What's going on, is in James Roberts.
Thanks. Kiddo, Savage.com.
And today I've got special guest and good friend, Michael Dennehy
back on the podcast for a second time.
The first time we talked about his, his cut, his competition
prep. Basically how he gave up alcohol
and just totally turned his life.
Around this time. We Dove deep into our Hunting
Expeditions. So he and I went on a week-long
elk hunt this past few months ago in Colorado, and we did not
get an elk. But we had a great time and put
it in a ton of Miles ton of work.
And we just really got to know each other.
On a deeper level. So this conversation is
basically a recap of that event and all we learned in the
process. So thoroughly enjoyed the
conversation. I've got no doubt that you will
as well. If hunting interest you in the
slightest, you enjoyed conversation.
So without further Ado, sit back, relax and enjoy the
podcast with my good friend, Michael.
And we are live. Michael.
How are you brother? I'm doing great Rob.
How are you? I'm doing wonderfully.
Well, man. Last time we spoke.
We were in Colorado and we were hunting elk and we did not get
an elk. But we had a lot of fun doing
it. We had a tremendous amount of
fun that I also learned by the way that you go by Robert and
not Rob. Yeah.
It's interesting because I've never introduced myself as Rob,
but everybody calls me mom. So I just kind of goes with the
flow, but either way works. Yeah, well, I'm Michael a lot of
people call me Mike, but I go by Michael as well.
So I'll I'll respect that way. She can call you Robert, man.
I thoroughly enjoyed the hunt. Last time.
We were talking on the podcast. We were it was after you had
done your cut and we had the hunt looming and we're talking a
bunch of smacked one. Another saying that, you know,
I'm going to beat you up the mountain and vice versa and I
feel like, we both are already. Well, yeah, you're coming right
off the top rope out of the gate.
I there was only one time that I thought I'm feeling it in my
lungs right now, and that was late in the hunt on a warm day
when we went all the way down and immediately went all the way
back up another side. But other than that, honestly,
those hour and a half foot, marches getting into the hunting
area. I think both of us, quite
frankly. I think we handled it very well.
And I think our guides and our Outfitters were pretty
impressed. I think so man.
I agree. To give the listeners a little
context here. And we we've been working
together for quite some time. You did a cut with me.
That was when was that like, when was the start and end date
on that? The start date?
Well, we worked together for 15 months.
And from the point that I started started cutting started
with you, until I peeked was about a year.
And the reason why it took so long, the side.
I'd never really had much in the way of Of a nutritional expert
in my life, who really sat down and taught me how to use a macro
calculator calories, how to count them.
Etc. So, it took me about a year, but
if you remember the first I don't know.
Six to twelve weeks. We were just trying to figure
out where my calorie threshold was where my protein threshold
was and how my body reacted to the different ratios of fat
proteins. Once we had that dial then boy,
I started Dropping body fat, I think about a pound and a half
to two pounds a week after that. So it did not take us long at
all. To get me down to single digit
body fat. We just had to spend the first
two months or so trying to figure out what worked for my
body. Once, we had that figured out, I
think do the rough beer math in my head here real quick.
Six months and it was six months because remember, my Peak Week
got kicked a couple times to the right on the calendar for four
incidents out of our control. Roll, so I think it was a six to
seven month cuts. That got me down to 182 and then
you helped me reverse diet for the next four months or so.
And then kind of set me on my own, which is where I am now.
And, you know, I mean, we went super deep into actual nuts and
bolts of that cut on our first podcast.
So anybody that has not listened to that.
Highly recommended. But in working with you, for, as
long as I did, and just a daily communication that we had Just,
you know, talking it became apparent pretty early on that
were both Avid Hunters Outdoorsman, and we like all
things, you know, hunting. So it came to be that you had a,
an elk hunt planned in Colorado and you were kind and generous
enough to invite me to accompany you on that and that took place
in November. Is that what that was?
It was it was November 13th to 19th and we spent a week out
there in the mountains. Was it was pretty hot.
It wasn't this cold as we would expect it to be and we wouldn't
it wouldn't cause we would have liked for it to have been but we
put in some serious miles man. I think we covered what was like
60 miles or something? Over the course of those five
six days. Well, you did your one mile
runs. So this includes your daily
1-mile run but 64 miles in six days.
That was, that was wild man. Like a lot of people I probably
had if we're being honest. I probably had the odds against
Us when it came to to getting it out because it was, so, that was
third rifle. There's a whole bunch of
pressure from other Hunters. It was a new moon, or a full
moon rather. So, a lot of movement was
happening at night when we weren't hunting, and it was just
ridiculously hot for mid-november so we can have
this. Then the chips stacked against
us, but we put into work their Bluff.
Yes, and you know, I'll relate it compared to last year's hunt.
Not this year's hunt. Last year.
I saw. 250 elk last year. It was a smorgasbord of animals.
All around us this year was and I followed all of the blog's,
all the Facebook pages. Just checking the numbers
online. It wasn't us.
It was not us. It was a, I would even say
season wide for the different states as well, Utah, Nevada,
New Mexico. I've been looking at their
numbers. It really was not Robert and
Michael who you were unlucky. There was a very low Harvest
across the board. And what's interesting about
that is we had that the three sister Trifecta.
It was very hot. There's no two ways around it.
Yeah, 60 degrees doesn't sound hot to lot of people
particularly when you're in Miami, but when you're marching
up a hill on Mountain, excuse me, doesn't get more mountain
than that, but when you're marching up a mountain, and you
have a rifle in one hand, shooting sticks in another push.
Brush out of your way and you're covering 64 miles.
In 6 days. 60 degrees is hot. Now now be an elk, the elk or
fat, right now. There are there, obviously
covered with fur, they're built for this and I was listening to
somebody the other day who said, this is how tough alkar, they
make a living out of conditions that would kill us in one day.
And so it was in the 60s. It was dry.
That was the second factor that really played in.
It was very, very dry and, and that impacts.
And what that means is those elk or they're only going to come
down to go to the river, and then they're going to go
straight back up. And if you recall pretty much at
the end of the first day, I'm not trying to say, you know, I'm
an elk whisper. I'm not.
But I started saying we got to go higher, we got to go higher.
We've got we can't be here at eight to ten thousand.
They're above us. And so that was the second
thing. The fact that it was very dry.
And the third thing was that full moon and I've been hunting
since I was a child, you as well.
We called your buddy, Brad. If I have it if I remember it
correctly and even he's a professional guide.
Who said yeah man full moon because what happens and I'm not
trying to bore your listeners. I know your listeners are
typically into health and fitness.
What happens is those those animals if it's a full moon,
which means the headlights are on out in the middle of the
night. Why would they move around
during the day? Why would they, why would they
move around when there's a higher risk of of them being
ambushed, by a predator? So it was hot as could be, it
was dry as could be which meant they were.
Just not going to move around because of the heat 12.
If there were going to move, it was only going to be to go get
water and three. There were only going to move at
night so last year, I saw like I said, 250 elk this year.
We saw God. What was it?
Rob, Robert 12, maybe? Yeah.
And of the 12 that we saw, I mean, only two of them were
bulls and of the two bulls we saw, one of them was, you know,
two miles away. So wasn't really great odds from
a, you know, getting a bull standpoint.
We don't have any context. That's true.
That's going to change this year though, because I am, I am
applying for a cow tag, which is pretty much a given.
So now, You did see a bowl. I didn't.
So you saw two bowls. I did not see that.
First of all, you did and you were up on your six.
Tell, tell us that story because I still to this day, getting
ready for this podcast was like I'll be damned.
I still didn't see that hole until he started running away.
Well that so that was on the that was only the second day or
was it the third day that we were at?
I think it was the second day bird.
That was the third day. We went up a lot higher.
Iran that day. And we were up in the timber at
that point and lo and behold a sort of bugling.
I mean that late in the season, they start of bugles, that kind
of surprised, all three of us, but they were, they were vocal
nonetheless and we were going after several different bowls
that we heard. We heard multiple bowls and then
we had one that was barreling down the mountain on us and it
was super thick and that Timber. So, we couldn't see me until I
was literally right on top of us.
You were right behind me. I was with the guy.
I'd probably about 10 yards in front of you, and then I got set
up on my shooting sticks. Have my rifle steady, ready to
rock. I was on one knee and the bull
barrel down the mountain. And literally was in probably 40
yards away from me, you know, bow range practically.
And I've got my 300 Win Mag, but he stops right behind a tree.
And I'm on my shooting sticks. I'm steady ready to go away from
the take one step to the left right of that tree, and he does
not take us to. I can see his antlers sticking
out and I could see probably No, two inches of rib cage.
Taking that one side of that tree, but I'm only going to make
a dirty shot like that. So I'm just waiting for him to
move. But lo and behold he stopped
right on a prior kill site from the week prior and we didn't
know until we got up to him, check things out but he spooked
instantly and then turned around and then went right back where
he came through the thick Timber.
So I didn't have a shot after that point.
But then once we got closer to where he was standing to see
what was going on. He literally stopped right on.
Top of a, of a, of a carcass from an elk that was killed the
week prior, and the hunters had killed that elk, littered.
They had like they're, you know, cans of beans and all kinds of
just trash everywhere. And I feel like he win did that.
And then didn't take him long to figure out that he did want to
stay there. Right, but I I just couldn't
believe an animal 700 pounds. Large could hide behind a tree
where you could barely see him. I didn't even know that there
was an animal coming up on us at all.
And that's how, that's how wildly these creatures are.
You would think? Yeah.
It's the size of a horse. You're going to see it.
Coming down the mountain. From a mile away.
No, you are not. You really not there.
They're pretty a well camouflaged.
For their environment, you know, when you look at one, you would
think. I mean, they've got these
massive wingspan 6x6, antlers, their 700 plus pounds.
They're the size of horses, you know, they when they step on a
branch they break it. I'll hear him coming a mile away
and it never surprises me. It never should ceases to
surprise me how close and animal will get to me before I even
realize. It's there.
It's actually quite spooky and super spooky mean.
When you look at how thick some of that Timber was, were
traipsing through and you, look at the width of those, antlers.
It boggles my mind that they're able to move through it, as
quickly as they are. It's like they just, they know
they've got enough body awareness to know exactly where
every inch of them is and they are able to you know, snake
through that thick stuff without a problem.
They are there, they're incredible.
And you just have to stop and give them the credit their do,
which is every day of their life.
They're just trying to be able to make it to the next.
There's always something there's always something after them be
at the, whether a drought, you know, starvation competition for
resources or Predator, you know, we came across some mountain
lion tracks on a couple different occasions.
If I recall remember that. Yeah, one of which was in our
Prints from the day prior, so that was kind of spooky.
Yeah. So I mean, these animal, they're
tough animals. And I've seen we were
unfortunately, we weren't able to see this this year.
But last year, I was able to see, we kicked up some elk and
they'll go up this terrain and It's in queue and I walk across
take and room. They'll just go straight up the
side of a mountain with almost seemingly, no effort.
And the fact that you can even get within gunshot range of
these animals. You have to be pretty skilled to
do it. Now, you throw a bow on top of
that and I was very fortunate. I did get a 5x5 bull elk in
2011. I believe it was I got within 27
yards and and I successfully harvested.
Certified by 5 bull elk with a, with a bow.
My very first elk hunt and I was just lucky.
And so, that's all right. That's why it's called hunting
and not killing. Yeah, but I'll go back next
year. Yeah.
I mean, that's what it's all about man, but it's such a, it's
such an exercise. For like patients, like we have
that one, Lonesome cow elk. And we would assumed that there
are other alkyl rounder, but we can only see her on the side of
the adjacent Mountain Ridge to us.
Us. And we hunker down and watched
her for five or six hours waiting for her to get up, and
move and bring whatever else was with her along, and she was
apparently so low, so we waited five six hours on one evening
waiting for to see, you know, whatever was with her and
nothing was with her. So you never know until you
you're out there doing it and then you just have to make the
most of what you got in the environment at the time.
Do you notice a pattern though? During our hunt?
There we saw. One, two, three, you stop that
bull. We saw that cow on the side of
the mountain, across the Ridge from us.
And then when we were coming back, dang, it was the very last
day. Remember and there was that cow
elk, who is around that mud puddle with those mule deer and
she was by herself. I'm telling you.
It was it was an odd hunt. I've been out on, I don't want
to say several but quite a few elk hunts and the Our mental
factors were just out of whack and again, before before anybody
starts going down the road of global warm or whatnot, you
know, want to make any statements done that.
I'm just going to say last year. It was colder than average.
Last year. We had feet of snow and it was
eight degrees. So in the course, of 365 days,
you know, the third rifle for Colorado went from eight degrees
with a couple feet of snow. To 60 65 degrees with no
precipitation whatsoever. So it was just it was just
environmental factors. We got unlucky but I would say
the number one thing I took from that that I'm going to apply to
next year's Hunt is I am going to line up the lunar calendar
next to it. And I'm going to say, okay.
I do not want to be anywhere near the full moon.
I want to be on the new moon and so you live and you learn what
was really interesting that they were vocal that third.
But then after that, and before, then there was absolutely no
calling whatsoever. Like we were calling, but we're
not getting any responses other than that morning of the third
day. So, whatever it was that had him
spooked or whether you started moving more at night or whatever
the situation was. They went from being vocal to
not vocal at all, which makes, you know, figuring out where
they're at and stocking on nearly impossible.
Yeah. When they're not moving, because
normally, in third rifle, Of Colorado.
So for the listeners who might not be Western Hunters, third
rifle. This is what I mean.
They have multiple Seasons whereas in New York.
They have deer season. It is Bow and then muzzle loader
and then rifle. And there's the opening day of
bow season and there's the last day of rifle season, and it
doesn't end. It's like 60 straight day.
At forty five, straight days, whatever it is.
I can't recall. Different out west, the way they
do it out West because it's such a large.
Migration of hunters who come into the state.
What they do instead is they have first rifle and then a week
off, and then second rifle, and then a week off, and then third
rifle, there is a fourth rifle, so it goes bow.
And then a week off Muzzleloader.
And then a week off. First, second third, fourth
rifle, and each season. Is a week-long and then, there's
a, a week-long break in between them.
So, third rifle is typically, that's the peak of the
migration. So that's when these elk who are
hanging out at eleven, twelve, thirteen thousand feet.
Because these animals would they would park themselves in your
walk-in cooler? If they could they'd love it
when it's cold and dark. That's when they start moving
down down from the peaks of the mountains and start heading.
To lower elevation and or south and a lot of the elk that we
were hunting that heard will end up down in New Mexico.
I mean, there they cover quite a bit of ground there in the peak
of that, that migration like last year.
I I mean, it was, it was Grand Central Station, you know, we
were watching these elk, move all around us.
The question is, are you going to get a shooter Bowl, legal
bull, elk? That you could put in an
approach on last year. That was difficult.
You know, it's pretty big terrain out there and but I did
see 250 of them this year. It was it was just the exact
opposite, you know, due to again the the whether the
precipitation and the fact that it was a full moon.
So next year. I'm still heading back out.
I'm going to head back out with a cow tag because to me the
real. Prize is the freezer full of
meat. And I've actually like to talk a
little bit. I think this might interest a
lot of your listeners, some of the nutritional value of elk.
Yeah. I mean, I think from a, from a
micronutrient nutrient density, standpoint Wildgame Meats.
Pretty hard to beat. I mean, that's why I'm so I'm
such an advocate for for hunting because, you know, I know
exactly what that animal is eating based off of where it
was, you know, hard. Arrested.
And there's just there's just no image just as pristine as it
gets like it's literally Wild game meat that have been feeding
on the most wild of brush vegetation foliage.
They can get there. They can get throughout the year
and there's there's no like large-scale agricultural
farming, you know, pollutants or chemicals, or fertilizers, in
thier messing with things. I mean, depending on what you're
hunting, obviously, sometimes that's not the case, like some
places here, in Arkansas, deer hunting, you know, those deer
eat All kinds of corn and everything else.
But you know, up where we were hunting for these elk.
I mean, it's as pristine As It Gets.
Yeah, it is and and the macros on it, so I'm pulling up my my
macros plus right now just to get the specifics on, elk meat
and Elk me is going to be the same pretty much as your As your
normal venison, but I mean, listen to this for macros for 1
ounce. It's seven grams of protein and
point four grams of fat. That's great.
Lean. That's well.
It's crazy lean and you've also got, you know, you can control
if you're going into, could you remember when I was going into
that cut, how often I would send you pictures of Just roasted elk
because I had plenty of elq from last year and the that protein
content is very high. And don't know what the Amiga 32
Mega 6 ratio is but I bet them being wild pastured like they
are. I bet it's perfect.
Yeah, and that's an absolute. No, I would think so because
they're not fed soybeans and corn and things like that.
But what I really personally appreciate about elk venison in
particular with his As lean as it is, you can really
particularly when you're dropping those grams of fat.
How many times have you pick up? Picked up a chuck roast from
Piggly? Wiggly or what have you and you
just look at it and you're like, there's really no way I can
accurately tell you how much fat is in this kind of meat and but
with an elk steak or a deer venison steak.
I mean, it's it's pretty much damn near fat-free.
Yeah, and no just that deep red wine.
Rune and it's, there is no gaminess.
I hear people say all the time while I don't like the gaminess
of venison, there's no gaminess. And I'm not even going to say,
if you do this, or if you do that, there's no gaminess, you
know, to me, it's a, it is a different flavor of me, but I
think I look at it from the point of view, of a, you know,
farm-raised cow. Instead of venison being gay me.
I look at Farmer East. Calles if it's bland, and that,
that's how I view it. But once you sink your teeth
into your first elk, steak that will change your life.
You know, it's it's just a beautiful meat and I love the
macro count on it. Particularly, when I'm in a cut,
I can really control that fat. Well, the thing about eating
Wild game meet beyond the nutritional benefits of it is
that the the amount of work that goes into getting it and the
amount of pride that comes From consuming it.
As a result of that work is unparalleled and not replicated
by anything. You can get in a grocery store.
I mean, when we, when we were going through in a hunting even
though we weren't successful with this hunt having, you know,
trekked over 60 miles in the five and a half days that we
hunted, you know, like, like you were saying the beginning, like
we had multiple layers of clothing on we had, you know,
shooting sticks in one hand, Heavy Rain?
From the other hand, a pact that wait.
Anywhere, probably around 30 to 40 pounds.
I mean, I mean, none of this stuff was easy.
We were going straight up side Mountain Cliffs and then, you
know, bomb and down these mountains quickly to get into
position. I mean, we were sweating like
crazy at times and freezing at times.
I mean, it's not an easy way to go about, getting your
groceries, but in doing that you have so much more appreciation
for that meat and what it provides you as the hunter,
that's harvested that meat and I feel like that.
I mean even if it tasted like Like terrible, I would still do
it. Just simply for that aspect
alone, like knowing that I'm that close to the whole circle
of life and what it means and what it stands for.
I couldn't agree with you more. I absolutely could not agree
with you more particularly when you see some of the factory
farms and and you know, some of the conditions on those it
really kind of broke my heart that I wasn't able to come back
with 250 pounds of elk me because that would essentially
been my meat, you know, close to, you know, it for the entire
year. It's not just the meat in the
freezer. It's knowing where it came from
and cetera and the ethical way that animal was treated.
So, I couldn't, I couldn't agree more and well, our guy, our
guide was was feeling sympathetic towards us.
I guess because he was willing and generous enough to donate a
few pounds of his prior Year's elq because we were unsuccessful
in getting our own. So we at least got to eat
somehow because results of this trim.
Yeah. Hey, I'm gonna I'm going to take
a cheap shot at you here, you'd mention how we were going up up,
one side of a damn near cliff and down, one side of a damn
near Cliffs. And so your listeners.
Don't know this, but I'm six foot four and you're not.
And neither was our guide. And you guys start just
absolutely rolling down the side of this.
Do you remember this when I plant it off my ass and just
started skidding down behind you?
Yeah, so I'm all six foot four and trying as hard as I can, and
it was I was not purpose-built for going down the sheer cliff
and you guys are mountain goats and just skipping your short
little butts down there. And I was like all these guys, I
can't believe it. You guys had got out pretty far
in front of me. But the other side of the coin
is when we're going uphill and trying to cross branches and
logs, you know, you were getting high centered and I was crossing
them. Like they were nothing but that
that terrain it'll find your weakness.
Yeah. It will find your weakness.
I know you have a lot of Fitness Enthusiast.
I know you have a lot of hunters who are listeners and I'll, I'll
throw this out. Don't think you can be fat Rolie
Polie sitting on the couch and go out and be an elk Hunter.
Oh overnight, man. You better get ready for this.
I don't know about you all, but I'd say I'm very, very pleased
with my training. Regiment leading up to the elk
hunt because I felt like I could handle it pretty pretty damn
easily. We were getting that we're
putting in, pretty extreme hours.
We were getting up very early. We're going to bed late, and
we're putting in some pretty significant.
Miles. And oh, by the way, we're
working out every day after we were hunting.
Yeah, it's Lansing. When you think about it, but I'm
glad we did. Yeah.
Well, I mean, that's something else to cover during this
podcast is, you know, how do you work out while you're on the
road? But I felt that my training
regiment leading up to the events paid off.
And, you know, for the record, I think Robert is being, I think
you're being very modest and saying, I think we both did
well. I think we both did well, but I
think I lost the bet. I think there were times.
I think there were times that now the BET was that one of us
was going to make the other one. Say uncle, neither one of us did
that. Now, either one of us in that we
both want, neither one of us did that.
Neither one of us came even remotely close to that.
But in terms of, you know, bending over and catching
breath, I think and it was only once, I think there was one
occasion where I I've been over and tried to grab my Breath.
And I look and you weren't as like, death.
Damn it. I think I just lost the bet.
What? I mean, the I guess let's just
paint a picture for the listeners as to what a typical
day was looking. Like I would wake up at 3, I
think and work on my clients for we were staying in, like, a VAR
B 0, which is kind of nice because we had, you know, we
could come back have like, you know, a bed to sleep in the
shower shower and everything, which was, which was nice, but I
would wake up at three work on clients for an hour.
Then we, then you get It up and we'd start packing things up and
then our guy would meet us there at like four.
Was that right? 4430, some like that. 4:30,
yeah, 4:30 and then we go draft. The national forest.
And then we get output the headlines on, turn to Camp
backwards and just start pumping it up the mountain.
And depending on what location were going to, we were me either
way. We were hiking quite a bit in
the very morning, early morning hours before it was getting
light enough to see and then we would be out there hunting all
day. Sometimes moving around
sometimes doing more of a still hunting, you know, listening
glassing and then we do that until dark.
And then we come back and then I'd go for my mile run and then
we start working out. And we do, I brought my
resistance bands, that x 3 bar, you brought some adjustable
Bowflex dumbbells with workout and then we cook dinner and that
was pretty much looked pretty much like a nomad style me.
Like, we both brought bricks. We'd eat.
The bricks are out there hunting, but then, other than
that, we had the bulk of our calories in that.
Oh, mad meal. When we got back in the evening
and then you'd stay on the back. Porch, smokers, who guard?
I go to Bed. Right.
It was like we were we were just an hour off from each other.
You woke up at 3:00. I woke up at 4:00.
You would go to bed at 8:00 and I'll go to bed at 9:00, but you
would you would do your work from three to four and I would
smoke my cigar from eight to nine.
Other than that, we had identical schedules.
I would assume that most, I smoke a cigar with him last
night and that kick my butt. Man.
I hadn't smoked a cigar and I think tore me up.
And I only got ever had a buzz before that, but that that
wasn't ready for that. Well, you're trying to kill me
with the coffee. So, how do you remember that
Death? Wish coffee?
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Gotta get the caffeine in my yeah.
I was drinking that fuckin. So I'm caffeine-free before we
go down that road on a very serious note II would assume
that the majority of your clients actually listened to
your podcast. So here's here's what I want to
say and I want to let people know.
This is totally unsolicited. You are the hardest-working
individual. I know besides my father.
Are you would get up at three, you would get on your laptop and
you would put in while you were quote unquote on vacation
hunting, you were putting in the equivalent of what most people
put in at a, at a full-time Monday, through Friday 9 to 5.
So I want to say to your clients.
And and again, this is you're not paying me and Free Bricks to
do this. I wish you were.
I love those things, but you're not.
You're in good hands with Robert.
He works his ass off for you guys.
And he's very meticulous. Very attention to detail
oriented. And I got to.
That was one of the things that I learned in, you know, you and
I were, we had a relationship, you know, in that modern sense
of 2021, right, 22, where we knew each other, but we hadn't
really met and I got to meet you and I got to see behind them.
Curtain and you have got into science.
You are World expert. You are just the hardest working
guy. And I was very humbled just to
see how much effort you put in and that at one point I felt
guilty, but I was straight up on vacation.
Big news. You haven't heard this yet.
I sold the brewery. Yeah, and it's common.
I'm sorry. I knew that was coming.
You had mentioned that you'd found a buyer for us.
Yep. And so it's officially been
sold. And so that was kind of in the
works. And so I was this this hunt was
part of my effort in my time to kind of power down a little bit
and maybe get some of my time back and from being a, you know,
a bar owner Brewery owner, in the food and beverage industry,
but you blew me away with with how diligent and hardworking you
were. At 3:00 in the morning, you were
working on clients in the reason why you were getting up at 3:00
in the morning is because you could not let your clients down
even though you were out on a hunt.
And I was really humbled, and I just want to let your clients
know that you are worth every single damn Penny.
They put in your bank account. I appreciate that, man.
That means a lot. I mean, I love doing the client
work, for sure. I feel like, it makes me, it
makes me a better Coach, obviously, because I'm staying
on. The Cutting Edge, I'm
manipulating things with my clients.
I'm trying new things self-experimentation on myself,
my own nutritional protocol. I'm trying new things with them
based off of what their goals are, but I feel like, you know,
like there's a lot of doctor influencers out there.
For instance that never see patients anymore because they're
doing other things. And I feel like when they
whenever you take that step, you know, even if the patients
aren't your main, you know, bread and butter so to speak.
Like I feel like you owe it to the content you're putting out
in the It large to stay on The Cutting Edge and continue to see
those patients. Continue to work with those
clients. Continue to do those things that
brought you the success that you have thus far because it just it
keeps you humble. It keeps you accountable and it
keeps you sharp. And I feel like by me working
with my clients, you know, and continuing to work with clients.
I'm able to just really hone in on that.
Well, it's yeah, all of that. But again, you're being humble
your work. Ethic is Monumental.
And if, and when I go back into, not not if but when which is
actually going to have to be pretty soon here, but when I
start tapering back down, I know.
I'm going to be in good hands and I'll work with you again.
No question. Appreciate it.
Of course, I'd like to talk about some of the things that I
did to prepare. Is that I think we're very
successful. Do you mind if I jump into that?
Yeah. Yeah, that's damn it, man.
So, We upon my cardio when I booked this hunt and I do
limited cardio. I did limited cardio.
So I knew that I had to get really into cardiovascular
shape. I track my stats pretty good.
I knew I was lean. I knew I was had great blood
pressure and a good pulse, but I really hadn't put the miles in
on the running shoes. But running on flat ground out
at sea level isn't isn't the same thing.
So, I don't know what you did, but I did 22 minutes a day
post-workout and I on the StairMaster and the StairMaster
was an absolute buttkicker. I mean, it floored me, and it
was three and a half months leading up to the event itself.
So, Not going to do math in public.
But out in the August timeframe. I started really hammering down
on the StairMaster and my progress.
My goal setting and progress was phenomenal.
So the StairMaster 22 minutes a day.
Flat out flat out. I was going very high intensity
for 22 minutes and While my lungs, got kicked in a couple
times, I would say that in terms of my muscular strength
endurance of being able to climb the mountains.
I had zero issue whatsoever. Yeah.
What? What do you remember?
What intensity level you have the setting on the StairMaster?
Every stair Master little bit different.
But remember the level was I do. So this was StairMaster brand so
that those levels should be the same as long as you're on the
StairMaster brand. I know that can be different
ones and Is the whatever the 2001 version of that is and I
started my first week. I started at 8, I would work my
way up from one. I would do every 30 seconds.
I would increase. So I would go from 1 to 2 to 3
to 4 Etc. Every 30 seconds.
My first week I started at eight second week.
I went up to 10 that really started kicking in.
I'm pretty hard. I ended up being able to
maintain a 13 or 14 on the StairMaster for 22 minutes.
Now, it will take me some time to build up to that, you know,
to go from one. IE warming up up to 14, but
that's that's printing up a set of steps.
And, you know, I was, I was really sweating it out and my
cardio was not an issue at all when I got out into the
mountains. So I Pretty thankful.
What did you do? Yeah, so I don't have access to
a StairMaster. I probably will get one before
my next competition. Brett because their Master is
without a doubt, my most preferred form of cardio.
But since I didn't have a StairMaster, I was doing the,
the one mile a day runs. And what I did to prepare for
this specifically was about a month and a half before the
trip. I transitioned, all of my mild
runs from Road running to Ooh, I found this, there's like a five
mile Loop here close to me, that goes around the lake and I
didn't, I didn't run the whole Five Mile Loop, but I would just
do start at one end to the other end, run a mile on that trail,
but that the first mile, either way of that trail is pretty much
straight up rock cliff. So I was pretty much running my
mouth today, still, you know, both half-mile, going straight
up the cliff and the other half mile coming back and going
straight down the cliff. But doing that, you know, In the
outdoors to rain on rocks, on slippery, surfaces, and that I
think, was my Saving Grace for sure.
Did you wear those? What?
What kind of shoes were you right out there?
I had banners, and you had was under armours.
Yeah, I should have because if you can recall the first day,
when we put in, probably the most miles, I think, was on that
first day, it was. And I was wearing, I was trying
a new pair of Under Armour boot. So one of my good buddies, he
hook me up with some Some Under Armour hunting boots, the
Cameron Haynes brand Kevin, Haines line, and they're great
boots. I like him a lot, but there are
half a size too small and when you throw in, you know, a heavy
pair of hunting socks, it becomes even smaller and I
hadn't broken them in yet because it hasn't hunted with
them since I got them and I knew better than this but I typically
I'm pretty good with blisters. Like I don't let it really get
to me. I knew I was gonna get blisters.
So I just kind of went with it and that's exactly what I did in
the first. They were out there.
I got some massive blisters on both my feet.
That just continued to get worse and worse as the week went on.
But yeah, that was my that was my, my misstep there.
But I knew I was doing to myself as I was doing it.
So it's only my, it's my own fault.
Yeah. Well, we've all been there.
I'm very fortunate with those. I have danner's.
I think, I think next year. I might go, perhaps, I might go
with a little bit of a lighter weight.
Boot is the They are just a touch clunky for me, which, you
know, if we're standing still in eight inches of snow, they'd be
perfect. So, whatever trip I make next
year, they're still going to go with me.
But in the conditions that we have this year.
I probably would have preferred something just a little bit
lighter because I fail to believe that we weren't kicking
elk up and and driving them away, particularly when we're up
in the Timbers up in those Aspen's.
And you know, three, N trying to walk through the woods quietly.
It's damn near impossible, you know the last guy in the stack
there which was me. I was essentially my job was
just to keep up with you two. And so there were times where I
think I stepped on some logs when I shouldn't have and I
pretty damn sure that I kicked up some elk by making too much
noise. I'm going to go with some
lighter boots is the bottom line.
Yeah. I think if it's as warm as it
was for us and we're moving as much as we are.
Our. And then, you know, it's not
like you're feeding to get cold. So, having having, and if you're
gonna do a bunch of still hunting, when you get to the
location, you can always take your boots off, put on some
heavier socks and then still hunt for a while.
And then when you go back to return to Camp, you're going to
be doing most of walking. You can just return to that
lighter. Pair of socks.
That could also make a big difference.
But yeah, I think having some lighter boots be good, shoutout
to our guy and I mean, he's he's what, 50 years old, 54 years
old, something like that, and had And like multiple surgeries
or something like that. I don't know the exact details,
but had had a couple different obstacles from a health
standpoint, but I passes. Yeah, bypass surgery and that
those surgeries weren't too much, you know, too much prior
to this hunt that we had gone on and he was absolutely killing.
And, I mean, he's he's in shape for sure.
He isn't shape. I think he's 54 years old.
By the way, before you start trying to call that too old.
You know, I'm going to be 50 in a few months.
So just, you know, be careful there now to understand, it's
impressive. He-he's.
Purpose-built. And yeah, and he's out there all
day every day and he's out there.
Now, mountain lion going after mountain lions.
So they get, he does, he does this damn near from September
all the way. January February, he's out in
the mountains and what a life. So, one of the things, one of
the things that I think kind of crosses over between Health
Fitness, you know, physique bodybuilding and hunting is, is
the preparation and the habits that you have to build for
Preparation. And I was listening to you, and
Crystal on one of your live, Q&A is the other day and you had
Said hey, instead of calling it motivated.
Maybe it was Crystal, instead of calling it motivation.
You should call it disciplined be disciplined.
And that really resonated with me by the way, because I can't
tell you how many times I'm unmotivated to do something, and
you know, that little voice says, well, you don't really
have a choice. You can't say that.
You are this, unless you, you need to man up and do this, but
the discipline that goes into preparing for that hunt and one
of the things I'm going to boast.
Out a little bit. Is I think I put my money where
my mouth was on. That one is I can shoot, you
know, I can shoot, I rolled right up and boom three shots
and they were all damn near touching each other at 300 yards
and you know, no offense and of course there were many nameless.
I don't even know their names but some of the shooting that I
saw some of the guys at camps there.
I was just shaking my head like you're going to chew that a live
animal. Like this.
Yeah. Yeah, that's kind of a.
That's that's a topic that, you know, when you hunt, whether
you're hunting with a bow or with the rifle, you need to be a
capable hunter that can place a well-placed shot on the the
animal and, you know, kudos to you.
Because I mean, you went out there and we, it's kind of, an
interesting situation. We get to the guides house and
set up a Target, 250 yards, something like that.
And me, you and two or The guys who are going to be hunting in a
different party. We have to verify that we're see
Road and hitting Target and you shoot first, you nail everything
right on the money. I shoot.
And then my shot placement all over the board.
Which was weird because the week before I was nailing it at 500
yards and then the other three guys are shooting big time all
over the place. And then I think with me we
decided that I was hitting a bunch of the the brush in front
of me. So we took a bunch of At grass
down, then I was sitting, right? Where I was supposed to be
hidden. So I feel good about that.
But the, the other three guys, definitely, we're not anywhere
on the paper, which is concerning for sure because
they're going after, you know, an animal, not able to put a
well-placed shot on them, which is, in my opinion, should keep
them from go out there hunting for name on the first place.
I agree with you and I would just say as someone who was up a
shooter almost as a profession, as a green brave, for 21 years,
you know what they lacked. And I think what you and I
brought to the table and was obvious and and you're right.
It was the brush you were the position that you took for
shooting your, for that first five meters or so.
You were shooting through brush and you were still on the paper.
We just had to tighten your shot group back.
So we knock down some of that brush and but what you and I
were both doing is, we're both consistent than you could tell
like the training and the discipline, and the consistency,
because we're very comfortable behind the gun.
We knew how we performed with it.
As the system. We were using consistently the
same ammo, the same scope, the same rifle.
And the only thing that changes in that entire system is the
person behind the gun. MO is the same.
The barrel is the same, the scope is the same.
So I love it when people like I don't know what's going on and
it's like damn it. Well, I know what's going on.
It's the thing behind the scope. It's you.
So, you know be consistent and I think that Trend those skills
and those that discipline that translates directly over into,
you know, Health Fitness body. Composition in terms of I What
made me successful in my cut with?
You was being very consistent when you gave me a macro count.
I stuck exactly to that macro account to the exact macro, plus
or minus. I would say, 2, 2 3, 2 2, 3
grams of fat, 23, grams of protein, but it's the same exact
skillset. It's just being consistent and
that's why I was successful. I think.
Think I was my consistency. You were the subject matter
expert you provided the knowledge.
I just provided the consistent follow through and that was no
offense to the to the guys who were there in the camp with us,
but you could tell, they were not consistent with how they
were performing behind the gun. They were unfamiliar.
They were untrained and the only criticism I have I I don't judge
people on their ability to shoot if they can't shoot as good as
me. That's fine.
I can't lift as much weight. You that's fine, too.
It's there's no value judgment. In that until you're pointing
that gun at a living creature. Who deserves a better dispatch
than that. That's, that's what upset me
about that is you should know what the hell you're going is
going to do, what your bow is going to do.
It's like, well, there's a 50-50 shot.
I might get them in the Kill Zone.
Well, that means there's a 50-50 shot.
You're going to enter this animal and he's going to have a
pretty miserable suffering. In death after this, so why
didn't shoot that out behind the tree?
Correct. And I value and respect that
decision immensely. Yeah, I think we're speaking the
same language there, man. I feel like, you know, it's
always it's always interesting when you hunt with somebody new
and like you said, we had never met in person prior to this
hunt. So, you know, here I am leaving
leaving my pregnant wife, Crystal behind for a week.
And she's like, so what are you doing?
Exactly? I'm like, I'm gonna go meet this
kind of the first time spend the weekend there in Colorado
hunting with them and Hope. See you when I return, you know,
so it's like you never know. It's just a toss-up, but I'm I'm
proud of shared camp with you for the week.
And I feel like we're on the same page when it comes to our
values and integrity around the sport of hunting, the respect
that you need to show to the animal as hunters and honestly
just put in the work and put in the rips with regard to the
preparation, whether that be from a physical standpoint or
from a accuracy and your firearm standpoint.
All of that stuff was was dialed in and when you when you put it
on a high placement on you put that on a priority and you
practice and you put in those reps day today today to get to
that point that you're confident in doing what you got to do.
When the time comes, there's just a mutual understanding and
respect for your comrades that have that same degree of
dedication to the craft. And I feel like that's that's
super commendable man. So I've thoroughly enjoyed
sharing a hunt with you and I have no doubt that we'll be
doing this again. I've no doubt about it either
and I look forward to next season.
I'm going L coming. It's just my thing.
So, I'd love for you to join me. I understand that your life
priorities are rapidly changing as Crystal gets closer and
closer to being a mother and congratulations on that.
But, you know, that you are always more than welcome.
All you have to do is just let me know at the last minute and
I'll get you out. The those woods.
I think moving forward. I'm borderline getting close.
If not, they're like, I wouldn't need a guide in the future.
Maybe we could talk Brad into coming out with us and that
might be a transition over into being unguided.
So yeah. Yeah, totally man.
Just real quick. One of the things that I enjoyed
was the fact that we continue to work out while we're still out
there. How do you feel that aspect of
our trip went? It's interesting because I've
been like I was gonna get my mile a day and regardless
because that committed to running to my list at every
single day, but the physical I mean the calories that we were
burning with the hunting itself was no joke when we definitely
could have Justified not resistance training when we got
back, but I honestly think that doing the training, at the end
of the day, allowed me to sleep. Bedroom.
It allowed me to have that kind of second win of energy and I
was able to just go to sleep on a better note to begin with.
So I woke up better. I think I think was great.
Like we didn't we didn't do that.
We didn't go to a gym and put in like an hour and a half workout,
bad means. But we had the band's behind the
adjustable dumbbells. And we did a consistent, you
know, push-pull leg or upper body your upper body lower body
split or something to get everything stimulated in the
blood pumping, pretty much every All day.
So that was good. Yeah, and I felt one of the
think. It just overall, what we did was
it was high intensity short duration because you're right.
I mean by the time we got back to the cabin, we're whooped men
and we're just putting an incredible miles and I don't
know about you, but the bottom of my feet towards the end of
the week. I mean it did get to a point
where it's like, yeah, I'm starting to feel a little sore
on the bottom of my feet. But we would only work out for
what 20 25 minutes but it was, it was intense.
So, you had the X3 band and I had the adjustable dumbbells.
And you know, by the way, I'm going to tell something a little
funny here. I was like, you know, shoot, I'm
heading into this cabin. This guy is literally a
professional bodybuilder. Am I going to be able to hang
with him when and I was able to hang with you, so I was pretty
Be proud of that. But the we would we would switch
from the dumbbells to the bands and back and forth.
And we were just get home from the mountain that day and say,
okay. What do you want to work on?
I want to work on shoulders and chest.
Okay, set up the band through this and I'll set up the
dumbbells for that and we were just swap back and forth.
And basically we just super excited for you know, 20 minutes
straight and I thought that it was pretty damn effective at a
minimum. I Take any steps backwards.
Yeah, hundred percent. I think, you know, it's much
easier to preserve the muscle that you've built.
That it is to build new muscle. And if you don't activate your
muscle at all, it's relatively easy to lose lean mass.
But by us, you know, doing that relatively intense, super said,
you know, getting plenty of blood flow activating all the
muscle. I mean, we were able to most
certainly maintain what we had built up to that point.
So when we went back to our normal routines after the hunt,
you know, there weren't any they weren't.
Any steps backward? Take.
I mean, we were, we were right there where we left off and
honestly, probably better from a cardiovascular standpoint.
Yeah, I would say so, well, we covered all of my points that I
wanted to get to want to talk about working out and shooting
and consistency and the training that it took that I thought
really paid off, you know, so I've wrapped up my talking
points that I wanted to cover. Just want to make sure again,
just relate to your listeners. Robert is an incredible
individual. He works exceptionally.
For his client. You're one of the most diligent
guys, that I know you're, you're the most diligent guy that I
know then that's not Hyperbole. And I'm proud to have met you
and developed a friendship with you, and I look forward to
humming with you again next year.
I truly do appreciate that, man. And, you know, right back at ya.
I value this friendship and I value having the opportunity to
work with you as a client. And, I mean, I've got nothing
but respect for what you've accomplished but what's next on
on your agenda. I don't know how much you're at
liberty to say, but Now, the brewery.
So what's in the pipeline for you, man?
I appreciate the opportunity to let people know that I am now.
The director of communications for the National Infantry Museum
and we are a non-profit. Our mission is to our mission,
is to honor the sacrifice and Legacy of the American Soldier.
We're located in Columbus, Georgia.
You can find us on Facebook and Instagram at National Infantry
Museum. At National Infantry Museum, you
can go to the National Infantry Museum dot-org and you can make
a donation to us. We're a 501 C3.
We're a non-profit. I kind of wanted to give back to
the community a little bit. You know, I retired after 21
years in the Army opened a brewery quit drinking, you know,
that's the first podcast, we talked about all of that and
there just came a point where my professional life had to be.
In step with my personal life. And, and so, the brewery for
obvious reasons, so, I wanted to get, I wanted to give back a
little bit. The National Infantry Museum was
right down the road and they were great friends of mine and
we were voted America's best free museum on multiple
occasions by USA Today. CNN, travel has cited us as
being the among the top 12 military museums.
In the world. In the world.
We're located in Columbus, Georgia.
It the place is incredible. It is.
It is a world-class venue. You don't have to be infantry.
I was not an infantry Soldier. I was a Green Beret, but at the
end of the day, it's about honoring, the sacrifice and
Legacy of America's soldiers. And you know, we appreciate any
support you can give us National Infantry Museum.
Dot-org had their check out the museum and if you can spare it,
make a donation to help us honor that sacrifice and Legacy Levitt
Manuel. I've got family in Georgia.
So, next time, I'm in the area. I will most certainly swing.
And check out the museum. All right, brother.
Look forward to it. Definitely.
We are doing another little recording here that we forget to
talk about something very, very important that Michael brought
to my attention and that was how we fared from an energy
standpoint while we're out there.
Hunting through the elements with a nomad meal approach
pretty much faster throughout the day.
Other than a keto break at some point during the day, hiking all
those miles. So just touch on that for a
second. Would you Michael?
I just like last year. I had no problems whatsoever at
all. I felt that I was at a high
ketogenic State throughout the entire hunt here.
We were putting in 64 miles in six days are 60 miles in 6 days,
whatever it was at 8,000, 9,000 10,000 feet.
I never felt in any way, shape, or form that I was missing out
on on anything because I wasn't eating.
I never felt that I had. A lack of energy at all.
I felt I was clear of head and that I could keep going to that
next Peak bursts of energy. There were times where we were
really panting, pretty hard. And, you know, I hadn't eaten
since the day before the evening before and I personally didn't
find any lack of energy whenever I needed recall and and move
out. It was there.
What about? You know, I totally agree, man.
I mean we were Let me like I said, we had pretty much.
I brought the bricks. We had a brick at some point
during the hunt. Usually probably around noon.
I would guess and then we wouldn't eat again until after
we got back, did the Run did the workout and then cooked a meal
and that meal was, it was the usually consisted of about 10,
whole eggs per person and then probably about a pound of ground
beef and probably about another, I don't know.
Handful of cheese or something like that, but pretty simple
stuff. We had eggs, ground beef, and
cheese, every single day, and that's pretty much what we're
living on. Yeah, you would, you would do
great, like, worked out that division labor.
You would do the laundry, and I would do the cooking.
And, you know, by the time we were done working out,
everything was ready to go, but it was just protein and fat and
it just, Still blows people away.
When I tell them like, yeah, this is multiple years in a row.
I go out to the mountains and I'm climbing these massive,
massive Peaks, and no, I don't eat all day.
I'll eat before I go to bed. And, you know, I thought that
was just the most important part to, for your listeners.
That's why we wanted to record again.
Is that ketogenic lifestyle? It's, it's almost a perfect
diet, for being out there in the woods.
For these Long Haul, several day in a row.
A severe caloric exertion events, and I never felt the
need that I had to eat. I was eating the bricks in the
morning. Mostly because they're so damn
good. It was like having a dessert
that you didn't have to feel guilty about and that's why I
was eating them is because I actually liked them.
It wasn't because I felt I needed energy in my system.
I just in particular, the maple pecan and the chocolate peanut
butter. I thought they were just really
good and I was looking forward to the opportunity to have that
break so that I could eat those but other That I never in any
way, shape, or form felt that I was energy depleted, even even
if I didn't have a brick in me at the time.
So I'll continue to stick with the ketogenic lifestyle.
For my, you know, long-term serious Western hunts.
Yeah. I think it's the best way to go,
man. I mean, so many people are at
their hunts and they've got like their snack bars or quest bars
there. Cliff Mars than get just all
this gear. They have to bring with him from
a food standpoint. A point or else they start
bonking and can't make it up the mountain.
And so that that's one benefit. You know, what to have, all that
excess weight in your pack because you don't have to carry
anything if you choose not to. I mean, literally we were
bringing water and then the brick and the brick was
something that we didn't have to have like you said, but we just
prefer to have it. So literally just the water
weight, which is not that much comparatively.
And then we didn't ever feel like we were depleted.
So from a western hunting, you know, out in the mountains at
elevation. You know, hiking up and down
with a weighted pack gun, etcetera, Etc.
I feel like being in a fat that Penn State is just a clear-cut
winner between that and being carved dependent having to stop
every two or three hours to eat something.
Right, I could never see myself going back to a standard
American diet, hunter or not. But in particular for events
like this, I don't see why you would want to do it.
Any other way. Amen to that, man.
Well, I've got to I've got your links that you mentioned earlier
for the, for the museum. I'll make sure those get in the
show notes and again, brother will do this again, will get in
a hunt on the books and I sincerely look forward to the
next one. Hopefully we will, we will get
our For next time. Okay, my gold, my fitness goals
have slightly adjusted, and I'm sure you're going to prove.
I'm going to make this contract external accountability, right?
This is why you do these things. So, you know, my 50th birthday
is coming up on in September, September 29th.
And so, I'm adjusting my date a forward a little bit.
I think doing something in conjunction with my 50th
birthday. So what I'm saying is I'm saying
to you live is, you know, I'm going to look to you and your
advice to help start trimming back down to a single digit body
fat on, or about my 50th birthday, which is September
29th. So, we kind of want to
competition stage then. Yeah.
Why not right. I like it.
I might not.
Hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be in that that perfect sweet spot
where I'm going to go into the Masters category, but I'll be
the youngest Masters up there. So, Esther's categories, it
starts at 35 years old so you can compete in the open you can
compete in the Masters 35 + + Masters 40-plus, Masters 45 + +
& Masters 50-plus, so you can just come home with all kinds of
Hardware, doesn't matter. It's the journey.
Yeah. It's the journey between now and
then that's what's important. So I look forward to it.
Well, I do is well, man. Let's just let's be in contact
about that. Will get you down then and get
you ready to rumble brother. Our brother.
Take care, Michael. Have a good one.