Ep. 11: Mental and Physical Toughness, Attitude, and Expecting Success with Ryan Lampers
39:11 Share

Check engine light on? Take the guesswork out of your check engine light with O'Reilly Veriscan. It's free and provides a report with solutions based on over 650 million vehicle scans verified by ASE certified master technicians. And if you need help, we can recommend a shop for you. Ask for O'Reilly Veriscan today. O, O, O'Reilly Auto Parts.

You ever get that feeling, the walls closing in, the concrete jungle suffocating you? You crave some wide open spaces, the chance to connect with nature, maybe in a spot all your own. Well, head over to land.com. They've got ranches, forests, mountains, streams, you name it. Search by acreage. You can search by location. You can search by the kind of hunting and fishing you're dreaming of. Land.com. It is where the adventure begins.

Market House has the cleanest, leanest, juiciest meat and seafood shipped to your home overnight. Expect the service of a local butcher and the convenience of a large supplier. Unlike many online butchers, you can grab just one meal's worth or lock in for a subscription box. Choose from grass-fed and grass-finished beef, American Wagyu, free-range poultry, grass-fed lamb, wild-caught king crab, seafood, and more.

and more. For 15% off your first order, use code COUNTRY at checkout. Just visit markethouse.com. That's M-A-R-K-E-T-H-O-U-S-E dot com. And use the code COUNTRY.

Welcome back to another episode of Cutting the Distance. Today's guest is Ryan Lampers, the stealthy hunter. Him and his wife, Hillary, run Hunt Harvest Health. One of the guys I look up to growing up, you know, a lot of guys, who do you look up to? I don't look up to... This guy came from my home state of Washington. I have to tell a little funny story about Ryan before we get going. Back in 2013, I started seeing pictures of this long-haired guy that was killing, at that time, I thought, animals consistently that shouldn't be killed in Washington. And he was a

And shame on me, but instantly, that guy's a poacher. And then another picture would pop up the next fall or a couple. I'm like, this guy's doing something wrong. Rather than my ego letting me feel that a guy could be this good or this successful or put in this much work, fast forward 10 years, getting to know you, knowing maybe even how much more you put into this than everybody else. Ryan Lampers, everybody, welcome to the show. I appreciate it, Jason. Thanks for having me on here, man. Yeah, we both come from Washington. We both...

Love hunting elk, I guess, even though I love to tease you about the greatest animal in the world to hunt, which is not elk, right? Mule deer? Oh, man. Come on now. We both know it's true. That's one thing about Ryan. He's had great success on elk, great success on mule deer, great success on bear hunting.

Really anything, and you're so humble you'll never say this, but I can say it. Anything you've set out to accomplish, hunting-wise or pursuit-wise, you've always seemed to find success. And that's really why I brought you on today. I want to talk about, number one, your mindset going into a hunt. Number two, your expectations of the hunt. And number three...

how you make adjustments through the hunt, throughout the hunt to make sure that your goal that you went into that is accomplished, I guess. And I think it's fairly methodical, fairly prescriptive, but you've got a way. I've got to hunt with you a couple of times, albeit maybe some of the worst elk hunts I've been on in the recent past have been with you, but I've got to hunt with you, kind of see how you think.

Um, you know, there's a lot of times where, you know, for instance, there's a bull bugling. I wanted to maybe cheat the wind and Ryan's like, no, we got to drop down the Canyon a mile, go around this Ridge and then come back. And it's just stuff like that, like little separators where I may be willing to risk it. And so that, that kind of factors in, but we're going to kind of jump in. Um, we do have one user question or from the fans, um,

And if you have a question of your own, you can either get ahold of us on social media. You can email us at ctd at phelpsgamecalls.com. Send us your questions for our guests or any questions you may want the guests to have. But the question we have for you today, Ryan, is how do you prepare physically for a hunt? And then does it depend on the hunt or is it more of a mindset that I'm going to be in this level of shape because fall's always coming again?

Yeah, that's a good question. Um, and a quick answer is it's always the same, you know, every, every hunt, whether it's a, um, spring bear hunt to mule deer in the late season to maybe some archery stuff in September, some elk hunts, it's always the same. You just kind of have to, I like to be at my best and never have a, um, a wall that I can't go past. Um,

never have a basin too deep or a hill too steep is basically how it goes. And so, um, fortunately these days, you know, I get a, I get a hunt throughout the year. It's not just that eight weeks in the fall season. Um, I somehow managed to carve out these other opportunity hunts for, um, say going down to Arizona in January for coos deer or mule deer, um,

Spring bear, you know, that takes up, there's six weeks there of good hunting for spring bear and getting out in the mountains. So I think it's always the same, short answer, always trying to be at your best physically and

and you know, the hunting season never really stops, I guess, if you don't want it to. So you don't like to challenge yourself like me every year where you got to get back in shape. You just like to keep it. I don't want to, I don't want to have to try to regain, uh, everything lost every, every time, you know, a part of that is, uh, I am, I am married to my wife, doc Hill. Um, Hillary, she's,

She keeps me in shape, man. She keeps me in check. If I was to start slacking off, she'd be the first to tell me, which I respect. I love that. And I've got two daughters who, you know, I'm 48 years old now and I got to stay in shape for them. My one daughter, she's 13. You know, we kind of started a little bit later than most people with kids. We were late 30s when we had our first daughter and

And, uh, she's just coming into her own when it comes to these hunts. So I got to stay in shape. I don't want to let it go because I know how hard it is to come back from. Um, and, uh, yeah, I want to be able to take her on some very good, hard hunts where she has adversity as well. Um,

and I'm able to keep up with her. She's an animal. She can hike. She's got long legs like me, and she's got a motor. So, yeah, I just can't let it go. I can't let my daughter beat me up the hill. Gotcha. Well, there's your tips for staying in shape physically. Now, is there a regimen, or is it just—

In shape through hunting. Do you, you know, if you don't have a hunt coming for a month, are you going to go hit a trail? Are you going to hit the gym? Are you going to just watch what you eat and kind of maintain? Like what, what does that, you know, give us a two minute answer on kind of what that system looks like? Yeah. So, uh, I'm not a gym rat by any stretch. Um, we do have a downstairs basement that has a lot of gym stuff in it. You know, we've got the kettlebells, we've got,

you know, a rowing machine, which I love doing the rowing machine in the wintertime when those hikes are really cold. Living in Montana, we got those minus temps and hikes are a little rough in those conditions. We still do them, but it is nice to have that. So just, I would say, yeah,

The one thing that I do more than anything else is hike with weight. I think that translates the best to what we do, what you and I do. Yeah, for sure. You know, hiking in, you're always having 45, 50 pounds on your back. And then obviously hiking out heavy. It's the one thing that you can do, I feel like, doesn't break your body down, number one. It can be short and quick.

We've got loops around our house that we can just throw weight on and hike around, um, with the girls. And, uh, I've got some short trips just, just down the road that we can hit a trailhead. And, and even if it's just a half mile hike with weight, uh,

uh, for speed that really helps out, but very little gym time. Um, we do some mountain tough workouts for sure. Um, some guys out of Bozeman put those on. They're great. My wife does those, but overall I'd say, um, just hiking with weight helps me the most. Um,

And that's what keeps me in shape pretty much year round. Perfect. Perfect. Once again, if you have any questions of your own, contact us at CTD at PhelpsGameCalls.com or hit us up on social and we'll throw your question in here. Now we're going to jump in to kind of what I wanted to talk about a little bit. And it's more of that mental preparedness, the mindset going into the hunt.

You know, you've prepared, you're physically prepared, you've got your hunt plan, you're ready to go. Now, you know, we kind of always used to joke that,

about a tag that you had in a certain unit. It wasn't good to be a mature animal in that unit at that time because you're going in with the mindset that you don't care what adversity is in your way, what roadblocks, what hurdles. You're going to do what it takes to go accomplish mature boar during spring bear season, a mature bull during the rut, whatever it may be.

Um, you've set that up. And so what, what is that mindset? Like, how do you get to that place? You know, can we get in, get into the head of, of, of Ryan Lampers as he's approaching a hunt? Like what, what are you thinking? What are your goals? And, and, you know, kind of what are you going to do to, to accomplish those? Yeah. So, um, you know, consistent success is always the goal. And, uh, that used to be,

you know, in my teens and my twenties, it was just that it was making sure tags didn't go unfilled. Um, and then I think just as we evolve, we try to get, you know, a little bit creative and add some challenge for maturity in animals, you know? Um,

when I was in my twenties, I wasn't trying to get the biggest bull on the mountain. And, you know, I just wanted to get a mature, some mature bull, um, these days, uh, having time on your side, you know, having 10 days to carve out, to go do a hunt, you can be a little picky. So, you know, we, we have the ability to spend more days in the mountain, but, um,

You know, overall mindset is whatever it takes, whatever it takes, whether that is being, I mean, that could mean physically, that could mean playing the patience game. You know, sometimes patience is your best friend up there when it comes to success. I remember in my early years, I used to zip up to a clearing and glass it real fast. Oh, no animals here.

I'm going to go two miles that way and look at that clearing. And then race over there. And there's no animals here. I used to go way too fast. Way too fast. I just figured I was going to outwork everybody else. And that was going to fill tags. And it did. It worked. But nowadays, I find myself putting myself in these great positions to glass big country and spend the time. So consistent success for me has been...

finding more patience. Yep. And then also being physically fit enough to do whatever it takes, go however far it takes. How many ridges more, versus however much, however many feet higher. And it's the old cliche thing that everybody says, you know, trying to separate yourself from others, that's always going to be the, the,

the game and the struggle, but it's, it's possible. So we get creative with, with how we separate, whether that's miles, um, whether that's river crossings, whether that's avoiding trailheads, those type things. Um,

but they really do can separate you from, from other. Yeah. I mean, I've, when you guys were on the Idaho back country hunt, you know, I've seen and heard about some of the sketchy river crossings from our, our good buddy Jeff. And, you know, it's like, I don't think he crossed with you and Joe, right? He's like, nope, you guys. And it's just stuff like that where it's like,

All right. Maybe you're, you're risking, maybe, you know, maybe you don't see it as a risk, but Jeff's like, I might've died there. And then I just wasn't going across. But one thing I do want to point out is, is you're, you know, you talked about not having to outwork everybody. There's, you want to go in, you know, with, with as many tools in your toolbox. I believe it was, was it 19 you killed the big buck in Colorado?

I believe so. I believe so. I was 19. Where you sat for four days, right? And literally didn't burn a calorie. I say burn a calorie, but you didn't burn an extra calorie. You literally just glassed a buck for four days until he gave you the right trip. Versus this year on a spring bear hunt, somebody showed up in your spot

on the first day and you decided to hike 17 more miles. So you've got, you've got the ability to sit in glass if needed versus you've got the ability to hike 17 miles to get away from people if needed. And it's everything in between. And it's the compromise, you know, it's the decisions made. Yeah, I think it's going by Braille, you know, being able to adjust on the fly because you're

you know, you're never going to have a hunt go perfectly as planned. It's very rare that that happens. Um, but being able to adapt in these days, let's face it, there's a lot of guys out there. So, you know, there may be somebody, if you, if you pre-scouted this one area and you show up and there's three guys camp there in a, in a teepee, you better have backup plans. So a lot of, I think our success has been from preparation. Um,

mapping out areas where we don't just have one place we're going to head to. If that place is a failure for whatever reason, we have a lot more areas, A, B, C, D, E. There's just a bunch of other areas that we've put a lot of time into in our scouting.

E-scouting, you know, it gets talked about a ton, but it is very valuable in making that hunt plan. So we don't sit there scratching our heads when we show up to an area and say there's some studs that work their way into that spot.

We will leave it to them and go hit something. We'll go hit plan B. Plan B, yeah. Yeah, keep going. Yeah, but just being able to adjust on the fly, I think it's huge. You know, a lot of people get really down when one plan doesn't work.

And, uh, and they get in their head and they think, well, this hunt's over. There's too many people or the elk aren't talking here. And it's just being able to stay positive. Um, one of the, one of the guys that, um, I really like paying attention to is Brian Barney. Um, I think we all know who that is. And one of the reasons, uh, Barney is so, so successful is his mental look, his mental, um, outlook on everything is positive. Misses a shot, right?

Time to go get another one. Like, don't let it get you so down that you pull yourself out of the hunt and you quit trying, you know, that's a big part of it. So, um, you know, trying to always remind myself to stay positive when something works out has been a big help. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's huge. And, um,

for a lot of people that, that haven't been there. And I, I'm a firm believer that a lot of experience will build some of this mental toughness. You've been there, you've been in the lows of lows, you've struggled for days, but then ultimately, you know, you push on and find success later in the hunt. And so I think if you've been there and lived it, it's, it's easier for us to say like, you know, be positive. But if, if you're a new hunter, maybe haven't struggled and haven't found success after the struggle. Um, I think that wears on a hunter and, and yeah,

it's crazy how the human brain works. They will do everything to tell you why you should go back to the truck. And then when you're in the truck, your brain will convince you why you should, you know, drive down the mountain. And then when you get to town, your brain says, well, you should probably just finish driving home, you know? And so it's trying to overcome excuses. Yeah. I mean, the physical weighs in on that for sure. Like if your physical starts to break down, then it's once again, your, your mental just kind of, you know, and so there's, there's that,

um, you know, from a lot of experience, which, yeah. And I, I think there's a, there's a ton of guys who are fit. I mean, there's CrossFit guys that are just elite athletes. Um,

But that doesn't necessarily always translate to the mental side. People can be that elite type athlete, but still not have the fortitude to keep pushing. Like when things get tough, a lot of guys do bail out and have days left. You know, they maybe they've scheduled out seven days and they pull out on day four.

man, that would drive me crazy. I couldn't live with myself doing that. So the mental, the mental side of it is huge. Um, I think you'll find that those elite one percenters out there, you know, the Brian Barney type guys, uh, the guys that are very successful year after year after year, I pay attention to those guys. And generally it's the never quit. It's very positive. And it's the guys that prep year round. I mean,

shooting a lot, um, physically challenging themselves in the off season. And I think the physical challenges, um, that I like to do, we talked about the, you know, the, the backpack hiking with weight, uh, struggling through those and then add some really good challenges, adding some of those 20, 30 milers and try to knock those out in a day. Um,

those just tell you when things get down that you can do it, you can push through it. So we used to do these, uh, these death hikes, you know, um, those things were hard, you know, they were very hard, but,

But you have to get them done. And those are things that you can look back on when you're actually hunting and say, well, I got through that. I just hiked 100 miles in three days. I can do this. Yeah, if you're at 60% of that, you know, or you're, I'm not even, you know, half as tired as I was at that point or, you know, it didn't go, which is easy to. So do you feel that the elite, you know, the 1% you were just talking about, can that be learned, trained into, or do you think a little bit of that comes from like just what you were born with?

Like, or can you teach yourself to be that, you know, both mental and physical, you know, get to that mental and physical level? No, I think it's, I think you can...

I think you can work yourself up to be as mentally tough as you want to be. Um, but it's going to suck. Right. I think there's some people that are born with it. Some guys are just tougher than others. Let's face it. But if you want to be that guy, I see no reason why you can't be if, if you really want a bad enough. Um, so yeah, I think it's, I think it's one of those things that you have to build up to, um, do hard things. That's it. That's the cliche, right? Do hard things and he

And in the end, you're going to be able to basically accomplish a lot and not get pulled out of the mountains. And that's the goal is to keep pushing. And that's been a big help for us. Yeah, for sure.

you know, I'm, I'm not near the physical shape you guys are, but that's one thing where my mental toughness never looks at like physical endurance or like physical struggle is like a reason to give up. Like I've just, I've just put a roadblock up. Like you just cause you're tired. Like, yeah, you can wait, but you're going to stay in the mountains and stay in the game, stay hunting. Um, and then one thing I want to point out that you said on our New Mexico elk hunt, we had a lot of time during the

Yeah, we did. We had 20 minutes of bugling in the morning and 20 minutes at night, and so we had the rest of the day to talk. Yeah, first thing. Is don't ever let yourself slow down. Like, if you're doing trail A...

and you did it in an hour on the first day, you better at least do it in 59 minutes and 59 seconds the next day. And at that point, you're never going backwards, right? You're only ever improving. So, you know, I started to implement some of that is it's tough. There's days where I'm like, man, I don't know if I can keep up with, you know, level seven for 10 minutes, level eight for 10, and then go back to seven. And then, you know, the next day, like click another eight over, but you know, on the stair climber, if you just always make

that concentrated effort to at least, you know, keep what you want. You got a time in your head. Don't ever let yourself go under that time. You know, don't ever let yourself...

It's easy to do. Um, cause like I mentioned with the, with the hikes that we do, sometimes they're with weight, sometimes they're without. Um, but we always time it and we always make sure that we beat it. It might be just by a few seconds, but it just makes you push yourself. It really does. And it's a, your mind is, it's crazy how it works. And if you have that going into every little training session that you do, um,

Whether that's you can compete with yourself or you can have a buddy that does the same hike and times himself, we're all competitive. We don't want to lose. So it's always just making sure that you better your previous time. I think that's just kind of what elite CrossFitters and those mountain tough guys do as well. They never let themselves get out of shape. ♪

O'Reilly auto parts are in the business of keeping your car on the road. I love O'Reilly. In fact, the other day, I'm not kidding you. The other day I went into an O'Reilly auto parts looking for a part. I needed a different thing that wasn't really in there. You know, only like tangentially related to what they carry.

They did not have it, and the dude told me specifically where I would go down the road to find it is how nice they are. They offer friendly, helpful service and the parts knowledge you need for all your maintenance and repairs. Thousands of parts and accessories in stock, in-store, or online, so you never have to worry if you're in a jam.

They'll test your battery for free. If you need your windshield wipers replaced, a brake light fixed, or quick service, they'll help you find the right part or point you to a local repair shop for help. Whether you're a car aficionado or an auto novice, you'll find the employees at O'Reilly Auto Parts are knowledgeable, helpful, best of all, friendly. These guys are your one-stop shop for all things auto, do-it-yourself,

You can find what you need in-store or online. Stop by O'Reilly Auto Parts today or visit them at OReillyAuto.com slash MeatEater. That's OReillyAuto.com slash MeatEater. We've all seen plenty of gadgets and fads come and go, but here's one product that stood the test of time. Seafoam Motor Treatment. Lots of hunters and anglers know that seafoam helps engines run better and last longer.

It's really simple. When you pour it in your gas tank, seafoam cleans harmful fuel deposits that cause engine problems. I'm talking common stuff like hard starts, rough engine performance, or lost fuel economy. Seafoam is an easy way to prevent or overcome these problems. Just pour a can in your gas tank and let it clean your fuel system. You probably know someone who has used a can of seafoam to get their truck or boat going again. People everywhere rely on seafoam to keep their trucks, boats, and small engines running the way that they should the entire season.

Help your engine run better and last longer. Pick up a can of Seafoam today at your local auto parts store or visit seafoamworks.com to learn more.

This is Brent Reeves from This Country Life. What makes South Dakota the greatest for pheasant hunting? With over 1.2 million pheasants harvested last year, South Dakota boasts the highest population of pheasants in the nation. In fact, you'd have to add up the total harvest from neighboring states just to get that many birds.

There's also millions of wide open acres chock full of different landscapes, meaning the hunt in one county is often completely different from just a few counties over. But what really makes South Dakota the greatest goes way beyond just hunting a colorful bird. It's the pursuit of something more like the camaraderie that awaits all kinds of hunters from all walks of life and partaking in South Dakota tradition over 100 years in the making.

It's about taking the greatest shots and watching your dog work the greatest fields in the greatest lands, carrying on the greatest heritage and making the greatest memories. So what are you waiting for? From the rush of the flush to the stories at the end of the day, experience a thrill like no other. Learn how at huntthegreatest.com. I want to roll back to that New Mexico hunt we were on last year. And one of the things I noticed is that

you know, a lot of times we use hunting partners. You know, there might be a time where a hunting partner gets down and the other one picks them up. Um, versus if you go out there with a hunting partner that, you know, when you're down, takes you down with them and then you're, you're out. One thing, you know, hunting with you, we struggled. Like there were, you showed up on day two. Um, we got our butts kicked for what, seven days until we had something work out right on, on the morning of the eighth day. And then, you know, it didn't, or the night of the eighth day. But one thing you

you never mentioned like we weren't going to get it done. Like I feel every morning we woke up, I think me and you both honestly thought that that was when it was going to happen. And when it didn't happen in the morning, like in the middle of the day, like we just have to sit here by our time and we're going to kill him right before dark. Well, dang, it didn't happen. And it was, you know, well, it doesn't have to be a partner. I'm just, I'm, I want to like,

talk about that mindset that even though we have been getting our butts kicked day in and day out, we honestly felt that every new scenario, every new morning, every new day was a time that it was going to happen. And, and

I can't stress enough that I approach every hunting day. And if I don't feel that way, then I should probably read, you know, we talk about hunt plans all the time. You should re figure out your hunt plan because your hunt plan should somewhere have you killing an animal that first morning in or that first night in. And, and I don't go out there expecting anything less. Yeah. We've been there enough times that it's probably not going to happen on the first day. We've got to do some exploring. But during that exploring, like I'm going out there with the intent, like, you know, your guns loaded, you're ready to shoot your bow. You,

it's going to happen on that first night or morning. And that was one thing I noticed hunting with you. Like we never, neither of us ever thought it just wasn't going to happen. It was just becoming more difficult than we wanted. The bulls weren't cooperating, but we were in them every day. We were doing what we thought. And I think that's an, that's an important thing to say to new elk hunters, right? I think if you've done enough elk hunting, um,

um, had some success over an extended amount of time, you realize it can happen at any point. Like it can be the slowest of weeks and the slowest of days. And then five minutes later, you got a bull down at your feet. You know, it's just elk, especially it happens so fast. And, uh, I think when you've seen that play out, whether it's with yourself or with others, you just, you just know, like, um,

man, no reason to get down. It could happen today. It could happen in the morning. It could happen the very last minute of the last day, like it did with us. Um, I know going into these hunts, I never, you know, we carve out a lot of 10 day hunts. That's, that's always my, my goal is if I can carve out 10 days, I know that's not reasonable for a lot of folks, but I always expect a

to find something on that 10th day. Like the 10th day has been so good. Um, ninth or 10th day. It's unbelievable how many trips have come down to the very, very end. And I can't explain why. Is it that you've just learned it? Yeah. So many, you finally figured it out at the very end. Yeah. Um, or you put a little bit more push in the very, at the very end, which we had to do on, on our New Mexico hunt. It was like a,

We got to make this happen, whatever it takes. And we made it happen. Yeah. And that's on that 10th day, you know, I, I get bored occasionally and go flip through my iPhone and, you know, look at Apple fit or whatever it is. And Oh, how come on the last day we hiked twice as high, you know, and if we would, and it's not that we didn't have the right mindset because you wouldn't, you're the type of guy that would just coax me into climbing a different mountain. We thought we were doing what we needed to, to be successful because there were elk there where they were bedded. We were sitting on them. But that last day, uh,

We just, you know, we had a little bit of information from Dirk. We knew where we thought that bull would be. And we just came in from a completely different area and we just, you know, motored up. And that's one thing. One other thing I want to mention is, you know, a lot of times it seems like on that last day, whether it's we either figured it out or as hunters, it's weird that we will

do things more correctly or more with more caution or more effort on the last day. It's like, don't screw it up on the last day. Why don't we approach, maybe sometimes approach,

the day two stock like that. Why didn't we put that much effort in on day two? Was it, we didn't have figured out, maybe we thought we were going to get an easier one. Like if you put that effort in on every day, um, you may find more success in that, you know, the last stock where you're taking your shoes off versus maybe, you know, days two or three stock, you didn't take your shoes off. And yeah, that's interesting. I don't know. I don't know why it is. Just a mindset where you pay more attention on that, but. There's always a little bit of frantic, like you're, you're willing to do whatever. I keep saying that, but, um,

Um, you're willing to go where you haven't looked. You're willing to just do whatever and go as far as it takes down to the last minute. Um, and we saw that play out and I've seen that play out so many times.

on that end day. And there's trips where it's like, you only have five days to go do this hunt. Yep. And it ends up happening on the fifth day. Yep. You just give it a little extra, I think. Yeah. And I think experience, you know, that's where a lot of hunters can get down after, say, a miss or a blown stock or a blown call-in situation. And they're like, well, that's just going to be my only chance. I might as well go home. I'm not going to get another crack like that. That was a gimme. Yeah.

and it got blown up. Well, you can't think like that. You have to expect there's going to be another opportunity. Yep. And that last day was a perfect example of it because we went up there, we could hear the bulls bugling off the backside, and then that one decided to come from a long ways across the canyon. Well, we called him all the way to us, remember? Yep. And then he busted us somehow. We reset, we heard him bugle. He was so close. He was, I mean, he was within eyesight and...

To be honest, I was a little bit like, ah, last night we maybe got an hour left. Like, what can we do? We kind of take a different way off the mountain. We were going to come down a different ridge than we walked up. And I think we either heard some cows or we busted some cows and then a bull bugled right away and we got right back on them. And so if you would have just like put your head down, decided like, you know what, it's all over. I'm going to hike out the same ridge versus us taking a different way. That wasn't the end of like our struggle either because now we bumped these elk. Um,

Um, he kept bugling and, uh, you know, we ran into other hunters. It gave us one more opportunity before we would head back to the vehicle. Like we took it down to the last minutes of daylight. Yeah. And you know, that was one of those situations where we just decided me keeping them busy and not putting more in and you sneaking in on them. Um, it worked great, but, but you know, as far as persistence and keeping, um,

you know on track of what we accomplished because it was it was just one of those wishbone ridges where we could have went left or we could have went right and if we went right we would have just like hey we're done we could have just as easily walked out into mexico without you killing a bull versus let's a little bit a little bit longer walk back the truck hey this little flat ridge looks pretty good sure is you know ran right into elk and then we're ultimately able to to kill that bull but

It was classic. I feel like we kept our head in the game. I mean, I fully expected. I think you probably heard me on that last day. Fully expected to get a bull on that day. As tough as it was, and even our busted morning that didn't quite work out like we thought it was going to, and now we're midday, and it's slow. Changing spots. Now we're moving over here, and we're going to hike up to that top and get a bull.

Getting very little calling in. And yet I still felt like we got a shot. Like we got to, we still got a chance here. And I think that's, you know, we just kept pushing and pushing and in the end came away with a field tag. So yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, it was a good hunt. So I do want to talk a little bit where we're at. We're here at the Western Hunting Summit, which you put you and your wife and your team. A bunch of great experts come in, Joel Turner, Brian Barney, Mark Levesay. Jason Phelps, yeah, all of the good ones. Yeah, I mean, you bring in a great group, and it's really, I think it's kind of the ultimate thing

you know, kind of show of what people think of you. You know, whether you are here on a podcast, but you meet you in person, you're very quiet, don't talk a lot, but yet just kind of leading by example and putting, you know, people want to come see what Ryan Lampers' Western Hunting Summit looks like. And so we're here. It's been a great week, but can you tell us a little bit about the Western Hunting Summit and what you hope to accomplish out of that and

I think you're in your second year and it doesn't look like it's going to slow down at all. Yeah, no, it's been great. And we're actually in our fourth year now. We've been doing it for four years. I think this is our 10th event this year, somewhere around there. And we've got two more after this one. So yeah, just a brief about it. It's a four day event. Me and my wife got this harebrained idea four years ago to put it on.

Um, I used to be heavy into those train to hunt events, you know, and we had this great community surrounding us and train to hunt. And we used to compete in those. And I love the group of people that we got to know. Some of my best friends came from that, just like a hunting Spartan race, you know, is what it is if you, if you haven't heard of it. And, uh, and we fell in love with the crowd, the community of hunters that really liked to push themselves. And, uh,

From that, we wanted to do something, train to hunt, kind of went away for a while. So we were like, man, we want to keep doing this thing. And so we thought, you know, we'd get all these experts, the Phelps type guys, you know, to come in and educate people. And so we got a great group of presenters. And in the beginning, we wanted to do mostly education for guys to cut the learning curve for so many new hunters that want to get into this Western style hunting, you

We wanted to really put a place together where we could answer any and all questions for people that had them. Now, since it's evolved, we do a lot of education, obviously, but...

There's a lot of entertainment as well. You know, now we have these overnight hikes where we're able to take guys up and glass off mountains. And, you know, you and Cody Wilson, you know, we're heading up the mountain tonight and we're going to do some calling sessions up there and just, you know, really get guys like this, this live action, like they're going to actually see what we do on the mountain and.

So we just try to make it a good time, entertaining, educational, great community of people. We'll make lifelong friends at this event as well. Surprisingly, we have a very large return rate that we never thought we were going to see when we first started doing this. But right here in Montana, we've got a huge ranch that we work off now where we –

have access to take guys out and really show them the nuts and bolts of Western hunting. And it's been a lot of fun. Yeah. In my opinion, you know, my first time here, we've had Cody here in the past representing Phelps and, and whatnot. I, I feel that they can read an article that you could write or I could write and, and they're not going to get out of it what they're getting here, you know, hands-on, we're going to hike up the mountain, teach them,

you know, maybe where they should glass first thing in the morning, where we think, where we would expect to find elk, you know, and, and that, that goes a lot farther than, than reading in a, in a magazine article where we, where we tell them they should glass or where we think they should glass. It's like, we're going to see the elk. We're going to see the bear, the deer. And, and this is why we would sit here and this is why we would look where we're

We're going to look. I love it. Yeah. And it is, it's like that one-on-one time. So we get to literally sit with these folks up on a mountain, glass and critters. We're in a place where there's a lot of bears and deer and elk and

And, uh, and have those conversations with them so they can bounce questions off of all of us. And that's what we really like to do. And, uh, from the surveys, that's what people really enjoy is having those conversations, even aside from the presentations, um, where we just get to sit down and, and, and go through any and all questions that they have.

And that's the goal. And when they get here, we tell them to make sure every question you have, we want to answer it. Um, find one of these guys that are here to do just that and get them aside from the presents and talk to them, pick their brains, learn how to elk call better, learn how to hunt elk better or mule deer or whatever it is they're here for. And, um, that's what it has evolved into. And so, yeah, I think there's a lot more valuable in

when you get a talk to a, none of us like to be called experts, but when you get a talk to Jason Phelps one-on-one and talk about what exactly he would do in this situation, looking at that bull on that ridge,

I feel like the information is a little more valuable. Yeah. I mean, cause I can give them real life feedback. I can take my thousands and thousands of times I made the wrong decision. And the few times I made the right decision and put it into like my answer and, you know, and then we'll explain to them like, you know, well,

the wind, what's it doing, time of day, you know, why we wouldn't maybe make this approach or, you know, why I would maybe do this, but then why Ryan would take the cautious and he's going to hike a thousand feet up and over this ridge and drop it, you know, and we can give different scenarios and where we feel like if you did that, you know, the fail point is going to be here, you know, and it's a really good camp and I'm excited to be here. And I just, I feel that

you're able to see these people and their questions that they're coming up with, um, get their own personal question. They might be embarrassed to ask any other way. Like they're just coming up and asking and it's a great event. So, yeah. And again, I am an introvert, so I hate doing these presentations. I'm not the guy that stands up there and gives all this great information, but I don't mind side aside, you know, conversations where there's two or three guys I can handle that. It's a standing in front of a group of 20, 30 folks that, uh, really gets me. Yeah.

All right. Well, we're going to close this up. I don't want to take too much time at your own event here. If you could give the listeners a single tip to be more successful in the Elkwoods, what would it be? Find a mentor. Find somebody that's done it and has more experience than you do. And either saddle up to them if they're willing to take you or try to get into some deep conversations about what they've learned from when they started to where they are now.

And I, that's what's helped me. I've had great mentors in my life, people that took the time to share great information that cut the learning curve. And it, uh, it really helped me a lot.

I'm going to, and you might know the answer to this since you're not in this position, but you probably get people asking, as somebody that's looking for a mentor, rather than just be the guy that randomly messages somebody out of the blue, you're most likely going to get a no. Do you have a good approach? Are there steps to becoming, getting the hunt with...

and you're probably gonna hate me for this, like hunting with Ryan Lampers, like what would be your steps? You're probably pretty full, your plate's pretty full and it's tough, but you can find other people, like what would be the steps so that you're not just like shotgunning emails to rent? You know, it's like, there's gotta be a process of building. - Yeah, that's a tough question. I guess come to a Western hunt and something and talk to a guy like Phelps. I don't know. No, I think, you know, I see a lot of questions on social media, honestly.

And I try to be as good with my time as possible and really try to answer those questions because I know there's a lot of people that are really struggling to find those mentors. But you do...

I feel like with social, as much as we like to say we hate it, it does offer opportunity to find people who are willing to talk to you. I know a lot of the guys that I invite here to present are very good with their time. They love answering questions, whether it's an event like this or through social, they'll take the time to give a realistic answer, not just a three-liner. Yeah, that's a great tip. And I agree, you know, we...

You had a great mentor. I kind of cut my teeth on learning this on my own because back then there weren't a lot of people teaching how to call. Nobody I knew knew how to call elk. And I think spending...

you know, a year in the elk woods with you or somebody that knew what they were doing would have greatly reduced that. But I wouldn't trade it for the world because I got to learn all the wrong ways not to do the thing as well. But yeah, finding a mentor, I think is a great tip because, I mean, you're going to learn whatever that person's learned over the last 20, 30 years in one year. And then you're going to see how it's done. You're going to see an approach versus you out there randomly guessing, like, is this when I'm supposed to do this? Or this magazine article said I should probably do this here. Well, we grew up in an era where there weren't podcasts, right? And there is...

so much great information in these podcasts now. And so even without a mentor, you can really cut the curve by listening to these, these, um, you know, these podcasts that are dedicated to tips and tactics and strategies and things like that. Um, geez, there's videos where you can learn a lot. If you pay attention to what they're actually doing in there, I got a lot of people that show up to these events and, um, they've got a lot of their information from just that podcast, social media, um,

And they're pretty sharp. They don't have the experience, but that'll come, but they have the gist on how to do it. And that's a great starting point. So maybe they don't get that, uh, that crusty old seven-year-old elk hunter mentor like I got, but, uh,

These days, we're blessed to have all this free information for folks that they can have really at their fingertips. Yep, yep. And then just going out and implementing it, which the mentor kind of shows you how to implement it versus reading it or hearing it. And then it's going out and putting it to use and making it work for you. Well, I really appreciate having you, Ryan. We'll let you get back to the Western Hunting Summit. And we're about ready to hike our butts up 2,000 feet up a mountain. This is going to be fun. Yeah, we're excited.

uh, taking off here in about 30 minutes, hiking up to the top, a couple thousand feet of vertical camping. And then we're 3d shooting our way down tomorrow. This is where this whole, like get in shape, not in shape is going to come back to bite me, but we'll be fine. It's only 90 degrees. No, no, it shouldn't be bad. It'll be good. So I appreciate you having me, Jason. Thanks everybody for tuning in. Um,

Before I forget, where can people find out more? I know Hunt Harvest Health, Stealthy Hunter, let people know how to get a hold of you. Yeah, so many ways, I guess. Western Hunting Summit, we got a website there. But then, yeah, Stealthy Hunter on the old IG. And then Hunt Harvest Health, we got a website over there where my wife does a lot with food and health and all the things. And then we got our podcast as well, same thing, Hunt Harvest Health. Perfect. Well, I appreciate having you, Ryan. Let's go get our bags packed and get ready to hike uphill. Excited. All right, thank you. Let's do it.

Hey, we're going to take a little break here and talk about interstate batteries. Now, if you're like me, enjoying the great outdoors, you need gear that is as reliable as it gets. That's why I power my adventures with interstate batteries. I use interstate batteries in my boats. I use interstate batteries in my camper. Great for your truck, too. From Alaska to Montana, they're outrageously dependable.

Battery is essential. With over 150,000 dealer locations, finding one is easy. For all your vehicles, land or sea, choose Interstate. Head to interstatebatteries.com and find your power today. You ever get that feeling, the walls closing in, the concrete jungle suffocating you? You crave some wide open spaces, the chance to connect with nature, maybe in a spot all your own. Well, head over to land.com.

They've got ranches, forests, mountains, streams, you name it. Search by acreage. You can search by location. You can search by the kind of hunting and fishing you're dreaming of. Land.com. It is where the adventure begins.