The Blacktail Coach Podcast
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The Blacktail Coach Podcast
Beyond Your Backyard: DIY Out-of-State Hunting
The adventure of hunting new terrain in unfamiliar states offers a special kind of challenge and reward that many hunters find irresistible. In this episode, Aaron and Dave break down the essential components of planning a successful DIY out-of-state hunt, drawing from years of personal experience across multiple species and states.
Planning emerges as the cornerstone of a successful DIY venture, with both hosts recommending at least a year of preparation for best results. This timeline allows hunters to thoroughly research everything from seasonal patterns to license requirements, while building in flexibility for unexpected changes. The conversation explores how the time of year dramatically influences hunting strategy—whether focusing on water sources during hot early seasons or food sources and shelter during late seasons.
Beyond timing, the hosts dive into the practical logistics that many first-timers overlook: locating cold storage and processors before arrival, understanding complicated interstate transport regulations for harvested animals, and navigating the increasingly costly landscape of non-resident hunting permits. Dave shares valuable insights about how states are managing hunting pressure through higher fees and limited unit access for non-residents.
The transportation debate between driving and flying receives particular attention, with a thoughtful breakdown of the true costs associated with each approach. While driving offers unlimited gear capacity and flexibility, flying might actually prove more economical and time-efficient when accounting for all expenses and time constraints. The hosts provide insider tips on airline baggage policies that could save hunters significant money when transporting gear and meat.
Throughout the discussion runs a common thread of wisdom: define what success means to you before departing. Whether it's filling a tag or simply experiencing new country, the memories and adventures created often prove more valuable than any trophy. This perspective keeps the joy of hunting at the forefront, even amid the necessary preparation and planning.
Ready to expand your hunting horizons? Subscribe now and check out our upcoming episode in January about how to effectively communicate with hunting outfitters and guides.
Welcome back to the Blacktail Coach Podcast. I'm Aaron and I'm Dave, so this week we're going to talk about a DIY out-of-state hunt. So probably the best person to get a lot of this information is Randy Newberg, because that's what he's known for, that's his specialty. That's his specialty of doing out-of-state DIY Instead of if you're not going, with a guide. These are some of the things that you've learned because you've done a lot of out-of-state both guided and unguided hunts, and we're going to do an episode, probably early, I would say early January. We're going to do an episode of how to talk to a guide or an outfitter, like questions to ask, because if you've never done anything like that, you know you're new to hunting or you've been hunting your whole life.
Speaker 1:You've always wanted to go out of state to hunt you know, whitetail or a big mule, deer or elk or whatever it might be, but you just don't know what the right questions are to ask from the guide. So we'll cover that. Probably, I'd say early january. We'll be shooting for an episode for that right before the shows start, which is why we're pushing that off. But out-of-state hunts for the diy what species have you done and what states have you hunted? Boy, I've done elk bear deer antelope for just I know you've done antelope as well.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Antelope was a guided hunt, you're right.
Speaker 2:When I say deer whitetail, mule, deer blacktail, elk, rocky mountain elk, bear black bear.
Speaker 1:And you've done Montana Idaho.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Oregon, I would say when I first got started, like Western or Eastern Washington, because that was kind of the first. You know how am I going to do this kind of?
Speaker 1:thing Okay yeah.
Speaker 2:And then so yeah, eastern Washington, oregon, idaho, montana, let's see North Dakota, ohio, kansas, just a lot Soon to be California, soon to be California. Soon to be California.
Speaker 1:Wyoming.
Speaker 2:Wyoming yeah, just a lot of states.
Speaker 1:Okay, so when do you start planning for those hunts Typically, and what's the process for planning those out?
Speaker 2:I like to start at least a year in advance. Okay, you know, because it's just a lot of, and I'm not saying you have to do it that way. I mean, I've done as early as, like you know, three months. But when you do it a year in advance, you cover all your bases, because it's kind of like you know how you're going to pack for a long trip and you start packing like weeks in advance, you know, and then as time gets closer, you're adding more stuff that you didn't think of initially and stuff.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like that when you're doing a DIY out of state, because you're trying to resource information from different avenues, and avenues that you didn't think of at first somehow pop up along the way and you start going now, Well then you kind of redirect. It makes you change your mind a little bit here and there. Maybe it's on gear, maybe it's on location, maybe it's. You know the type of hunting you're going to do, whether it's a spot and stock or sit ambush style or you know. However you want to do, that whatever you feel gives you the greater opportunity to fill your tag. And so I like to start at least a year in advance, but you can do as early as three months, you know. But you really got to buckle down If you want to be successful you've really got to buckle down and do your homework.
Speaker 1:Now is there a big difference between going and I don't know if you've ever done a hunt like an out-of-state hunt by your like, absolutely by yourself first time just going out by yourself, versus you're usually going with a group of guys yeah, at least one other guy. Yeah, one other friend now is there and maybe they've already hunted that particular area and that's why you're going, or nobody's ever hunted that area. So what are the differences as far as the learning curve there?
Speaker 1:well, that's a good question and I and I'm asking this, so I am going to do my first out of state hunt, not this year but next year. I kind of pushed it off because alex had invited me to go along for his mule deer hunt in Colorado Right Mule deer is like the one thing other than blacktail, and because I'm hunting blacktail here in Washington, I won't hunt mule deer here in.
Speaker 1:Washington, right, right. I just you don't want to give up that. I don't want to give up because we get one deer, yeah, and I want to do blacktail, especially being new to it and everything.
Speaker 1:I don't want to take a year off, but so he invited me to his Colorado mule deer hunt and so in a couple of years, well, if I have any questions, I get to ask him. But I imagine, like, when you don't have that and I think that's what we're going to talk about is you don't have that resource of somebody who's gone several times? How do you figure things out and stuff?
Speaker 2:So the first thing that I start thinking about is what time of year am I going? Okay, so I'm archery, I do everything archery.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And that's just because that's what I love. Some people are opportunists and what I mean by that is is that they're going to. If they feel they can draw a better tag by going rifle, they go rifle, you know. And to each his own, you know. But like for me, doing archery, it's like okay.
Speaker 2:So what season am I going? Am I going early season? Am I going late season? Because that's going to determine my strategy right off the bat. For instance, we're going to go down to California this year and hunt Northern California and it's going to be middle of August, through, you know, first half of September, and it's like, well, that's going to be the really hot months. Yeah, Water is definitely going to play a role in how I'm going to hunt. As far as you know, if I want to do an ambush style or a spot and stalk, I need to locate water, because I'm not going to be the only one thirsty out there. The animals are going to be thirsty too and I need to find, and that's how I've done, like my antelope hunt in Wyoming when I went there, that was on water and it's just an ambush style and whatnot.
Speaker 2:So if I'm going in wintertime, you know, late season water doesn't play such a heavy role, then you know, but it's more about cover and getting out of storms and where the last food sources that these animals could you know? What are they going to be relying on? And that would determine a lot of where I'm going to start my scouting and whatnot. And so, yeah, so I first determine what time of year I'm going and then after that, it's well, what weapon am I using? How close do I have to be? What's my range? You know, yeah, and if I am using a rifle, well then my range is extended quite a bit, you know, and it's like, well, I don't have to be on top of them. I can scout from a distance and still kill from that same scouting location, whereas if I'm doing archery, I can still scout from a distance, but I have to get closer. I have to figure out a way to get in there. I got to mine my entries and my exits. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like we do here, and so you start plotting out okay, so this ridge line, the way to approach this, given the prevailing wind, is probably from this side, that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So actually and I just thought about this that if you were going to go and do a rifle because you primarily hunt archery that brings up another thing that you then have to think of and like what's your range? Well, you know, it's fairly easy, I know with the rifle you've got probably up to 200, 300 yards, but if you want to go any further, you then have to start practicing with a rifle, right, yeah?
Speaker 1:Either way even if it's in 200 yards, you still need to go out and put some rounds through your rifle, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:But if it's say you were going to go down to Eastern Oregon, well, you know, a 5, 700, maybe even up to 1,000-yard shot is doable because of how open it is. But you've got to figure out being. We're in Western Washington, where do you go to practice a thousand yard shot in Western Washington? Right right, you can't really. There's not really any places here where it's safe to practice those shots, or even a 500 yard. You know, and I've had friends who've figured out ways to do longer shots. But that might mean before you go you might have to go over to that area or something and practice. You know it might be a lot more going over and scouting and stuff.
Speaker 2:Right, right, and you know. Another thing is time constraint. What am I looking at? As far as the time constraint, you know, do I have, how many days do I have to make it happen? And, given that, you know, how much scouting do I need to do to supplement the time that I don't have over there? As far as for the hunt Fine example, you know I used to Eastern Oregon elk hunt you know, for over 20 years and stuff, and there were times where I would take the whole month of September.
Speaker 2:My job that I had at that time granted me that opportunity that I would take the whole month of September off and stay over there and I'd come back, you know, one or two days throughout the month and that granted me a lot of opportunities to be able to not have to spend so much time scouting because I could make the mistakes and still come back the next day, or you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Versus. You know, when I went to Wyoming, say, the first time, I had five days to make it happen and two tags to fill.
Speaker 1:And it being further away, you don't have the opportunity to go out and scout, to go over and do a ton of scouting, or anything like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it being further away, you don't have the opportunity to go over and do a ton of scouting or anything like that, yeah. So time constraint you got to know what you're limited to and the less time I have over the hunt means that I need to spend more time scouting to compensate for that small hunt.
Speaker 1:Which again going out to Wyoming, which again going out to Wyoming. You might be able to squeeze a couple of long weekends Right, because it's driving out there nonstop a very long day of driving, or you can't really even do two days.
Speaker 2:You've got to have multiple people and the long drive out and the long drive back and it's long, intense days of scouting.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean you're actually taking notes and you're taking I mean you're actually taking notes and you're, you know you're coming back and you're kind of going over them and everything, but it's, it's very intense, purposeful days as far as what you would, you have planned out and that's, I would say, like wyoming from here.
Speaker 1:That's a that's a very long day of driving oh, but it's doable in in a day, or montana it's doable. You can get to montana, montana, within a day, a long day of driving yeah but there are some places, like if you're going to north dakota from washington or you know, midwest or even further, where it's multiple days, well, that decreases the chance of you being able to scout, unless you're going to fly out. Rent a car, go do scouting. So, then the cost.
Speaker 2:And then that's where the financial side of it comes into. What am I looking at for finances and stuff? Because a lot of us are on a budget. I mean there's not a lot of guys out there doing the super slam, you know what I mean. And the reason is is because it takes money to do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2:I just went on a on a bear hunt in Manitoba and one of the guys at the camp is is doing he's like seven animals away from completing his super slam. Oh nice, yeah, it was very great guy. Love spending time with him talking about that kind of stuff. But you realize that that's a years long process. Yeah, that's decades for a lot of guys and it's a lot of money.
Speaker 1:And it's a lot of money. But it also gets into and I just thought about this that if you've got to take a couple of flights out there to do scouting, if you're trying to do the DIY and then a couple or maybe then it's the long drive out there or flying out there and trying to get all your gear out there and the extra expenses with that, it might then start rivaling, because I think a lot of the DIY now it could be. I want to do this on my own and that's the trophy. I did this completely on my own versus a guide, but cost-wise it might be. You're trying to avoid that $5,000 price tag for the guide, but in the long run, being penny-wise versus pound-foolish, where you just realize you're trying to save some money but you end up spending the same amount of money.
Speaker 2:Right, right and maybe even more time. Sometimes it's more beneficial to go with the guide for that reason right there, yeah, and again, that's why, a year in advance, you start planning and you start crunching the numbers and stuff. And you're right, sometimes it costs just as much to do DIY as it would to go with a guide.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's just looking at the big picture of what you're doing, absolutely so with gear. How is that process that you're remembering everything that you need to bring? And let's say you're driving to where you're going?
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because we'll talk about the flying later.
Speaker 2:That definitely makes it easier yeah, as far as remembering so for me, because we got a lot of camera gear that we take and whatnot. And so that takes up a lot of space, and that's always going to be the issue. Whether you're driving or flying is space. So your gear. I got a guy that plans for the worst In every situation. In every situation. Guy that plans for the worst.
Speaker 1:In every situation.
Speaker 2:In every situation in hopes for the best. And so we always. He takes so much gear. It's good and it's bad. I mean, I just can't live in a place of worry, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so it just you got to plan, but don't over plan to the point where it's taking away from the fun of the hunt. Be safe, Don't get me wrong. Be safe, but enjoy it. Enjoy the time you have and before you even go, I would say, on a DIY hunt, determine what your idea of a successful hunt is going to be. Yeah, Because the reality is is that you may not fill your tag, you know, but is that the definition of a of a successful hunt?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. I mean, ultimately, it's to create memories and have a good time. It's vacation. It's still vacation.
Speaker 1:And the trophy of. I did my first DIY out of state hunt yeah.
Speaker 2:Or out-of-area hunt yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Because I would say even an out-of-area, it falls into this category Because, even though, like recently, you went with a friend or a couple years ago for moose Well, it's a once-in-a-lifetime hunt in Washington for moose you went along well, that's a DIY in Washington for moose, you went along well, that's a DIY. Right, granted, it was easier to go do scouting, because it's granted, it's still an eight-hour drive.
Speaker 1:But a whole new species that you'd never hunted, Right, you know, or he'd never hunted. So yeah, there's a lot to it, even though it was still in state. You know a lot of the same type of thoughts.
Speaker 2:And you've got to plan ahead. I mean, if we're talking gear-wise, I mean it's great to figure out, okay, what I'm going to need going over, but it's just as important to figure out what I'm going to have coming back.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because you may have. I mean especially with that moose. We had an extra 400 pounds of meat in coolers that were empty. Going over that we were stuffing gear in the coolers.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That now cannot fit in the coolers. You know coming back, and so there's stuff that you've got to think ahead in that sense, you know.
Speaker 1:Leave room for all the meat you're going to haul back.
Speaker 2:Right Potentially.
Speaker 1:Right, and especially if you're going, you know if there's two or three of you and you're all able to hunt whatever the species is. So you've got three guys bringing back a mule deer, you know.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Versus. There's just a lot of room that you might need that you didn't go out with.
Speaker 2:Right, right, I met with my buddy. We went up to Manitoba here just recently on a bear hunt Hawthorne Outfitters in Manitoba and I flew to Minneapolis because that's where he lives to meet him and we were going to take a truck, his son-in-law's truck. He was going to loan us that. We're going to take that up there and I get out there and through a series of events we didn't get the truck and here we are driving up there in this sedan with all of our gear and everything, and I'm thinking to myself are you kidding me? Might as well be a yugo or something, and the old little honda civics, you know, just loaded to the gills with gear, going through the, the border and customs and everything it was. It was kind of comical, but you know we made it happen and but it took planning. You know, as far as again, what we were saying about coming back with meat because we went up there with no bears.
Speaker 2:We had tags. We didn't have bears. We came back with bears. Yeah, you know, and so there was. You have to plan for that. You have to assume that one of you, or possibly both of you, is going to fill a tag.
Speaker 1:Now some things to consider. So you were going for bears so you could bring the meat back. But Washington, there's a lot of states and a lot of provinces up in Canada where ungulates if you're hunting for an ungulate so moose, elk, deer you might not be able to bring back anything with you except for maybe deboned meat or I can't remember.
Speaker 2:It might even be fully processed yeah, it has to be full, it has to be processed.
Speaker 1:If it's from especially cwd and it's a new thing to to consider. It might be where you have to leave it with the tax or the a butcher there to have it all done, or that's extra time, but usually it's like a couple of weeks to for the butcher to finish everything but a taxidermist, a local taxidermist, because you can't bring it back in to the state, right, but it's knowing your species, right, right, and is this a cwd thing where you have to consider all of that stuff?
Speaker 2:right. So if washington, like you said, it's new to all of that stuff, right. So if Washington, like you said, is new to all of this, so it's new to a lot of guys as far as what needs to happen and stuff. You can't bring your hides or capes back into the state unless they've been sealed, so they have to be dropped off at a taxidermist before you get back in Washington. So if you're hunting in an area, locate the taxidermist there. Very first thing that I like to do when I'm going on an out-of-state hunt into an area that I've never been, is I'm going to locate the nearest cold storage because I anticipate getting an animal and regardless, you know, I don't know how big or how small, but locate a cold storage, save that process right off the front, get that done and off your mind so that you're not panicking.
Speaker 2:When you got an animal down on the ground trying to figure out where you're going to put this animal to get it cooled off, yeah you know, and it's going to be a lot easier to to bring back if it's frozen, whether it's in coolers or actually you're, depending on the time of the year, it's in the bed of your truck or whatnot and then determine whether or not you can bring that meat on the bone back into the state. If not, then you need to locate. The second thing you need to do, besides a cold storage, is locate a butcher to get it done, and you know I typically like to go in and inform them right away.
Speaker 2:Hey, I'm out of state. I'm looking, I may have. If I get an animal down, how long would it take you to process it Is there way, if I threw you an extra hundred dollars, you could process it and get it flash froze or whatever you put it in the front of the line. Yeah, yeah, get it. Get all that done ahead of time again so you're not panicking when that animal is down and you're driving all over from town to town to town trying to locate somebody that can.
Speaker 1:They can get you taken care of now, if it's about the rack, the mount doing taxidermy, but not about the meat, like you don't care. Typically, like a food pantry, they'll take the game meat.
Speaker 2:Your butcher will know about any, and the butcher will know the butcher, generally knows about any of the food donations, the programs that the state has Okay, and they're a lot more than people realize. Generally knows about any of the food donations that the programs that the state has okay, and they're a lot more than people realize. You know, I know kansas is is very generous about that. You have to pay to have it processed, okay, but they'll. They have a program where needy families will reach out to the state and the state will grant.
Speaker 2:You know them this this meat and stuff, and, and so if you're a trophy hunter, obviously you don't want that meat to go to waste. You know them, this meat and stuff, and, and so if you're a trophy hunter, obviously you don't want that meat to go to waste, you know, and so there are a lot of states that have yeah, there's a lot of states that have those programs.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you, if you don't need to take the meat back and it's within your budget to to take care of this, you know that's bless some other people.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:With what you're, you know, with your hunt Cause, hey, you're going to be happy because you got. You got your animals, so spread the wealth. And I know, like different times of year you mentioned this it might be how much gear. So, if you're going and doing a late season, you're bringing all winter gear. Well, that's really bulky, that's taking up a lot of room. If in your luggage, if, say, if you were flying versus if you're going to do a summer hunt, you've got all small lightweight gear that could, you could almost probably fit it into a carry-on versus a, you know right, a big giant bag and that's, I think that's more specie related and the reason I say that is because you know when we're hunting Eastern Oregon early season for elk.
Speaker 2:There's been several seasons where we've woke up and there's 10 inches of snow on the ground and it was 95 to 98 degrees the day before.
Speaker 1:The day before.
Speaker 2:And you get up and you know, because we're up in the Blue Mountains, you know, all of a sudden we got 10 inches of snow and then two days later it's back in the 90s. So you kind of have to plan again. Location Elevation plays a huge role and September is a tricky month because in the mountains it can turn on a dime Versus. Well, kansas in September, well you're, well Kansas, you know, in September, Well, you're not going to get a snowstorm in Kansas.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:Not in September. You know what I mean, but you know November.
Speaker 1:But if you're doing any, say, spring hunts, turkey or bear, that can then factor in as well, because you just don't know, yep, Depending on your elevation, you could be in a snowstorm, mm-hmm yeah, and they typically don't last very long.
Speaker 2:It's a day or two.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So if you don't have the gear, you're going to miss a day or two hunting. If you have the gear, you're going to keep going and still you know, either way you can have fun.
Speaker 1:But just know that that's a variable, that's in those type of hunts yeah, but one of those lots of stuff that you have to that you might not have considered, especially first time, and you aren't, you? Sometimes you don't know the questions you should ask, right, right, and so this is that's the point of this is what. What are the questions I should be asking myself, or or others?
Speaker 1:yeah so you know we we've gone into talking about data hunting. You know, recently we talked about into talking about data hunting. You know, recently we talked about using your data and of course you always call the game biologist in that area. So we won't really get into that because I think everybody you know knows that. But there's different things about license tags, hunter, ed requirements. You talked about archery requirements. Talk about like that whole process of figuring that out.
Speaker 2:Some states. So when you apply or if you draw on that area, some states require you to have your hunter education card on you or proof of hunter's education. Some states because I archery hunt require bow hunters education cards, and so you you need to figure that out well in advance before you head out there and stuff, because that can be a little bit of a a waiting period if you're trying to get your stuff from the state again a year ahead, is it?
Speaker 2:gives you plenty of time to do that and stuff, and so that's something that I always like to check out. More and more states are going to the bowhunter's education card and wanting you to have that.
Speaker 1:So if Washington doesn't do bowhunter's education, how would someone from Washington?
Speaker 2:There are people in If you call up the state okay archery association. They can put you in contact with somebody who teaches bull hunters education okay, so you can still get certified yes, yeah, that way and stuff. So I believe every, every state, archery state association will have some kind of contact information for you to do something like that. And then, uh, for like washington, you can get a a hard plastic credit card style, type, copy card of of your hunter's ed, hunter's ed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know when I took it when I was a kid. You got the little cardboard, yeah, perforated, you know, because it got tore off saying that you did it. But yeah, that didn't last. I was 13, 12, 11, 12 years old, I think, is when you could yeah and yeah.
Speaker 1:That didn't last long we did it as far as in boy scouts, we all went and got our hunter's ed, but then, being that was 40 years ago, yeah, yeah now like I had to go through hunter's ed again because they didn't keep those records.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Or, you know, because it wasn't a big computer system like it is now, which is shocking, because you put that card in the hands of a 12-year-old boy you would think that they'd just put it right in their wallet and take good care of it, Take good care of it.
Speaker 1:You know Right next to their social security card.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:No. So something I just recently learned is some and a lot of states, or a few states, are certain to do this now is if you go do over-the-counter so you can put in for draws for out-of-state hunts. Mm-hmm draws for out-of-state hunts. But if you're doing over-the-counter hunts, just walk like you drive over there, you just, and you go to buy your license and license and tags and everything that you are limited as an out-of-state person to certain units.
Speaker 2:So they've kind of forced all the out-of-state guys and and women who are out hunting these into certain, into pockets, and don't let them spill over into other yeah, that, that's one way of of a state managing yeah, they're kind of recognizing that that herd numbers, whether it be deer or elk or whatever, are starting to diminish and so one way of of curbing that is to either limit the amount of non-resident tags they give out or limit the area that non-resident hunters can hunt in, and even limit the area, the units that non-resident hunters can put in for as far as draws, they're doing that now too, oh. But I know that, like Utah I heard this just the other day non-resident hunters can put in for as far as draws. They're doing that now too, oh, you know. But I know that, like Utah I heard this just the other day Utah has doubled all of their non-resident prices just across the board.
Speaker 2:Everything is doubled it doesn't matter if it's a draw hunt, it doesn't matter. Elk, deer, everything non-resident has doubled.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you said off air like an elk, now is $2,400.
Speaker 2:It, yeah, and you said off air like an elk. Now is $2,400. It's over $2,000 just for an over-the-counter elk tag.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which then, is getting into? Because even if you were doing a guide, that's not included in the guidance cost. No, no, it's not so you know one of those things to consider that might push you into not even going to Utah, unless it's just a dream.
Speaker 2:I mean Colorado, has upped their non-resident fees. I believe Nevada. I mean a lot of them have Didn't Oregon. Yep Oregon has gone up.
Speaker 1:California is cheap.
Speaker 2:In comparison to a lot of the states now. There's a lot of states for out of state and it's got a lot to do with predation.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So states now there's a lot of states, yeah, and it's got a lot to do with predation, yeah, so, although, anecdotally, I have a friend who hunts blacktail down in blacktail mule deer down in california and he said that they went out and a game warden because they were like we just didn't see any deer this year and she had mentioned that particular game warden or it was a ranger park ranger, something like that said that the the wolves were down in there, even though they're officially not down there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, something to consider. So let's now talk about the pros and cons of getting there. So driving versus flying, you have to consider, consider the amount of time you have, depending on how far that's at least adding two days to your hunt.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So you know, if you're taking a full week off, that might give you where you might be able to drive for a couple days.
Speaker 2:Right, right, and then yeah, and again it goes back to crunching the numbers because everybody wants to think that, oh, flying is so much more expensive. You know when you stop and you think about the gas that you're going to put in not just going there, but coming back as well. You're going to stop for food because you're on the road longer, so you're going to eat more meals, you just are.
Speaker 2:You're going to eat more meals you just are and then possibly one or two nights, stay in a motel. If you don't have a second driver to drive through the night, or you don't trust the second driver to drive through the night, you're going to end up sleeping on the side of the road, which isn't very safe anymore, or you're going to get a motel and there's nothing cheap out there anymore.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:So I mean you got to start thinking about it in that sense where it's like, okay, am I really that far ahead? And then, on the flip side of the coin, it's okay, how am I getting my meat back Flying? I just went to Manitoba. I told you, met my buddy in Minneapolis, we drove up, hunted, both filled our tags, drove back to Minneapolis and then I had to fly my meat Some of your meat, yeah, not even all of it. Yeah, as much as I could get. 50 pounds worth. It ended up being 54 pounds and instead of costing me a couple hundred, it was $480.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because then it gets not only the extra bag fee, which is $150 to $200, depending on the airline, but typically it's $200. But if you go overweight it's another $200 on top of that $200.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And then you're also paying for your first two bags that's your bow, and then a bag full of gear and you get your carry-on and whatnot. And this is what happened. Where you put into a duffel it was 53 pounds of meat. I took it up to the butcher for you. Well, when you get to the airport and you realize you're overweight, you're either leaving it all there, right, because it's frozen. Because it's frozen, it's not like you're going to saw three pounds there in the airport in front of the Gallup, you start passing out.
Speaker 2:Here's some raw bear meat, have at it, yeah. So I mean there's a little bit. I mean again pros and cons to both, you know. So you just weigh those things out. Had I been under the 50 pounds, it would have cost me $235, which is not bad, and gladly pay that to get that back here and everything, but my cape and my head are still up there.
Speaker 1:They're still up in Manitoba. They're still up in.
Speaker 2:Manitoba. They're at Taxidermist up there and when I go back in two years'll pick it up and and bring it home. But a lot of this stuff is stuff that you just got to think and don't don't let it overwhelm you that that year in advance gives you time to get this stuff sorted out and this is supposed to be a fun trip, so don't let it overwhelm you. Enjoy it. Line up this stuff, save up the money you got a year, make it happen, do whatever you want. If you want to drive out there, take the extra couple days off to drive out there to and from on the front end and on the back end, you know.
Speaker 1:Because then you don't necessarily have to prioritize your gear. You're flying, you're prioritizing gear and you were out there with Asha out in the garage for a couple three hours on a couple different nights.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Figured well, okay, I can't take that Right. And then you've got to. Once you get all the gear in there, you've got to weigh your bag.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because even if it's one of your two-check bags, it might be 80 bucks for those two-check bags. If you go overweight, you you're gonna add 200 bucks going out and then coming back right, right.
Speaker 2:So you have to be like under that 50 pounds when you're flying, you're taking the essentials and you're breaking it down to the bare bone essentials because, there was a lot of camera gear that I would have loved to have had had out there, that I didn't take because it just wasn't feasible and not like it's big camera gear. I mean, we got small stuff and whatnot for filming recoveries and two angles for the shot. All this stuff that just didn't go on this trip. Yeah, you know, and I would have loved to have had it, the drone, but it just didn't. It wasn't feasible given the space that I had and whatnot, and at the same time, driving out there wasn't an option either because I couldn't get that much time off work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Because that's. Minneapolis is definitely a two-day drive. It's a two-day drive yeah, especially if you're going to go do it on your own.
Speaker 2:And then driving up Manitoba is another 12 hours. Yeah, so it was like I'm 55. At my age, that would have been nice to see the country.
Speaker 1:It would have been nice just to do the road trip. I'd love to do that road trip. Yeah, yeah, I'd just go just to be your driver.
Speaker 2:Right, that's the things that you've got to figure out when you're planning this whole thing. How is this trip going to be memorable for you? Are you going to want to get there as fast as you can and spend as much time as you can with your buddies, or are you going to make it an adventure from beginning to end? And it's different for everybody. So take the time to figure it out and make memories, however you want to do it.
Speaker 1:And some guys have a lot of time off from their work. So, being able to, I'm just going to do two full weeks, yeah, and take two weeks off, and just I'll drive out there and and have a a good trip out to wherever I'm going and then have a good trip coming back and then one thing that I see a lot of guys they don't think about, aaron, is the time zones, if you're flying the time zones.
Speaker 2:So on this particular trip we went out and we got in, stand about 2 o'clock and you hunted till 10.15, because it was daylight in Manitoba, till 10.15.
Speaker 1:Well, time zones, but how far? Because you went really far north.
Speaker 2:Right, right, but what I'm saying is that okay? So then I got on that schedule where we're eating dinner at 1130 midnight every night, okay, and then after the hunt's over, then I'm driving down to Minneapolis and flying back here and then having to get up and go to work the next day. Some jet lag.
Speaker 2:Yeah, serious jet, lag those time zones, that that change and what you get, that sleep schedule that you get on. You got to weigh that in there because I ended up taking an extra day at the end just so I could recover yeah you know, and it's like well, that wasn't planned, that's my fault, but that's definitely something you have to take into consideration when you're doing these hunts you know it's funny that you mentioned that.
Speaker 1:So we're all going to disney world here in a couple of weeks, you and asha and the kids, and I'm going with you guys. I've gone a bunch of times, so I like going to disney, disney world and disneyland. But that actually factors in that why I said we need to have an open day, the first day we get there, where we don't do anything, because having gone out there a few times, I know you're just dragging that first day and to just hit the ground running, like I'll do it anyway, just because. So my other podcast I think I've mentioned other podcasts it's a Disney-related podcast. Well, I'll hit the ground running because it's my thing, but realizing the group I'm going with and yeah, it's just, you got to consider that Also.
Speaker 1:So, getting back on topic, one of the things also to consider and this just popped into my head and I think it was just international flights.
Speaker 1:But I remember Delta, so I fly Delta a lot because I have the air miles card and everything. Well, it used to be and I don't know if it is anymore that and I think it was just international flights If you had a first class or a business class ticket and, granted, that's a few thousand dollars, but it might be a consideration if you're going to go do that once in a lifetime Africa. Or a business class ticket and, granted, that's a few thousand dollars, but it might be a consideration if you're going to go do that once-in-a-lifetime Africa hunt, if you do a first class ticket. So, coach might be, you're carrying on for free and your two bags might cost you 100 bucks, first class, and they're 50-pound bags First class it used to be. You got three free check bags and that your weight limit went up to 70 pounds. So instead of being limited like 100 pounds a gear for 80 bucks, it was 210 pounds a gear for free.
Speaker 1:Now granted, it's the difference between, maybe, a $2,000 ticket and a $5,000 ticket, but it's something to consider that if this is a once-in-a-lifetime hunt, but it might be something similar that it might be worth jumping up to domestically. Look at your airline that you're flying and look at what if you jump up to a first class, especially if you're the type of person who uses air miles. You know you've got that whole system down where, like a lot of times, I used to buy my ticket with air miles and then I'd upgrade to first class, flying back and forth when I lived in la up to here for the price of a regular ticket, I could fly first class. Well, that changes your check bag allowance so you can potentially bring more stuff.
Speaker 2:but look at your airline and that might help you with considering maybe which airline you fly, or and I got to be honest and it's funny you mentioned that, because I think guys don't realize the first thing they start thinking when you start mentioning out-of-state hunts, whether it's guided or diy or whatever it is is they're looking at that bill for the hunt, yeah, and they're thinking, wow, that's a lot, you know well, maybe we can drive over and do it ourselves.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you guys, a lot of times it's a wash as far as what you spend for your fuel and your food and all that stuff, versus a plane ticket. A plane ticket, you know, a lot of times it comes out to be a wash and you could have flown. And you know, especially in the States, you can ship your stuff back a lot easier than you can. You know, like Canada Right now, for me to ship my bear skull and the hide and all that, with freight being what it is, with everything that's going on with the tariffs and whatnot, it's like $400 to $600. Whereas in the States I could have just shipped that back, you know, $50.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it would have been here and it's been no big deal, it wouldn't have added to my airline any of that stuff and so do your homework, I would say, on this DIY stuff, and you'll find that if you really crunch the numbers and stuff, you'll find that a lot of times it all evens out.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So it's pretty much kind of, I would say, say, figure out what your budget is and if you have a year out, you've got time to when do I need to spend the money? But figure out what your budget's going to be and work backwards from that yeah and that's a lot of times how I do it.
Speaker 1:Okay, I've got maybe you've got five thousand dollars total. Okay, well, here's your set cost and here's and here's where I get to play around with some different things and stuff. So, you know, could I do the first class ticket to get extra baggage, or maybe saves a little bit, and then you get to fly first class. There's also that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, leg room and all that stuff you know you got more leg room, a little more comfortable, Right you know, especially if you're going to be on a four or five hour flight and you've just been hunting for the last week and you just you're exhausted?
Speaker 2:yeah, and you don't want to be crammed back with the cattle and the.
Speaker 1:You know the back, so we don't usually where I'm at. We all know how that goes. So anyway, I think we've covered most everything. Getting to meet, home, taxidermy, it's just finding those. Finding what you need to do there. Finding what you need to do when you come back. So thanks for joining us and we will talk to you next week.
