just throw up all three hoods, man. I got I layer up my hoods, you know? Yeah, I love
Jeremy Reese: Jesus.
Clint Butts: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Kurt: hoods.
Jeremy Reese: I already have a built-in mask. I can't really put anything over this thing.
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: That is a pretty pretty nice, sexy there, full beard you got there, Jeremy.
Jeremy Reese: Yeah, it's just getting ready for hunting season. It'll be by the end of it. It'll
Clint Butts: Yep.
Jeremy Reese: be when I wake up in the morning, it's like sticking up across my face and after living
Kurt: Ha ha ha.
Clint Butts: A combover.
Jeremy Reese: in, yeah, living in the dirt for a couple of days, you know, it just does whatever it wants. So.
Kurt: Mm. You know, I just got a new rangefinder, 'cause mine crapped the bed. And here's a little trick, a tactic that I really do o on my I don't really care what rangefinder you guys get, whatever brand, whatever. But one thing that I really that's important to me is you know, you have your rangefinder in your binome pouch a lot of times, or you have a separate pouch, right? And sometimes you can have the little pulley system where you like it pull on it and it c it it'll retract and then retract back to your body, right? I'm not a big fan of the pulley system 'cause I think they just kinda wear out after time and they can be a kind of a pain in the butt. You go pull it to range, it can get in the way. So I'll I put a magnet on my rangefinder and then I put a r magnet on the shoulder part of my vinyl harness. So I pull my rangefinder out when I'm on a stock and I'll just magnet it right here. So I've got it right here on my chest and I could pull it out. So I got a new bi or rangefinder and I went out to shoot and I went to magnet and I forgot I had didn't have a magnet on. It just kept falling and hanging and dangling. I'm like
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: Man. So I just I don't know, that's not really a gear piece, but it's like a little tactic that I use. I throw a magnet on it and keeps it in place and it's right there for me when I want it, right? So it's a good little
Jeremy Reese: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: little trick that I do.
Clint Butts: Yeah, there's lots of those little things. Over time you'll learn these kind of tricks or I don't know what you want to call but it just you wouldn't think yeah, I could like a lot of guys would be like, Yeah, it might be nice, but it's not necessary. But man, those little things once you get a system figured out, it
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Reese: Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: it just everything just flows so smooth and you're not fumbling around and like I had a bag that I used to hunt with. It was perfect for elk hunting. Perfect. It wasn't even a backpack. It was like a glorified fanny pack with straps. But man, just the way I had it set up, it was everything was just right there. And it finally got wore out. And I have never been able to get back to that exact same system. And I miss that thing. Because it would just
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: it fits ya. It's like just a another part of your body.
Jeremy Reese: For sure.
Kurt: Yeah. What else you gonna do with gear, Jeremy?
Jeremy Reese: Man, I don't take a ton. Obviously, I think I talked about it, but I did switch boots recently to the crispies and man, they are so nice. They're so light. They're amazing. I don't know if I used them last year, but I've always, always ran Schnee's granites and they're a heavier boot, like a really good stiff mountain boot, but I ran these Leponias last year in the mountains all season and holy crap man, they're awesome. I think that'll be my boot from now on, honestly.
Kurt: Yeah. I do remember all right, here's a couple of different things that I'm doing. One is lighted Knox this year. I've never really done
Jeremy Reese: Okay.
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: much with lighted knocks. And I don't know why. Like when I'm filming, it's really nice to be able to see the arrow, you know,
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: on film. So I always had a a a wrap with a white wrap with white fletchings because you could see it in the air a little bit better. But if you go lighted Knox, man, you don't need any that. Right. Like I actually went
Jeremy Reese: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: Because I'm gonna go lighted Knox, my new arrow build is a black shaft arrow, no wrap, four fletching, and it's all black fletching. I just like it's like a stealth bomber coming in, right? I th think that looks
Clint Butts: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: super cool. But I throw on the the lighted knock, and now I can see that, you know, going through. And I shot it for the first time the other day, and I'm like, man, that's so nice to be able to just see that lighted knock going in the air. So I'm lighted knocks,
Clint Butts: it Yeah.
Kurt: yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There you go, Jeremy. He's got a if you guys aren't watching, he's
Jeremy Reese: Azure.
Kurt: got is though is that your trad arrow? Are yeah.
Jeremy Reese: Yeah, those are my new ones I just made up for this year.
Kurt: Yeah, some black and red. red fletching. That looks nice.
Clint Butts: That looks cool.
Kurt: Yeah. The other thing I'm gonna upgrade, and I don't know why I haven't done this in the past, but a better kill system. I always just throw in a knife and some game bags, right? And it seems like I have one
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: decently sharp knife and one really dull knife. And like I'm always hunting with somebody else, you know, a videographer, and the videographer always pitches in on like doing some skinning for me. And like and I give him the dull knife, like, here's your butter knife. Good luck.
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Kurt: You know, like so I need to upgrade my kill kit. What do you guys do for a kill kit?
Clint Butts: Yeah, I use Outdoor Edge with the replaceable blades. there's
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Clint Butts: that other what is that other company what is it called? Hap Jeremy, I'm sure you huh?
Kurt: Half Ace. There's half face blades, there's Montana Knife Company.
Clint Butts: No, it's a replaceable blade. They actually use like scalpel
Kurt: Mm.
Jeremy Reese: the Havalon?
Clint Butts: yeah, the Havilon. I kept wanting to think Havelina, but yeah, I think I'm gonna get one of those Havilon knives because that's what Ray used up there. but the reason I like the outdoor edge is it it is a thicker blade and so it's a little bit more sturdier. you don't break it as often or any of that kind of stuff. But
Jeremy Reese: Yeah, I used to run have a lawn and then I switched to the outdoor edge because you just break those blades so easily and
Clint Butts: Yeah.
Jeremy Reese: I didn't like that. I don't like having a dig around if I can't find the broken scaffold in there. So.
Kurt: Yeah. Yeah, for
Clint Butts: Right.
Kurt: sure. Here's the only thing I don't like about
Clint Butts: Yeah. Yeah.
Kurt: replaceable blades is I find them on the mountain quite often.
Clint Butts: Really?
Kurt: Yeah. So guys after the you know, with their skin and something, they don't put that blade back in their pack when they're when it's dulled out, right? I guess good for you, man,
Clint Butts: I do. Yeah.
Kurt: but mo from what I'm seeing on the mountain, most guys just take it and chuck it. So I see I see you know, repla maybe it's outdoor edge or I don't whatever. I'm sure it's that one that's most popular, but I see blades on the mountain all the time, man.
Clint Butts: Hmm.
Jeremy Reese: Hmm. Yeah, I tried to.
Kurt: Yeah. But that's that was my only
Clint Butts: Yeah, that's not good.
Kurt: downside of like I like the outdoor edge 'cause you're you know, obviously it's always sharp, you just replace the blade. but there you know, I do like a a solid blade on there where you just throw in a sharpener too. I don't know, like i w what do you guys think?
Clint Butts: I carry an actual fixed blade with a sharpener as well. but
Kurt: Hmm.
Clint Butts: I don't I don't hardly ever use it. It's just it is a nice backup. Like like shoot, when I was in Alaska, I screwed up and I bought this new Bino harness and so I was going back to, you know, finding the little spots for every little thing and setting up your kit to where everything's right where you need it. Well I had moved my my outdoor edge knives and blades to a different pocket because the way my bino harness was set up. So we get out there, we kill a bear, and I can't find my knives anywhere. Like I thought I lost them or forgot to bring them or something. And I I I was kind of in panic mode. I was mad at myself. Well it was just because I put it in a different pocket and forgot. But I had a fixed blade and sharpened it up and Yeah, i i you always have to have a backup. Like backup
Jeremy Reese: yeah.
Clint Butts: upon backup.
Kurt: Jeremy
Jeremy Reese: I keep a fixed blade and then I also keep just a little sharpener in there and then I always have a hatchet on me too if I gotta split anything, but I keep a fixed blade because if I'm boning anything out, I like to use that fixed blade instead of that outdoor edge.
Kurt: Yeah, that's a good point there too. I was gonna say real quick to Clint, you know, forgetting where he put his knives. You seen a theme? See some kind of theme, Clint? You know, the first step is acceptance of that your memory might be going, man.
Clint Butts: It may be. I don't know. Maybe you're on to something. I need to go get a MRI done or CAT scan or something.
Kurt: In college I I would take
Jeremy Reese: Yeah, no, there's...
Kurt: I would take Ginkgo Baloba for my memory to so it like sharpen my memory to like for like the study. And that my running joke was like, Yeah, I got my brain pills but I always forget to take them. You know, so
Clint Butts: Well it's like I was joking with Jeremy the other day. I write notes on everything but I can never remember where I put my notes. So like I can take me forty five
Kurt: That dippy Yeah, there goes that boy.
Clint Butts: minutes to go through a notebook to find the information I need.
Kurt: Ha ha Alright, so you guys are on an outdoor edge, you're doing fixed blade for your Bona knife or backup knife. obviously we got game bags in there. Any certain brand game bags you like?
Jeremy Reese: whatever's at the
Kurt: Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Reese: closest store when I'm going into the mountains, because I always forget to get game bags except for right before I go into the mountains.
Kurt: Yeah.
Clint Butts: I don't use game bags until I get it back to camp. I keep half a dozen cent free trash bags. that way it just keeps
Kurt: Mm.
Clint Butts: your bag cleaner. a lot of guys don't like that, but I've never seen any harm in just putting it in there for the hike back to camp and then I'll put it in game bag and get some airflow to it.
Kurt: Yeah. I I do have a point to that on that I will share here real quick, but I wanted to finish the what's in the kill kit kind of talk. Some guys will throw in gloves so their hands don't get all
Clint Butts: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: messed. Do you guys do any gloves? No. Jeremy's
Clint Butts: Mm-mm.
Kurt: just raw dogging it out there. Just blood everywhere and I don't I don't either. I but I th I think it's a good idea. You know what I mean? Like especially
Jeremy Reese: Probably.
Kurt: if you c if you get a nick on your finger or whatever. Now you got who knows what you're getting in your blood system. You know, it's pretty easy to get a little nick on your finger when you're flying trying to skin something before dark, you know, so what else is your kill kit? Anything else I'm not thinking about?
Clint Butts: Carry a lot of five fifty chord in case I have to
Kurt: Yeah, paracord.
Clint Butts: string quarters up. Yeah. I'll
Jeremy Reese: Yeah, that's true. For sure, I think about that.
Kurt: Mm. Yeah. Do you have an actual kit that like a bag you put in your back, or do you like have these pieced around in your
Clint Butts: No, so what I do is I have I carry two outdoor edge knives with me. I keep one in my bino harness with some extra blades, but then I have a dry bag that has the trash bags, another knife, extra blades, the five fifty cord. I'm thinking about maybe putting gloves in because especially like on a grizzly, sometimes those things can be nasty and
Kurt: Yeah.
Clint Butts: I mean on any bear really, especially like if they're all you know, they got a big layer of fat on for the winter. They it's greasy, it's slimy, all that kind of stuff. having gloves for that would be would be nice. But yeah, I the whole kill kill kit is in a a dry bag that sits in my backpack, you know.
Kurt: Yeah.
Clint Butts: With with a fixed blade and the sharpener as well, but
Kurt: Nice. Alright, here's here was my point to hanging quarters or what you do with quarters, you know, game bag, no game bag, whatever. So I'm I always try to really take care of my meat, but I got this new meat processor. And a lot of times I would cut my own meat, but I just ran out of time of processing my own meat. So I took it to this new processor. And this guy's like I mean, I don't know if his past life was like a surgeon or something like that, like a doctor, but he is super, super anal on clean meat. Like he will reject it and not take it if it is even even close to being some grass on it or some definitely any kind of fecal matter, like we'll reject it. He won't take it into his his system, right? His plant and and for contamination
Clint Butts: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: purposes. Like so I've really like with his help, I've really dialed in like how to keep the meat as clean as possible. So this is what he says and and this does work really well. It's like immediately Don't throw a game bag on it right away. Immediately
Clint Butts: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: hang those quarters into a tree with airflow and allow a crust to build on the corners. And that's going to protect your meat right there. Like let that crust build up on your meat. And then you can throw it into a game bag if you want, or or a plastic bag. But you have to be careful about the plastic, right? Because there's a lot of heat that it stays in in the plastic bag, right? So
Clint Butts: Right. Right.
Kurt: And he's a big stickler and not letting your meat hit water too. So like there's sometimes
Clint Butts: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: I throw meat into coolers and I throw ice on it and I don't break the ice open. I throw the ice bags to try to keep so it doesn't water on the but like it when it melts, man, that water's getting through that bag. So it's there's always water
Clint Butts: Right.
Kurt: in your cooler, right? So another cool
Jeremy Reese: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Kurt: trick is he'll put down these little like plastic pallets. You ever seen those plastic pallets that they they're basically like a flat surface but on the bottom they have these like cones on the bottom that keeps it elevated
Clint Butts: yeah.
Kurt: off. So he'll
Jeremy Reese: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: put that down in his coolers
Clint Butts: Mm.
Kurt: and then leave the drain open on the cooler and then throw the bags of ice in
Clint Butts: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: there. So when the water starts to melt it goes below the meat and then will drain out so you don't get any water on your meat. So like by hanging
Jeremy Reese: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: them getting a real a a nice rind on it, like a dried up portion around the meat. And then throwing it in a cooler like that with no water hitting it, like, you know, I don't there's no contamination to my meat. My meat's like super clean now, right? So those are some really good point and tips of like how to keep your meat clean and what to do in the field.
Jeremy Reese: Nice.
Kurt: Yeah. Cause I mean, b for sure in the beginning of my career, like, I would just throw the quarter on on the ground. in the grass or something like, you know, like it just Or like you're cutting it up and you don't know how anywhere to get it, put it, so you try to put it on the animal and then just falls off the animal onto the ground and like you know, like heck there was probably more dirt on my meat than there was anything else, you know. So
Clint Butts: Yeah. Have you guys ever heard of people putting like soaking the meat in milk or buttermilk? Have you ever heard of that? Yeah.
Kurt: Mm-hmm. I have. Yeah, it's supposed to take
Jeremy Reese: draws the blood out of it.
Kurt: a lot of the Yeah, take the blood out and takes out some of the game. Yeah. And I actually knew a buddy that would soak it in ice water for the same reason. For like for days.
Clint Butts: Mm-hmm.
Kurt: He'll soak it in ice water, get all the blood out of the meat, and it'll look the meat looks very gray, you know, after you do it, but he's he swears by it takes out all the game and and tastes a lot better. But he's he's he's from Hawaii, he's shooting a lot of like You know, those mooflon sheep and goat and stuff, so they're pretty gamey meat. Yeah. Yeah.
Clint Butts: yeah. Gotcha. Hm.
Kurt: But well guys, anything we wanna add before we end this podcast?
Clint Butts: Hm. I don't got anything.
Kurt: All right. I know I we know Clint, you already forgot whatever you're gonna about to say.
Jeremy Reese: haha
Clint Butts: Good lord. I'm not as stupid as they make it out to be, people.
Kurt: Has nothing to v has nothing to do with stupidity. Nope. Just
Jeremy Reese: No, no, no, you're just forgetful.
Kurt: forgetful. Hey, I'll get you some ginkgo baloba and send it to you. Yeah, for sure, man. I get it.
Clint Butts: Yeah. I got a lot going on right now.
Kurt: All right guys, that's the Western Obsessions Hunt podcast with the guys that live it. hope we were valuable and we will see you next time.
Clint Butts: See ya.