Episode 2 - First hunts that spark an obsession

Your first hunt can make or break your impression of hunting — either turning you off the sport or turning you into a fanatic.

New hunter Jason Matheson chats with Bill “Duck Slayer” Ayer about his first duck hunting experience in his 20s — the one that convinced Jason waterfowling wasn’t for him — and the duck hunt in his 40s that completely changed his mind. 

Creating a positive experience on a first hunt is crucial to preserving the sport of hunting. Bill shares the ways he sets first-timers up for success when he takes them hunting. Jason reminisces about the parts of his elk and duck hunts with Bill that got him addicted to the sport of hunting. Spoiler: One includes a hungry bear, and the other includes totally going rambo.

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We want to hear about your first hunt! Have you been going since you were a kid, or did you learn to hunt as an adult? What about that first experience made you want to hunt more? Drop a line to podcast@SlayerDuckCalls.com with your stories and memories of your first hunt. 

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Transcript

Bill Ayer:

All right, so we're with Jason Matheson today, a guy that I've elk hunted with and got the pleasure of duck hunting with for the first time last year with him and his son. What's going on, Jason?

Jason Matheson:

I'm just hanging out, Bill. How are you doing?

Bill Ayer:

I'm doing great. Wanted to talk about first-generation duck hunters today and get your story. I know you haven't duck hunted a whole lot in your past life. I don't know how old you are. Are you 40, 42?

Jason Matheson:

46, thanks, Bill.

Bill Ayer:

46? You look young for your age.

Jason Matheson:

Yeah, I thought I had gone duck hunting before I went with you. But it was not with the right people. And it didn't work out. And it didn't give me, really, the good taste that I got when I went with you.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, got it. So, yeah, maybe we should back up and just tell your story because I think there's a lot of people probably in your shoes where they have not hunted a whole lot in their lives and want to get into it. And one of the things that Slayer is all about is preserving the sport of hunting, making sure that young kids are getting involved.

Bill Ayer:

And I don't know how old you were when you started getting involved with big game hunting and then eventually duck hunting. But you don't even have to be a kid. If it's something that you want to get involved in and you're 20, 30, 40, 50 years old, it's something that you can still do and enjoy.

Jason Matheson:

Oh, yeah.

Bill Ayer:

So tell me how you got into hunting, how long ago it was and then why you didn't get into it until you did.

Jason Matheson:

Well, when I was younger, growing up, up until my 20s, nobody in my family hunted. I know my grandpa, actually, was from Idaho. He would hunt. But that was before my time.

Jason Matheson:

Nobody else in my family was hunters. I really wanted to do it. I just had no clue where to go, how to do it.

Jason Matheson:

And a guy through work took me out boar hunting on some private property a couple times. Didn't get anything. Finally, we got some pigs. It was a big mess. But it was fun.

Jason Matheson:

And then another guy from work a few years later, somebody else I met, took me out to the Delta in California, hunting, Christmas Eve, I think. We didn't get anything. But we were out in the water all day, cold.

Jason Matheson:

And he was not giving up. I was like, "I think we probably would have got something by now. We've been out here for eight hours."

Jason Matheson:

But needless to say, we were late for dinner that night and didn't get anything. So I didn't duck hunt again. I knew there were better ways. 

Bill Ayer:

Did you guys see any ducks? Were they flying high ducks?

Jason Matheson:

Yeah, we saw stuff flying. But I don't think he knew how to use a call. Well, now I know he didn't know how to use a call. But, yeah, it was quite the experience.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, that's funny. And then it's like when you take a kid fishing, especially when they're young. I always ask folks, "Why don't you fish anymore?" "Well, every time I'd go fishing, I never caught anything."

Bill Ayer:

So whenever I take my grandson out or any kid, I try to take them ... I don't even care if they're catching one-inch bluegills, take them just where they can get a lot of action and they're catching and they're catching right. And that was me for fishing. I'd spend hours catching bluegill, one after another after another.

Jason Matheson:

Oh, it's fun.

Bill Ayer:

It fed my, "Okay, well, what if I can go catch something bigger? And what if I can catch something bigger than that?" It fed that whole desire to do it, you know?

Jason Matheson:

Yeah, I took my kids fishing because I used to fish. And then I had the kids. And then my kids are active. And we'd go fishing and my tackle box would end up in the water. My son would be doing cannonballs off the side.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah. But that's part of the experience too, right? I was the same as any kid, the kind of trouble we used to get into. You're fishing and then it gets slow. And then the stuff that we would go do would be skipping rocks to cause havoc somewhere. 

Jason Matheson:

Just being outdoors.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, and you're an outdoors guy. I mean, it's not like you're a sit-on-the-couch, office type of guy. You're into construction work. You're a big motocrosser guy.

Jason Matheson:

Yeah, we're dirt bikers, mountain dirt bikers. We're literally ... I mean, lately it's been almost every weekend for a few years that we're out. I mean, we're out all the time.

Jason Matheson:

And I was always out all the time, but wanted to get into the hunting and just didn't really meet the right people until I met you. And you've opened the door for me. And then it was wide open from there.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, and we got some good stories. We met at the gym, what, 10, 12 years ago maybe?

Jason Matheson:

Yeah, probably that long ago.

Bill Ayer:

Met at the gym. And I think Jason came up. We were working out or something.

Bill Ayer:

And we had got talking about hunting. And I'm like, "Well, I'm going to Idaho, elk hunting." And then I can't remember if you asked to go or I asked you to go.

Jason Matheson:

Well, I think a couple other guys from the gym have done some guided hunts. And they wanted to get one of the Utah guided hunts going. And they were getting a couple guys. And they talked to me.

Jason Matheson:

And I was like, "Oh, you know, I've never done guided. I guess I'll think about it." And then you and I were working out. And I asked you if you wanted to go.

Jason Matheson:

And you said, "Well, actually, I'm going hunting. And it's definitely not guided. And we might not get anything. We might not see anything.

Jason Matheson:

But we're going to be in the mountains. And we're going to cut wood. And we're going to live out there for a couple weeks.

Jason Matheson:

And it's going to be an experience. But you could get something. But you might not." I made the right choice. That was for sure.

Bill Ayer:

And then your first experience was in Salmon, Idaho.

Jason Matheson:

Yeah.

Bill Ayer:

That was quite the trip. It started out with ... what was it, a 28 ... it's a 15-hour drive from California. What time did we leave?

Jason Matheson:

I think I picked you up at 10 o'clock in Briones, California. And we picked Wade up in South Lake in the evening by the time we got through all the traffic, got out of the Bay area. Then we drove all night.

Jason Matheson:

We got to Salmon, I think, 10 o'clock the next morning. We were towing a trailer. We did a bunch of stuff.

Jason Matheson:

We set up camp. I made breakfast. You and Wade set up the tent. And then we went to go on a short, little scouting drive. And then we got caught in a hail storm and we didn't get back to camp till 10:00.

Bill Ayer:

10:00 that night, yeah. So it was a 24-hour trip.

Jason Matheson:

36.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah. And I hear about guys, duck hunters in Texas, driving to Arkansas or vice versa and the same thing. They get off of work at 6 o'clock at night on a Friday. They drive up to Arkansas. They scout out a spot. You’ve got to get to your spot early before everybody else goes. And stay up all night, duck hunt that day. And then go scout once you're done there. Go hunt all day Sunday. And then drive home, go to work on Monday.

Jason Matheson:

It makes me cross-eyed.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah. No, that was-

Jason Matheson:

I wouldn't trade it, though. I mean, we had a lot of fun out there. We did a lot of hiking on that trip.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah. So just for the listeners, we were out spotting. And these elk go down in the alfalfa fields and they come up. And they climb about 2,000 feet, 2,500 feet in elevation up to the top of these mountains and down in the drainages. So we're sitting there, looking at the side of a mountain with spotting scopes. And I think I spotted about 100, 150 head of elk.

Jason Matheson:

Oh, yeah.

Bill Ayer:

And they were about a mile away, where we were spotting them. So we would get up every morning at 2:30, 3 o'clock in the morning and do this hike. And we'd have to hike up the back of this mountain. And it was all a three, three-and-a-half-hour hike.

Jason Matheson:

All loose shale, all loose footing. Every step was work.

Bill Ayer:

Every step. And the last half of it was straight up and down. It literally was the steepest stuff I've hiked in probably ever.

Jason Matheson:

Yeah, and cold.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, I remember taking pictures of the dashboard. It was probably about 10, 15 degrees out.

Jason Matheson:

Yeah.

Bill Ayer:

We did that hike seven days in a row. And we'd get up there to try to ambush these elk. And they were always in a different drainage. We'd see them and we'd hear them.

Jason Matheson:

They never went to the same spot twice.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, and so we'd chased these elks all up and down this mountain every single morning. We did it for seven days. And I think the funniest part of that whole trip, my biggest memory of that whole trip was the day of the bear. When we went up, Wade found that Indian arrowhead, spearhead. And then coming down when he kept falling.

Jason Matheson:

We were trying not to laugh. And we felt so bad.

Bill Ayer:

Let's back up. Let's tell the bear story. That was in my mind the tipping point of this trip. So we're just having a good time. We're sleeping in a 16 by 20 wall tent.

Bill Ayer:

And I'm dead asleep. Wade's dead asleep. Wade's a super heavy sleeper.

Bill Ayer:

But Jason kept waking up to this mouse that was rattling around in our garbage can. And every night, he'd wake up, "Hey, you hear that?" And I'm like, "Dude, it's a mouse. Go back to bed. It's only a mouse."

Bill Ayer:

Well, one night, you wake up and you're like, "Hey, there's a bear outside." And I'm like, "Dude, it's a mouse. Go back to sleep, man. We’ve got to get up in like two hours."

Bill Ayer:

Well, sure enough, 20 minutes later, you wake us up again or wake me up. Wade still is not awake. And you're, "Hey, there's a bear outside."

Bill Ayer:

And I'm listening. And all of a sudden, I hear our ice chest just getting tumbled and thrown. And I'm like, "Yeah, there's a bear out there. You might want to go and take a peak and maybe shoot a warning shot."

Bill Ayer:

So I don't know. You tell the story. I wasn't outside. I was still laying in bed. It was 10 degrees out. So I didn't want to get out of my warm-.

Jason Matheson:

It was 10 degrees. And I think I stepped into my boots. And I think I was wearing no shirt and underwear.

Jason Matheson:

And I sneak out around the back of the tent because I didn't want to open the door right into him. And it was a pretty big black bear. And it wasn't like a Tahoe bear where you could just, "Yeah, get out of here," and scare them away.

Jason Matheson:

He just eyeballed me. So I took my .308 and shot right in front of him, right at his foot. "Get out of here."

Jason Matheson:

He didn't even flinch. He just turned slowly and walked away and kept looking back at me, walking. And I went back in and we said, "Well, we have a tag."

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, we have a tag. And I remember you telling the story about the bear just staring you down as you shot at it. And I'm like, "That's a problem bear, Jason. If it comes back, you're probably going to have to shoot it because it's going to come after us."

Jason Matheson:

Yeah, it worked.

Bill Ayer:

Honestly, I didn't think the bear would come back.

Jason Matheson:

Oh, no. I thought being shot at your foot ... I didn't shoot him. But right at his foot 10 yards away, I thought that would scare him away. He came back with a vengeance. I strapped down the cooler. I did all this stuff in the snow while you and Wade are in there, snoring.

Jason Matheson:

I'm securing all our stuff out there in my underwear, freezing cold. And then all of a sudden, the guy comes back again. I'm like, -.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, and then I remember you waking me up again saying, "Hey, the bear's back." And I was like, "Really?" And sure enough, he was trying to get into the ice chest that you had ratcheted down.

Jason Matheson:

Yeah, he was taking bites out of everything. He ate our elk sausage. He ate our lasagna.

Bill Ayer:

I remember. And then at that point, I was like, "Jason, you're going to have to kill the bear." And you were like, "Really?"

Bill Ayer:

I'm like, "Yeah, he's a problem bear. He's going to keep coming back. And when he's done with that, there's a good chance he comes in our tent because we got food in here."

Bill Ayer:

So you were like, "Okay. Well, you guys come with me." And we're like, "Okay."

Bill Ayer:

And then by this time, Wade finally wakes up. And so we act like we're getting out of our sleeping bags. And you're going out the door. And we all of a sudden just go right back into our sleeping bags.

Bill Ayer:

You were like, "Hey, where are you guys at?" And we were like, "Oh, we're coming. Just hold on."

Bill Ayer:

And you were like, "I got him in my scope. What should I do?" I'm like, "Oh, just triple-tap him." And then, boom, boom. And you're like, "I got him."

Jason Matheson:

Yeah, and then all the work began. And then we realized he was a really nice bear. And luckily, we had gone to the taxidermist in the town of Salmon. We went and met Daniel, a taxidermist.

Jason Matheson:

And we happened to ask him about caping a bear and how to take a bear and skin him while you're going to save it. And he went over some fine details with us, with you. And you did it. And the thing turned out just great.

Jason Matheson:

We kept every part of him. I ate him. My kids loved him. You guys had him.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, you ate every part of him. I know you gave us some of that bear. And the following year up at elk camp, you brought it. And we ate it probably three or four days.

Jason Matheson:

Oh, yeah. We loved it. He actually had to send it out of state to get a different skull filler because his head was so big.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, he was a big black bear. And we ended up getting done with that bear. We had him strung up and cleaned out, and all that good stuff.

Bill Ayer:

And I think it was about an hour before elk hunting time, before the sun was going to come up. So we were like, "Screw it, let's just go hunting." Well, we go to a plan B spot and don't do the monster hike because it was too late by that time. So we went to a plan B spot.

Bill Ayer:

And we went up and Wade was tired. He was on an hour or two of sleep. And Wade, he's not in great shape. He's in good shape. Jason and I, we're probably in a little better shape. So we make it-

Jason Matheson:

We were doing crossfit every day for years before that.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, so we get to the top of that mountain and Wade's bitching and complaining and moaning and -.

Jason Matheson:

Poor Wade.

Bill Ayer:

So we go down this real loose, steep mountain as we're going back down. And Wade's feet slip out from under him and he goes down hard on his tailbone. And he's mad.

Bill Ayer:

And we were so delirious from the lack of sleep. It was one of those things where you're so giddy you can't stop laughing once you start. And I look at Jason. And I don't know, it was just the face you were making. And I start laughing.

Bill Ayer:

And then you start laughing. Then I couldn't control it. And Wade's just getting madder and madder.

Jason Matheson:

And he kept falling.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, and then he'd go down another 20 yards and just fell again. And so we're going down this hill. And then all of a sudden, I'd let out a little laugh 20 minutes later. And then you would start going and I would start going. It was crazy. And Wade didn't say a word all the way back to the truck.

Jason Matheson:

Yeah, and we never got those elk. We still need to go back to Salmon and get them.

Bill Ayer:

No, I know. Yeah, but that to me was just that old deal. We got some snow up there and cutting firewood and those stories. To me, even though we didn't get an elk, man, I still look back at those two weeks and wish I was back there today right now.

Jason Matheson:

Those two weeks changed my life.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah.

Jason Matheson:

Remember the bighorn sheep that walked right by us?

Bill Ayer:

Yeah.

Jason Matheson:

Didn't know we were there. He'd stop and sniff when we were sitting on the side of the hill. And he walked like 50 yards from us, walked right by us.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah. I mean, that's the thing that ... the memories that you make when you're hunting, the places that hunting takes you to too. The mountains we were hunting were just majestic, just some of the most beautiful country you'll ever hike in.

Jason Matheson:

Yeah. I've said it before, hunting's different than any other sport, even backpacking. Backpacking, you just travel through the land. No other activity or sport do you wake up before the sun, you feel the sun come up and you're so excited to see the sun because it's heating you up and you can see more. And the animals change, the birds.

Jason Matheson:

You go through the whole day. And then you see the whole thing change again. And then you get that eerie feeling when the sun starts going down, especially if you're somewhere way out in the mountains where there's wolves and mountain lions and bears.

Jason Matheson:

The sun goes down and the birds quiet down. You hear different stuff come out. There's no other feeling like spending all day every day for weeks in the mountains. Not going back to an RV, not going back to town, but being in the mountains for weeks.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah. To me, I don't know, it gives me chills just thinking about it or hearing you talk about it. I don't know. It's in my blood, I know. I yearn for it. I think about it all the time.

Bill Ayer:

And duck hunting is the same thing for me. That's a little earlier in the season. And then once that finishes up, duck season kicks off. And I get the same way. If I'm not duck hunting, if I have a day where I have a free day where I could be out there even if the birds aren't down yet or whatever, I want to be out there just to watch the sun come up and have the ability to shoot some ducks and have that experience, you know?

Jason Matheson:

Yeah. When we would be out there elk hunting and the season would ... our time would be ending, we'd be getting ready to go home, I'd go into almost a little depression like, "Aw, man, I don't want to go back."

Bill Ayer:

Yeah.

Jason Matheson:

And then you'd be like, "Well, at least there's duck season." And I always thought back to, "Oh, god. When I went duck hunting, I wouldn't look forward to that."

Bill Ayer:

What made you ... because your sister lives here in Idaho and you were coming here to visit for Thanksgiving and I think you called me up and said, "Hey, what do we need to go duck hunting? Do you think Gav and I could do some duck hunting?" And I was like, "Absolutely."

Bill Ayer:

I should talk about the fact that you're a super good new person to be taking hunting. It can be a nightmare depending on who you're taking. But you were always a great steward of camp.

Bill Ayer:

You did your share of work for chopping firewood. You cooked three squares a day. I don't think Wade and I ever ate better at elk camp than when you'd come along with us. So you were always a good steward, just a good ... always positive, never bitching and moaning about not seeing this or not shooting an elk or, "Why are we doing this? Why are we doing that?"

Bill Ayer:

You always stayed super positive no matter what, which when you'd call me to go duck hunting, I was like, "Absolutely." And I know Gav, your son. The apple didn't fall far from the tree. So for me, it was an easy, "Absolutely, I'd love to take you."

Jason Matheson:

Yeah, I knew that if we were going to do it, if you loved it that much, there must be something to it. Let's give it another try. And if we're going to do it, we're going to go with Bill.

Bill Ayer:

So, yeah. So give me the ... I don't know the play by play. I know my routine. So you probably showed up at my house around 3:30, 4:00 in the morning.

Jason Matheson:

Yeah, 4:00 in the morning. Everybody thought we were crazy for waking up that early in the house we were staying in. We got to your house and Gav's highlight of the day is when CJ comes and jumps in the truck and jumps on his lap. We have a black lab, but he doesn't hunt. But he loves the dogs as much as he likes breathing. So it starts out just getting the truck, hooking up the trailer, taking the boat. Launching a boat in the middle of the night, that's not something you'd normally do.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, in 19-degree weather. It might have been a little cold.

Jason Matheson:

Yeah. I mean, it's really cold. And we were fine because, actually, you hooked Gavin up. You looked at what he was wearing and you said, "Wear this." And you hooked him up.

Jason Matheson:

And we hit the river, finding our spot in public land with a GPS in the middle of the night, not knowing where we were. The fog with the LED lights and the boat, we can only probably see 15 yards. But you knew where you were going and took us right to the spot.

Jason Matheson:

It was surreal. It didn't even seem like it was real. It was so cool cruising through the fog up the Snake River.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, it's a spooky experience. I mean, in some of those spots, we were up on plane going 20, 25 miles an hour, going through six inches of water. If you're off by 10 yards or 5 yards, you can dry dock it. Or you could hit some pretty big boulders and be in trouble.

Bill Ayer:

So it's actually dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. I wouldn't advise anybody to go do it at night. We’re on the river a lot during the day and know it inside and out before you get out there.

Jason Matheson:

Oh, yeah.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, so we got out there. We set up decoys. And that was-

Jason Matheson:

You set up decoys.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah.

Jason Matheson:

Gav and I asked, "Hey, what do you want us to do? Could we help you? What do you want us to do? And we're ready to jump in and do it."

Jason Matheson:

And you're like, "Let me just set them up because I know exactly what I want. Just watch." So we could watch the first time so we knew what to do next time.

Bill Ayer:

I think Gav carried the bag and I threw them. And I put a little J hook out there. And I've got certain decoys where I want certain places for ... I got the hens I like to put in certain places and the drakes. And I like to pair them up a certain way. And the wind was perfect that day. It was blowing right directly over our backs.

Bill Ayer:

We put a little J hook in there with a couple spinners. And I sat you and Gav down. It's still dark out. And one of my favorite times of duck hunting is you're sitting there, you're all set up, you got a half hour to an hour wait for shoot time and all you hear is the whistling and the ducks chattering and talking back and forth with each other. What'd you think of all that?

Jason Matheson:

Oh, it was awesome. I was just looking over at Gav and he'd just give me thumbs up. And he's chilling. He's relaxing. He's an active kid, so to get him to just sit there and really take something in is good.

Jason Matheson:

You're explaining to us what's going to happen. And they're going to come in this way and they're going to circle. They're going to come over our left shoulder. They're going to come in and they're going to circle a couple times.

Jason Matheson:

And I'm thinking, "You know, I've done a fair amount of hunting and fishing. I mean, how often do things happen exactly how you think it's going to happen?" And it did, exactly. It was like it didn't seem real.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah. I mean, I think the average duck hunter, people that haven't done it a lot, your decoy setup, where and how you use the spinners and where you set up. On public land, you have a lot of options. If the wind was blowing a different way, we would have hunted a different spot.

Jason Matheson:

Right.

Bill Ayer:

But because the wind was blowing the way it was, I set up the decoys a certain way for that. And we positioned ourselves on that island so that it would be easier to predict where ... they don't always cooperate with you. But try to make it as easy as possible for the ducks to come into a certain place so you have a good opportunity to shoot them.

Jason Matheson:

And you made that opportunity happen. I mean. You got out your call you made and they just came right in. They circled a few times. You called them and they just came right into our laps.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, my favorite part of that whole trip ... and I've got to tell this story because this is somebody who's never duck hunted. He went duck hunting once, right? He's with his son who's never ... I don't even know if he's ever shot a bird on the wing before.

Bill Ayer:

So I'm thinking, "Okay, these guys are probably not real good with shotguns. I don't know if they're going to hit a bird today. But we're sure going to try. So I'm going to have to get them in close."

Bill Ayer:

And so I think we had a couple ducks come in. We killed a couple ducks. And I think Gav missed a couple times. I think you shot behind a few. And I might have cleaned up one or two.

Bill Ayer:

And then a good flock, maybe about a 16-pack, circling around. And I'm like, "Okay, I'm going to get these ducks in as close as possible." And we bring them into the pocket. And these ducks are probably at 25 yards. And I'm thinking, "Man, should I call slam?"

Bill Ayer:

I'm like, "No, they might come all the way in." So they're in about 10 yards now. And I say, "Slam."

Bill Ayer:

Before I could even pop up, Jason, you pop up and you unleash it, boom. You hit this one duck and I swear it was at 10 yards. And it looked like somebody shooting a pillow at point-blank. It was like a puff of feathers I've never seen before.

Bill Ayer:

And then you jack another and, boom, another one falls. Boom, another one falls. And I look at your face and I'm like, "I'm looking at Rambo right now."

Bill Ayer:

You had a look on your face, I was like, "Oh, my god. This dude, he's a cold-blooded killer. Who is this guy? Have you been practicing with a shotgun all your life?"

Bill Ayer:

And Gav drops a couple birds. We got five there. And I never even took a shot. I was just so amazed at you and Gav just having at it and dropping birds. I never had to shoot a bird that trip. That scene right there and the excitement in your eyes and Gavin, to me, that's what hunting's all about right there.

Jason Matheson:

Oh, it was a switch for both Gav and I. We both looked at each other like, "Oh, okay. We got a new hobby. Now we know. This is it. We're hooked for life now."

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, and I remember you asking me, "How much is your boat?"

Jason Matheson:

Yeah.

Bill Ayer:

"How much did you pay for CJ? Did you train her? Did you have her trained?

Bill Ayer:

How much are the decoys? How many decoys do you need? What kind of shotgun do you use? Is it any kind of shotgun?"

Jason Matheson:

Oh, yeah.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah. Well, and I think that's important as new hunters get involved whether it be elk or whether it be duck hunting is try to make the experience good for the people that you're taking. Make sure they have a mentor, somebody that knows what they're doing, to make it a good experience. We got a limit. We ended up finishing off our three limits.

Bill Ayer:

And then we were like, "Okay." We counted them up and took off with a three-man limit, which was awesome. But that doesn't always happen, especially on public land. But the more action you can give somebody to make it a pleasurable experience, I think the better odds you have of people staying in the sport.

Jason Matheson:

Oh, yeah.

Bill Ayer:

So I'm looking forward to you coming back next Thanksgiving. Hopefully, you visit your sister and we could duck out there.

Jason Matheson:

Oh, yeah. Actually, my daughter is old enough. And she can shoot Gavin's 20-gauge. I think she's working towards getting her license. She's interested in getting into it after hearing our stories. So we'll see what we come out with.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, and I know your family, the women in your family, they do what the family does. And you guys, you all ride motorcycles. You all drive Jeeps. You all do whatever. It doesn't matter if you're a man, woman, girl, whatever.

Jason Matheson:

The girls can do anything we can do. My 11-year-old daughter ... any black diamond trail on a dirt bike, my buddies get to the top that have been riding for 20 years and they say to each other, "What are we going to do about Allie? What are we going to do? We're going to have to go down and get her bike and ride it up." And she just rides up next to them and just looks at them.

Bill Ayer:

That's awesome. Well, Jason, it's been good chatting with you. And I really enjoyed hunting with you. And I hope we have many more hunts together. Like I said, it's always fun.

Bill Ayer:

And the fact that when we're elk hunting that you keep a log. Jason has sent ... after we're done hunting, he sends his notes or his diary back to us. And, man, you forget all the little moments. And it's those little moments in the hunt that actually make the difference. Not make the difference but really-

Jason Matheson:

Remembering it.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah, remembering them. And I would just sit there-

Jason Matheson:

It puts you right back in there.

Bill Ayer:

Yeah. And then also, I just sit there and laugh. All the funny things that happen in elk camp or in the duck blind. And that to me is ... that's hunting, you know?

Jason Matheson:

Yeah. I mean, especially those long two weeks ... two weeks actually went by really quick. But if you just go back at night and you just spend 10 minutes and you think it's dumb to write certain things like, "Oh, nobody cares." I'm just writing it for myself. I don't care. I'm going to write what we had for dinner. I'm going to write that somebody stepped in this or somebody fell off a log or we saw this eagle or we saw this ram or-