Small Towns Podcast
Small Towns Podcast
E4: The Thrill of The Hunt
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The thrill of the hunt! It is totally normal to spray oneself with female elk urine. Right Dave? Dave?
Dave and Jason share their views and experiences on hunting.
Welcome, millions, perhaps billions, of faithful podcast listeners. We are your hosts, Jason Kimber and Dave Simmons. We'll bring you along with us as we share life stories from our experiences living in small towns.
SPEAKER_00Or in Jason's case, an unincorporated community.
SPEAKER_01That's true. Along with genius suggestions for solving the world's problems and a whole lot of laughs.
SPEAKER_00This is the Small Towns Podcast. Welcome in once again, everyone, to Jason and Dave's podcast, uh, as for now affectionately known as uh Tales from Small Town USA. Feels good every time you say that. Well, it's growing on me, but there's uh look, I'm up for other suggestions, that's for sure. But um, Jason, I've been thinking, growing up out in Grouse Creek, and I am saying crick now, which is really hurting every single time I say it. It's like when people say, instead of saying roof, they say roof. It's that's not correct. Well, it rolls off the tongue, and it feels good. But living out there, you don't just go to the grocery store. I mean, you don't go down and uh chew the fat with the butcher at the Macy's and and get yourself some steaks and stuff like that, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, we're talking, I mean, there's a small little convenience store which we loved, but that was just for the basics, you know, milk and bread. But yeah, any any town of any considerable size that would have a butcher, if you will, we're talking Burley Idaho, 75 miles to the north. So yeah, you're right. That wasn't it wasn't an everyday occurrence. So, how do you get meat and stuff like that out there? That's a fair question. I mean, hunting. Did you guys hunt? Hunting, yeah. My dad was a big hunter. We would hunt deer, we'd hunt elk. I grew up eating venison. I I just assume that's what everybody ate. No, they didn't. No, they didn't. I mean, we would have like a venison steak or a deer steak. Good? Oh, fantastic, buddy. It seems like a little gamey. A little game, but you do is you pound that flat, you know, a little tenderize it. Okay, dip it in some flour, you just fry that up, put a little bit of your mom's homemade chili sauce on that. Really? Oh, maybe a little bread and butter. Oh, it seems like a lot of work. Well, I mean, for my mom, yeah, but I mean it was just delicious.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was delicious. I mean, we did have to get the deer, of course. People go to Grouse Creek to hunt deer and elk, don't they? Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01You bet we have.
SPEAKER_00And that's right in your backyard.
SPEAKER_01Right in our backyard. In fact, most of the uh animals that I I think the terminology would be harvested over the years.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, oh that's a nicer way to say it.
SPEAKER_01Nice way to say it within you know miles of my home. You know. But I I need I I can't have you like painting the picture here that the grouse creek is just chucked full of gun wielding wielding. What wielding, yeah, gun wielding. Well, wielding if you're from grouse group. Yeah, gun.
SPEAKER_00Gun wielding. You're wielding a hunters. Yes.
SPEAKER_01No, I mean safety first. So in the state of Utah, in order to hunt big game, you gotta be 14 years of age or older. You had to pass what we call the hunter safety course. Yeah, I heard of those. Friends that took them all the time. Okay, good. So you're familiar. And I was just so excited. I mean, when you're 12 years old, you can hunt grouse, you can hunt bird, you can do some of that. So I had done a little bit of that. Nothing better than a sage chicken. I'll tell you that right now. Sage chicken is the new turkey, Dave. Really? Delicious. Do you brine it? Oh, I've never brined it, but I'm gonna try it. I just got hungry. Yeah, me too. I'm not sure if it's for sage chicken, but I could eat. We're gonna have to put push paws on it and head down to the golden arches and see if we can get a sage chicken chicken sandwich. Sitting under the lights for an hour and a half. It's always better that way. I do love it. But yeah, I mean, so you know, I hunted birds, you know, fowl, if you will, 12, 13, 14. But when I turned 14, I was able to hunt deer. But again, before any of that, you had to take hunter safety. Now, that was, if memory serves, I want to say it was at least a six-week course every Saturday. Wow. Oh, yeah. Listen, they're not messing around. You're not messing around. I mean, and it's and it's all about, again, as not just a catchy name, Dave, it's hunter's safety. Don't point it at a person. Don't point it at a person, keep it on safety. Keep it on safe. Uh, make sure you know your situation, your environment, where you're at. The gentleman that taught the course, great man, uh, his name was John Pratt. He was the uh game warden for uh, you know, northwestern Utah. I don't know how big his area was, but it definitely covered Grass Creek because it's as far northwest as you can get. I think he lived in Snowville, actually, but he'd come out and he'd teach every Saturday.
SPEAKER_00Isn't sorry, this is a little bit of a tangent, but Grass Creek is right on the border of Utah and Nevada.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, it's actually right up in the uh Tri-Corners area. I don't think people refer to it as well.
SPEAKER_00I don't think they do either.
SPEAKER_01But Utah, Nevada, and Idaho, so it's not really a corner, if you will, but yeah, we're 20 miles from the Nevada border, maybe even closer. To the west. To the west, and and Idaho is 20 miles to our north. Okay. So we are just right up there in the last little bit of civilization, if you will, of Utah.
SPEAKER_00That's really not a whole lot of civilization going on there. There's nothing civilized about it. Well, I was taking hunters safely. Yes, you were, but you probably had to drive 100 miles to get to class. Well, nor did he come together.
SPEAKER_01He came to us. John Pratt came to us. There's enough people in Ground Street that are gonna need to be taught about it. We would just kind of bulk us all together. Okay. So because myself, my sister Lisa, my brother Wade, Curtis, Breton, we all took it together. Cousin Curtis. Cousin Curtis. I mean, you're gonna hear more about him in podcasts, I'll tell you that right now. Um yeah, there's probably 10 or 12 of us that took Hunter Safety together. And Pratt, I'm gonna just call him Pratt because that's what we called him. He's just a last name only. He would drive from Snowville every Saturday and teach us hunter safety. Now, like any course, you also need to practice through the week. And by practice, I mean target shooting. You know, because that was part of it. Yeah, shoot stuff. Yeah, cool. And I wanted to be safe about it, and my parents were very good. I mean, uh, we knew how to be safe with the guns. And so I would take my single shot 22. Oh, it's a beautiful gun. And I'd practice every chance that I could get. And you have crack shot? Pretty good. Okay, pretty good. Now, what happened next? I'm embarrassed to tell the story. I really am. Uh, because I'm much safer at this, but I did not think this through. So, painting the picture, I'm on the front steps of the double wide. Now you can't do this in Providence. No. Somebody did when Poor Nikki poor Sandy Mills. Poor Sandy Mills. This is probably what happened. Maybe about this. Yeah, maybe. But I'm sitting on the front steps of the Doublewide. There's not another house that I can see. I mean, we're three and a half miles from town, and there's not another house in sight. I'm sitting on the front steps, maybe 25 yards in front of me, is our fence for the yard, and I went ahead and hung uh a target on that. And what was this target? Did you just a traditional target? I didn't even make it. Like I, you know, we we'd buy a package of targets with no circles. You know, think of a dartboard, if you will.
SPEAKER_00So you weren't hanging some sort of dead animal from the tree and we're gonna pepper this thing full of it.
SPEAKER_01Shooting a Coke can off a tree stump. I mean, no, I mean we did that, but not here. No, I I needed accuracy and precision was the name of this game. There was one fatal flaw that I did not take into account. I didn't check out the rest of my surroundings. So I'm sitting there on the front steps, just basically like shooting it from behind your back. Oh, yeah, and like I'm talking the pattern I left in the target, like you know, similar than a quarter. Yeah, that's a good shooting. I mean, that was fantastic shooting. Out of the corner of my eye, beyond the target, maybe another 50 yards, I see some movement. And I I kind of look up a little bit, and oh dude. I had a couple of sheep. Oh no. I had a couple of sheep that were, unfortunately for them, on the backside of my target. And I got the sick pit, buddy. I got this sick pit. This is they were behind your target. They were behind even though. No, yeah, but I'm talking like 25-30 yards behind, so we're talking like 7,500 yards for me. How powerful is this gun?
SPEAKER_00Because when you have to be missing your target over top of it completely. Well, that's a very good point.
SPEAKER_01I never maybe maybe you weren't shooting as well as you thought you were. I thought I was, or maybe they were closer and I just didn't pay attention to what I was doing. Stumbled another 30 feet back afterwards. I run out there, buddy. I run out there and I'm sick about it. I'm sick about it. And there's one little lamb. Mutt. Just mutton. Just mutton. And there's another one that's been wounded. Yeah. One bullet. Oh, it was horrible. So I I mean, it was actually the it was the day before. This was Friday night. So Saturday morning I go out. Curtis. Oh my gosh. Cousin Curtis. Cousin Curtis. Like, I'm sitting there, I'm walking in. Pratt's walking in, everybody's sitting down. Curtis is all like, hey, I heard you killed one of your sheep. Oh no, he threw you right under the bus. And there's probably not a lot of buses out there. There's not a lot of buses. There's one bus, there's a short bus, and I'm here to tell you. Pratt's like, what? And I'm like, don't worry about it. You don't even know what he's talking about. But I did get my blue card. What does that mean? That means I can hunt safely.
SPEAKER_00Well.
SPEAKER_01Ask the sheep.
SPEAKER_00All I know is you went home and you had lamb chops that day.
SPEAKER_01Oh, we didn't have lamb chops, I'll tell you what.
SPEAKER_00Mama Kimber's making a lamb chop.
SPEAKER_01And I listen, I was kind of like with her hot sauce. She's well, no mint jelly. I mean, I'm I'm cutting up the lamb chop. Just weeping. Delicious, but the tears are running down my cheek.
SPEAKER_00So you grew up a hunter, but I did. You don't seem a hunter to me. No. You don't seem like a guy that's just gonna go out and hunt for the sake of putting it on your wall.
SPEAKER_01No, I I I'm not that I'm not into that. Like I enjoyed it. I mean, growing up, it was definitely time spent with dad and my older brother and my uncle Eldon. I mean, we did a lot of hunting together, yeah. And a lot of fun stories, but for me it was more about kind of the experience. When somebody harvested something, yes, did it kind of leave a pit in your stomach? Did you not like it? I didn't love it, but not it was so commonplace though for me. Right. You know what I mean? But if I'm being super honest, when I take a shot at a deer, if I missed it, I was like, Yeah. Did you ever get one? Oh yeah, oh yeah. I want a big buck contest, buddy, buddy. Really? Yeah, I want a 22, a Ruger 1022. Was he delicious? He was delicious. I'm not gonna lie. Again, that chili slice.
SPEAKER_00I just gosh, I I mean you I can't fathom it. I can't fathom the whole idea of thinking, I'm gonna sneak up on this thing and I'm gonna shoot it. And then I'm gonna take hours upon hours to quarter it, is what I think they call it. Yeah, I think you're right, and then haul it out of there. The whole thing does not seem enjoyable to me at all. I have a buddy, Ryan Dunkley. He used to go, he and his dad used to get up at crazy early in the morning and it was freezing. Did you know we used to get out of school for the deer hunt?
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, for sure. That was that was fall break.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, you were out of school probably to deer hunt every day if you wanted to. But we used to get the deer hunt off. Everybody would get out of school and head for the hills. Well, not me, but no. Dunkley and his family, they used to get up at like early in my head, I think four or five in the morning. Oh, freezing. Yeah, count me out and hike and hike, and they used to ride their motorcycles and stuff, and they'd get up there and he'd come home. And I specifically remember one time him coming home, and I'm like, Well, how was it? He goes, Didn't even see anything. Wait a second, you got up at 5 a.m., which you know me. So, anyways, he goes up and they don't even see anything. And I'm like, Well, that doesn't seem wise at all. Well, one time I came down to their house, happened to go into the garage to go in their back door, and there is this deer hanging from the rafters in their garage.
SPEAKER_01You gotta process it.
SPEAKER_00That's disgusting. I mean when you're not expecting to see that and you walk in and all of a sudden there's a deer dead hanging from the rafters. When you say process it, is it drain the blood?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, Dave, like when you let's just take this down a little step. You go to Macy's and you see a not in the garage. They're not doing it in the garage.
SPEAKER_00That's why you would have a butcher. You go and you say, hey guy, what is uh what do you think the good cut of meat is here that I can throw on the grill? And he'll tell you. But you don't go into his backyard or into his garage and have him cut it out for you right there. Touche, my friend, touche. I don't know man.
SPEAKER_01Because you're right, because that you know you take the animal on a mountain and then you go and you uh, you know, you gotta if you don't that's where the work starts. That's where the work starts because you gotta clean it out. I mean you clean it out, buddy. It's disgusting. It is it's not pleasant. I didn't I didn't really like that part.
SPEAKER_00I just can't imagine.
SPEAKER_01And then you hang it up in a garage and then you skin it, and then and then you let it age a little bit, you know.
SPEAKER_00Clarice is something like that. You skin it and all that stuff, and uh you name it Clarice. And I don't know. I just think the whole thing, you talk to guys that are big time hunters, and we've got a few on our neighborhood, yeah. That they just want something for the wall, and I don't that that's something that I can't even comprehend.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Here's the thoughts say thinking about um hunting elk, majestic creatures, majestic. I mean, I can even understand the pursuit to be able to see something like that and then snap some Polaroids. Yes, you know, but these are guys, and we're gonna have to have one of them on our podcast one of these days to help me understand the game. Yeah. But they spray themselves with female elk urine, I think is what it is, to entice the male elk who are in the rut. Okay, and for anybody who doesn't know what the rut is, you should know what the rut is.
SPEAKER_01You should just like Google that.
SPEAKER_00Be careful when you're doing it just on the images. So put yourself in that male elk's shoes. Yeah. You're a single elk. You know, you're you're just you're looking for love in all the wrong places. And and you start, there's a smell coming, and it's perfume to you. You're like, and then they're doing calls. They're like, oh, I think that's what it is. But in but realistically, what it is is hey, I'm over here, I smell really nice. And I can tell you are really in the rut for lack of a better term. Come over here. If you like what you're smelling, there's more. Yeah, come over here. Well, any hot-blooded single elk is gonna wander over there. Any self-respecting self-respecting single elk is gonna, well, okay. Sure, why not? I'm feeling it. I'm in the rut. You wander over. Next thing you know, somebody in orange jumps out and pumps you full of five bullets. The whole thing seemed wrong.
SPEAKER_01Okay. It's cheating. It is a it is a little cheating. I take Umbridge with a little bit of scenario. I I mean, I've heard the stories, but that's not how I hunt or used to hunt. I'm not a hunter. I'm not gonna spray myself with female elk.
SPEAKER_00Are there any decoys in your world when it comes to hunting? No, like when you're laying a bunch of ducks out on a pond to call, you know, duck dynasty type stuff. Yeah, sure. Hey, you see a but you're a single duck. Yeah, I know. And you see a whole gaggle of geese that are all female, your chances are good. Yeah, you're your chances are all right. And you're feeling good. You're feeling good as the as the only male duck on the pond. Absolutely. And these decoys are all the hottest geese. Why would you not show up?
SPEAKER_01And and no offense, I mean, because did you say Ryan Dunkley?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I mean, I know of Ryan. I don't want to criticize him, but like, I mean, he didn't see a thing. I mean, obviously he wasn't a very good hunter. Well, like maybe it was the scouting trip. My hunting experience was this. My dad would drop me off, and then he'd say to me, Jason, get walking. Now I don't want you to what he's like, I'm gonna be down the road like 700 miles where I can see everything, but I need you to walk from where I drop you to the pickup point, but not in a straight line. I'm gonna have you zigzag this entire mountain. You're you're flushing them out. Brushing them out, brushing them out, brushing them out. You're the dog. I'm the dog, and I yeah, and I'm and I'm hunting them, right? Like, I'm not covering myself with enticements that would drive any male elk. Some frankincense. Exactly. I'm not doing that. Like, they're smelling me coming and they're running. But I mean, it's a little bit of a trick because they're running from me, but they're running right into harms right into my dad.
SPEAKER_00Boom! Yeah, well, it's I mean, you're smarter than the elk. Well, yeah, I I I guess. I think this: if you're gonna hunt, you can't have a scope. In fact, you can't even have a gun.
SPEAKER_01Oh, come on.
SPEAKER_00You gotta you gotta fashion your own bow and arrow or something, or chase it down, punch it in the face until you can harvest it.
SPEAKER_01Until into submission.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that seems fair. If you're gonna hunt, you gotta go mono onono with this bear on his hind legs. You can't bring it in with a truckload of quinkies, which happens. Did you know that?
SPEAKER_01I that seems like irresponsible.
SPEAKER_00They buy they buy expired hostess items, put them in the back of a truck, get in a seat that's up in the trees, and just sit and wait. Who is this then?
SPEAKER_01I've never heard of you.
SPEAKER_00I know I told you I was I wanted to name names. I'm not naming names on this one. Okay, but that's not an abnormal thing. I've talked to multiple people that the idea is to entice these bears in. Yeah. Now, Jason, you and I both know I enjoy a Twinkie. Oh, yeah. A cupcake as much as the next guy. I'm walking around in the wilderness and I get a waft of some uh baked goods. Yes, I'm probably gonna make my way that way. Oh, what do you got? A whole truckload big out there. Whoa, hey, hey, I don't want any trouble.
SPEAKER_01Hey, I don't want any trouble, guy up in the trees ready to shoot me because all I wanted was a Twinkie or a ding-dong. And let's be honest, I don't think there's ever even the opportunity for the bear or the elk or whatever in this scenario to say, hey, hey, hey, that bear snout is like deep in to the Twinkies, yeah, and he's getting shot in the back over a matter of eighty dollars.
SPEAKER_00That's great. Hey, Back to the Future 3 is probably the best one.
SPEAKER_01The best movie. You know, we're gonna actually dedicate an episode to just maybe our favorite movie reviews.
SPEAKER_00For sure. Um I grew up on some Fletch and Fletch lives, all the Back to the Futures. We really need to get into a lot of that stuff. We do. Hey, a lot a lot can be said about hunting, and probably we'll get into other things down the road. But time is up for this podcast, folks. We hope you join us on our next one. Well, that was our third or fourth, Jace. This is number four. Well, congratulations on number four.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you look you look great. Thank you. And if you're gonna do hunting, I suggest just head down to Macy's or Smith's Marketplace, whatever you're gonna do. Chew the fat with the butcher. Exactly. Thanks again, folks, for listening to another episode of the Small Towns Podcast.
SPEAKER_00We're pretty sure we've changed your life for the better. If not, well, we'll try again next time.