The Hunting Stories Podcast
The Hunting Stories Podcast
Ep 099 The Hunting Stories Podcast: Aron Snyder
Aaron Snyder of Kifaru, a seasoned adventurer with a heart forged in the great outdoors, joins us for a fireside chat brimming with wild escapades and profound wisdom. Celebrating our 99th episode—a testament to the journey we've all been on together—we traverse the emotional terrain of hunting, encountering the raw edge where nature meets human spirit. Aaron doesn't hold back as he shares his riveting experiences, from confronting the perils of a boulder field with a dislocated rib to the joys and pains of bow hunting that have shaped his incredible journey from a military man to a connoisseur of survival.
Imagine drawing your bowstring back quietly, eyes locked on a mule deer, heart pounding in the stillness of the forest; Aaron brings these moments to life with vivid tales of hunts that test the limits of both traditional and compound bow equipment. The episode is also a sanctuary for candid discussions on controversial topics like predator hunting in British Columbia, where ethics and conservation intersect with the primal dance of hunter and prey. Each story peels back a layer of the hunter's psyche, exposing the inherent challenges and the ceaseless pursuit of personal growth through nature's unforgiving lessons.
As we wrap up this episode with Aaron, it's not just about the hunts but the growth that comes from them. The tales of early overconfidence, the trials of extreme weather, and the unwavering determination in the face of missed opportunities are as much a reflection of life as they are of hunting. We're not just recounting stories; we're sharing a part of ourselves, inviting listeners to connect through the universal language of the wilderness. So, as you listen, remember that each journey into the wild is our own, and together, we're writing the stories that define us.
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Howdy folks and welcome to the hunting stories podcast.
Speaker 1:As usual, we have a phenomenal episode for you today in fact, today is episode 99 technically episode 100 if you count in the bonus episode but we got a great guest, someone that I respect a lot in the industry. Today we're hearing stories from Aaron Snyder of Kavaru. So first off, I want to thank Aaron for coming on the podcast. He's a very busy guy. I think I actually grabbed him right before he disappeared for a few months into the backcountry, so pretty happy that we were able to connect. So thank you, aaron, again, for coming on the podcast and sharing some of your favorite stories to listeners.
Speaker 1:There's one more week to enter our contest. Please do that. Check out our Instagram. Yeah, let's get this thing kicked off, man. Let's let Aaron tell you some of his stories. All right, aaron, welcome to the Hunting Stories Podcast. Brother, how are you? I'm good. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, man, it's a pleasure to have you here. I know we've been trying to get this thing scheduled for a while. I think the day that you first committed to it, you fell and broke your ribs or something like that. Is that what happened?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I dislocated a rib and separated the meat between the ribs and then I had a blood pocket between my um, my chest plate, my, my heart, I guess, um, which sounds probably quite worse than it was, but it wasn't good. And then I was going to British Columbia to to work up there for five, six weeks, so I was trying to get that healed up before I left. But there's actually a video they did after the fall where I was kind of rolling around like an idiot, which, uh, yeah, good to have friends like that. Yeah, those are. I was kind of rolling around like an idiot which, uh, yeah, good to have friends like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those are the best kind of friends. What? What like did you just? Were you climbing something Like? How'd you? How did you actually hurt?
Speaker 2:yourself. Nah, we had. We had big packs, or I say big, I mean they were like 50 pounds. But we were at a Boulder field beside the lake and we were leaving and uh, one Boulder rolled over and not a big deal. Hop to the next boulder, that one rolled. Hop to the next one, that one rolled. And you know, just increasing momentum. Um, and then, when the last one rolled, I just couldn't correct, snap my feet enough to get onto the next one and I just uh, basically impaled my right, you know, my heart into a football like cone boulder. You know the boulder was a stop sign but the top of it was like that. I was actually overall pretty lucky. I could have, if one arm wouldn't have caught to do kind of a push-up. I probably would have broken my orbital orbital or my nose or something, because my face just grazed a rock when I was able to push off.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, those Boulderfields are brutal. I know your buddy, chris Rowe. I had him on the podcast and he told a story about jumping into Boulderfields and was just like what the hell am I doing? It felt like he was going to die all of a sudden. But let's take a quick step back, aaron. Why don't you introduce yourself so that people know who they're going to be hearing some stories from today.
Speaker 2:So my name is Aaron Snyder. I'm originally from Oregon, actually, but I was in the Army for a little while and I ended up getting out of the Army in Colorado and stayed there for a while. After I got out of the Army I left and then I came back. So since about 2006,. I'd lived in Colorado until about two years ago where I moved myself and the company Cafaro International to Wyoming. So I'm also part owner of Cafaro International.
Speaker 2:Um backpack company. We make backpacks and outdoor gear. Uh, I have a podcast as well and photography. I do quite a bit of survival and long-term sustainment training. Um, I'm in the woods a lot. I hunt with a recurve and a compound. Occasionally I'll pick up a gun, maybe once or twice or one, probably once a year. Um, but yeah, pretty much stick to bow hunting and uh, yeah, yeah, I just love being outdoors. Um, I really like hunting and got as I gotten older I've kind of slowed I say slowed down on the hunting. I'm still hunting a lot, but I'm helping, trying to help, more than I used to be. When I say help, you know, help others, you know, kind of fulfill their dreams, teach them things like that.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, man. If you had to guess how many days in the woods did you get last season?
Speaker 2:Oh shit, dude, I was guiding stone sheep and mountain goat for six weeks alone. So, um, you know, I mean I'd be like 100 and something and that was a slow year. You know, I mean honestly my knees have caught up with me a little.
Speaker 2:My left knee's got a little bit arthritis, so I kind of have to pick and choose now, but there for a while it was 150 to 200 nights a year, um and um. Now it's businesses and everything. I can't complain, I still am out there a ton, but it's definitely more selective. I don't, uh, I don't do anything stupid anymore and I'm not 50 yet, but I'm real close and when I say stupid I really I don't go do things for no reason where there's nothing wrong with that, and so I might hike to a place that has little probability of animals, but it just looks cool on the map, where now it's like eh, maybe it has animals, maybe not. Probably not going to head there. Going to go to the spots I know have animals first.
Speaker 1:Yeah, nope, that makes a lot of sense, man, that makes a lot of sense. And yeah, you probably have hunted more in a year than I have in my entire hunting career. So, yeah, the fact that that's your bringing it back, you know, settling in to your late 40s here, that's pretty awesome. But, man, let's just jump right into it. I know you have a limited amount of time, so why don't we set the stage for the first story? I don't know if you have one particularly in mind, but let's jump into it.
Speaker 2:All right, I was thinking about this. Like you said, it's just hunting stories and starting like really you know young, you know I started out at birth hunting, but probably the most pivotal portions of hunting for me was when I switched over to a stick bow.
Speaker 2:You know, I had to really learn how to hunt really and and you know, I I picked this stick bow up almost on like a bet more or less, to like to prove a point that I could do it without technology, and and I did it. But I was definitely using technology heavily to my advantage with the compound and it shot a lot of animals at a far, far distance away. So I would say, like with uh, that first year was probably like some of the more memorable hunts, because I say the first year, the first few years, because it just took so much more effort to to get an animal and so yeah uh, I would say probably one of the first ones was uh, I was with frank peralta.
Speaker 2:he used to work for Cafaro and we were in a burn and I can't remember. I think I spotted the deer. He might have spotted the deer Either way. We bedded the deer down. It's quite a ways away and it was you know from where he was and where I was. It was a huge loop around. It was actually to the point hike back out to the car drive and then, hike back into the deer.
Speaker 2:Does that make sense? Yeah, I've done that before, you know. I got lost a couple of times. Not lost, but I stalked the wrong rock a couple of times, thinking it was everything in a burn. Looked, looks the same, and I'm kind of abbreviating this story. But when I finally found the deer, uh, it was a miracle it was still there because, therefore, I had to lay down for 20 minutes to let some does pass before I even got there. The second time I stalked the wrong rock. I'd lost my shoes for four or five minutes trying to find them, put them back on. So when I finally got to the deer, while the story really sounds cool, because I shot it at just a few feet away, it was kind of a uh, can I cuss? Yeah, yeah, because I'm only one man, kind of a clusterfuck, right.
Speaker 2:I mean really, yeah, the end of the story makes you sound like a superhero, but everything up until that point I was kind of fucked up because I've getting lost, stalking the wrong rock and everything else. So when I finally found you know, it's tines or whatever um, it was one of those things where I was like holy cow, I'm not, I can't, I'm gonna have to wait and try to shoot this thing when it stands. In it will I, will I even be able to see it when it stands, because I could barely see the tops of its tines from this rock. It's like maybe 20 yards away, and so we're getting pretty good wind gusts and frank was across maybe 600 yards, 800 yards, however far, a thousand yards, um, and so every time the wind blew, I just took a step, took a step. Well, it got to a point I'm like hell, I'm gonna be feet from this thing, I'm not gonna be able to shoot it.
Speaker 2:So I got to the boulder it was bedded below and uh, yeah, and I got on top of that boulder and my broadhead was pretty much even with its horns when I drew back and I mean, I don't know, I would say it was about five feet away, but yeah, I mean, it was a body length away, a human body length you ever take.
Speaker 2:So you know, and in that it may not that's an unprobably it may have been a little bit closer than that, um, yeah, but yeah, I shot it, um straight down at a few feet away and that was like my first mule deer with the stick bow, my second big game animal I've been getting my butt kicked a honey elk, and so that was like a not really didn't make give me a warm and fuzzy on shooting ability, but definitely stalking ability, and I was just thinking, wow, this is, you know, getting that close to something. And it was. It was, you know, it's a three and a half year old deer and honestly I probably age wise, a deer that I probably normally, you know, maybe wanted to shoot a four-year-old, but three and a half year old deer.
Speaker 1:I was super excited, um, not a bad, just happy to get that first, first natural, or that first kill with that bow, right, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just, the whole thing was insane and uh, so you know that that kind of transitioned I got, I got that animal on the ground and you know not, another week later I ended up going on elk or going back elk hunting and got my, my elk and I think it's just you have to work so much harder for stuff with that stick bow. That's one of the more memorable hunts. Yeah, for stuff with that stick bow. That's one of the more memorable hunts. Yeah, well, how far did that deer run? Or did you just pin it to the ground and it was? Did it expire right there?
Speaker 2:Nah, I probably made it 50 yards. Um, it wasn't the most ethical shot, I would say because of the angle that you know, some people would probably poopoo on the shot, but it ran about 50 yards and actually blood squirted out of it and hit me in the leg and the broadhead actually drug, um on my my leg, my cuff of my boot, uh, leg, like you know, low when it ran off, sticking out of it. So like when it took off the arrow was like sticking out. It actually had hit my my leg and cut away.
Speaker 1:So yeah, it was pretty god, that could have been real bad if it had gotten you a little bit higher and actually connected with your leg. Man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean honestly, I had shit running down both legs already, like to make all of that happen. I was pretty jacked through, I probably wouldn't have felt it. Anyway, I was pretty jacked through the roof, so that's awesome man.
Speaker 1:That's a cool story. Yeah, I've heard that story, and wasn't it just like social media people basically giving you shit for being so lethal with a compound bow that they're like you couldn't do it with a stick bow and that's you know? You said it was a bet, but wasn't it just people giving you grief online or something like that?
Speaker 2:yeah, on my emails online. Um, yeah, you know that that someone like myself would never be able to kill anything or like a levi morgan or pick a name, um, with a stick bow, because we use technology to our advantage, which you know in reality. That's true. I mean, I had to re, I had to learn, I had to relearn a lot of things on how to be quiet, really closing the distance inside of 40 yards and, um, you know, things that I never even thought about with the compound noise wise became real, real, important with that stick bow.
Speaker 1:I bet man, how long did you stick with a stick bow before you started going back and forth between compound and stick?
Speaker 2:So I went to the next year, which is probably my next story. I went to the compound in 17 and that lasted a few months. And then I shot into 2017, 19, 20, 21 yeah, in 21 with a with a stick bow and didn't really go back and forth other than doing some gear testing. And then the last, the last year, so I shot a compound two years, I guess and then recently just picked up a stick bow.
Speaker 2:Again, the way my brain works, I have to constantly be challenged right. I have to, whether that's setting up ultra long range compounds right, or or getting super close, my brain just has to be having fun. And that may be a massive change from one weapon to another. But but you know, on that note, I was with a guy in in, uh, alberta the next year and this was kind of a pivotal. I went back to a compound, I'd shot a big mountain, I'd shot a bunch of stuff for the compound, big mountain goats and deer, whatever.
Speaker 2:And I was in alberta and had, you know, I was hunting with a guy that had a stick boat, um, and at good hunters killed a bunch of shit. He owns an arrow company. It's Brian Broderick, he owns an arrow company and he, that day I had been dropped off with a dude stalked in, found some deer, jumped the deer up on purpose to get them out of these cattails, ran out to like 88 yards, shot the deer first, stalk, killed it. Kind of anticlimactic and pretty much what everybody said. You, you know, use technology to my advantage. And then later that day, uh, broderick snuck in on top of a of a buck and killed it at I don't know 10, 12 yards. Um, I was far, far more excited from that. You know, hunt and I was the stick or the compound and uh, you know it was one of those things that deer were bedded, then they were moving. We got ahead of them and uh broderick got where they walked right below him and uh made a great shot, heart shot it. Deer did run actually quite a ways for a heart shot. I was surprised.
Speaker 2:But uh and uh, I was just at that point I pretty much knew like, yeah, I'm going back to the stick bow, like this is, this is high, high intensity, and even now I'll go, I'll just. I mean, I'm probably going to hunt with both every now and then, um, but it's, it's definitely more rewarding, um, with the stick bow, but it's also a lot easier with the compound. And I'm not getting any younger. So you know weighing it out whatever my brain thinks that day. Yeah, with the stick bow, but it's also a lot easier with the compound. I'm not getting any younger, so you know, weighing it out whatever my brain thinks that day yeah right, I'm not a good enough at a compound bow to even, uh, do just that.
Speaker 1:I'll bring a rifle whenever I can because I'm an opportunity hunter, just because I got to get the hang of this shit, because I'm so new to it. But, uh, you said something about the, the heart shot and how far it ran. I was hunting, actually, the episode after this. We're going to tell this story because it's a memory podcast of my father-in-law who passed away, but my brother-in-law shot an elk with a .50 caliber muzzleloader, liquefied the heart. When we gutted it, the heart was just like a globular mess, basically, and it stood on its feet for 40 minutes. It was absolutely insane. Without how, how, without their pump station, they can just survive so long, man, it's crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean he made a good shot but it smoked it out of there 150 yards on a dead run, which is, I mean, pretty pretty far. I mean, yeah, I don't, the more you get to the hunt, the more you see, the more I don't know. Just the more experience you have. And I'm lucky enough, I guide as well. So I, you know, I'm shooting a lot of animals a year, plus I'm guiding. So usually if we're hunting and I'm guiding you and you hit an animal, I'm going to say liver, lung, artery, hit the ass, guts, small intestine we got. I mean, I'm going to tell you probably what's going to happen, what we're going to do every now and then you're just wrong.
Speaker 2:You know, like heart shot we're good, wrong, you know. So those I mean you never. You never know what's going to happen, but generally most of the time you know you hit an animal like that, it's going to go down fairly quickly. What's what's really crazy is there's been a couple times this year, specifically a buddy of mine that's in virginia beach I was with ryan rotier and him and rotier and he were went on a stock and he shot a deer.
Speaker 2:It went 800 yards on a double lung legitimate found the deer, I was on the spotter with joseph and jerry shaw we're watching it and it's it's booking it and I thought he missed joseph's. Like no, I see blood dude. And I'm like well, he fucks up man, it's not good. And it ran so far when it finally died. I literally this was one of those pivotal moments in my brain where I didn't want to say anything. We were shooting a specific broadhead we had really good luck with and this was the fourth or third weird thing that had happened with this broadhead. To a point I didn't say anything. I ran down, started dragging the deer. They met me and then rotier and I later were like what in the hell is going on? Like this is the third or fourth, like what the hell? Like what the fuck moment? Um, and that, uh, you know that can happen bow hunting. You just don't want it to happen, I guess yeah, was that a mechanical or a fixed?
Speaker 1:mechanical yeah, interesting, man, that's interesting. Yeah, yeah, no, I'm not successful enough to have too many animals run off on me. I've actually just got my first archery kill this season and uh, shot a bull and he ran about 100 yards, died in about 30 seconds. It was great, so pretty, pretty happy with that. But but I I know it's inevitable before I either got shot and lose one or just run. So far, you know, hopefully I'm able to find it, but that's just the nature of the beast, right?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, and I mean on the mechanical broadhead. You know, fixed blade, fixed blade thing I can. It's weird, you know. You just hear what you want to and believe what you want to. And it's like I can give you a hundred reasons not to shoot a mechanical and I can give you a hundred not to shoot a fixed blade. It's really what is most important and confident you're confident in because people will hear that story like, yeah, we can't, even aaron said it mechanicals. And I'm like, okay, well, let's talk about the client before that didn't tune his arrow and missed the fucking deer and shot it right in the ass, cheek, because the flight was bad.
Speaker 1:Like you got to keep it fair, like you want to get good info out to everyone I agree, I agree, man, but uh, we're not here to give info, we're here just to tell some fun hunting stories. So, uh, what else you got?
Speaker 2:you got another one for us yeah, uh man, I would say uh in, uh in alberta, that same, that same year, um and uh mule deer, same thing I. I had uh again, this was my first season with a stick bow and I was having some good success, but still maybe questioning like, am I good enough to keep getting this done, like whatever. And um ended up, uh, we had hunted three or four days, um, I had missed a really good, not a big scoring deer, but like an eight-year-old, seven-year-old, three by three, like big, massive deer and a lot of coolies a a lot like Eastern Colorado rolling hills.
Speaker 2:And yeah, we were out looking for another deer and Brian I think it was Brian had spotted two mule deer across the canyon, maybe a mile away. We went back and met him midday, looped way around on these two deer and it's hard to explain but you basically have like kind of rounded ridges or rounded spurs and then you'll have spur draw, spur draw. Where anyway, where these cuts are, they're out of the wind and it's shaded, they're protected, and so it was on kind of one of these cuts and there was two bucks and they were both in the 170 180 range, like good sized deer. I snuck in, uh, on top of them and I was a good stock, I was doing pretty good. I did step on a cactus, which wasn't cool.
Speaker 2:Um, I got above where I knew both deer were and I could not see one of the deer, but I could. The one I ended up killing I could see. So the one I was what's ended up killing was like when I first saw it was 58 or 54, it was. It was farther than I could hit it and so but I knew the other one was more than most likely 12 to 20 yards below me, but I couldn't see it in a cut bank. So I'm'm like looking left, looking right, looking left, and I just I could not see that closer buck. Well, I thought, well, I'm going to, I'm going to back out and then loop back in and get closer to this other buck and hopefully not blow the buck below out. So it's super technical, just blowing the other deer out. It's not good either. I should just trying to get closer to the other one, not blow that one out. So anyway, I loop back in and I come in right above it at 40 yards. I say right above it.
Speaker 2:Well, like an idiot, I go to draw my bow and my feathers, brushed my pant leg and it's loud, it's. And immediately it was like are you fuck me running? Like are you stupid? And the buck I was going to shoot head starts twitching and there is enough wind to mask some of that. So I'm just like lock it up, like don't move, let him come back down. It seemed like an eternity. He finally comes back down, puts his head forward. I still cannot see the buck below me.
Speaker 2:Well, brian, who's watching from across the canyon, he can't see the deer I'm gonna shoot, but he can see the deer that I can't see and I can see the deer he can't see, and vice versa. So I draw back and it was right at 40 yards like my point on distance, which is a pretty far shot for a stick and all he sees is an arrow with three giant, five inch yellow, chartreuse feathers launch over the top of the deer. He thinks I'm going to shoot. He can't even see the other deer right now. So, okay, yeah, he thinks I just choked my ass off right. So, boom, I hit the one basically bedded away, kind of cornering, in front of the rear quarter, downward angle, probably went in somewhat at the front or the head side of the tenderloin. So front side of the tenderloin down. And so I'm thinking, okay, I've got definitely liver, guts, maybe a lung. That deer's dead. It blows out of there and runs.
Speaker 2:And the deer in alberta it's tougher than deer I've ever seen runs probably 400 yards straight back, about half of its body covered in blood and it literally it's going up a draw and it looks back and, uh, it's one of the weirdest things like looks back, like glaring like at me, like who just did this shit to me, and then just walks up this draw. Well, I'm with jeff and I'm like jacked up pretty good, but he and he can tell that. So he's like, look, I'll drive around to where the deer we I just saw you walk, see if you can see anything. Mostly, you know, to get me to burn some energy. So I get over there and I can see blood, good blood, where I and I hit it with a two and a half inch tree shark, or a two and a quarter inch cutting diameter tree shark, so a fixed blade that looks like an axe, right.
Speaker 2:Um, so I I get to the top of the hill and I'm like, look left, look right, I'm trying to figure out where this deer may have gone and I can't see it. And I had told jeff I'll just wait for you Once I get there, don't blow it out. Well, I didn't know that deer was just feet away from me, bedded when it got to the top of that hill and I didn't know. So I wasn't making like a ton of noise. But you know, I got up there and sat down because I couldn't see it. I had, well, it had gotten, um, it had got out of there when I had first got to the top. Well, all I can hear when I'm at the top glassing is this, and I'm thinking it's, it's, it's brian trying to get over the fence, like you know, and I'm like dude you know be quiet man and uh, you know, and I'm like saying be quiet, like later.
Speaker 2:I'm like jesus, dude, shut up. Well, no, it wasn't, it was the deer trying to get under the fence. So I see brian coming to me and he's pointing, and the deer was trying to go under a fence but it had an arrow sticking out of it so it wasn't doing great right, and so I was like holy cow. So, anyway, that deer and it was definitely, it was crazy because it was stomach and liver how tough it was and it ended up betting four times in a row, coming out of that draw, going to the top, booking it, doing a giant, giant bootleg, or or, or button hook back to whatever you want to call it, where I had originally shot it, and I ended up just getting lucky.
Speaker 2:You know, uh, jeff went and met up with me and he was like hey, you, you fucked up, you blew the deer out, but go find it and kill it, don't screw this up again, like all right, cool, you know, like semi-serious in my lap. So I got lucky. The first coulee, I looked in he was bedded there in some tall grass and I, low, crawled up and I put another arrow in him at I don't, whatever it was 48, 38, whatever it was yards he stood up looking at me and I just buried it in his chest and then uh, tipped over and ended up being one of my largest uh mule deer. So it's pretty crazy story that's so crazy.
Speaker 1:So how far? When you got to the top and you started glassing, how far was he from you? He's from like where I blew him out from yeah, yeah, when you were like you didn't realize what the noise was 50 oh.
Speaker 2:So when he first had bedded which I didn't know, he was like feet from where I sat down to glass. He was just a few feet over in a big cut right. So when I say cut, there's a lots of like terrace, stair-step, shale type, I guess it'd be limestone kind of rock, and he had bedded just not far away. So as I went up there he took off and I saw him probably 200 yards down in the bottom how far he was when he was hitting that fence.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I probably killed him 450 yards farther away than that. So by the time I said that he had almost went a mile with a two and a quarter inch fixed blade broadhead going through him.
Speaker 2:And you know, when you tell like I mean, we all tell hunting stories and some of them get exaggerated. Some of these stories I probably should exaggerate a little more Like this was truly, like all of this was like to me, like how is this deer still living? I hit it literally. If you've seen a tree shark, it's as wide as a copenhagen lid and is tall, probably taller, and I was shooting a 590 grain arrow and the reason like to me it's like, okay, I missed the artery by the tenderloin, but I definitely hit some small large intestine or some stomach, maybe some small large intestine, definitely liver, you know, and some other goodies. And it wasn't like when I first hit him I blew him out. He just ran four to 600 yards, whatever it was, across the canyon. So it's pretty, pretty crazy. So, yeah, that that was definitely one of those memorable memorable stories, so that's crazy.
Speaker 1:I'm surprised with the cut that big and how far he ran, that he didn't like open up more and just like start having his guts fall out he did.
Speaker 2:It's probably 150, maybe, maybe a little over that white tail, and I hit him, um, with a big mechanical and uh, dude, I, I mean it ran straight across because I was in a big field so it couldn't just bed down in this field, right, it had to get the trees, you know tails spinning in circles, helicopter, and it's not to me, it's not giving the stomach vibe, it's given the liver vibe, it's got its head up a little bit more.
Speaker 2:So I'm like, all right, this thing's done, like dinner, no problem. And uh, we didn't find that deer and it we found it later piled up on a fence 800 yards from where we were at Now. We bumped it, I bumped it, we went out that night cause we didn't want coyotes to get it trying to do the right thing. So we waited quite a while, went out real late at night, just pulled the truck over there, came in with headlamps where we saw it go in, didn't find it, came back out next morning. Scotty found blood. We bumped it and that deer went a long ways with a two inch hole in and out through and through. So it's pretty amazing what those.
Speaker 1:I don't think people realize what a animal can do when it wants to do it yeah, it's like you see those, uh, those video or the video pictures online of like deer that are just like missing giant chunks of their back and they're just chugging along, man, just just living.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it'll definitely wake you up to when you're feeling like good about a blood trail, of like we should find this one. Look at the blood trail. I don't ever get my hopes up anymore, cause you'll just be let down Once you've seen what they can do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, yeah, well, crazy that's those are. There's a fun little uh second story. I added on that one. But what else, man, we're just keep going. I know I'm running out of time with you, so I want to get as many in as we can I'd say probably.
Speaker 2:Oh, I shot a mountain lion, a lynx, a bobcat and a and a wolf in three days of hunting up in bc with no shit.
Speaker 2:Uh, he's a guy I do, I help him out, uh, guiding off and on, good friend of mine. Uh, he owns guides, eye outfitters amazing area where he guides. So I went up there with him and it's with hounds and you know, there's not the hounds do all the work in the houndsman, right, like I don't. Um, I mean it looks cool the photos with me, you know, behind the animal. But I didn't do shit, right, I just hit the animal that the dogs and the houndsmen do everything.
Speaker 2:But we, uh, I didn't realize you know how many links were up there and uh, you know, the first first links we we went after was just, I mean I'm I never looking at it in the tree and it's just, and I mean it's in a tree, it's not going anywhere, and I'm still like nervous a little bit. It's like dude, calm down. So I ended up I just posted a photo of this a couple posts ago where I'm at full draw and you can see if you zoom in the links up in the tree ended up being a monster. You know links. Um, well, I say a monster, good size links. Another day later shot a kaya or, excuse me, shot a bobcat. That was really hard because that was like a 40 yard shot. It was on a cliff and then it was way in the very top of a tree out off of the cliff.
Speaker 2:So I'm like launching arrows, whatever it took five shots to kill the fucking thing, uh, and then shot, uh, the next day ended up, no, two days later, so it was four days, because the next day we were on a giant cat. We ended up walking a long freaking ways, didn't get on the cat, got dark and the next day Bart's like I think I know where this cat's going to be, so ended up getting on that cat giant Tom, and I mean one of the larger Tom's ever shot with a recurve, which is cool, and I say that I never had it professionally scored, so I shouldn't say that really. I mean technically to like the, the kind of the stuck up, uh, the the pope and young boone and crockett people, you should never say that if you didn't get it scored.
Speaker 1:So it is a really big cat, uh, whatever it's worth from the people you were with that see a lot of cats. They're like that's a big ass cat.
Speaker 2:That's the score, you got Throw a quick tape on it or whatever. So, uh, you know, I'm like in hog heaven and we're like, well, dude, like let's try to shoot the four or five you know, which means also a wolf and a coyote, which, honestly, the stick bow is almost impossible. So, um, driving down the road and we were by a big ranch that borders his property, uh, there was a dead cow carcass there. Pack of wolves took off. I had forgot, I had missed the alpha, which bart reminded me of this year. I just remember making the glorious shot. I just don't remember missing the alpha male. So I literally rolled out of the truck, like jumped out of the truck while I was driving, threw a round in and you know this is out like in the middle of nowhere. So go to get a beat on it. Can't run up a little bit? Drop down, shoot twice. I guess I don't even remember missing twice. That's how pumped up I was. And then the ones like lined out and I mean it was still a hundred and some pounds, not I mean it was a big cat, you could, or a big dog, you can see. I mean it's I don't those 150 pound wolf stories. I mean I hate to see what that would look like, because this one was probably 115 pounds, maybe 120, and giant and you know I'm shooting a 308, I think is what the it was and just threw the crosshairs above its dome, canoed it, hit it right in the back of the head, blind, shithouse luck, rolled it and bart's like freaking out. He's like fucking rolled it, dude. And uh, so we went, which I ended up. That was the same gun that I shot my grizzly with. I was trying to shoot a grizzly with a stick bow, couldn't get it done and they were going to ban the grizzly hunting, so I grabbed a rifle, which I didn't mind, but I ended up shooting my grizzly and that wolf with the same rifle.
Speaker 2:Now, and the one thing like that, that is not one of those stories. That is, I didn't do anything like heroic, I did. There was no death defying, that was just cool to watch dogs work, predators with a good houndsman. And then also a learning lesson for me of you know, to remind people that look, predator hunting, specifically lions and lynx and bobcats and wolves need to be monitored and hunted, because there's we had like lions eating lynxes and lynxes eating lynxes. I mean there was like, like you know that we were up there that entire time. I never saw moose, saw wolves, saw mountain lions, links, bobcats and never, never saw moose.
Speaker 1:So it's a little bit scary, but yeah, that's the future of colorado right now. Right, they're trying to get all the the cats banned from hunting um question about a lynx. I'm really not even very familiar how. How big is the lynx compared to a bob cat and a cougar like? Where does it fit in between?
Speaker 2:so, uh, I mean, I wouldn't even compare it to a cougar because a cougar is, like you know, 100 to 100. You know, I mean a big cougar is 150 plus pounds, where a big lynx is like 35 pounds, I'd say okay, got it.
Speaker 1:So it's a small little cat, all man. Yeah, that's an amazing story of you know killing that many critters in such a short span of time. I can imagine that'd be a pretty memorable thing for you, especially trying to complete the whole set there. Did you get a coyote or no?
Speaker 2:No, I missed one and I get reminded of that a lot, with the running left to right, just basically winging bullets at it. Um, I mean, some people might say that's and it's a fucking coyote who gives a shit. So I was like winging bullets out of it on a dead run with a 30 mile an hour crosswind, trying to to hit one. It was 150 yards away. Um, yeah, I think, like some of the hunting stories and and I've you know, there's a few people that like somebody's always saying something about I don't, I mean I've just been lucky, right. I mean when I say that, meaning people are, oh, did he fabricate a story? Did he? Whatever, I've just been really lucky Like the cats.
Speaker 2:I didn't go up there and like rub two sticks together and say, like the lions I mean the dogs were there. I was just lucky enough to be there in the pieces fall in the right place the Wolverine I shot, I think, like the third person to ever do that. Of course I had to hit the wolverine, but I mean it just was one of those things where we were up on top looking for mountain goats on a mountain goat hunt. The two gots range. I looked down at first I thought it was two wolf pups and I was like, are those wolves? They stood up and and uh, the je and Jeff said, dude, those are wolverines. And I'm like, can I put my goat tag on one of those? And we made a phone call on a sat phone. In the time we found out and made sure it was legal, they'd went away. I'm like, well, it's a sign I shouldn't do it. They came back and ended up shooting that thing at 9, 10, 12 yards, whatever, super close.
Speaker 1:And I mean super close, um, you know, and I mean just blind, just a horseshoe in my ass, like you know I wasn't explaining putting the goat tag on it for me, like that's something I've never even heard, like idaho.
Speaker 2:Does this? A lot of states do a few states. Do it you any, any? You can put your tag on anything and love lesser about you that's in season. So if you got a goat tag you could put it on a bear, you could put on a caribou or whatever say anything.
Speaker 1:So if you had a moose tag and you ran into an elk, you could kill it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, elk's not a good, probably, example because it's in Alaska and there are not very many around there. But yes, and I think Paul Schaefer's buddy and I can't remember his name was the person before before me to do it, and he put a moose tag on a wolverine uh, okay I think it's the story.
Speaker 2:And then jordan jonas, a good friend of mine, on alone. Yeah, you know? No, he killed his with an axe, right he? He pinned it to the ground with a stick and then cut the shit out of it with an axe while I was still growling at him.
Speaker 1:So, jesus christ, yeah I need to have that guy on the fucking podcast yeah, yeah, if you want, I'll give you his numbers.
Speaker 2:Fucking super cool dude. Um, you know a lot. Like I said, it's just the right place, right time. And being out there, you know being willing to, you know to go some of the craziest shit that's ever happened to me. I like a mule deer I killed in in colorado. You know I hunted like 13, 14 days on a backpack hunt. You know, got my ass kicked right, I mean horribly beaten like just one blown stock missed, shot after another and then hiked out, then came back in and you know, I mean I ended up spotting these deer. I can't remember if I spotted. Yeah, I think I don't know if I spotted, or frank did, um, I think I spotted him. Frank's stomach was fucked up so I'm pretty sure that I had spotted. But either way, I went over there, stalked in.
Speaker 2:It was so steep my feet blew through the front of my socks coming down to get on top of them and these are the things like you know, when people like like, the reality is they just remember, if they want to, what made you sound really good, and if they don't like you, they'll remember what make you look really bad. Right so?
Speaker 2:and both of those things happened on this one, my first shot I shot. It was bedded right in its armpit, missed it and clipped a branch and it jumped out of its bed with sleep, face asleep, face down, out asleep. Yeah, jumps up and he starts to because I, you know, sound like a bird probably to him, woke him up out of his sleep. He kind of started scratching. I'm like he's going to bed down again, I'm going to kill him. And I mean my calves were shaking it's steeper than shit. And he smelled that arrow, he, he smelled that arrow. He didn't like that and walked right under me and I couldn't see him. Frank is watching. He thinks I can see him. Frank's about to kill me. You know he's like just shoot, dude, look down, look down. Where I can't see, he comes out. And then I, I ended up pinwheeling him and killing what ended up being an eight and a half year old, the big, massive, three by three. You know great story. The reality is I got my ass whooped for 15 days, missed an opportunity and finally killed it.
Speaker 2:The biggest thing is just don't just don't stop right, just just keep going. And that's the same thing with anything. If you're just, you got to be out there. You have to be out there, um, you know, to get to make for crazy things to happen. They don't happen from your couch. You just got to get out there and get after it.
Speaker 2:And and also don't stop when I say like shit is going to not go right, a lot like whether it's me you starting out in bow hunting. It doesn't just fall into place. It certainly didn't for me. I mean, it took a while to get it figured out. But if you keep going, you're learning every time, staying positive. And if you especially if you assess what went wrong and recalibrate and go back in there just again, just get out there and don't quit and stay positive. And I've had a blessed life. I could literally tell stories and tell tomorrow of crazy shit that either I shot or or clients that have been with me. Yeah, but bottom line is you know none of them I mean I say none, some of them did, but most of them were a little bit of luck, some skill, staying out there, positive attitude, especially when you miss, or you know rainstorm and your shit's all wet. You're not going to kill anything going home, so you just got to stay out there and make the best of it can't kill them on the couch.
Speaker 1:I know for a fact. I had a bear tag. I think this was 2020. It was like a couple days after. Remember that giant snowstorm that hit in Colorado in 2020 in like September 5th.
Speaker 2:It was fucking in it. Yeah, it sucked. Yeah. Yeah, I was out there too. It was awful.
Speaker 1:And we got on some elk, like that day and the next day. But like days later, I was just I was like this sucks, I'm beating myself up and uh, I'm sitting there hunting with a buddy and he's down this draw and I'm at the opening of the draw and I'm like I just text him. I'm like, hey, I'm gonna go back to camp. I was like I'm not having it, I'm cold, miserable. I'm just I'm feeling beat up. It was like day nine or something for us. Uh, if I had sat there for another 20 minutes, a black bear would have walked by and I had a black bear tag. So it's about being in the woods man. It's like one of the things I regret. Why couldn't I sit there another 30 minutes? And he says it snuck up to like 10 feet behind him, scared the shit out of him because I was supposed to be watching his back. So but either way, you're 100% right.
Speaker 2:It, just getting out there and doing it as much as you can. The one thing like you're bringing up, you bring it bringing up. As far as staying out there, I've really focused or stressed this to different people. If the choice is is going back or building a fire and I don't think I have had really good luck building fires and they're not affecting animals like dude I'll just build a fire because I know guys are like I'm done, I want to. You know that. Fire warm obviously. Then you're going to get warm from getting firewood.
Speaker 2:It's just a little spark of hope, a little bit of motivation. You know you're drying your crap off and it may be in the middle of the day. Winds blowing, it's snowing, it's whatever. You're wet, get under a tree. You can like back, like, pretend like you're a mountain man, get that going, dry your socks off, you shoot the shit, but you're still out there. You're not going back to the tent and and that's like again. That's the most important thing is find a way to stay. Find a way, whatever it takes and whatever you're doing, and it'll pay off I agree, man.
Speaker 1:I've even heard that, like, building a fire, there's something ancestral about it, like we've been doing it for so long and it was such a big point for people that like it's just good for the soul, so like, even if, uh, you're not or drying anything, it's just just getting it done, man.
Speaker 2:So yeah, that's fun.
Speaker 1:Well, aaron, you got any more for us man, or? Uh, do you need to get to your work? Damn, I know you're a busy guy, so I'll listen, as long as you'll tell them I'm not doing.
Speaker 2:I'm getting ready to leave for a while, so I'm not doing shit at work. Really, I got everything pretty much buttoned up yesterday. I'm trying to think like probably when I was the first elk that I had ever shot was pretty crazy. You know, when I say the first elk, the first elk I killed with a bow legally, you know like as a grown-up somewhat.
Speaker 2:And I'm trying to think if it was the first elk, pretty sure it was my first elk. I think it's kind of a blur, but either way I this was like back in the day when Colorado was like really, really good before the winter of 07, 08. Um, you know the the mule deer population changed forever that year, um, and so this was where you could backpack in legitimately, have a good shot at 160 inch mule deer, definitely good shot at a five by five um or bigger. You're going to be into animals. You know the good old days of colorado, and this was in early 2000s and I was not in peak fitness back then. I was kind of a little fat fucker, um, working on getting shit and I had pretty crappy gear.
Speaker 2:I think I had a badlands 45. Not horrible gear, but back then to me that was the bombcom, right. I didn't know what a Kefaro or a Mystery Ranch and I was not a mule deer hunter. Back then, right, I was just a hunter, I wasn't even an elk, I just kind of liked to hunt. But it was just figuring shit out and happened to literally walk into this deer and just happened to not be breathing hard, doing anything stupid, Saw the deer with my backpack ear on. And again, at this time time I actually think I do know what I'm doing and I am the farthest thing from know what I'm doing.
Speaker 2:you know and this is why I try to have patience with people when I'm giving them advice and talking to them, because I remember what it was like for me young and full of dumb, full of cum, piss and vinegar. I fucking know everything. I've shot six animals. I'm. I know it all. Well, that was me back then. Right, I shot some animals, but I didn't know shit, yeah. So, yeah, I shot this deer, got lucky and uh.
Speaker 2:So now I'm like I really am just learning backpack hunting at a higher level, so I'm trying to get the animal out. And again, this is some of the first animals I've shot. Now, it wasn't the first. I'm trying to think this was the first bow kill, I think, or maybe second with an elk with a bow, right, okay, had shot mule deer before, so again, shooting them by the road a little bit easier, right? This is a legit backpack hunt. I have a deer on the ground, still have an elk tag in my pocket, I have some gear and a little bit of knowledge, but not a lot, right? So this was back in the day when I would strap a day pack to the top of my big pack to have a day pack dumb as shit you could ever do, right, and I'm, I'm loaded down anyway, so I get I am not drinking enough water, but I mean I'm, I'm trying, you know know, and I'm poor, so I have like ramen and tuna, like poor man's, you know, mountain house, yeah, and just beat to death. So I have crappy boots on my, my feet are fucked up. I hike the deer out, leave my stuff back there, take the deer to the processor, come back and and again, I'm not in pinnacle fitness, I am, and I'm not that far from the road and so I'm just jacked to the roof. I got this mule deer so I go back in.
Speaker 2:Uh, you know, for for elk, right, and yeah, I again the skill set I had then did I was not deserving of shooting two animals, it was just luck, right, it was like. But it gave me the thought that I actually knew what I was doing, cause I got lucky enough to get them. But I just did not have the. I just I didn't, I didn't have, I've just got lucky, right. So anyway, I'm probably blowing on a freaking hyper lip single or some Primo's call way more than I probably should. Elkrum's and dumber than shit. It was like a five by five, three year old, I'm like at that time shooting some crazy. I think I was shooting a hoist striker two uh with a red line cam, probably 20 at 80 pounds, maybe 90, 23, 15 arrows I would assume um anyway, uh, shot it in the chest, frontal, um and again, this is this is all.
Speaker 2:I'm like, panicking, happy, shaking. Holy shit, did I kill it? Should I even take a frontal shot, which I've taken many since then? But I'm like, oh fuck, I didn't even know what a frontal was to speak up. There was no internet back then. Right, there was. There was no Instagram, youtube, there wasn't. Like, let's go talk shit about frontal shots on some fucked up forum, right, there wasn't. That, there was no. You just kind of figured the shit out, right.
Speaker 2:So I shoot and I'm like, did I miss? You know, I was fucking shaking like crazy and like, so I ended up frontal it. It didn't go very far, I piled up and but now I'm like Jesus, what do I? What the fuck do I do? You know, I never boned an animal. So I mean, this is twenty five, twenty four years ago, whatever, twenty three years ago. And so I again, and I had killed some stuff, and I killed a bunch of whitetail tail, but I just I didn't have that high level experience, right. So I'm trying to like depone this fucking elk. It's fucking dirt and shit all over the meat, right.
Speaker 2:I don't know what I'm doing and I'm like yeah I mean, it looks cannibalism, like big chunks of meat and shit, not not how you're supposed to do it and and get and getting you know, beat up. So then I'm, you know, trying to get it packed out. I get it, I get it packed out. The processor's like what the fuck do you throw this off a cliff? You know, because so it was. It was that. I mean, really, that was one of the more.
Speaker 2:I don't know that I've ever even told that story, because it's pretty embarrassing, but it was one of those times where I really was a wake-up call for me of like, okay, one, I'm not as smart as I think I am, uh.
Speaker 2:Two, I love doing this, I am addicted to this, uh. But three, I got to get better at what I'm doing and really learn the art of of this and and that really kind of kind of pushed me forward into what I'm doing now. And I mean honestly, like if somebody told me that story now and it was someone else I would literally be laughing internally and externally thinking, dude, I know, please listen to me when I try to help you out, right, but you didn't have that as much back then as you do now. There's so many easy buttons now and I not doing the. I'm not whining about the younger generation, I'm just saying you didn't have that. Back then you had some articles from Chuck Adams and Randy Ulmer and maybe some dudes at the archery shop that would help you. But now you can watch 17 videos on how to debone an elk and then you can just listen to people talk shit about them below in the comment sections, just for clapbacks. I mean it.
Speaker 1:You know a lot there yeah, man, I'll say that you know, you're right. It's definitely a lot easier now, but I still do think that every hunter has this story of their own where they went out maybe a little bit too confident and, uh, you know, the woods put a little bit of uh learning on them. So I know that I've gone out there being like, okay, I can do this, and all of a sudden just being like, oh, what the fuck am I doing? Like I have no idea, just completely lost. But I'm in the moment and I got to deal with it. So it's a that's an awesome story. Aaron, thanks for sharing that one man. That's a lot of fun. Yeah, let's, let's wrap it up on that one man. That was awesome. Why don't?
Speaker 2:so on instagram it's a a r o n underscore snyder. And then I have like a snyder's gear corner page, a photography page. I got a bunch of crap. Um podcast is kafaru cast. K-i-f-a-r-u cast, trying to think kafaru international or kafarunet is the website for the backpacks. I also work with born primitive outdoor, which is a clothing company I partnered up with um, yeah, aaron snyder, with 1a on insta. On facebook I, there's shit all over the place.
Speaker 1:So youtube it's kafaru, so yeah I'll try and capture as much as I can and put it in the show notes, man, but uh, aaron, this was a lot of fun. I thank you very much for coming on the podcast. Sorry for hounding you for a couple months to get it done, but, uh, honored to chat with you because, uh, you know, I think you're, I I've been listening to you for a while and I I like that you are just like unapologetically yourself and, uh, I think we need more people like you in the hunting industry that aren't just trying to like, get likes. I think that that, uh, that's, that's the draw to you is that you're exactly who you are. So, thank you.
Speaker 2:I try to be. Yeah, no problem, man, I appreciate you having me on and, yeah, that, like you're, what you're doing is pretty. It's like a. It's a wider variety. Fred barefield notes right, you're hearing everyone's hunting stories and and the way I run my podcast, I can't do really do that and I need to do that more. So it's good to have a place people can go and on a road trip and just listen to other trials tribulations high, high points, low points.
Speaker 1:It's. People can relate. So, yeah, I love what you're doing. Yeah, man, Let me ask you this I know your buddies with, with Luke Cadeo Um, have you, have you heard his story about being full drawn and Elkin when he shits his pants?
Speaker 2:I don't know if he's told me that story. I mean he may have and we were drinking, but is it on yours. I'll have to listen to that.
Speaker 1:It is man and it's God. It's one of the funnier stories I think of. Everyone talks about People making mistakes and that one always Rings a bell when he's like Talking about his gut, just on fire and full drawn an elk, and he's like I gotta go for it a log.
Speaker 2:We're talking like his boots got runny, so yeah that sounds like luke yeah when I killed my mountain goat, which is another story I should have told. But either way, when I killed my mountain goat, luke was there. Him and his wife were on the valley floor, maybe three miles in or two and a half, whatever it was. Um, frank and I were up high, so they my wife and him hiked up to us and we were cleaning it and his stomach is weak so he was yakking and gagging. Well, there's no trees. We're at 13 000 feet. So my wife looks back and she can see part of luke's ass cheek. He's about he's shitting his pants damn near. He's pooping like just a few feet above her, behind all of us, behind a rock, because he can't hold it in. So yeah, he's a fucking nut.
Speaker 1:He's awesome yeah, that's, that's funny. Oh man, all right. Well, eric, thank you again. I really do appreciate you and hopefully we'll have you back on again soon to tell some more stories.
Speaker 2:Anytime man Take it easy.
Speaker 1:All right, guys. That's it. Another couple stories in the books. Obviously, I had a ton of fun chatting with Aaron today. So again, aaron, thank you so much for coming on the podcast and sharing all your stories with me. I really do appreciate it. Beyond that, you listeners, guys, if you have a story for us, help me get another 100 episodes in the books, reach out to me and let's have some conversations. You guys can tell me your favorite stories or connect me with people that you know that have amazing stories. I'd love to hear from everybody. Also, another quick reminder check out the contest we have. You can get all the information on Instagram. It's pinned right there to the top, so the links to that are in the show notes, as well as links to all the stuff Aaron talked about his podcast, his website, all the stuff that he's doing. So that's it, guys. Thank you so much for your time. I really do appreciate you. Now go out there and make some stories of your own.
