Speaker 1: All right. Here on Gun Talk Hunt, we're talking with
Speaker 1: Greg Ray of Outdoor Solutions and there's a poem about
Speaker 1: a squirrel and a kum quat. Hey, I'm kJ, dedicated
Speaker 1: lifelong hunter here. If you've got an interest in all
Speaker 1: things hunting, you're in the right spot. Whether chasing quill
Speaker 1: across the plains of Oklahoma, we're in pursuit of belk
Speaker 1: in the back country of British Columbia, you'll always find
Speaker 1: me on the hunt. All right, Welcome in, all you
Speaker 1: gun talk hunters. I am your host, kJ, and I'm
Speaker 1: not wearing a flat brom hat today, so that's good
Speaker 1: for most of the yeers out there, because apparently people
Speaker 1: hate that and I don't know why. It's just it's
Speaker 1: been my thing forever. But today I'm rocking the old
Speaker 1: gun talk hat. So today we're going to you know what,
Speaker 1: I probably better do my sponsors of this show, this
Speaker 1: wonderful show justice and let you all know that we
Speaker 1: are brought to you by Ruger and Range. All right,
Speaker 1: so our guest today, and I'm gonna mix it up
Speaker 1: a little bit because why not. And we have we
Speaker 1: have allowed AI to write a short poem about Greg
Speaker 1: Ray and outdoor solutions. So I asked our producer Paul
Speaker 1: to come up with the most random thing he could
Speaker 1: think of, and he came up with kumquat. So I
Speaker 1: have to work that into a poem. All right, Here's
Speaker 1: an ode to Greg Ray and outdoor solutions. In the
Speaker 1: woods where legends roam, Greg Ray built his outdoors home,
Speaker 1: a guide, a master, a share of skill with outdoor solutions.
Speaker 1: He climbs every hill amid the pines where shadows curl
Speaker 1: appeared a feisty little squirrel with a kumquat held tight
Speaker 1: in his tiny claws. It stopped Greg's trek with nature's laws.
Speaker 1: That squirrel chattered, bold and spry, Greg Ray, Your aim
Speaker 1: makes arrows fly, your rifles rain, your hunter thrive. But
Speaker 1: can you match my squirrely drive with a grin? Greg
Speaker 1: tipped his hat, little one, let's see about that. He
Speaker 1: raised the scope. The world went still, precision unmatched, showcasing
Speaker 1: his skill the cum quat sword. The squirrel leapt high.
Speaker 1: Outdoor solutions watched under the sky. Your aim supreme, the
Speaker 1: squirrel declared, Greg Ray. No match could be compared, and
Speaker 1: so the woods sang songs of lore of Greg Gray's
Speaker 1: ventures and hunts galore with a squirrel as his witness
Speaker 1: a cum quot in play, the legend grew stronger of
Speaker 1: mighty Greg Ray. Can you not love a I thank
Speaker 1: you Ai? That is like the best introductions from Greg
Speaker 1: or Greg Gray of Outdoor Solutions, Welcome in.
Speaker 2: Brother, awesome. Of all the podcasts I've done, this is
Speaker 2: the best intro ever.
Speaker 1: I was sitting here and I was having my computer up,
Speaker 1: and I was like, man, I bet AI could write
Speaker 1: one heck of a description of Greg Gray, because you've
Speaker 1: really done it all. Man, I love it. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I came up with squirrel and I had Paul, our producer,
Speaker 1: come up with kumquat. I said. I told him, I
Speaker 1: was like, dude, what is the most random thing off
Speaker 1: the top of your head you could come up with
Speaker 1: right now? He wanted more context, but I wouldn't let
Speaker 1: him have it, and he came up with kumquat. I
Speaker 1: was pretty impressive.
Speaker 2: I've never thought about my hunting career being defined by
Speaker 2: a squirrel and a kum quat. I know that was
Speaker 2: not on the Bingo card.
Speaker 1: It's not on the Bingo card, but it's there now,
Speaker 1: so well.
Speaker 2: It was very very good.
Speaker 1: Welcome in man. So tell what have you been doing.
Speaker 1: I know show season is really kind of kind of
Speaker 1: tapering down, but your busy season is just now cranking up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. So we've uh trade show season still going on.
Speaker 2: We leave Monday the head to Utah Salt Lake City
Speaker 2: for Western Expo, so we will be there for that one.
Speaker 2: We've actually up to our trade show game a little bit.
Speaker 2: We're doing one in April, two in August, and I
Speaker 2: think I think there's another one in there in there
Speaker 2: as well. But yeah, busy season is raping up. So
Speaker 2: March we will kick off with a from Field to
Speaker 2: Table event in Texas, followed by two or three long
Speaker 2: range classes, and then it just keeps going through actually
Speaker 2: even the summertime. Usually we kind of get the summertime off,
Speaker 2: but we even have events going on in August this year.
Speaker 1: Really where they are they held somewhere cool?
Speaker 2: They are Gellette, Wyoming.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. Yeah, man, I've been there. I've been
Speaker 1: there in August and it's brutal in Gellette.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, well different kind of brutal than Talls, Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: That is true. That is true. Well, give us a
Speaker 1: background of outdoor Solutions because when you kind of first
Speaker 1: started this, it didn't It seems like it has evolved
Speaker 1: so much and it has grown so much that it's
Speaker 1: hard to keep up with everything that you guys do
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you have to. So you and I go way back.
Speaker 2: Were back to the Blue Hair and Days. Yes, my
Speaker 2: coasters back there, which is a pr agency that helped
Speaker 2: keep us in front of people that we needed to
Speaker 2: be in front of to promote the business. And that's
Speaker 2: going I mean, that's going way back. We started in
Speaker 2: October two thousand and four, so last year we had
Speaker 2: our twentieth anniversary of being in business, and back then
Speaker 2: we were primarily a booking service. So we've got a
Speaker 2: network of outfitters that we've worked with for pretty much
Speaker 2: since the beginning. North America Big Game is really our
Speaker 2: bread and butter, but we do a little bit of everything.
Speaker 2: We do some fishing, we do some stuff out of
Speaker 2: the country, but we would just match people up with
Speaker 2: outfitters based off of their criteria and we still do that.
Speaker 2: That's still a large part of our business so well,
Speaker 2: book hunts and fishing trips for clients they get our
Speaker 2: website or a lot of repeat business too, and they
Speaker 2: want to, you know, go on an elk hunt. Lindsay,
Speaker 2: our hunt manager, ask them the right questions and then
Speaker 2: get them matched up with the appropriate outfit and then
Speaker 2: we take care of everything from there with their tags
Speaker 2: and their license and their gear and getting there all
Speaker 2: that fun stuff. But where we started evolving and it
Speaker 2: was getting really close, around the time we started working
Speaker 2: with Your with with You and Blue Heron back in
Speaker 2: the day, was around twenty ten twenty eleven. We started
Speaker 2: our long range shooting schools and we started those in Utah.
Speaker 2: Those started out of a necessity because we would book
Speaker 2: people on our hunts, and we would book people from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois. Well,
Speaker 2: they would want to go out west and they would
Speaker 2: want to hunt antelope and mule deer and elk, and
Speaker 2: some of the states don't even have rifle seasons. They've
Speaker 2: got muzzleloader and slug gun, and so we would prep
Speaker 2: them for their hunts and tell them say, hey, man,
Speaker 2: you've got to be pared to shoot out to four
Speaker 2: hundred yards and the well, I'm shoot a slug gun.
Speaker 2: We don't do that here. Fifty yards is an average
Speaker 2: shot for what we do, so we saw a need there. Actually,
Speaker 2: I'll tell you a quick story, and this is one
Speaker 2: of my favorite ones. I had a guy I was
Speaker 2: actually prepping him for a New Mexico an a La
Speaker 2: hunt and told him he was from Pennsylvania. I said, hey,
Speaker 2: you need to be prepared to shoot out to four
Speaker 2: hundred yards and he's like, hell, letting the bullets went
Speaker 2: that far? So he was he was joking, of course,
Speaker 2: But anyway, that was a very long time ago. It
Speaker 2: just kind of stuck with me. That's just kind of
Speaker 2: evolved over the years. And the the the long range
Speaker 2: schools themselves are set up specifically four hunters. We're getting
Speaker 2: them ready for a hunt. It's a three night, two
Speaker 2: and a half day experience. So they're they're stuck with
Speaker 2: us and we immerse them in in long range shooting
Speaker 2: for three days.
Speaker 1: Well, and that's a yeah. I mean, that's a growing
Speaker 1: thing right now, is the long range precisions shooting. Man
Speaker 1: any time now. I used to be that guy who
Speaker 1: was like, man, I would never take a shot over X,
Speaker 1: like whether it was you know, it depends on what
Speaker 1: I was doing. It would change. Like I had never
Speaker 1: had a set like distance at which I was like, I,
Speaker 1: in any condition, I would take a four hundred yard shot.
Speaker 1: It always kind of changes given your conditions, how much
Speaker 1: you've been shooting at those distances. But anymore, man, four
Speaker 1: hundred yards is almost a standard in which you need
Speaker 1: to hold yourself to and you know, used to you'd
Speaker 1: be like, well, if I could shoot a pipeplate, you know,
Speaker 1: at one hundred yards off hand, I'm good for a ways. Eh,
Speaker 1: not the same anymore, Like everything's changed, It's.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's a lot different. So our Level one
Speaker 2: class that's at two one thousand yards, that's on steel,
Speaker 2: And we even say in our promotional pieces, we're not
Speaker 2: advocating a shooting at animals out of thousand yards. There's
Speaker 2: people that could do it, and they could probably do
Speaker 2: it every time. That's not what we advocate. What we're
Speaker 2: teaching people is that you learn to shoot at that
Speaker 2: steal target at one thousand yards, which is just a
Speaker 2: small part of the class. Whenever that three hundred yard,
Speaker 2: four hundred yard, five hundred yard shot presents itself, you're
Speaker 2: gonna be a lot more educated, You're gonna know what
Speaker 2: your capabilities are, You're gonna be more ethical hunter and
Speaker 2: we're gonna have less wounded animals. And that's that's what
Speaker 2: the class is for. And it's not just coming sitting
Speaker 2: on a bench and pulling the trigger kind of what
Speaker 2: you just said. You know, we used to the pipe leek,
Speaker 2: the paper plate was always kind of the standard. You
Speaker 2: hit it, hey, I'm good to go. It's it's it's
Speaker 2: completely different now and so that's we work on a
Speaker 2: lot of things. Of course, all your basics. We actually
Speaker 2: have a course. We did an ebook with a video
Speaker 2: series that is basically shooting one on one uh, and
Speaker 2: it just covers all things how to do a proper
Speaker 2: cheek well, trigger squeeze, I relieve, breathing, trigger squeeze, just
Speaker 2: you know, just a lot of a lot of the
Speaker 2: basic stuff. So we spend a lot of time on
Speaker 2: that because if you don't have that foundation, then you know,
Speaker 2: it's kind of like building on the House of cards analogy.
Speaker 1: Man, I mean shooting on a I mean shooting instinctively
Speaker 1: and like more guy, we're seeing more shooters because we
Speaker 1: do a range ready here and it's way different than
Speaker 1: what you guys are doing. But what is interesting is
Speaker 1: we hear that all the time, Well, I shoot like
Speaker 1: I'm a shooter. I you know, my granddad taught me
Speaker 1: how to shoot, and I've been shooting my entire life. Well, man,
Speaker 1: it just things have shifted so much where precision really matters.
Speaker 1: It matters more now than anything, and that's with gear.
Speaker 1: But man, it all starts you're right with those fundamentals.
Speaker 1: And I had a guy sit there and try to
Speaker 1: convince me that it's OK as long as the gear
Speaker 1: is good. Your fundles fundamentals aren't all that don't need
Speaker 1: to be all that precise. And man, I went back
Speaker 1: to him and said, look, I've taken multiple long range classes,
Speaker 1: multiple and they all teach like all most the same thing,
Speaker 1: but it's all basics. It's all fundamentals. Where you sit
Speaker 1: there and you go they you know, they'll they're marketing
Speaker 1: will say, oh, you're going to learn all this, but
Speaker 1: it's all fundamentals like if you get master those, you're good.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So we that's that's a great point. So with
Speaker 2: what we do when we go out on hunts and
Speaker 2: wearing camps with our clients, that and then that's not
Speaker 2: all the time. We don't actually go on everyone when
Speaker 2: we send people out, but we also hear from our outfitters,
Speaker 2: and you'll ge guys that will show up with a
Speaker 2: eight thousand, nine thousand dollars gun Works, which we use.
Speaker 2: We use Gunworks in our classes as one of the manufacturers.
Speaker 2: But they think that's all they need. They don't have
Speaker 2: to spend the other end. I got a nine thousand
Speaker 2: dollars gun, I don't know, I don't put point it
Speaker 2: in point shoot and they want more animals than anybody
Speaker 2: else because they don't spend the time working on what
Speaker 2: you just said.
Speaker 1: I will say this, I used to be that guy.
Speaker 1: I used to be the guy who said, you know what,
Speaker 1: if it's more expensive, it's got to be a better shooter.
Speaker 1: And it never helped. I always encountered the same problems.
Speaker 1: It wasn't until I started taking classes, like an Outdoor
Speaker 1: Solutions class that I started to realize it's not it's
Speaker 1: not the arrows, it's it's it's the Indian like it's
Speaker 1: that's what makes it work. That's that's all that it is.
Speaker 2: Yep, yeah, no, no, And that's that is a prime
Speaker 2: example of why our classes are three nights, two and
Speaker 2: a half days. Yeah too, because you're not going to
Speaker 2: pick it up and just in just one day.
Speaker 1: I wish your class was a week long because the
Speaker 1: amount of information that you guys are dumping onto folks
Speaker 1: is the amount of information I wouldn't say dump. The
Speaker 1: amount of information that you are providing and the professionalism
Speaker 1: that you're providing. You could really learn even more in
Speaker 1: a like five day class, but the amount that you're
Speaker 1: going to walk away going, oh my gosh, there's so
Speaker 1: much more out there. That's how I feel there is.
Speaker 2: So here's one things that we do to combat that
Speaker 2: because we hear that a lot. So we do a
Speaker 2: couple of things. One, we produce a ton of videos
Speaker 2: and we put them on our YouTube channel, and we
Speaker 2: actually send them like that ebook that I was just
Speaker 2: talking about, We actually send that to them before they
Speaker 2: go to the class, so they're kind of pre prepped,
Speaker 2: but then they can use that as a follow up
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Then the other thing that we do that we're really
Speaker 2: really good at. It cost us a lot. Those long
Speaker 2: range classes are not inexpensive, but we have by far
Speaker 2: the best instructor to student ratio out there. So I
Speaker 2: don't have one instructor taking care of ten.
Speaker 1: Guys man, so are huge.
Speaker 2: Our MAX class is on our level one is fourteen students,
Speaker 2: so it means that there's seven on the line at
Speaker 2: one time. For those seven, I'm going to have a
Speaker 2: minimum of three instructors that are on the line. A
Speaker 2: lot of times I'll have four, so it's a two
Speaker 2: to one or even better ratio because you're gonna get
Speaker 2: we get a lot of people that are are brand
Speaker 2: new to this, like they show if they don't they
Speaker 2: bought their first rifle yet. And that's that's why we
Speaker 2: provide everything. So we provide the firearms, the optics, the ammo,
Speaker 2: and it's all top quality stuff. I mean just you know,
Speaker 2: some of the best of the best of the manufacturers.
Speaker 2: Doesn't mean it's all super expensive like the gun Works
Speaker 2: I was talking about it. You know, we have production
Speaker 2: line stuff too, you know, from like Browning, Remington, Bonelli.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Uh. And then then you go on up into some
Speaker 2: of the others the Fierce's Christians and Arms, gunn Works
Speaker 2: all tearra uh seekins, you know, so there's there's a
Speaker 2: lot of them there. And then the optics, we're just
Speaker 2: using factory ammunition. We partner with Federal, so we've got
Speaker 2: it's not handloads or anything. Just to show that you
Speaker 2: can just go buy something right off right from your
Speaker 2: favorite uh sporting good store, buy a box of AMMO,
Speaker 2: and do and replicate what we're doing on the range.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you think about it like that's the
Speaker 1: best way to to do it is to do it
Speaker 1: almost as a ground up because show them what it
Speaker 1: is capable. But it sounds like you guys are providing
Speaker 1: them enough information to hang themselves. Because if you wave
Speaker 1: a gun works rifle in front of me, I'm probably
Speaker 1: gonna go, wow, I'm gonna have to like spend some money.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to get rid of some stuff because
Speaker 1: I want that gun because it is a if your
Speaker 1: fundamentals are right, and this could be true along along
Speaker 1: line of guns. You were talking about Browning, you were
Speaker 1: talking about Seekins, you were talking about Savage. All of
Speaker 1: those guns they have the capabilities to do the same
Speaker 1: thing that high level gun does.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it just it just a matter of bells
Speaker 2: and whistles and what you like. And you know, if
Speaker 2: you shoot something enough, and this is anything against a
Speaker 2: production model, everybody's got different budgets and uh, you know,
Speaker 2: so if you take that, like you mentioned Savage, you
Speaker 2: take that savagey, it's gonna do the same thing as
Speaker 2: gun works. It may not, you know, it's not gonna
Speaker 2: be exactly, but it's gonna it's going to kill animals. Uh.
Speaker 2: And if you shoot it a lot, it may not
Speaker 2: be as comfortable, uh and may not last as long
Speaker 2: as there's you know, there's some different things like that,
Speaker 2: but at some point there is a diminishing point of return.
Speaker 2: At some point. You know, is that extra three thousand
Speaker 2: dollars that you just spent going to make me, you know,
Speaker 2: that much better? Probably not, but it's comfort. It's got
Speaker 2: some comfort features.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that always yeah.
Speaker 2: Ney different than you know. I drive an F two
Speaker 2: fifty and I get from point A to point B.
Speaker 2: But you know I could.
Speaker 1: Also could you do it in a in a little
Speaker 1: uh smart car? Yeah? You could hard to halt helk.
Speaker 2: In a smart car.
Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah, I mean I would love to see that.
Speaker 1: I bet there is a meme out there with that
Speaker 1: on it, even a YouTube video that probably is all right, hey,
Speaker 1: we're gonna we're gonna take a real quick break here.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: And when we jump back in. Man, I want to
Speaker 1: hear some new shooter stories because those always entertain me, uh,
Speaker 1: because I used to be one. All right, All that
Speaker 1: with Grey Gray from Outdoor Solutions right after this. All right,
Speaker 1: we're talking about one of my absolute favorite hunting suppressors.
Speaker 1: This one is developed for that back country guy. That's
Speaker 1: the banished back country. So if you want to be
Speaker 1: stealthy in the field, you gotta go lighter, you gotta
Speaker 1: go smaller. We understand that that's where the banished back
Speaker 1: country really steps up. Designed for the ultimate portability and
Speaker 1: maximum noise reduction, the Banished Backcountry suppressor ensures you stay
Speaker 1: quiet and undetected in the wilds. Silencer Central makes it
Speaker 1: effortless to own because it delivers right to your doorstep.
Speaker 1: This is the beauty of what Silencer Central does. They
Speaker 1: contact you. You contact them like you get it bought,
Speaker 1: You get everything taken care of, and it one day
Speaker 1: you get a little email that says you know what
Speaker 1: your suppressor is on the way, and that's when it
Speaker 1: shows up on your door and you can rest easy
Speaker 1: knowing that you will be quiet in the field, hunt
Speaker 1: smarter and quieter with a banished backcountry Visit silencercentral dot
Speaker 1: com to start your journey. It's time to prepare for
Speaker 1: the shot of a lifetime. Whether you're a season hunter
Speaker 1: or new the sport preparation is key. I preach it
Speaker 1: all the time. At range Ready Studios, we offer the
Speaker 1: training you need to make that shot of a lifetime.
Speaker 1: Chris Serino is on staff and he has a host
Speaker 1: of instructors on hand to provide personalized trainings in state
Speaker 1: of the facilities and practical exercises that build your confidence
Speaker 1: and skills. From precision marksmanship to quick target acquisition. We've
Speaker 1: got you covered. Don't leave your success to chance. Visit
Speaker 1: range Ready Studio Unmatched precision with the Ruger American Gen
Speaker 1: two in the heart of the wilderness, precision matters. Ruger
Speaker 1: introduces the American Gen two rifle, designed for hunters who
Speaker 1: demand excellence. The roof your American Gen two offers enhanced accuracy,
Speaker 1: smooth bolt action, and durable design. It's the perfect companion
Speaker 1: for any hunting expedition, providing reliable performance every time you
Speaker 1: pull the trigger. Trust the Ruger American Gen Too to
Speaker 1: deliver win it counts. Visit Ruger dot com to learn
Speaker 1: more and find you your next hunting rifle. All right,
Speaker 1: we're back with Greg Ray of Outdoor Shooting or outdoor Solutions,
Speaker 1: not outdoor shooting solutions. Outdoor Solutions, and you can find
Speaker 1: out more at Outdoor Solutions corp dot com to learn
Speaker 1: how to become a better shooter, learn how to book
Speaker 1: your next hunt. They do a little of everything, but
Speaker 1: I really want to focus on, like, let's talk about
Speaker 1: some stories that you've had from the field. Let's start
Speaker 1: with the success stories, because I think that's where we
Speaker 1: really kind of want to like pick up and show
Speaker 1: some of those success stories that you guys have had
Speaker 1: over the years. Are there any that's stand out?
Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, yeah, one one in one in particular before
Speaker 2: I start in that story. So our our reward with
Speaker 2: what we do is is somebody that comes in that's
Speaker 2: like brand new to shooting, not even just necessarily long range,
Speaker 2: but they they come in and like you're showing them
Speaker 2: which end that you need to point down range and
Speaker 2: how to load it, and then like you're going you're
Speaker 2: going through the fundamentals, and they are so intimidated whenever
Speaker 2: they start, and they're visibly nervous. But all all of
Speaker 2: our instructors, everybody on the team is just so cool,
Speaker 2: even though they've got all the cool pedigrees you know,
Speaker 2: we've got the Navy Seals and the Green Berets and uh,
Speaker 2: you know, we've we've got all all the cool guys.
Speaker 2: But they know they're not in the military anymore. They're
Speaker 2: they they all have certain say they don't have egos.
Speaker 2: They all have egos, but they keep checked. But they're
Speaker 2: they're just super nice. They're just really cool guys and
Speaker 2: they love to we love to instruct. But at the
Speaker 2: end of at the end of day three, Uh, seeing
Speaker 2: the confidence in that new in that new shooter and
Speaker 2: you know they're in that thousand yard target or they're
Speaker 2: hitting targets from you know, different positions, Uh, that that
Speaker 2: they didn't even know existed, and uh, just seeing the
Speaker 2: confidences is huge. But one of my all time favorite
Speaker 2: stories is actually he just called me the other day
Speaker 2: and he came to class. It's probably been six years
Speaker 2: ago that he came to a class and he called
Speaker 2: and booked two hunts with us. He says, I want
Speaker 2: your absolute best elk count that you've got, and he
Speaker 2: booked something else to a New Zealand red Stack. So anyway,
Speaker 2: he books it and we send him the He lives
Speaker 2: in Texas and we emailing the paperwork and everything. Well,
Speaker 2: then he calls me. He's like, hey, uh, I want
Speaker 2: to get that payment to you. He says, I'm in
Speaker 2: Broken Arrow, which is where I live, Broken Air, Oklahoma.
Speaker 2: Can I bring you out your office? Well? We office
Speaker 2: from home, and I don't want people coming to my
Speaker 2: house and saying, how about how about I meet you
Speaker 2: at Best Pro It's right through it, And so he's
Speaker 2: like sure, uh, so wing that up. I pull up
Speaker 2: and I actually get it. I'm just sitting back to
Speaker 2: my tailgate and I see this guy walking across the
Speaker 2: parking lot, long, long hair, He's got motorcycle leathers on,
Speaker 2: he's got patches all over it, and as he's getting
Speaker 2: closer me, he's got like a bunch of ear rings
Speaker 2: in his ear and I'm like, yeah, this ain't my guy. Yeah.
Speaker 2: He walks up and he's like now what she was expecting? Hunh?
Speaker 2: And like him, he's like, yeah, well no, but hey,
Speaker 2: if you like to hunt, you're that's that's good with me.
Speaker 2: We visited for a little he I can't remember which
Speaker 2: he was like one of the big wigs in him,
Speaker 2: like a major motorcycle gang. It wasn't the Hell's Angels,
Speaker 2: but it was another one that was like along along
Speaker 2: those lines, you know. And anyway, he booked that hunt
Speaker 2: and then we started talking on the on the phone
Speaker 2: and I was like, dude, so you you really need
Speaker 2: to come to a long range school class because he
Speaker 2: just spent I forgot what it was, like fifteen grand.
Speaker 2: It was like, yeah at that time, the top of
Speaker 2: the outcomes that we had. And so he's like, oh, man,
Speaker 2: I just spent all this money. And he's like, hell,
Speaker 2: you know, what's what's another another three grand? So he
Speaker 2: comes to our class and I actually end up teaching
Speaker 2: him personally. Okay, and uh at this point he had
Speaker 2: gotten his haircut already. Uh most of the I either
Speaker 2: all of most of the ear rings were gone. Anyway,
Speaker 2: he told me, he's like yeah, He's like, man, I'm
Speaker 2: you know, it was definitely part of a you know,
Speaker 2: bad group of guys. Uh. I still like to rive,
Speaker 2: but he says, I need, you know, I need to
Speaker 2: get away from that stuff. And he was remember he
Speaker 2: was like like president of the chapter or something like that.
Speaker 1: So he turns to hunting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so he turns to hunting, and of course, in
Speaker 2: the back of my mind thinking how does how does
Speaker 2: I wonder how he got all this money motorcycle gang
Speaker 2: maybe maybe not legit. And so anyway, he's like, so, saus,
Speaker 2: I lost my wife just not too long ago, and
Speaker 2: he said literally in her hospital bed, he said, she
Speaker 2: handed me an envelope and he opened it and inside
Speaker 2: it was a insurance policy and she said, this money
Speaker 2: whenever I go is for you to do your dream hunt.
Speaker 2: That's all you can spend it on. You can't spend
Speaker 2: it on anything else. Her name was Laura, and I
Speaker 2: was like, dude, that's that's freaking amazing. So Laura passed away,
Speaker 2: and he has a necklace with a Kevin medallion thing
Speaker 2: on that has some of her ashes in it, and
Speaker 2: on that hunt he took her ashes.
Speaker 1: All that's amazing.
Speaker 2: And anyway, at about eight o'clock in the evening, this
Speaker 2: is a couple of months later, I got a phone
Speaker 2: call and it's Ken and he's like, dude, I did
Speaker 2: He's like out of breath and he's like, I did it.
Speaker 2: I did it. I dropped at five hundred and forty
Speaker 2: seven yards and then it rolled all the way down
Speaker 2: at the bottom. He's on the mountain. He had just
Speaker 2: shot it. That was his first phone call and he
Speaker 2: starts crying. I get teared up, and he's like, man,
Speaker 2: I god's man. I knew exactly what to do and
Speaker 2: I dropped it with one shot and he was just
Speaker 2: a static. Anyway, we used to touched over the years
Speaker 2: after that, and he literally just called me last week
Speaker 2: and I ain't talked to him. It's probably been seven
Speaker 2: eight months I've talked to him. But he's one that
Speaker 2: definitely stands out. And then there's other stories of people
Speaker 2: that just you know, they've made incredible shots, they've gotten
Speaker 2: awesome animals, and you know, a trip of lifetime kind
Speaker 2: of stuff. Yeah, Ken's story is definitely one. It's gonna
Speaker 2: be hard to top.
Speaker 1: See, I don't know, and I prep like this. I
Speaker 1: prep exactly. How Greg is telling you right now is
Speaker 1: if I'm going on a major hunt, I am going
Speaker 1: to go get tuned up by somebody, not myself. I'm
Speaker 1: having someone else watch me. And I think that's one
Speaker 1: of the reasons that I think adding on a shooting
Speaker 1: portion or a shooting training program like Outdoor Solutions has done,
Speaker 1: is pretty brilliant, because if you're going on that hunt
Speaker 1: of a lifetime, why the hell would you not get
Speaker 1: tuned up and be and be confident in the gear
Speaker 1: that you're shooting. I wouldn't. I don't understand that.
Speaker 2: We I'll tell you another a real short story. So
Speaker 2: we had another client that had been on They had
Speaker 2: just booked elk counts with us, and he had gone
Speaker 2: to the same place three years in a row, missed all.
Speaker 2: Actually I take them back, he missed two of the years.
Speaker 2: One year he didn't take the shot because he wasn't
Speaker 2: comfortable with it. It was and it wasn't like super far.
Speaker 2: It was like four hundred and something, but he just
Speaker 2: wasn't he wasn't comfortable with it. And so Lindsay, our
Speaker 2: big game manager, Tom, was like, you need to go
Speaker 2: to a long range class and get prepped. And finally
Speaker 2: the fourth year he did, he came to a class
Speaker 2: and again he got his stealth, you know. So uh yeah,
Speaker 2: And that's so. And that's one of the things that
Speaker 2: we do in the classes too, is we we teach.
Speaker 2: We we have you learn or practice like what the
Speaker 2: real word world scenario is going to be. It's not
Speaker 2: just sitting on a bench. So the first day is
Speaker 2: but then the second day, one of our properties we've
Speaker 2: got three miles of the cap Rock Canyon and we've
Speaker 2: got three D animal targets scattered all throughout the canyon,
Speaker 2: and so you're having a glass for them and find them.
Speaker 2: They have still vitals behind them. So whenever, whenever you connect,
Speaker 2: if you hit the vibles, you'll get that report back.
Speaker 2: If you just hit it in the backside or a
Speaker 2: leg or something, you're you're not but you're shooting off
Speaker 2: your shooting sticks, off your backpack, prone off of some
Speaker 2: deadfall or natural terrain. Just we just try to replicate
Speaker 2: hunting scenarios the best we can without live animals.
Speaker 1: So what's the what's the hardest thing for people to learn?
Speaker 1: You can't say wind, you can't say no, I knew
Speaker 1: that was what you're gonna say. That's still the hardest
Speaker 1: thing for me to get. Man. Yeah, aside from wind,
Speaker 1: we should phrase it like that.
Speaker 2: So I really think that the hardest thaying is is
Speaker 2: really for the experienced hunters. The new The new shooters
Speaker 2: coming in don't have any bad habits. So the hard
Speaker 2: thing is the experienced shooters coming in uh and and
Speaker 2: breaking their old habits. I've got a I've got a
Speaker 2: buddy Mike longtime hunt. He's been hunting longer than than
Speaker 2: I have. And he's he's a decent shot. He's a
Speaker 2: pretty good shot, but he's not as good as he
Speaker 2: thinks he is.
Speaker 1: And I hope, yeah, I hope.
Speaker 2: I hope he does too. But uh, And he was like, dude,
Speaker 2: he says, I'm doing something wrong. He's I don't know
Speaker 2: what it is. And we were going on a hunt together.
Speaker 2: He was actually bringing a group to Texas, and so
Speaker 2: we went to the range and I just set my
Speaker 2: camera actually I think I had my phone and a
Speaker 2: video d and all he was doing is getting behind
Speaker 2: the scope and we're I think we're only shooting a
Speaker 2: couple hundred yards boom, and he's looking up over the
Speaker 2: back of his scout. He's not following through at all.
Speaker 2: He's not staying in his gun boom, and he's popping
Speaker 2: up side. Just I just videoed it. He's like, so
Speaker 2: what do he thinks? And I just showed him the
Speaker 2: video and he was like he knew exactly what it was.
Speaker 2: He was like, I'm not following through it all. So
Speaker 2: he stayed down in this gun and he got back
Speaker 2: on track. And but we'll actually we've had instance, I've
Speaker 2: actually had a guy literally argue with me. And I'm
Speaker 2: not gonna know it all I've learned from our our instructors.
Speaker 2: They have forgotten more than I will ever know, but
Speaker 2: I've learned some. I've learned some stuff from these guys.
Speaker 2: I literally had one guy argue with me on our
Speaker 2: day two stuff at our Utah location. He's a real
Speaker 2: tall dude. I'm six six or so. He was a
Speaker 2: really big guy. And so we're shooting off of off
Speaker 2: of a tripod in a sitting position, and you know,
Speaker 2: he's big, and so he's doing this, He's crouching his
Speaker 2: neck way over to get to his wet sid. I
Speaker 2: was like, we need to raise your sticks up. No,
Speaker 2: I need to lower it down. I'm like, now you don't.
Speaker 2: He's like yeah, I know. He's like I got this.
Speaker 2: I got this. Yeah, and somewhat okay. Well, on the
Speaker 2: day too, we give them two shots at each target
Speaker 2: because at an animal, most of time you're get more
Speaker 2: than two shots unless they're really dumb animal, you know.
Speaker 2: So he has two shots and I just took a
Speaker 2: shoot and said okay, and you go into the next station.
Speaker 2: And he went on, did his thing. Well, then we
Speaker 2: you know, we moved to different stations, and at the
Speaker 2: next station he came up. He's like, you're right. He's like,
Speaker 2: I'm sorry about that. Yeah, he's I mean, don't I
Speaker 2: don't know. I don't know what I was second. All
Speaker 2: it was was just building this position up.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, that's one of the hardest things for people
Speaker 1: to get used to. I think too, is building a
Speaker 1: building a solid position. Especially you know you're talking about
Speaker 1: longer range shooting. You'll have a little bit of time.
Speaker 1: You know, those those elk aren't right on top of you, mule,
Speaker 1: there aren't right on top of you, So you know
Speaker 1: your time to build a solid shooting position using everything
Speaker 1: you have within your reach and grasp and your pack
Speaker 1: and everything else you're hunting buddy, like you can use
Speaker 1: your guide like man, building that position is one of
Speaker 1: the most detrimental things that you can do before the shot.
Speaker 2: Yep. But yeah, So to answer your question, it's it's
Speaker 2: the guys with that've been done it for a while
Speaker 2: to have some habits and getting them getting them out
Speaker 2: of their habits is probably probably the hardest thing.
Speaker 1: It's hard to break those habits that you've for so long.
Speaker 1: That's one of the I'm still dealing with some issues.
Speaker 1: I mean, and you know, when you're my dad, Like
Speaker 1: when I was growing up, Like the first pistol I
Speaker 1: ever shot was a forty five ATV like and I
Speaker 1: was probably like eleven years old. I had no business,
Speaker 1: you know, at my size, Like, I had no business
Speaker 1: doing that.
Speaker 2: And that's too much gun for a little guy.
Speaker 1: Way too much gunyah. And that's why, man, like when
Speaker 1: I take my kids out or something like, I want
Speaker 1: to instill confidence. I want them to come back out
Speaker 1: and do it. So I'll start them slow and I'll
Speaker 1: get them into it. And man, I have so many
Speaker 1: bad habits that I need to get out of. But
Speaker 1: but every training class is an opportunity for me to
Speaker 1: get those out of my head.
Speaker 2: Well, and you can, and as many classes as you've
Speaker 2: been to, I know you can attest to this. So uh,
Speaker 2: you know a lot of them, like you said, teach
Speaker 2: the same thing, but each instructor, like each one of
Speaker 2: our instructors different. You'll pick up a different tip from
Speaker 2: a different instructor. Even going to going back to the
Speaker 2: same class that maybe you did the year before. You right,
Speaker 2: some some little some little something. So the one thing
Speaker 2: that I think, uh, that's probably seems to be the
Speaker 2: hardest for most people is the grip that we teaches
Speaker 2: most of especially if you're shooting a big you know,
Speaker 2: three hundred win mag or twenty that grill a grip point. Man,
Speaker 2: you're hanging hanging on to it. So get them to relax,
Speaker 2: and we teach them to roll that thumb over onto
Speaker 2: the side and point it down with the barrel. And
Speaker 2: it's awkward, you know, it feels up there.
Speaker 1: It's great because things going to kick. Yes, yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't want to eat me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So we teach them how to manage recoil with that.
Speaker 2: But that's probably the biggest one, and some people it
Speaker 2: just won't work for you know what. We're not trying
Speaker 2: to make them shoot exactly how I shoot, or how
Speaker 2: steam shoots or that kind of thing. You know, if
Speaker 2: wrapping that thumb over works for them, then it works
Speaker 2: for him, that's that's fine. Would show them another option,
Speaker 2: but that seems to be the most uncomfortable form.
Speaker 1: So let's say someone's listening to this, and what if
Speaker 1: they don't book a hunt with you? Can they still
Speaker 1: take the outrange the long range courses.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we have we have
Speaker 2: with people come that aren't even hunters, they just they
Speaker 2: just love to shoot and they want to learn. They
Speaker 2: want to learn some new new techniques. We have people
Speaker 2: that are just curious, you know, just uh man, I
Speaker 2: want to shoot out to a thousand yards or our
Speaker 2: next level class we shoot out to a mile you know.
Speaker 2: So uh yeah, absolutely, they can just come and learn
Speaker 2: for the for the fun of it, or if they
Speaker 2: have their own hunt booked, which we get a lot
Speaker 2: and we get a lot of di y people. You know,
Speaker 2: they're they're going somewhere and doing a hunt on their own,
Speaker 2: and they just want to be prepared. And that's one
Speaker 2: of the things that we do. Also, even if it's
Speaker 2: not booked with us, we'll ask them like, hey, are
Speaker 2: you prepping for a specific hunt, because we may give
Speaker 2: them some different tips if they're hunting for mule deer
Speaker 2: in some steep angled high country versus that they're hunting
Speaker 2: for an antelope and a sagebrush flat.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's some different different shooting positions.
Speaker 1: And I can't don't go to his website. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: just go ahead and tell you that, right now, don't
Speaker 1: go to Outdoor Solutions Court dot com. Don't go if
Speaker 1: you like hunting Big Game, You're gonna see everything from
Speaker 1: African Plans, game, alligator, antelope, aw Dad, black bear, cariboo.
Speaker 1: I mean, and like from A to Z. You've got
Speaker 1: everything in there, and you've got wolf hunts Uriel like,
Speaker 1: you've got everything, man like. And I'm looking at this
Speaker 1: going ooh, I want one of those. I still do
Speaker 1: that you do?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah?
Speaker 1: So hey do they invite you on the hunts? Like
Speaker 1: do you get to go on these hunts?
Speaker 2: Yeah? So that's that's what I was just gonna saying.
Speaker 2: The cool thing is about every outfit that we represent,
Speaker 2: either myself or Lindsay has been there. So we've been there,
Speaker 2: done that. So Lindsay has been with us. We started
Speaker 2: the company in two thousand and four, he's been with
Speaker 2: us since two thousand and six. He knows that side
Speaker 2: of that. He runs the whole side of the business.
Speaker 2: He knows it way better than I do. And he's
Speaker 2: been to a lot of them, and then I been
Speaker 2: to quite a few of them as well.
Speaker 1: So and it's I'm telling you, it's not only it's
Speaker 1: not only Big Game it's turkey, it's up when it's waterfowl. Like, man,
Speaker 1: you guys have got a lot of options. So so
Speaker 1: let's say there's an outfitter out there. Let's say there's
Speaker 1: an outfitter who listens to this channel. Thank you, by
Speaker 1: the way, there's probably one out there, But can they
Speaker 1: become part of your network? And how would they do that? Like?
Speaker 1: How how does that work?
Speaker 2: Yes? Yeah, absolutely, so we're actually looking for good, solid
Speaker 2: outfitters and so yeah, absolutely, get our a website, give
Speaker 2: our office a call and I will talk to you
Speaker 2: personally on the phone, or Lindsey will and find out
Speaker 2: if it's more than likely it is something we need.
Speaker 2: Inventory is a thing that we is an issue that
Speaker 2: we run into now because doing this for twenty years,
Speaker 2: our repeat business is really really high, Lindsay is customer
Speaker 2: services second to none, and so that our repeat business
Speaker 2: is extremely high. And yeah, so we're always looking for good,
Speaker 2: good outfitters. It takes a little bit to get them
Speaker 2: on boarded because unless it comes from a very solid referral,
Speaker 2: then uh, you know, we're we're going and paying them
Speaker 2: a visit before uh we start sending clients.
Speaker 1: There. Man, you guys got it all, I mean and
Speaker 1: you guys. So some of the training courses they've got
Speaker 1: coming up is Built to Hunt Summit in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: That's June fifth through eight in Preston, Idaho.
Speaker 2: That's a new one. That's pretty new.
Speaker 1: That was really fun.
Speaker 2: We this one, this one's going to be a blast.
Speaker 2: We've never done this one before. We partnered with Hunt
Speaker 2: and full on that one, which they've they've been around
Speaker 2: forever as well, and this is going to be an
Speaker 2: introduction to all things Western hunting. So our team starting
Speaker 2: from day one, and we talked about this year, we
Speaker 2: have a program called from Field to Table. We have
Speaker 2: three shots on our team and we can talk more
Speaker 2: than a minute if you want to. But when clients,
Speaker 2: when clients show up, it's gonna be impressed. In Idaho, beautiful,
Speaker 2: beautiful ranch. Everybody's gonna bring their their hunting, their camping gear,
Speaker 2: what that you know, they're hunting gear whatever that they
Speaker 2: would stay overnight. And we do have some cabins there,
Speaker 2: but honestly, most of our our staff and sponsors and
Speaker 2: we'll have media there as well. We'll have some TV
Speaker 2: channels or some TV shows, some YouTubers, some outdoor riders.
Speaker 2: Uh will be a do you know guys, I know, guy,
Speaker 2: I know, Uh, maybe we need to have you come
Speaker 2: out so uh anyway, it'll start with our chef. The
Speaker 2: very first thing that we're going to do is uh,
Speaker 2: Chef Aubert is going to show everybody how to uh feel,
Speaker 2: dress and skin a deer from a chef's perspective. So
Speaker 2: that'll be the first thing that we do. Onyx is
Speaker 2: going to be there. It's gonna be one of our
Speaker 2: partners in this. We will do an easy event as well. Sorry,
Speaker 2: that's my it's just guard dog.
Speaker 1: That's good. That's good to have those, that's good. You
Speaker 1: know you're doing land navigation, no electronics. You're gonna learn that.
Speaker 1: You're gonna learn farms, long range shooting instructions, so that's
Speaker 1: kind of standard what you guys do. Optics, mounting and maintenance,
Speaker 1: pack set up in gear selection. That's huge. Yep, we
Speaker 1: are going this and this this class is only like
Speaker 1: nineteen hundred bucks, nineteen.
Speaker 2: And fifty bucks. That includes all your foot all your
Speaker 2: meals too.
Speaker 1: And then wild game processing would use and then Western
Speaker 1: Application strategy, so you're not only learning like like what
Speaker 1: to do on your hunt, but how to select those
Speaker 1: units and Onyx helps with this too, And I'm glad
Speaker 1: to see you got my gosh, dude, hey, if you
Speaker 1: have not filled out your media list, I am in awesome.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, let's definitely talk.
Speaker 1: But that is that is a really cool way to
Speaker 1: do it. How many spots do you guys have open
Speaker 1: for these typically?
Speaker 2: So we I think we're allowing a total of thirty
Speaker 2: that includes media. Excuse me, and I don't know, We've
Speaker 2: got probably I bet we have a dozen to fifteen
Speaker 2: spots available.
Speaker 1: That's cool right now.
Speaker 2: So and you can sign up right right from the
Speaker 2: right from the website. But yeah, we're really excited about this.
Speaker 2: It's just a it's just many seminars. You know, through
Speaker 2: the you you were going to get your money's worth.
Speaker 2: Don't come here and think you're just gonna be able
Speaker 2: to chill out. You're gonna be you're gonna be tired.
Speaker 1: Well when this is an effort, and if I remember,
Speaker 1: like just just a heads up, like when you go
Speaker 1: to one of these events when companies that Greg aligns
Speaker 1: himself with, usually you're not walking home empty handed. You're
Speaker 1: all you're getting the knowledge, but the companies that usually
Speaker 1: go to these tend to tend to like you get
Speaker 1: a little bit of swag with these.
Speaker 2: We've we've got some amazing partners that we've had. We've
Speaker 2: been partnered with with Zis Binelli and Federal for years
Speaker 2: and years and years for for a very very long time. Uh.
Speaker 2: But yeah, so we're going to have competitions. Uh, and
Speaker 2: there'll be the opportunity for people to build a win
Speaker 2: some stuff. But yeah, you're one percent right when they
Speaker 2: whenever they show up, they'll have some nice little bonus
Speaker 2: gear for them to take home with them.
Speaker 1: My gosh, I love I love that you have Texas
Speaker 1: Hunter's Prep course on here. I love that. And that's
Speaker 1: in Spur that you got the Level one long Range
Speaker 1: Shooting School, which you can take that class every year.
Speaker 1: You can take it every every stinking year, and you
Speaker 1: are going to pick up something new and my gosh, dude,
Speaker 1: you're you're absolutely killing it.
Speaker 2: Man. Those yeah, those those are so much fun. And
Speaker 2: that that facility that you just mentioned, the one in Spur,
Speaker 2: Texas brand new. We just did our first complete year
Speaker 2: last year. We've got ten brand new cabins. Their four
Speaker 2: hundred square foot two queen beds in each one, private
Speaker 2: h bathroom in each one.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: And then we have our chefs that are taking care
Speaker 2: of all your meals too. So you show up firearms, optics, ammo.
Speaker 1: Whoe, everything's there, dude. You're not offering long range shooting
Speaker 1: like schools. You're offering long range shooting retreats, an experience
Speaker 1: that is, it's a retreat. You can do this with
Speaker 1: your family. You can do this with your wife. And
Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you right now, Valentine's Day is
Speaker 1: upon us. What better way to get what you want
Speaker 1: and to provide her with a new experience?
Speaker 2: There you go. Hey, I like the way you think.
Speaker 1: See all right, greg Man, I really do appreciate you
Speaker 1: hopping on with us. And uh, even though your shooting
Speaker 1: skills were definitely tested by a squirrel and a come quiet.
Speaker 2: You you guys me the written the written version of that,
Speaker 2: I'll send you to you man man kJ I appreciate.
Speaker 2: It's always good to see you, and I'm sure we'll
Speaker 2: be talking more soon.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, where can they learn more? Where? What social
Speaker 1: platforms are you guys on? Where can they find out
Speaker 1: more about outdoors solutions?
Speaker 2: So we're we're most active on YouTube. We've got a
Speaker 2: lot of really really cool stuff coming up. I now
Speaker 2: have Steve Arian, who's our director of training, is back
Speaker 2: here full time. He's been over in the Sandbox and
Speaker 2: Iraq for the last six years. He's back here. This dude.
Speaker 2: Anything that you want to know about any firearm, ballistics, optics, anything,
Speaker 2: He's just he'll make your eyes glaze over. I did
Speaker 2: the more one oh one kind of videos. I'm a
Speaker 2: pretty basic kind of guy, so I explain things that way.
Speaker 2: But YouTube, we are the most active in just putting
Speaker 2: Outdoor Solutions. On Instagram, we have two pages there. One
Speaker 2: is Outdoor Solutions Official, and then for our Field to
Speaker 2: Table events, which is the butchering, processing and cooking portion
Speaker 2: of the company with our chefs is OS Underscore from
Speaker 2: Field to Table Okay. And then of course we're on Facebook.
Speaker 1: Too, OS Underscore Field to Table correct. Man. It's awesome stuff. Man,
Speaker 1: I'm so happy. I'm so happy we've become friends, like
Speaker 1: over the years, like it's been amazing. I mean we're
Speaker 1: going on seventeen years. I think it is crazy. A
Speaker 1: lot more gray in that beard and a lot more
Speaker 1: gray in this hair.
Speaker 2: Yeah, great, Heir and notne here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's retreating, all right, brother, you'd be good man,
Speaker 1: you good, see you all right, all you gun talk hunters,
Speaker 1: you know the drill. Keep those muscles pointed in a
Speaker 1: safe direction, and always be on the hunt.