The Blacktail Coach Podcast
We're here to share tips, strategies, and stories of hunting the Pacific Northwest.
Whether you're a seasoned hunter or just getting started, we'll help you turn preparation into achievement and passion into results.
So gear up and get ready, because SUCCESS IS NO ACCIDENT!
The Blacktail Coach Podcast
Blacktail Coach 2026
Ready to stop throwing Hail Mary hunts and start building a plan that works? We open the playbook for 2026 and share every path you can take to become your own guide, from the Trophy Tactics course to small-group coaching and immersive field days. You’ll hear exactly who each option serves, how to choose based on your schedule and learning style, and why disciplined note taking and quick troubleshooting turn trail cam photos into tagged bucks.
We walk through the online and in-person Trophy Tactics formats with clear dates, deposits, and discounts, then dig into the monthly coaching program that runs May through January. Coaching adds structure, SMART goals, and real-time support between sessions, so you never feel stuck when a target buck shifts patterns. Two included field days make the system tactile: you’ll evaluate habitat on the ground in March, then build a complete set in August—kill spot, wind, access, stand, blind, drags, and scent—so you’re ready when the season opens.
Alumni Mark and Alex share how they translated the framework into results. One used weekly online cadence to reflect, question, and stack skills; the other leaned on a fast “test set” pivot and a new blind to capitalize when a buck daylighted in a different spot. Their stories underscore the core idea: success is no accident. Data, timing, and decisive moves beat panic every time.
We also unveil the next step: the Hunters’ Gathering, an expanded, multi-day, multi-species weekend at Cascades Camp. Learn blacktail from us, elk strategies with Trent Fisher of Born and Raised, bear tactics with Heather Aldrich, and turkey calling and setups with our own Alex Cheney. Food and lodging are included, capacity is limited, and you’ll get hours of access to ask questions, compare notes, and leave with a kit to hit the ground running.
If this is your year to move from guesswork to a system, pick your lane—course, coaching, field days, or the full Gathering—and commit. Subscribe, share with a hunting buddy, and leave a review telling us which class you’re eyeing next.
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Welcome back to the Blacktail Coach podcast. I'm Aaron.
SPEAKER_03:And I'm Dave.
SPEAKER_00:And we have two special guests with us this week. Mark Boone and Alex Cheney are with us. So this year, like we did last year, we want to do the Blacktail Coach 2026 episode and tell you all what's coming up, when it's coming up, how you can get signed up, all those nitty-gritty details, how you can support us. And Alex and Mark are here because, as the hair club for men, before they were pro staffed, they were a client. So that's how we do our recruiting. So Alex has taken, he went to our first boot camp, and then he went through coaching last year. And then Mark did our online trophy tactics course and the field days. So they we want them here to give a perspective of why that they signed up and kind of those details. So I know a lot of guys or a lot of our listeners have emailed us asking, what should I take? What's the best fit for me? So hopefully this answers that by having these guys talk about why they did that. So we'll start off. We have the trophy tactics course. We're offering that again online. That'll be March 3rd through April 7th. We have two in-person courses, March 7th in Olympia and March 21st in Woodland. So once you sign up, we'll send you the exact address and the hours. The online course meets for about an hour and 15 minutes a week. And then the in-person is about six, seven hours.
SPEAKER_03:Just depends on how many questions the guys ask and how long I ramble on.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:That's how many rabbit holes I run down.
SPEAKER_00:And there can be a lot of rabbit holes, and that's a great time to ask questions. Actually, all of them we make sure that we get all the questions answered. Yep. But with that, to secure your spot, it's a$100 deposit. The total cost for the class is$400. We do offer a family discount. So if a second, third, fourth family, any family member beyond the first family member who signs up gets a 25% discount. So it's 300. We also do active duty and veterans get the 25% discount. So the class ends up being$300. The deposit is still$100. But I do want to tell everyone, as of right now, during recording, which is we're recording on November 1st, our online course is limited to 20 total participants, and we're sitting at 11 people who have registered so far. So that's going to fill up, I think, within the week after this episode airs.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And once it does, we will create a wait list and maybe add a second class if we get enough guys. But we want to make sure that if that is something that's of interest to you, that you are signing up for the online course. Plenty of room still left for the in-person in Olympia and Woodland. Mark, so you took the online course and the trophy tactics. So what was your thinking with that? Mine was all the schedule and flexibility on the online okay.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Being gone out of town, I knew I was always going to be back by six o'clock or whatever the class was, but weekends are full and busy for me. Yeah. So if you got busy weekends, got busy weekends. I'll tell you though, one of the advantages that I had, or I feel like it could offer, is I got to think about that one topic for that whole week. Come up with questions. And I wrote down questions. I remember asking you, you know, I mean, that's just what I did the whole week thinking about what you know about this. And so when I came back that second, I would have never even thought of that.
SPEAKER_03:You that's a great point to make that you got the whole week to go over all of that, your notes, and then turn around and pepper you. Yeah. Because we do so many classes, Aaron and I, it just and Jimmy too, the pro staff help out so much. We do so many that it just it kind of runs one into another and you kind of forget being on the other side of the table trying to because we've done it so many times, you know what I mean? So it's like, well, they should have understood it because I presented it the same way I did last time, and but that's a great, that's good. I didn't even think of that.
SPEAKER_01:I can see an advantage of an all-day class is that you get to see that whole big picture right from the get-go, right? This one, you get a little tease of one topic, and then you're thinking about it all week, and then you get another topic, and finally by the second, third, fourth session, you're really putting it all together, and you're like, oh, now it's clicking. So it's taking three, four weeks of that versus one day before you start trusting what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00:You get a whole week to write down your notes, and you are a definite note taker. Yes. You take lots of notes, and we do have classes. I would say the guys who are the most successful in any of our classes, boot camp, anything, are the ones who take a lot of notes. So keep that in mind. You might not have taken a lot of notes in school. This is where you want to take a lot of notes because I think that really translates to success.
SPEAKER_03:And this is more important than school.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, more important.
SPEAKER_02:Your education outside of this is yeah, you know, when you're to use trigonometry. Yeah, and taking those notes, I'm able to reference them back year after year. Yeah. Just to refresh my memory or make sure I got everything in order. Keeps you on track. Exactly.
SPEAKER_03:I think it builds a sense of confidence too when you start looking at, okay, so I did this really well last year. This is something I need to work on. And then you can add to those notes as you're doing it. Okay, tried this, didn't work. Reason it didn't work was this, this, and this. Because ultimately, I'm showing guys how I do it. And like the locating, I know Bud, he's better at it than I am. And and kudos to him. That's no skin off my back. I that's awesome. You know, he's better at it than I am, and that's great. So it's like I call him all the time. What do you what would you do? What what how are you getting him to do this? That kind of stuff, and what are you looking for? And so we kind of bounce stuff off each other, and that's kind of our community, too, is to troubleshoot a lot of the stuff that comes together.
SPEAKER_00:Between each other, yeah. Well, for Bud, it's well, the first thing I do is I walk five miles behind the gate, or I run five miles behind the gate. He does that, and the rest of us know better.
SPEAKER_01:One thing I'd say on the online class, Aaron, is that you want to be a little bit tech savvy, but at least have a newer computer or something because I know a couple people in my class two years ago, they didn't know how to or they didn't have where they can ask the questions, get off a mute and ask some of the questions, where they could have got some more advantage of being an in-person because they didn't have that two-way communication. Right. So you want to at least make sure that you're tech savvy or have the equipment for that.
SPEAKER_00:A computer with camera and microphone. Because we had someone, no camera, no microphone, and then they didn't actually ask. I don't I don't know if they actually asked a whole lot of questions. So it just limits what your participation, and we don't want you to be limited with being able to ask questions or participate. So that was, I remember that class because there were a lot of people that even though they could have had their camera on, a lot of them turned their cameras off. And it was harder for Dave, I know that, because he needs to see your faces.
SPEAKER_03:It sounds funny to say that, but it's absolutely true. Of all the classes we offer, that online class is my least favorite because I don't, it's hard to read expression. You know, it's like texting. You can read a lot into what's being texted to you. Well, when you guys start shifting or their camera keeps going on and off, or they sigh, deep sigh, or something like that. I'm like, okay, am I lulling this crowd into a sleep here? You know, and it's like, are they getting this? It's just harder for me. I I enjoy the in-person.
SPEAKER_00:Uh or being able to pick up body language of okay, that person has a question, but they they're not asking the question. So you can ask them right and follow up.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. So I always prefer the in-person. I mean, the one thing I hate will say about all of this since we've started it is we've met a bunch of great people. Yeah. You know, and that's really been a blessing to me.
SPEAKER_00:But regardless of online, in-person, boot camp, all the combinations work. Yeah. So it has worked two years now, and we're going to do a second success story with you, Mark. Two years in a row, you've taken the field days, we'll talk about those next, and the trophy tactics online, and you got it done. Alex went to the boot camp, he got it done as well. His first year that he really implemented. After that you went to the boot camp, you'd gotten an ankle injury, and so you couldn't actually hunt or at least implement the system. So when you did get into it, you got it done. Correct.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, after the boot camp, I ended up rupturing my Achilles, so I wasn't able to hunt that year. And then that's why I wanted to do the coaching in 24. So I didn't want another year going by without giving myself the best chance of harvesting a mature blacktail.
SPEAKER_00:So let's get into the coaching. It meets on the third Tuesday of every month from May to January. It does include the field days. That is included in the cost. It's a$200 deposit. The total cost is$800. It includes both in-person field days, the locating and establishing a set, which are in March and August. And that we meet, I think about an hour and a half. It can vary, but groups of no more than five people. So you're getting one-on-one attention and we work your hunt plan. So we talk about your set, we talk about your deer coming in, and Dave walks you through the whole process or Jimmy. So Jimmy's one of our other coaches that runs a couple of things.
SPEAKER_03:We just come alongside you guys. I mean, our biggest thing is your success. And so it's our opportunity, like I said, to come alongside you and don't give you all the answers right away, but help you learn to troubleshoot, help you learn how to implement what we teach you. And again, this is my system, it's not the way, it's just the way I do it. And there's guys out there that hunt differently that are probably more successful than I am, but I'm willing to share what I know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And so we just come alongside of you and we encourage you and we show you how to do things and we help you learn how to troubleshoot. And so I'm an electrician by trade. One thing that I figured out as a journeyman when I'm teaching an apprentice, if that apprentice can figure out troubleshooting, if they can grasp troubleshooting, then what they've done is they've really figured out how things work. Because if you can't figure out how it works, you can't troubleshoot. When we break it down like that and we start saying, So what brought us here? Why are you putting that there? When are you putting that? And we're doing all these things that would cause you to really stop and think that we're not randomly doing things, things are done with a purpose, and that purpose is this, and we do it then, and it really helps a person start putting that puzzle together. And Mark was saying off-air here, you know, when you reach a point where it's like it all starts clicking.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And you understand how those deer are thinking, and you know where you need to be and when you need to be there, and you your confidence level just skyrockets, and that's what we're after.
SPEAKER_00:So one of the things also that I wanted to mention about that is you get, I'm usually in on the coaching sessions as well, but you get Dave's phone number, you get my phone number, Jimmy. If he is one of our coaches that takes guys through coaching, you get all of our phone numbers. If you need help in the middle of the month, you don't have to wait or you don't have to email us. You guys are the priority. So when you send us a text message, we respond as quickly as possible. And it might take a couple days, but we're trying to make sure that we're responding to those first, that you guys or ladies, if you're taking it, you're the ones who get the priority. So with troubleshooting, that actually makes me think because you went through the coaching, Alex, and you did some troubleshooting in your set. You checked in with Dave about that, but it ultimately is what made you successful.
SPEAKER_02:Yep, that's I would say yeah. So for me, the coaching, you know, we met once a month, helps keep you on track. You know what you need to do for the next month of your homework to stay on task, helps hold yourself accountable. You set goals for yourself on, you know, what size of buck you want, depending on where you're at with your hunting level. You also get a hunt planner, and then like you're going through this with a group of guys. So like you get to ask them questions, you get to bounce ideas off of each other, their success, what struggles they're going through, what they're doing to get over those struggles. And then, like, when it came in the clutch for me was when I was doing a test set. So Curry came into my original set, he was only there one night, and then I was freaking out because he didn't come back. So I did a test set about a half mile away.
SPEAKER_03:We never experienced that.
SPEAKER_02:And uh, but then Curry started coming to my original set, and he was coming in a week and a half straight every night, just right after dark. And then the first daylight picture I ever got of him was at the test set. I was like, holy smokes, you know, and then so I called Dave, I'm all freaking out.
SPEAKER_03:I was like, he he's it's miraculous that he got a hold of me because I gave him a meat packing plant phone number.
SPEAKER_02:So I called Dave, I was like, hey, I got that, got my target buck daylighted on my test set. I was like, is it too late to go buy a brand new blind and go set it up? He's like, nope, not at all. So I went to the store, bought a brand new blind, set it up, you know, sprayed it down with dead down wind, and then I brushed it in, and uh, he didn't come in that night, but he ended up coming in the next day. But long story short, by the time I set up that blind four days later is when I was able to harvest him. It happened pretty quick.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's a good feeling though, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I mean when 20-yard shot, right? 20 yards, yep. Yeah, how far was yours? 21. 21.
SPEAKER_03:When when you can have the confidence, like knowing that okay, this is where he's coming in. You know, I found his bedroom, this is the bedroom door, he's coming in right here, and he's daylighted already. He's gonna daylight again. And then to be able to set up with the anticipation, I'm gonna get a shot at this guy. And it's funny because we get guys sending pictures all the time via text, via the Facebook or website or email. And we hear that panic in their voice all the time. Guys that haven't taken the course, okay. We were talking about this today. We get the guys that it's like, okay, I need to throw a Hail Mary and it's got to come together because I've only got two or three days left, and they're frustrated and everything. Aaron, I think you made a great point about this. Uh, that with this, if you jump into it, there is no Hail Mary.
SPEAKER_00:There is no Hail Mary. And you guys, would you agree that this isn't a Hail Mary type of you have a plan and you know it's gonna work.
SPEAKER_01:You're seeing the box, yeah, it's very intentional.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and that plan isn't put together like you didn't start it and reach the fruition of having that book two days before the end of season. You work the summer, and it's not a lot of work.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_03:You know, it's like, okay, I'm gonna go walk in the woods for 15 minutes or 20 minutes or whatever, check out this book, and you do that once a month, and by the time season gets here, you're good to go.
SPEAKER_01:But because you took the coaching, Alex, you you actually called Dave, you had his number, and you were able to do that. Where Dave, you and I've been out looking at sites and some stuff down south, and I can contest. I mean, we're taking a little break, and all of a sudden you get you're replying to text messages. We get back to the truck, you're taking calls, you you know, and that was during the prime time, you know, right? The late season and stuff, but and you're the system works the best then. But you take you really want everybody to succeed. I absolutely do.
SPEAKER_03:And I hope my boss isn't listening to this podcast because during the workday I get a lot of text messages and phone calls and whatnot. But that is, and anybody who knows me knows that my heart is to bless people, and that's why I'm doing this. This is not uh done out of any pride or arrogance. I want guys to be successful, and man, when one of you guys gets a buck, I'm ecstatic. Aaron and Austin can attest to that. Man, I just get excited, you know. Oh, yeah, he's running out there wanting to help Alex shot curry, and I drove what is it from here?
SPEAKER_02:Hour and 50-15, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Minutes to his place just to go and help him recover. I love it. Yeah, and I love seeing guys achieve a goal. There's a lot of times in life where we take those dreams and those goals and we set them back and we say, you know what? Maybe that's not attainable for me. And we get a lot of guys, especially come into these classes and whatnot, and they say this is really hard. And there's nothing wrong with this. And I want to preface what I'm about to say with that. There's nothing wrong with what I'm about to say. I don't mind it, but there's an alternative to it. But we have guys that come in and say, Man, I'd be happy with a doe or a spike or a fork and horn. And inside I'm grinning because I know what the potential of what they could be killing. And I think both of you guys are a testament to that. You both first year using this, you both shot your biggest black tail ever. And Mark, you went second year using the system and you topped the first year.
SPEAKER_01:It's funny you say that. That was my goal to shoot a fork and horn with my bow. That for you know, we do that.
SPEAKER_00:We set a goal. We set a goal.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, that's the part the intent, right? You know, it's very intentional. That was my goal. I just wanted to kill something with a bow. I've never done that before. Let's try it. Until you start seeing these deer come in, then your goals might change, right? Most people or a lot of people, newer people that get into hunting, that's just what they want to do.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_01:Which is fine. And the system will allow it.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. You're gonna get shot up or something.
SPEAKER_00:You will always it would be hard, you'd be hard pressed not to get meat for the freezer with this system.
SPEAKER_03:That would be well, that being said, we did have one guy who had 19 yeah, yeah. 19 bears throughout the season. I'm sorry, I can't compete with that.
SPEAKER_01:So he still got meat in the freezer.
SPEAKER_03:But well, he didn't feel the bear day.
SPEAKER_00:So with the coaching and actually bringing up a really good point. So the way it's set up is at the very first session, we set your goal for the year. Smart goal, and it's the simple, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. That's how you make a smart goal. So everybody has a goal, a very specific goal of what they want to do for the year. How we achieve that goal is in by something called action steps. And we uh work on okay, here's your action steps, here's what you need to do for the month. So you know exactly before in May, you know what you need to do before our session meets in June. You know what you need to do before our session meets in July. Every single month, you learn all that. And the way we wrap it up is in January, well, there's no hunting, is you summarize your season so that you build, and we've done an episode on this, you build one season off the last. Yeah, next season off the last. That is always the goal, is that you figure out what you're gonna do for next season. And we talk about Hail Marys and we get calls and stuff, and we do, whether you're in coaching or in a class or you just listen to the podcast, we do want to answer your questions. We can't always get to the Hail Marys at the last minute because well, this year Dave was out of town working, I was in stand hunting, and it just it didn't quite work out to be able to answer a couple of them.
SPEAKER_03:We got one last night, yeah. You know, and it was Oregon, so he's still got a little bit of time, but it's like I got two or three days left before we have to go back to work.
SPEAKER_00:And it's not that we don't want to, it's just if you're waiting for those Hail Marys, I don't want to promise something that we can't deliver. So we always do want to try to answer all the questions we can and everything.
SPEAKER_03:But you know what's funny is you're describing all this, Aaron, and I'm thinking of the movie Moneyball.
SPEAKER_00:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_03:And if you haven't seen that, watch it. It's a great show. Kind of what we're doing here is everybody thinks that if I go and sit in a seminar and I listen to this guy, I'm gonna walk out of there and I'm gonna know everything I need to know. And this hunting is gonna be a lot easier just because I went there and listened to him, and maybe I rubbed shoulders or shook his hand or whatever. I've gleaned something off of this guy that's magical, and I'm gonna start filling tags, you know. And the reality is that so our motto is success is no accident. And this is kind of a money ball course in the sense that we're gonna break it down, we're gonna help you take and look at this more analytically as far as building a schedule, a calendar. What days am I going out? Why am I going out? So that it kind of reinforces in your mind how to collect data. Yeah, because that's what most hunters don't want, they don't know how to do. I don't say they don't want to, they don't know how. You know, again, I go back to the trail cameras or interpret the data. Guys get trail cameras and they get it for entertainment, right? But once you start taking a course, you realize hey, uh there's so many more aspects to this trail camera that I'm not utilizing as far as wind direction, as far as barometer, as far as the date they came in, as far as what trail they were on. And guys just don't know to use that like that.
SPEAKER_00:And I know both Alex and Mark, you both have talked about and kind of expressed, and I or I've just seen it, that you know how to interpret the data that you're seeing, pictures on your cameras, or just that information. You've learned how to interpret that and adjust or make a plan based off of that. So year over year, and we'll get more into that with your success story, Mark, but it was gathering some information to make a plan off that information. And Alex, and I remember you would always use the for well, I put out a couple of cameras for research purposes, and you kept for research purposes, but then your research proved that you needed to go move over to that other set and it paid off and everything. So we're gonna move along and talk about so with the coaching, you get the two in-person field days. So the locating field day, March 28th. If you want to do that standalone, that's$200. Now you can actually take that without taking the trophy tactics course because that is a piece that we can teach that's a standalone course. And I think a lot of guys actually prove that it's useful. All of our early season guys, so we had Alex and Cully and Mark who got early season bucks, where it was a lot of that's based off of just locating skills. Right. Right. So if you want to take that March 28th,$200, and we go over the classroom aspect of locating, then we go out in the field and we show you what we're talking about. Habitat that's too young, habitat that's perfect, habitat that's just on its tail end, and habitat you want to avoid like the plague. You know, basically covering because there's not going to be any, you're just not going to get a big bucket in certain habitats. Or it's going to be pure luck.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_00:And then there's the establishing a set. One second, Aaron. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You said go over, but it's not just going over those different sets of timber or those. You're getting a visual.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. We walk out into the field.
SPEAKER_01:We walk out in the field, and that's huge. You're firsthand seeing how far you're going from the road, how far Dave's going from the road. When he gets to a set, what it looks like. Where's the core area that you're trying to find, this bedding area compared to the trails, intersections, edges, that kind of stuff. It is so valuable of that visual. And I'm a visual person, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, the hands-on visual, like you're saying, is key. It's priceless. Aaron, you've heard me say this. You guys have heard me say this. You can't kill what you can't locate. So it's the most underutilized skill that hunters use. Well, I've been taught to hunt clear cuts. And it's like, okay, that's good. But let me teach you another way. You don't have to use this way, but be open to some stuff. They start realizing, oh, and this is what Dave means when he says thick. This is what Dave means when he says it's an edge. This is the kind of edge you want to look for. This is the habitat that Dave's talking about. I mean, we take you out in the field. I actually take you to one of my sets. Yeah. And it's like it's all public land. You know, and it's we don't hunt any private.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. When I took that online class and I recommended that to a couple people, and I said, just also take those field days. Those are so key. I mean, you can only show so much online, right? Maybe you can show more in person, ex you know, explain or describe it a little bit more. But I highly recommend if you're online, if you can't afford it, get to those field days or if your schedule meets up, that's valuable.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:We've had a lot of positive reaction to the field days.
SPEAKER_00:Did we have field days when you yes, we did when you went through coaching, right? Yes, when I went through coaching. Yes. Because that was one that I think we actually started those based off of feedback from the coaching. Boy, it would be great to see that. So again, it's March. So you'd have to sign up for coaching before the March 28th class. And that the establishing a set is actually our August session. It's kind of a downtime for you've done all your locating, you're not ready, quite ready to do a set yet. So we go out and we show you how to create your set. The kill spot, brushing in a blind, how you would hang up a tree stand, the whole gamut of doing everything, how to do drags and how where to hang scents and every aspect. Now that is only open to people who have taken the trophy tactics course. The reason for that is outside of as a standalone, it just doesn't have the context. You would be asking, well, why would what is this? What's the point of this? There's just no context. So you need the context of the trophy tactics, the whole course. So that's$150. August 8th is when that'll meet. But that one is really good for the visual people who just need to see all of that done.
SPEAKER_03:During the trophy tactics course, you get the reasoning behind every movement that we make out there in the field as far as the set and the locating, you know. So if you don't have that trophy tactics course, the locating you can do standalone, but it helps to have the trophy tactic because then we go back to all the reasoning that you learned in the trophy tactic, why we're doing what we're doing, why the deer is doing what they're doing, and you're able to start piecing that puzzle together.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so we're gonna move along. I'm looking at the time here. And the last thing I wanted to mention, so we were gonna talk about boot camp. It's not only that you're going to get the full trophy tactics course and the equivalent of both field days in that weekend. So Alex went to our first one, which was at a not so it's at Cascades Camp and Conference Center, if you want to look it up. Great location, great people. We did the first one at Cispus, and Alex, you were part of that. Yes, I was the inaugural. But tell us what were your thoughts about that?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so I was looking at the different classes you guys offer, the boot camp and the trophy tactics and everything. I've been hunting black tails for 17 years at the time and got a buck every year, but they've all been spikes in two points, and I was just ready to try to up my game and get to that next level. So figured uh do this black tail class with you guys and try to better my odds. But I ended up choosing the boot camp because I'm a hands-on learner and I figured the boot camp would be the best class for me. You get visual learnings on the locating part, actually establishing a set in the field. You know, Dave teaches you how to set up a tree stand, brush in a blind, where to put the tree stand and blind versus where your set's actually at. And also there's a lot of opportunity to ask questions because you get the whole weekend to ask questions versus if you do the trophy tactics, you only get that four to six hours to ask questions. Yeah, this is versus the boot camp. You get all weekend.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, breakfast, lunch, yeah, dinner. We're rubbing elbows all the time. Yeah, so yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So the year that you went, Alex, that's where you met Scott Cullum, our other pro staff member. Yes. And you guys have since become you didn't know him before then at all. Nope. Nope. He lives up in Enum Claw. Yes. And you're in on Alaska. Yep. And so guys from different parts of the state who would have no reason to run into each other. And now you guys are hunting buddies, basically. You know, you don't go out necessarily together, but you've gone out turkey hunting with them, but you've got that friend now.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. And he's come down to my place, especially that first year after or during the coaching, because he also did the coaching with me. He came down to my place and checked out some of my sets, and you know, we bounced questions back and forth. I went up to his place and we did the same thing. And I'm like, no, I think we should go over here, or you know, just pros and cons to both. And so, you know, he's just uh a good buddy to be able to call up and just bounce questions off each other and check in.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and that happened with the class from two years ago because we had we had someone from Vernon. And someone from Aberdeen and someone from Snohomish who all kept in contact with each other, checking in about how's your season going, how are things going. And that was the biggest thing that first year. Wow. We didn't expect you guys to necessarily hit it off quite like that. It really was a blessing to us because it meant more than we were just teaching you a skill that we were giving you a something bigger to be part of. This community where you could call somebody if you needed help locating your harvest out in the woods. There's potentially people who you could give a call to or who come out and help.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. Yeah. After I shot Curry last year, I called Dave and he was willing to drop everything. Actually, I'm pretty sure I got you out of like a f a dinner, which you were pretty okay.
SPEAKER_03:Oh my wife's in the other room here.
SPEAKER_02:Anyways, so like Dave was more than happy to come out, help me look for the deer. But you're in laws, don't listen.
SPEAKER_00:So you're okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:But he came up and you know, both of them helped me find my deer that night. And then two days later, Bud shot a deer, and I went and helped him retrieve that too. Oh, nice. And yeah, Mark and I we met last year at the field days, and now we keep in touch quite a bit and texting quite a bit and calling each other.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and that's not uncommon. We find and I think it's because I think guys are realizing, hey, there's more than one person out there that's crazy about black tail.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:We've kind of been the redheaded stepchild as far as the deer community because so isolated up here on the west side of the Cascades in the Pacific Northwest, because all you see on TV is the whitetail, mullies, and elk and all that stuff. And we've got blacktail, and they're a beautiful, beautiful animal, and they're elusive, they're super hard to get. That's I think what is addicting about it. When you finally figure it out and you come to these things and you realize, man, there's a lot of guys that are really into this blacktail thing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but when you learn this system, it's the non-ego, non-competitive kind of class and system, right? You find out there's a lot more deer, a lot more bucks in tons of areas that you ever thought about. It's just learning how to go and find the glassing point and challenge everybody to get to that glassing point first, right? It is there's so many deer out there, and this system teaches you that. And I think that's what helps. It's like Alex, you got your spots, I got mine, they're close to each other's homes. We could compare notes or whatever. I know I wasn't involved in the boot camp, but you're spending the whole weekend with those people, but even just doing the field days or being in class, I'm communicating with, I don't know, five, six, seven people, you know, just comparing notes and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, and I think some people have just on Facebook and then they take the class. Oh, you're so and so, and you put a face to the name that you've been commenting back and forth with on the Facebook page or something.
SPEAKER_01:And now, so we started this and we got the community part, you know, right? But hey, Alex and I are going on a moose hunt in a couple years. We just signed up, so just because of that, you know, we spent some money you might owe us back.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, you replaced me? You filled my spot? I did.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I didn't know that was a oh no.
SPEAKER_00:We're still trying to put together a pig hunt between all of us to go out and do that because we've just been dying. Something in the off season. Something in the off-season for years. So now we want to talk about the change that has come to boot camp. So when we first started boot camp, almost immediately the idea was to expand it to include other species. And we're at the point now where that is happening this year. We are going to expand it to include multiple species. So, Dave, tell us what to expect this year.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. So, Aaron, drum roll, please. Today we are announcing what we're going to call the hunters' gathering. And the hunter's gathering is what takes the place at boot camp, a multi-species weekend. So we've partnered up with some people here that we feel are just awesome as far as their success as hunters and outdoorsmen or outdoors person. Some really great speakers lined up already. We have Trent Fisher from Born and Raised, absolutely world-class guy. That that whole group is just awesome. Trent will be doing Elk and teaching his method and his techniques and strategies. I will be doing blacktail, but I will do my full blacktail trophy tactics course, how I do it, when I do it, all that. And then we've also got Heather Aldrich, who is a magnificent bear hunter. She is phenomenal. She will be there and she will be teaching her course and her strategies, techniques, all of that stuff. And then we've got our very own Alex Cheney, who is a pro staff, but he's also a pro staff for Phelps Calls for Turkey. He has completed the Washington Slam like nine times.
SPEAKER_00:Nine times now. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. He's just he took my son out this last year and they called in seven birds in one weekend. That's incredible. That's insane. But we have all these people lined up. It's going to be a great weekend. We're super excited about it. And man, this is the year to jump in, guys, because it's going to be incredible.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So really, instead of just one trophy tactics course, you're going to get four this year. It's expanding. Everybody, the point of this is education. It's to teach those who want those skills, who want to improve their skills, or you might be a super successful hunter, but you know that there's always more to learn. So this is going to benefit you. You've heard Heather and Alex on the podcast for multiple shows where we covered both Turkey and Bear. They approach Turkey and Bear the same way that Dave approaches Blacktail.
SPEAKER_03:And everybody knows Trent.
SPEAKER_00:And everybody knows.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, great guy. If you've ever met him, you love him because he's just super, super awesome and very successful on both Rosies and Rockies, and excited to hear him break down his hunts.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So we are just really looking forward to this. So let's get into the details on this. To accommodate all of this, we are actually going to expand to an extra day. So this is going to happen from Thursday, April 9th through Sunday, April 12th, noon to noon on each day, so that we get the full courses for each of these. It's happening again at the Cascades Camp and Conference Center outside of Yelm, Washington. And the cost is going to be$14.95.
SPEAKER_03:It's a screaming deal.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Because the idea, and Dave's always talked about this, is so that you become your own guide. And just think if you were to do a guided turkey hunt, bear hunt, blacktail hunt, elk hunt, how much you would spend on that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So you will have the tools and the skills needed to do all that yourself, to do all the work yourself. So again, food and lodging is all provided for the entire weekend. We will send you home with our hunter's essentials kit, and it'll basically just the goody bag with something related to each of these species so that you have a tool to hit the ground running for next year.
SPEAKER_03:And it's three, four days of just rubbing elbows with all of these speakers and really digging down to the nitty-gritty of what they do. So it's not just when they're up speaking, you're going to be able to sit down with them at meals, you're going to be able to talk to them in the evenings, throughout the day, out in the field. It's going to be awesome.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So let's talk about some of the discounts. So previously, we have done an alumni discount for some of our courses. This is a new course, but we decided that if you have previously attended one of our boot camps, we are going to do a$250 discount. If you've previously attended, we still have the family discount. So first member will pay full price. Every other member of your family who decides to attend,$250 off. And we're also doing a$250 off discount for active duty or military veterans. Just let us know at the time of registration if you meet any of those categories, and we will make sure that we get that up to you. It's a$250 deposit. This is limited in space. We don't have access to the whole camp, so get signed up as soon as you decide that you want to go. We're encouraging everyone to sign up as quickly as possible. The balance of what's due isn't due until April 1st. So we'll give you time to budget that out. Maybe get the tax return in. So we're really looking forward. We always have a blast at these events. As you've just previously heard from Alex talking about being at these events, they are a great event. This just all came together, the final details, but we were really excited to get this information out to all of you. Absolutely. Love to see you there.
SPEAKER_03:Is there a cap on it, Aaron?
SPEAKER_00:Of attendance wise? Attendance is a hundred guys.
SPEAKER_03:So the first hundred guys that register are gonna be in you're gonna have a spot. After that, it goes on to a waiting list in the event that somebody drops out. But it's gonna be awesome.
SPEAKER_00:We do expect this to be pushing that to maxing out. Yeah. Just because we've known of other similar type events that have happened in the past and they've sold out. And with the addition of Trent, born and raised, being there and teaching what he knows about elk, Alex teaching what he knows about turkey, Heather. Everybody here has the same approach that Dave has about hunting black tail. And as you've listened to the podcast over the last year plus, you're gonna get a good idea of what you're going to be learning over that weekend.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, they're all very passionate.
SPEAKER_00:Lots of pens and notebooks will be provided for note-taking, and we're just really excited to see you there.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it's gonna be a good time. Gonna be a lot of great memories.
SPEAKER_00:Going to start wrapping things up because this is turning into a long episode. But one of the things I wanted to mention is in January, from January 28th to February 1st, we will be at the Puallop show, sportsman show, as we have been for the last, I believe, four years now, same spot. And the Portland Sportsman Show, February 10th through the or the 11th through the 15th, I believe those are the dates. So we will be there. Please come by the booth, talk to us, tell us your story, bring in your antlase. How we can help you with your hunts and everything. So any final thoughts from anyone before we move on.
SPEAKER_03:Hope to see everybody at a class, you know, something and stuff. Ultimately, we're just trying to help guys be successful.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So get proof is in the pudding. We've got Mark and we've got Alex here, and we've got a lot more success stories outside of them. But I think that's something that you can glean from all of this is that we all started in the same boat. We were all frustrated and trying to figure this out, you know, and so it was nice to have just somebody that they can relate to and say, you know what, that that's me. Because right now the frustration is real. This time of year, all the way through December, guys, uh the frustration is real. I've walked how many days in the rain, I've gone out in the cold, I haven't seen a big buck, or all I ever get is this or this or this. And it's like, well, no, we got an opportunity, if you guys want it, to help show you another way, I guess. Not a better way, just another way.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and right now it's kind of stress-free for me, anyways. I see all these hunting rigs at every gate, and you know, they're trying to fill their tags, knowing my season's gonna start here in a few weeks. Yeah, no one's hunting in the areas that I'm hunting because everyone's hunting clear cuts. Right. So it's a different mindset, I guess, is what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00:Same here. Thank you for your continued listening. If you could hit like, subscribe, follow all those things on your podcast platform that you listen to us. We really appreciate it. Send us a comment, send us an idea for a podcast that you'd like to hear. Always love to hear those. And until next week.
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