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6 Ranch Podcast
6 Ranch Podcast
Barbers, Broncs, and Bugles with Emily Hembree
Join Emily and Josie on the 6Ranch Podcast for local stories of horseback riding, hunting, and barbering. We explore the roles of blue-collar workers, especially loggers, and delve into the world of rodeo, from saddle bronc riding to elk hunting.
Follow Emily on INSTAGRAM.
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Check out NICKS BOOTS and use code 6ranch for a free gift.
pull them off the hill and slam them in the chutes. And those horses are all bloodied up in the face. They're smacking against the chutes, they're freaking out Like I've never done it before. So I'm sitting up there, frozen like blacked out. All these random dudes that were there with the stalk were helping me put my saddle on.
Speaker 2:These are stories of outdoor adventure and expert advice from folks with calloused hands. I'm James Nash and this is the Six Ranch Podcast. For those of you out there that are truck guys like me, I want to talk to you about one of our newest sponsors, DECT. If you don't know DECT? They make bomb-proof drawer systems to keep your gear organized and safely locked away in the back of your truck. Clothes, rifles, packs, kill kits can all get organized and at the ready so you don't get to your hunting spot and waste time trying to find stuff. We all know that guy. Don't be that guy.
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Speaker 1:Good.
Speaker 2:Good yeah, getting ready for hunting season.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, gearing up. What kind of?
Speaker 2:tags do we have in the family?
Speaker 1:Archery any bull. Archery any bull for.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Bull and buck tag. Bull and buck. Bull and buck tags yeah.
Speaker 2:Nice Okay, mule, deer or white tail.
Speaker 3:M Mule deer or white tail Mule deer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. If you could only hunt one of those ever again, what would it be? Mule deer.
Speaker 3:Why? Yeah, mule deer, I just like them better. Yeah, they're just high country. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I think the white tails look kind of goofy. I do, I do. I mean they got a little head Mule deer, I know they're getting scared off you did. You see, there's usually like four or five bucks to hang out in our yard and one of them's just yeah huge because nobody can get them.
Speaker 2:You know, I love a good yard buck yeah it's, and it's kind of an interesting phenomenon like why these deer hang out in town. So much like it's interesting. And you talk to the the forest service and they're always wanting to close roads and they're saying that the vehicle traffic is disrupting deer. And then you go to town and it's like there's deer everywhere right what are we? What are we talking about? Right yeah, it's interesting. So what do do you all do for work?
Speaker 1:I am a barber, so I cut men's hair all day long, all day, every day.
Speaker 2:And what is the difference between a barber and like a haircutter or hairstylist?
Speaker 1:I don't want to do any of the fancy stuff I don't want to do color or any of that. So I just kind of stick to the basics of just men's haircuts color or any of that. So I just kind of stick to the basics of just men's haircuts and, um, you know, they range from like razor skin fades to just your regular old buzz cut all day. Yeah, it's pretty cool though, because, uh, I always say it's hard to speak, man, because uh, you know you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you got to get a. You got to get what they're really wanting out of them. You know what I mean. Or just kind of guess and hope it's right. I feel like we're more simple yeah, yeah, but it's usually a I don't know. They just cut it, you know. So I just kind of figure out from there, you know and guess and hope that it works out good.
Speaker 2:I'm a little bit guilty of that and you know I come over here to get my hair cut, and this is about an hour and a half away from my home. That's where I met you, was at your barber shop there and, uh, josie, your, your mom, owns that shop, right? Yeah, it's pretty cool, it's. It's cool to go to an old school barber shop because that feels like something that's disappearing and there, flat out, isn't one in my whole county and there was, you know, for long time, and there was one kind of shaky-handed World War II vet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember I hear a lot about him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it was like a rite of passage to get your hair cut by bunk. You know it might have some washboards in it, but he didn't even ask you like what you wanted, just cut it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you came in.
Speaker 2:You sat down, you got your hair cut, you paid the man and left.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, that's what so many of these guys in the older generations are used to here, and so that's a lot of the reason why it's like, oh, I don't know, just cut it. I'm like, all right, well, I'll figure it out then, I guess. But it's kind of adjusting to because you know it all like evolves, like some people think a buzz cut is one thing or another thing and they all have a different I don't know idea of what their words mean, and so it's it kind of takes time and a lot of haircutting to get through and be like okay, this is what they actually want, this is what they actually mean well, I mean, let's uh, let's educate people a little bit.
Speaker 2:So what should somebody come in and ask for, like what's the correct language to use? Um, how would you prefer somebody communicate with you when they want to get their hair cut?
Speaker 1:um, honestly, everybody cuts a little bit different, so, I mean, you can say it a whole bunch of different ways. Usually, though, the base would be you know how the clippers have a number, so it's either you say clippers or scissors all over, because some guys just want scissors all over which is fine, and that's what a lot of the older guys are used to is just a scissor cut. But if you want numbers on the sides, just kind of have a base idea, like skin, not skin, how high you want it, and then how much you think you want left on the top and what you do with it on the daily, because I don't want to cut it, you know, push all the way to the side, and then you don't go home and do that. And then you go home and you're like, oh man, I hate this. You know what I mean. So I got to kind of base it off of what I think the effort they're going to put into it.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean, like, are you actually going to style it every day or are you going to throw a hat on? You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Now, one of the beautiful things about an audio only podcast is people are right now imagining what you are in their minds. They're like, okay, we've got a gal that's interested in archery, hunting mule deer and she cuts men's hair and we're going to get into it more, but you're also a ranch saddle bronc rider.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all right, so that's going to confuse the issue a little bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I'm kind of all over the place.
Speaker 3:Josie, what do you do um? I'm a shovel operator at the log yard yeah yep day number three now what kind of shovel? Um, it's a big john deere shovel. Okay, just feeding the mill.
Speaker 2:Uh, sorting piles and stuff high deck and most people are imagining a flat piece of metal with a wooden handle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I am too. No, no, no excavator, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, big machines, big machines, yeah Okay.
Speaker 3:Operating dozer, water truck, stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So with your excavator, do you have like a big claw on the front of it and you're moving?
Speaker 3:logs. Yeah, a big grapple, yeah, it's free swinging and you go over, you pick up logs and you drop them into the conveyor and, um, then the high deck and it's kind of the same thing. It's just the machines will bring in the logs and you stack them up big. It's big equipment and it's kind of fun. What kind of trees Everything we get log trucks all day, pine, white fir, red fir, tamarack, everything.
Speaker 2:And are you a stud mill? Are you making plywood? No, I'm in the log yard.
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah, I actually used to be worked at the mill in Elgin about seven, eight years ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and what did that mill produce?
Speaker 3:um studs plywood. They got the plywood there and then I went on construction.
Speaker 2:So yeah, you know, most people don't ever think about mills, they don't think about loggers, they don't think about log truck drivers. But every, every wall that's standing up around them is made from the labor of people who are out there working pretty hard in tough conditions. Does your excavator have air conditioning?
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it does not. It's a little warm. The door's open.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the window's open. It's pretty dusty. Yeah, it's pretty dusty. Are you doing anything to protect your lungs?
Speaker 2:No, Winging it, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Just going for it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, tough job.
Speaker 3:Yeah, blue collar. Blue collar.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, actually her dad works in a mill too down in Willamina.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, he's been a saw filer for like 20-something years.
Speaker 2:Now the saw filers, those are respected people. Yeah, Big time. It's so funny.
Speaker 1:His name is Garth and they call him Grumpy Garth because he always looks pissed. He's like I'm just focused. I'm like, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean that's true. Well, I mean that's true. Coming to Garth's defense here, a lot of what gets described as RBF, my dad very much included, and people have accused him of that enough times that he had to look up what it meant. He's like oh, it just means that you're focused, that means I'm really paying attention and, yeah, lot of times that that look comes across as grumpy. But uh, what does a saw filer do?
Speaker 1:um, I know he repairs a lot of saws and everything for the mill because, um, he's one of the I don't know longest standing ones there yeah, so he's.
Speaker 1:He gets up to like 80 to 100 extra saws a day on top of what he should be getting. So, um, pretty much any time a log comes through with anything uh imperfected on it that busts the saw or does something, he's the one like welding and repairing and sharpening all day long. He's the one like making sure that all the saws and uh everything in the mill keeps running with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah so they're keeping everything sharp. Yeah, sharp keeps running with that. Yeah, yeah, so they're keeping everything sharp, yeah, sharp and running yeah.
Speaker 2:And when a mill shuts down any portion of it, they start losing money really quickly. So that whole organism that has so many different moving pieces has to keep moving all the time for it to keep functioning, because the margins aren't huge on this stuff and these trees anymore because there's so few few mills are coming from a long ways away. So then the people who are growing those trees, who are cutting those trees, who are trucking those trees, um, in getting to them to the mill, you know they don't have the margins that they did in the 90s when there was mills all over the place. Um, but now, unfortunately, we're importing a lot of timber and stuff like that. Uh, our forests are in pretty bad condition, like the. The wallowa whitman here has more natural mortality every year than it has new growth yeah, you don't have to be a genius to see where that goes.
Speaker 2:you know, we've got all these terrible fires right now and it's a whole thing, but what I'm trying to get to is that lumber mills are very important and it's something that that benefits all of us and it's a tremendous renewable resource.
Speaker 2:If you're concerned about carbon resource, if you're concerned about carbon, that tree pulls carbon out of the atmosphere and turns that carbon into fiber, right, and that fiber is rigid enough that we can use it in all kinds of different ways.
Speaker 2:So now the carbon is sequestered, it's stored, and as long as you turn that into a product that has resilience whether it's your cupboards or your studs or paper, whatever then that carbon is out of the atmosphere and is being used in a way that benefits people in the environment. If it doesn't, if it dies in the woods and dissolves down into the soil, then that carbon is released into the atmosphere again. If it's burned, the carbon's released into the atmosphere again. If it's burned, the carbon's released in the atmosphere again. So, kind of whichever side of it you're on, if you're kind of on the left side of things and you're more environmental and you're concerned about carbon and you're concerned about global warming like, you should be very pro-logging. And if you're pro-blue collar and you understand that this is a renewable resource and you want people out there in the woods working, you should be pro logging.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like anybody, anybody who's not like, just not understanding the process well enough like they need to get with the times a little bit.
Speaker 1:Ignorance is a thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I mean, we know those people live on the other side of the state, so I know.
Speaker 1:And that's where, like willow mine is, where I came from and that's where my dad, mom still live, and we have three mills in that little town the size of elgin yeah so it's pretty. I mean, they deal with a lot of stuff like remember that timber unity thing that they had to do.
Speaker 2:That's still like people are still struggling with that over there the six ranch podcast is brought to you by nick's handmade boots, a family-owned company. This year, nix is celebrating its 60th anniversary of making quality work boots for men and women in America. I recently visited their factory to see the boot making process from start to finish. As a rancher myself, it was a rewarding experience for me to see, feel and smell the quality leathers processed in 100-year-old tanneries throughout America. In 100-year-old tanneries throughout America, this leather is cut, sewn, lasted and sold by skilled craftsmen before ending up on the feet of folks ready for a day of honest work. I'm currently wearing my Knicks Boots Game Breakers on the Sixth Ranch as I work cattle, plant my garden, build fence and prepare for the upcoming hunting season.
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Speaker 1:I didn't even know this was a Grand Ronde until I was like, oh, the hospital's like. Grand Ronde or whatever I'm like. It's spelled different but it's the same thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, grand ron, everybody thinks it's uh, you know, like big round, but it's a big wheel yeah yeah, um, but your grand ron from willow, mina, that is that an indian tribe yeah, that's the confederated tribes at grand ron yeah yeah, they have the spirit mountain casino and all that going on.
Speaker 2:My mom's worked for that tribe for like 25 years, gotcha, yeah okay, let's talk about uh, let's talk about what, what ranch bronc is compared to saddle bronc. So saddle bronc, um, people are probably a little bit more familiar with from like professional rodeo where, uh, you've got a cowboy who's holding on to a single rein and they're in a bronc saddle with, uh, with the stirrups looking a lot different, tilted way forward, and uh, and then there's going to be no saddle horn right in a totally different situation. It's really beautiful ride, uh, you know, if they do it right, a lot of times it's little tiny fellows who are good at it. Um, like uh. I remember the first time I met Billy at Bauer. You know that guy's like five two. He's like the Tom Cruise of cowboys, um, but he's a tremendous saddle bronc rider.
Speaker 1:I think he's a five time uh five time world champion or something like that. Uh is ranch bronc. Um, so ranch bronc is the original bronc, riding so like saddle bronc and bareback, and everything comes from its perfected versions of ranch bronc. So ranch bronc is more of the traditional on the range cowboy breaking colts type of thing. So instead of a, an association saddle like the saddle bronc, where they don't have a horn and they're all pushed forward and it's supposed to sit up on the withers of the horse, you're using just an everyday saddle that you uh cowboy in. So I ride in a slick fork which is a saddle without swells up front and uh but there's buck and rolls on it yeah, I put buck and rolls on it because I personally like having something there.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:Swells hurt, so I'm like buck and rolls all the way. Yeah, the bigger the better with them. Honestly, everybody has their preference, though. Like some guys will ride in swell forks, some people will ride in bear traps, which are those ones with the high back, and then the swells will come over and that scares the living hell out of me.
Speaker 2:My granddad had a bear trap, uh saddle tree, and he he rodeoed for uh for a sotin high school, like, yeah, back in the 1940s there's some great pictures of him back there. But yeah, I sat in that bear trap once and I was like, no, like I'm terrifying, I'm not coming off the horse. I can ride the horse, but if he ends up coming over backwards, I'm riding him backwards into the dirt.
Speaker 1:No, seriously, and I'm all about like I want to do it and I want to get out there and be on that horse, but I also don't want to die. So I'm going to do everything in and like don't skip any steps, you're going to be fine.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. Like even if that horse comes over backwards. I ride in um oxbow stirrups, so they're like that thin and then about two times wider than my feet so that there's no way I'm getting hung in that. Yeah, I even baby powder the inside of my boots everything. I wear two sizes too big in boots, just in case.
Speaker 2:Because I mean you're already risking your life out there anyway, so why make it? You're not taping your boots on like I did when I was a bareback rider?
Speaker 1:No, Well, that's different. You've got nothing to get hung up on when you're bareback. I would love to try bareback. Actually, I want to try it.
Speaker 2:I really couldn't encourage you strongly enough to not do that.
Speaker 1:I know, I know, but it looks so fun. And I had a guy I was cutting his hair the other day and he's like, what size hand do you got? And I'm like I don't really know. I mean, they're long, I'm tall, so he's like I might have a rigging for you yeah I'd be kind of cool. I mean I shouldn't, because I technically fractured my back in two spots, like two months ago, but we're gonna get into the injury segment of this story, yeah but um, ranch bronc's cool because you have the option of two point contact, which is cool.
Speaker 1:I mean, everybody thinks it's easier because you have two points of contact. But in all reality the saddle bronc horses have patterns. They're they buck in a pattern, they they buck um hard and out yeah, if they're, if they're worth anything they're bucking hard and they're bucking straight in the line, and so ranch broncs are just basically sorry, grandma the shitters of the bucking horses.
Speaker 1:They just do whatever. There's no predicting what they're going to do. They're going to flop all over the place, spin around, you know, do everything they possibly can to get you off of there, because they don't. They're not bred to have an actual pattern. So that's why you have the two hand. Contact is because it's supposed to be more like you're breaking colts. So you have your one rein hand and then you have your rope hand and then you're supposed to be able to move your body in a different way than like saddle bronc, because the saddle is so much different. The saddle bronc saddle is like made specifically to hold you in with your legs, and working saddles are just saddles. You know what I mean. So it's you got to work a little bit harder to keep your butt down in there.
Speaker 2:So so for me to to bring this in for people who who aren't familiar with a lot of this language the saddle that you're riding um bucking horses in is the same saddle that you could go out and and cowboy in and work as a buckaroo somewhere, work as a cowboy somewhere, and if you rode straight out of that arena you could go and rope off of it, you could brand off of it, like it multi-use it's, it's a it's. It's the most honest way that you can go about doing it.
Speaker 2:And and the the two hand contact thing I love. You know I always, always, and I like I've been in in a rodeo family. I've grown up in rodeo. Rodeo has been part of my whole life in one way or another. I've always thought it was dumb to try to ride one-handed like right what cocky, ignorant piece of crap came up with that idea. Then we all just went along with it.
Speaker 1:I know we're like I guess that's how we do it so dumb like oh yeah, let's just use one hand. Oh, also, I'm going to use my weaker hand for some reason, let me just hold on with my weaker hand. Yeah, no, literally it doesn't make sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, and I'm only gonna use three fingers. Yeah, because that makes sense to lock three in there.
Speaker 1:Yeah it doesn't make sense. The first time I got on a ranch bronc this, um, I didn't believe the guys. They were like, oh, put a pinky in your rein and I'm like, I'm like I need to do that, I need to do that. They're like, yeah, you need to do that and I put my pinky in there and I have never been so scared to lose a finger in my life. I won't do it now because I saw a guy like it, you know, breaks and then comes like if you get caught in your reign yeah, that's not smart and I'm like why would you?
Speaker 1:I'm like it's already hard enough with three fingers and then stick one in the freaking no thanks Pass.
Speaker 2:You know, if you're going to come off the horse, the pinky's probably not going to be the problem, like something else is going off.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I'm like that's not going to be the thing holding me in there.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That is not.
Speaker 2:Josie, do you rodeo?
Speaker 1:learning the lingo right now, okay yeah, still adjusting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I put him on my horse about it. That's a good, safe place to be, I mean, yeah, I think it's good, it's so funny.
Speaker 1:We were going to uh cattle barons in pendleton and I was the only gal entered up there and I rode both nights and uh, brought him the first night and then him and the kiddos the next night and it was so funny he's toting around the kiddos and my purse and I got my saddle and my chaps. And all the guys were like I've never seen this before.
Speaker 1:It was pretty cool, though. We went to the Pendleton Hat Co and the guy was being like damn, that's like a real man right there. I don't know if you've been to the Pendleton Hat Company ever.
Speaker 1:I haven't and hat company ever I haven't. You need to go and see that guy sometime. He is so cool. I can't remember his name and I feel so bad but I'm horrible with names, but he is the coolest older guy I've ever met in my life. He um, I was the only gal riding and he saw my ukiah rodeo poster. I don't know if you've seen that one where I'm upside down yeah and, uh, he saw me.
Speaker 1:He's like that's not, you is, and I'm like, oh yeah. So he hooked me up with a 100x beaver, felt for that ride and in cattle barons like he hooked me up with.
Speaker 2:That's a big sign of respect yeah, it's pretty cool he put.
Speaker 1:He put his um uh patch on everything yeah and like hooked me up with swag with his logo on it and everything. He's like you're riding for me. Now I'm like, yes, sir, he's a pretty cool guy. But that was pretty cool off topic.
Speaker 2:But I'll have to go over and do a show with him.
Speaker 1:No, seriously, he is the funniest dude ever. He'll just crack jokes the whole time and he'll shape you up a hat and stuff. Hook you up. They're really good people over there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah and you know, a cowboy hat's a big deal it is says a lot about who you are, and it's something that you keep your whole life and yeah, they're expensive and they're. It's that they're they're's a, it's a meaningful thing and uh, yeah, I can. I can look at somebody for you know three seconds and get a pretty good idea what part of the country they come from, based on their cover.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a. There's actually a trend on something, I don't know if it was Tik TOK or Instagram or what, and it was like. One of my bad traits is I'm gonna not really judge somebody by their hat shape, but like you know, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:I'm judging yeah, okay, I'm a hundred percent judging yeah, especially the the flat brim buckaroo hats silk wild rag like son. Get out of here, oh.
Speaker 1:God, it's like half the dudes over here. No time for that here no time for that. I've got no time for the buckaroo fashion show. Really, you don't like it. Oh man, I know I don't, I don't really, I don't really.
Speaker 2:Those guys know the language for how they want their haircut.
Speaker 1:For sure, okay there is one guy that I like genuinely respect, that looks like that, and that's the guy that brings those bucking horses glenn shelly he's a cool guy for everybody else. So I'm like, oh okay, you need all that silver.
Speaker 2:I don't know it can go either way, because I think there's some extremely handy buckaroos yeah some extremely handy buckaroos, but there's also some buckaroo fashionistas that I just do not have time.
Speaker 1:It's a little much yeah with like all of the everything I don't like armadas, like the chaps with the. They're short, they cut off like right here in their fringe and then their fringe all the way across.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And that's a very buckaroo thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And that's a very Pacific Northwest thing, Like everybody wears that kind of chap. And so it's funny because I have Arizona bells, because I like the bells and I like how they actually protect my entire leg yeah and everybody flicks me shit all the time at the rodeos. Oh, are you from arizona or something like where are you from? I'm like I want to actually protect my legs, dude, I don't know what you mean. Like yeah our meters are covering half your leg. What are you doing?
Speaker 2:yeah, you know, we kind of get separated into like shafts and chinks, right, so that the chinks were more, more work and more like maybe you're in the brush or the timber a little bit more, a little bit shorter, and then the longer shops and stuff. We'd see those, I guess, a little bit more often with, like the cold weather, cowboys and some of the Canyon cowboys that were a little bit thornier and what they were doing.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I did a show with, uh, with Bjorn Scovlin a while ago about cowboying in Argentina and they were catching all these wild cattle in crazy thorn country and they had like full on rawhide armor, including rawhide cowboy hats and rawhide armor for their horses as well.
Speaker 1:That's cool.
Speaker 2:And it looked like they were going into battle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was pretty wild when it's got a use, when you got a use for it. Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And that's like tap of Darrow's, um, and for folks that don't know, yeah, um, big long tap of Darrow's are like a big long piece of leather that protects the the front of the stirrup, um, going through the stirrup. But people who are really handy with them, we'll use them to sort cattle because it's an extra extension of their leg that they can flick out in front of a cow and get those cows to rate and turn a little bit more. But then you get guys that just put taps on because they think taps are cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know that's why I haven't gotten them. I don't have a reason, but they're badass. I want to.
Speaker 2:It's taken everything in me not to. I think you just got to figure out how to sort cattle with them and then it's okay, I know I need somebody over here that I can just hop on whatever.
Speaker 1:I was supposed to go to a couple of Brandings, but I ended up being able to go.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I just moved here like a year ago over here, so I don't know anyone over here for that. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Okay, for that you know what I mean. Okay. So people want to know, like, how, how does a haircut and barber get into bronc riding?
Speaker 1:um, I was well, I've been growing up around rodeo and everything my whole life, uh, been around horses my whole life. Um, I ranched a little bit in Wyoming only for like a couple months, I don't really count it and then southern Oregon a little bit and I've been to branding it's like my whole life, and so I've been helping break colts for a couple of different people. I had a guy in Pendleton that I was getting on two and three year olds for and everything and and I was kind of getting cocky with it. I'm like, hey, I'm sitting, these crow hops. I bet you I could hop on a bucking horse. You know what I mean. I'm like, not a lot of girls are doing that. I might as well try it. So I got on at, uh, warm springs reservation in central oregon and those I that was the worst one to start on, probably because those are ponies, they pull right off the hill yeah, they pull them off the hill and slam them in the chutes.
Speaker 1:And those horses are all bloodied up in the face, they're smacking against the chutes, they're freaking out like I've never done it before. So I'm sitting up there, frozen, like blacked out. All these random dudes that were there with the stock were helping me put my saddle on and everything, and I'd never done it before. So I'm like I'm just gonna wing it, I guess, and I almost made it for eight. I wish I would have been that person. That's like, yeah, I covered my first bronc, you know, but no, it's way harder than you think it was. And then I blacked out and stood up in front of the pickup.
Speaker 1:Man got ran over nice yeah, yeah, so it was good. And then I was like, oh, I think I'm addicted actually.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, just kind of stick to it. You want to talk about intense feelings, stepping down into a chute on a horse?
Speaker 1:That's about as intense and locked in as you can get your first like 10 or 11, you feel like you're going to throw up the whole time, at least.
Speaker 2:I did, I did throw up, I threw up all the time I could not.
Speaker 1:But like I really felt like I was gonna every time yeah, because bareback was the first event, right?
Speaker 2:yeah so, while the national anthem was playing, and yeah, you know all the girls are out in the arena with rodeo flags or whatever.
Speaker 1:I'd be barfing in a trash yeah, and all those horses are slamming against the chutes while the song's going and stuff. That's a lot.
Speaker 2:Or they're just standing there because they know they're about to own you Like they're getting their mind right too.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And talking about blacking out, one of my first bareback wasn't a ride, but first time out I didn't have the latigo tight enough and my rigging came off and I was still riding my rigging um, like straight down into the arena, you know, as if the horse was still under.
Speaker 1:You're like still there just hanging out like oh god. Well, uh, I've never the only. I've only ever had my saddle come off once and it was that ukiah ride and it's uh, it was because I was riding in that saddle out front of my house, which is like a hundred dollar facebook marketplace, like a hundred year old ranch cutter like gross should never have touched a horse with that.
Speaker 1:But the back's about like an inch and a half tall and then the whole tree goes up. So it was like the worst possible situation for me.
Speaker 2:I don't know why I did it just trying to eject you the.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was literally just like had a death wish, I guess. But um, so I cinched it on that horse and I had. I was like, oh, I got it, I'll cinch it. I got it like don't pull my cinch, because everybody cinches. My horse is too tight. I like my horse to breathe.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because if you pull the air out of that it's not going to buck, it's not going to do what you want it to do it's just going to squeal and go all over the place and I want this horse to have the best trip it can possibly get, you know because the horse is getting half the score exactly, and a lot of these guys, especially with ranch bronc, like y'all, get your like, quit doing that, because I'm not saying I know everything, but quit doing that. Where they just rake that horse and they have no air left in their lungs, like that horse is literally that other half of that score. Why are you?
Speaker 2:doing everything you can to get it not to buck that's the the point of it, because they think that if it bucks less, that they're going to have a chance of riding it, but it's not going to buck correctly.
Speaker 1:No, and then you're going to get this squealy, ugly-ass ride. If you do cover, you're going to get this ugly ride and you're going to score maybe like a 65 max. There's no why, would you? Anyways, I don't like when the guys pull my cinches. If I ask somebody to pull my cinch, I double check it before I go out, because I don't like it.
Speaker 2:Is Josie pulling cinches for you.
Speaker 1:No, but he held my horse last time in the shoot. I was measuring my reins and the shoot boss guys like John and Glenn were up there and they were telling him how to hold his head straight and everything.
Speaker 2:So he got to hold the head straight and be up in the shoots with me. So that was fun. I'm learning, yeah, he's learning. So, josie, how does it feel for you watching your lady get down in here and do something that's legitimately dangerous like that?
Speaker 3:It's a little sketchy sometimes. I mean, I think she's more nervous than me, she's like yeah. Yeah, I'll just watch and I mean I think getting involved a little more last time was pretty sweet, so kind of like I don't know, it looks intense, it looks fun, so I mean I'm not. I don't know if I want to do it for sure, because it might break me so well, let's let's talk about the injury part.
Speaker 2:What kind of injuries have you dealt with so far?
Speaker 1:Literally only the one I'm struggling with now.
Speaker 2:Just the broken back.
Speaker 1:Surprisingly, yeah, and I didn't even know I got it. It happened, I guess, when I was at a Bronx school with Brittany Miller up in Spokane, washington or Cheney or whatever that town is called, I guess. But we were up there and I got on like five horses in a row because I was like I'm gonna cover this one. Well, I got on the same horse like three times too and, um, it's this big buckskin. I was like I'm gonna cover him, I'm gonna cover him, and he'd get so much power behind me and he'd get stronger every time we bucked him out. You know, you'd think he'd get tired and he just got stretched out.
Speaker 2:So he's like, oh, it's fine yeah, and I uh because they like it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's fine, yeah, and I, because they like it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's his job, that's his thing, you know what I mean Like they try to use him as a saddle horse, didn't work out. It turns out he likes bucking, you know. So he's perfectly fine in the shoot, perfect angel. And then as soon as he's out there, it's his thing, it's his game over the front, because I pushed myself off the side but I landed on my back with my arms and my legs up in the air and I tried to stand up and, um, this guy that brought the buck and stock was like running at me and I was like like wobbling all over the place trying to get myself like up and walking. He's like, he's like whoa, whoa, slow down, slow down. He tried to like grab me and I'm like don't grab me because I will cry. You know what I mean and I don't want to cry. So I was, I kept wobbling away and walking and, uh, I I couldn't pick up my saddle and I was like what is up with this? And the paramedics and stuff were there and I'm like, no, it's fine, I'll just walk it off. So I'm like walking back and forth and all my gear still, and um, by the time I got in the rig and started driving back here, which was like three and a half hours, something like that. I like couldn't put my back against the driver's seat. I was like, oh my God, this hurts. And I got home and Jost was here and I had a lump on my back about the size of two softballs and I was like, oh, like, that'll go away, it'll be fine. I could not lay down, I couldn't walk, I couldn't lift stuff up for like a week. It felt like I was cutting hair, like all hunched over, and I was like, oh, it'll go away, it'll go away, I'll just wake up and it won't be there. And uh, it, it did go away eventually, but I'm still. I was still hurting and uh, I was like, oh, it's fine, whatever.
Speaker 1:So I went and wrote a cattle barons two nights in a row and then, um, that next week I was like, damn, I think I need to adjust it or something. I'd never been to a chiropractor before. So I went. I went to a chiropractor in town and he, uh, he x-rayed me because I was like, dude, my legs like fall asleep in my sleep and like you know that numb feeling where it wakes you up, like if you ever get that, where it's like the pins and needles, and then it would like wake me up at night and I was like what the heck is happening? I came and lay down and uh, he's like so, did you know you have two fractures in your lower back? I was like no, I didn't. So I had two fractures and two of my discs are slipping forward and so my hips were all sorts of out of alignment. He every.
Speaker 1:I was in there like twice a week for the past like two months wow yeah, I, I finally just stopped going because I'm 22 and I'm stubborn and stupid and I just choose not to go, because I felt like I was giving them a lot of money for not a lot of relief, you know.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Which is? I know it takes time, but I figure I'll just let them calcify over and I'll just keep going. So I've rode at two other rodeos since then and I'm just going to keep going until it hurts. Too bad, I guess.
Speaker 2:That tends to be what stops somebody from rodeoing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, and that's kind of what it was for me. You know, I gosh, I broke my neck, I dislocated both shoulders, broke my nose enough times that it ended up straighter than after the first time, and yeah, there's just, and you don you don't even like talk about the smaller entries. Um.
Speaker 2:You know the toll it takes on your hands and wrists yeah like that doesn't even make the list, but it got to the point for me, emily, where, um, I was bringing two bags behind the shoots with me and one was full of, you know, my rigging boots, spurs, chaps, all me, and one was full of, you know, my rigging boots, spurs, chaps, all that stuff.
Speaker 2:The other was, uh, was full of just like different splints and braces and like ways ways to, you know, mechanically immobilize different body parts and you know, leftover stuff from all these previous injuries. And at one point I realized that these bags were the same size. What?
Speaker 2:am, I was like, what am I doing? What am I doing? Because pretty soon the injury bag is going to be bigger than my rigging bag. So, like what's? Where does this end up? And I think you know some people, you know like the billiard bowers of the world. They, you know, ride until they're old men, and other people ride until they feel like they're old.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I already feel old.
Speaker 2:It's crazy.
Speaker 1:It's only my second season, but it's. It takes such a toll on your body, no matter. No matter if you cover or not.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Cause you're you're getting a whiplash about every time until you get that head under control, and then everything else hurts too. So I mean, no matter what you're doing, you're damaging your body in some way, shape or form.
Speaker 2:Yeah, josie, have you hunted your whole life?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hunted my whole life.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:That's all I can talk about. I'm just talking about hunting, yeah.
Speaker 2:What do you like about hunting?
Speaker 3:Probably the freedom. It's nice you get out there and I mean don't hear a noise. You know, no city life, no lights, so yeah, Do you prefer archery? Yeah, why I've just done it. My whole life, since I could hunt, I've been doing archery you?
Speaker 2:grew up here.
Speaker 3:No, I actually grew up in the valley also, oh you did yeah. But we would travel up here and hunt every year.
Speaker 2:Oregon is an interesting one for archery because if you wanted to hunt every year, that was the only way to do it, because the rifle tags took many, many years to to draw.
Speaker 2:But you could put in for the rifle tag and for the longest time, if you didn't draw it, you could just buy your archery tag. Now you have to put in for archery as well, but there's still a lot more available. I think because of that this state has accidentally produced some really tremendous bow hunters and if you compare it to some of the some of the southern western states where people are only hunting elk, for example, maybe every 15 or 20 years, how do you gain experience when you can only do it two or three times in your life? You know it's tough, whereas you know oregon, idaho, people are hunting with their bows every year, and then you know some of them would rotate out and they'd get that rifle tag every six or seven years and and go do that and then go back to archery. Um, and some people are like you know what bow hunting's where it's at for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, I always like err on the side of lethality, right so if they would let me, I would hunt with a tank, but they don't, I don't have a tank anymore yeah so, uh yeah, what bow are you shooting?
Speaker 3:I should recurve you should recurve.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what kind uh hoit satori, yeah straw weight uh, about 60 pounds.
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah, what's your range? Um, I've had a bull at 45 broadside. Didn't know I was there but I couldn't do it. Yeah, but I can shoot like 50. I feel pretty comfortable at 50 on a target on a target. Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't shoot an animal at 50, yeah, with my recurves.
Speaker 2:So I always figure about about half. Uh, you know, if you can, if you can get it every single time on a target, about half, that is probably your range for for the real world yeah, I feel like 30 would be a sweet spot. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I shot a buck at like 20. That was pretty easy. It was kind of like one of those weight situations, you know, and I got into the area and he just kind of fed around and I got him. So, but 30, I feel like a decent elk, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so there's a little bit of a time of flight issue there too, right? A lot can happen while the arrow's in the air. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What are you shooting for an arrow?
Speaker 3:um, I just shoot the, uh, the black eagle traditional. Yeah, yeah, it's a good arrow. Yeah, and I think I got like, uh, I think they're shooting. I did like a test kit, you know, put the more grains up front and stuff, and I think I'm shooting around like 175 grains. Yeah, I think that's what I'm going to go with with my broadhead.
Speaker 2:What kind of broadhead do you like?
Speaker 3:I actually prefer kudu points yeah. So you're using 125s with that 50 grain extension um no, I think I might actually switch to um a different broadhead that's offered in like 175 grains okay, yeah, kudu makes a 175 now I don't know if kudu does.
Speaker 2:I want to say I've seen one on their website, but there's a another company called strickland yep yeah, we shot stricklands for a long time and I had my clients shoot stricklands for a long time. Last year we had one completely fold up it like banana peeled around oh wow, and come to find out they had had a whole batch of broadheads that they hadn't heat treated the steel properly on, so the steel was all mild and they, they hadn't recalled those. So I I'm done with that. I I can't. I've got a real zero failure mentality on this stuff um.
Speaker 2:You should check out cayuga. Have you heard of them? No, um maybe actually they're. They're australian i't seen.
Speaker 3:I think I've seen something on it, but I haven't really dove into it yet.
Speaker 2:I've shot those personally for gosh five or six years now, zero failures. And man, crazy as it is, I won a hunt that's coming up this fall in Australia on a raffle ticket.
Speaker 3:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:And they had three hunts available. So they picked three raffle ticket winners, and one was for water buffalo, One was for bantang, which is a wild feral cattle, and the other was for pigs. And I was the third raffle ticket drawn. So Robbie from Blood Origins calls me up. He's like hey man, you want to go to Australia? I was like so bad. He's like well, you know you won this pig hunt. I was like man do I want to go all the way to Australia for pigs.
Speaker 2:Heck, yeah, I do Like that sounds great, let's do it. And uh, it turns out it's with uh, with cayuga adventures. That makes this cayuga broadhead and I was like oh, that how cool is that yeah?
Speaker 2:um. So I start talking to these guys and they're like well, is there anything else you want to do while you're here? And I was a little bit embarrassed to even say it, but I was like, you know, I what I've really wanted is a water Buffalo. Like that's something that I've like dreamed of for a long time. I'd previously bought a ticket to go to Australia uh, for the summer of 2020, uh, to hunt water Buffalo, but they were closed with COVID for a couple of years and uh lost all the money for that ticket. And I was like, yeah, you, you know, I'm really excited to come down and hunt pigs with you, but I did want water buffalo. And this guy was like, well, easy, just uh, fly into Darwin and we'll go hunt water buffalo and then we'll drive 3,000 kilometers across northern Australia and then we'll go hunt pigs. It's like sick, yeah, and uh. There's a lot of great people, great fans, in Australia that listen to this show, and another one was Ben Solaris, and he heard I was coming.
Speaker 2:And he's like oh, I'll come up and meet you, we'll go out and we'll go spearfishing on the Great Barrier Reef and I was like this is awesome. This is going so well, but you should check those out. They're really reasonably priced. They come in six packs, which I also appreciate, and they're a single piece of metal, they're single bevel and everything that we've shot with them we get good, solid pass-throughs. It crushes bone like it got hit with a split and maul.
Speaker 3:They're just awesome. Yeah, I'll look into that, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'll send you a link or something too, so you don't have to remember. But yeah, love those guys. Um, yeah, so I've been, I've been shooting my bow a lot getting getting ready for that and uh, I was just down at the shop uh, alpine archery here today and got a new d-loop put on because I'd kind of worn out my old D-loop.
Speaker 3:John.
Speaker 2:Yeah, john's such a stud he's so honest.
Speaker 3:He's very honest. He's like the world's worst salesman. He's straight up with everything.
Speaker 2:And it can even sometimes it'll be like something that's in his shop and he'll be like don't buy that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I don't even know why we have it yeah.
Speaker 2:And you want to talk about RBF, like John's got that for sure, but I mean, the guy knows archery so well. He's such an incredible bow mechanic and he's really good at working with people and I mean I've shot and competed in archery now for like 33 years I think and I still get lessons from john every year. He, he's, he's great, so that's that's where I go to get my bow worked on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm, I'm pumped, I'm, I'm excited for this year you're ready for september, huh well, I'm gonna be guiding in september for the first three weeks and then I'll go straight from archery camp and guiding elk to to australia oh man. Yeah, I mean, you still get a call in bowls, so yeah yeah, I get the good part yeah, I get to call them in, I get to cut them up, I get to blood, trail them um and then do it again tomorrow yeah, yeah, that's the life right there have you ever done any guiding?
Speaker 3:no, I've never done any. Got them too selfish. I like my own hunting. It's really different from hunting yeah.
Speaker 2:I think a lot of people make the mistake and they think that guiding is going to be like more hunting, but they're totally different things.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah, no it's. I didn't really want to bring in like that business aspect.
Speaker 2:Sure, you can ruin it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I really enjoy September. I've taken the month off for five, six years and just camp out by myself, which I just like calling out. So I told her I'll call for her until she gets one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's going to guide for me. I'm going to try to call one in for him, but we'll see how that goes.
Speaker 3:She's been practicing.
Speaker 1:I've been practicing, but I scare him off when we stop on the side of the road.
Speaker 2:So I don't know, that's pretty bad. Might have something to do with that vehicle aspect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you know, kind of Could just be me.
Speaker 2:What read are you using?
Speaker 1:What's that?
Speaker 3:It's the Rocky Mountain game called I forget what it's called. It's kind of got like a.
Speaker 1:A shorter metal piece to it, yeah, a shorter top to.
Speaker 3:it Fits her mouth better.
Speaker 1:She can't quite seem to get the long piece ones down.
Speaker 2:Everybody's mouth is different. I think it's the lisp.
Speaker 1:It screws me over here, tongue-tied type of thing.
Speaker 2:I don't know about that, but I do know that you should probably never use a reed just because it works for somebody else. That would be like me saying you know what? This is a really great boot. You should try my boot Like well, your foot's a different size you know it's not going to. Not going to work for you yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, calling elk is fun. Yeah, we, we are spoiled by having that species is just like part of our lives, part of our daily lives, and elk is just part part of our lives, part of our daily lives, and elk is just part of the dna here. You know, it's kind of interesting. You go to other places and you know it might be whitetail, it might be bass, it might be turkeys, it could be something else, you know moose, but uh, here everything is is Like things are named after elk. It's what we eat, it's what we build our jobs and our lives around.
Speaker 3:That's why I moved up here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what I did.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was just like you know what I'm young, I'm going to start hunting.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So I mean because we'd make the trip, but it's usually, you know, you get some time off work on the weekends or something, but I wanted to be here all the time what's the what's the longest time you've hunted by yourself without coming to town seeing somebody else?
Speaker 2:uh about without seeing someone else, probably a couple weeks, yeah yeah, do you start getting a little bit woodsy, a little bit goofy yeah?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean you kind of eventually just kind of get used to your own self. You know, you're just like man, I'm a weird, you know. You just start accepting it, you know, and it works out. But yeah, I mean, when you're not getting an elk, it kind of you really start getting like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, getting an elk, it kind of. You really start getting like that. But yeah, uh, for me, about day five by myself, that's when I start being like oh man, I just kind of forgot how to function around other people. Then when you do come back to town, you're like oh what's going on here start feeling pretty weird after a while.
Speaker 2:I think it was two years ago, I had guided for, I think, like 16, 17 days straight. So I mean I was around clients and other guides. It wasn't like I was isolated, but I was definitely like in the woods the whole time around, you know, not a big group of people, and then a lot of the day was being real quiet and working out and doing that kind of thing. Uh, and then I had a wedding in vegas, so I went straight from archery camp to vegas, which is like stepping into the jetsons, it's like that. You know, I watched a robot zoom past me on the sidewalk delivering food to somebody. Everything's lit up and you know I was. I was so disoriented by everything and then I was there for 48 hours or less and then straight back to the woods again and it's just like a relief, you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah I think, I think that you can really get, like you know, to me it's like I feel once a year I kind of get that you know the relief from what's going on everyday life.
Speaker 2:So so, since you're used to hunting by yourself so much, what's your plan to kind of making that transition to hunting with your partner?
Speaker 3:um, I, I mean, I've hunted with people my whole life. Uh, usually it used to be me and my dad, so he'd always call for me and I'd call for him every once in a while.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but now we're talking about Emily here. Yeah, I mean, this is a different game.
Speaker 3:I mean, I've been talking her through it. I showed her the elk fevers.
Speaker 1:Okay, we've been watching those Yep.
Speaker 3:She's got pink strings on her bow.
Speaker 1:now I like that, all new camo. She got her first coo-you. Okay, all right, all right.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I mean, my plan is, if she can't call by season, I'm just going to give her the rake and shed and say go to town, yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's a deadly sound.
Speaker 3:That's my secret is the rake and shed, and it's a lot harder to screw up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah up, yeah, yeah, and I'm glad that you said shed, um, and I'm I'm willing to talk about this because I've talked about it on the show before, but I see people rake with their bugle tubes, um, rake with sticks. Let's, let's think about this a little bit, right. Think about the nuance that an elk can hear and understand. With those big ears, they can tell, tell the difference. Not only are they hearing a sound and being like, oh, that's another cow elk, but they're recognizing that cow elk as an individual, like that's Susan, okay, so something that can hear that well, significantly better than we can. You don't think they can tell the difference between the sound that a stick makes raking against wood versus an antler?
Speaker 3:Like, get real since I've started using I think about five years ago I've been carrying it. I mean, I that's my one thing I take. Sometimes I'll forget my bow, you know, but I'll have that shed on my pack yeah and it's like um, I think I'm not kidding I've called in probably 40% more bulls since I've started using that shed.
Speaker 2:It's a really aggressive sound to an elk too. If you're within a specific distance of a bull and you rake, that's very offensive to that bull and he's kind of got to do something about it. Offensive to that bull and he's kind of got to do something about it. I've got scars all over my hands from, uh, from the days when I used to use sticks, because you know you've got to get after it and these sticks are breaking and stabbing you. You're bleeding all over the place, uh. But yeah, when I went to a shed and you know I'll usually grab like a, a three point or four point shed like a raghorn and I cut the tines off of it and I wrap the base of it in parachute cord and then stuff that thing on the side of my pack, yeah, it's deadly. Yeah, absolutely deadly.
Speaker 3:I think it's honestly the best tool. I've called in bulls just sitting there raking midday and not making any other sounds, just raking with that shed. I mean I'll get into a spot and just start raking. Then all of a sudden it lights up. It's like you know you can call. There's been times I'll go into an area and I'll call bugle, no-transcript and then I won't hear anything and I'll sit down, eat something, bust out that rake and shed and go to town on stuff and I'll have bulls start bugling. So yeah, it's pretty nice.
Speaker 2:I've had them a lot of times too, man, and I'm sure you've had this experience too, where the bugle that you hear from them is pretty darn close. Like the first time they make a sound, it's like, ooh, knock an arrow.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I think it's awesome. I love elk hunting, I think that's cool.
Speaker 2:What other elk hunting advice do you have for the people?
Speaker 3:Well, everybody says people call too much. But I call all the time. I mean I'm always bugling. Elk, make a lot of sound, yeah, they're noisy, yeah. So I mean, but you see these people that, oh, you're calling too much and stuff like that. I mean you can sound good. I think they kind of know know what people sound like. You know like the average person bugling out there doesn't sound very good.
Speaker 2:So I mean you probably just uh check yourself, you know, yeah, yeah yeah, I, I don't think that you can make too many of the right sound.
Speaker 3:Too much of the right sound, you know, but uh, making the wrong sound there there's a very small margin on that one yeah, yeah, no, uh, I mean I go sometimes I'll tape up the zippers and stuff to anything and I mean I think that when you bring in like that, uh, oh, outside element, you know just a ting on a metal or something, you know even a stick on your bow, you know like a stabilizer or something, I think yeah, yeah, those foreign sounds really stick out.
Speaker 2:Um, zippy fabric, you know a lot of these uh, corduras and nylons and synthetics. They make a real foreign noise that sticks out a lot. I think a lot of people are are probably too sneaky around elk too, like the only things that are quiet around elk mean them harm. So if they hear sneaky sounds, yeah, that's something that they're really going to key in on, whereas if they kind of hear like bold, almost clumsy sounds, that's a lot less alarming to elk. You know, as long as it's like rocks or sticks, um, I will say pine cones are a problem. Yeah, because elk don't step on pine cones unless they're running away.
Speaker 2:If they're just walking, they don't do it. So if you step on a big crunchy pine cone with your freaking Kenetrek, that is the loudest boot on the planet. That's a problem.
Speaker 3:I always roll rocks. When I'm in close or something, I'll roll a rock and I mean you know I make clothes or something. I'll roll a rock and I mean you know how they are. Yeah and uh, when I'm walking sometimes I'll kick the toes of my boots, you know. So it sounds like hooves or something. So, yeah, yeah, I make noise all the time when I'm out there. It's just gonna you gotta pay attention I'll try to be quiet.
Speaker 1:And he's like why are you walking like that? I gotta walk loud. Elk aren't quiet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah they're really not. They can be, you know, they, they're certainly capable of it and they will try and sneak up on you, especially like before september 10th. Yeah, those first 10 days of september they can be a little bit slithery, but from like the the 10th or 11th on, um they're, they're pretty much never quiet anywhere. They're going bulls in particular, yeah yeah, I like that early hunting do you?
Speaker 3:yeah, yeah, yeah, to me it's there's more bulls willing to come in and you might have to work them a little bit. But yeah, yeah, I mean you get a lot of action in the later part of the season, but it seems like you're just kind of chasing them, you know, at some point, unless you know the area real well, it's kind of yeah yeah, I'm excited about this year.
Speaker 2:I'm I'm excited about every year. But most of the place that I guide on is burned and I had it on lock. You know, I knew the place and the elk so well that I in a lot of ways had stopped learning as much as I had, especially in the early years. But now the deck's been reshuffled, you know it's it burned up. There's still going to be elk on it.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, they are going to act differently and, uh, I'm so excited to just have the challenge of like being a good hunter again and figuring it out.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah, that's why I switched to recurve, just because I mean compound it's fun, but it just kind of I just like that challenge of the recurve. You know, I like chasing them big mature bulls too, so sometimes it's just a challenge. I mean, uh, last year I chased a bull for like it was like five days, you know, just working back and forth, you know, and kind of cat and mouse. I'd get up real early, get up to the spot, see if I could pinpoint him, you, and then I'd figure out which direction I was going to go in on. And so they're just, I mean, they don't mess up, they don't make a mistake. So it's kind of.
Speaker 2:Not the ones that stay alive. No, no.
Speaker 3:So those big mature bulls, you know it's just, they're just, they're at the top of their game. So you know, you take one of them down and it's kind of yeah, it's nice. Do you like how they taste? I'll put up with it.
Speaker 2:That's a really honest way to come at it. Old ruddy bulls are about as bad as elk can taste. Right, but it's not that bad.
Speaker 3:No, it's not that bad, no it's not that bad, uh.
Speaker 2:But you know, I, for me personally, like I'll guide big bulls during archery season and uh, and then I'll go pick up my rifle and shoot a two-year-old cow, you know. So I, I get it all you're like I get all the fun of of of chasing these big bulls and playing the great game, but yeah, when it comes to dinner time, I want a young cow or a young bull. Yeah, spike bulls, I think, are some of the best meat in the world.
Speaker 3:I told her. I said, well, this year I'm hunting with my recurve the whole time. So I told her, if a spike walks in, or I see a spike, I think I'm gonna take it down, because I've never shot an actual like spike, you know. So I've always just kind of passed them up like I don't want to shoot that. Oh, they're gourmet. Yeah, you might not go back.
Speaker 2:Oh man so that that's. Another animal that I really grew up on was spike bulls, because we could get that rifle tag over the counter. So if you're still working in September or you weren't going to have that time off, didn't have time to train up with your bow, you could buy that spike tag. So I ate a lot of spike meat growing up and that's really kind of what I thought elk was, was like spike or cow meat. You know that's what I'd eaten the most of, and the first time I killed a big bull I was so excited, had all this meat and I was like, oh it's more work chewing on this than it was packing it out uh-huh.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, like I said, though, you know just the experience to me and them horns. I mean I'm not like a big horn hunter, it's just I just like that experience, that, and usually the bigger rat comes with it.
Speaker 2:So yeah, Well, where can people follow along in the elk hunting and bronc riding and hair cutting? Adventures of Emily and Josie.
Speaker 1:Probably on my Instagram, huh. Yeah, yeah, yeah I think we're going to start posting more with it. We got little mics and stuff. Mic up for when we're gonna start posting more with it. We got little mics and stuff mic up for when we're just around and doing things and cool see what we can do with it.
Speaker 2:So what's the instagram?
Speaker 1:um underscore hembree h-e-m-b-r-e-e.
Speaker 2:It's nothing fancy yeah, but yeah, and you've got some great bronc riding pictures on there, yeah, yeah when they get me on the horse.
Speaker 1:Yeah, gotta start start closing that shutter when the chute opens, you know yeah yeah, when they get me on the horse.
Speaker 2:yeah, Got to start closing that shutter when the chute opens, you know, yeah, no chute, no joke. You're doing great. I want you to take care of yourself, though. All right, like, don't push those injuries so far that you can't have fun. Right, right, got to be able to walk, so yeah, got to be able to walk, and I still need good haircuts.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Hunkered over there.
Speaker 1:Like oh slip, sorry about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, oh, I hope you wanted a zero all the way to the top, All the way up there, buddy. All the way, Okay, Well, thank you guys very much and really enjoyed the conversation and I hope you have a wonderful wonderful hunting season.
Speaker 2:Look forward to seeing what you can turn up for sure. Thank you, thank you all. Right bye everybody. I just want to take a second and thank everyone who's written a review, who has sent mail, who sent emails, who sent messages. Your support is incredible and I also love running into you at trade shows and events and just out on the hillside when we're hunting. I think that that's fantastic. I hope you guys keep adventuring as hard and as often as you can. Art for the Six Ranch Podcast was created by John Chatelain and was digitized by Celia Harlander. Original music was written and performed by Justin Hay, and the Six Ranch podcast is now produced by Six Ranch Media. Thank you all so much for your continued support of the show and I look forward to next week when we can bring you a brand new episode.