1/11/25: Colorado Gun Collectors Association & Airgun Outdoors & Cold Water Outfitters Today’s Guests: Cindy Jewell from the Colorado Gun Collector Association is with us to tell us all about their mission and encourages our listeners to become a member. Then our good friend Travis Peacock, Owner Airgun Outdoors in Parker is with us to share what’s new in the air rifle industry. We went out a few weeks ago and shot from 25 caliber to 50 caliber guns, wow! Airgun Outdoors is your one stop shop for air rifles and optics, including thermal scopes and monoculars. In our
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Sportsman of Colorado, Colorado’s premier outdoor radio show heard every Saturday afternoon on KLZ 560 with insights on hunting, fishing, archery, guns, and ammo from Colorado’s top outfitters featuring the industry’s leading experts on how to enhance your experience in the great outdoors. Now, here’s your host, Scott Watley.
SPEAKER 07 :
Welcome to Sportsman of Colorado. Thank you so much for joining us today. Hey, we’ve got a great show in store for you. We’re going to kick it off with our good friends from Colorado Gun Collector Association. And we are very proud to have Cindy Jewell in studio with us. So, Cindy, welcome to the show. How are you?
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you. I’m fine.
SPEAKER 07 :
How are you doing? It’s good. I’m good. You know, it’s neat to have a lady in when talking about guns. So it’s kind of unusual, to be honest with you. So thanks for coming in and doing this.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you. And it’s not actually as unusual as you would think. In our club, we have quite a few women collectors.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, good. We’re going to learn all about that today with Cindy. So let’s just kind of talk a little bit about you at first, a little bit about your background and what made you want to get involved with the Gun Collector Association.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, currently, I am the secretary treasurer of the club. And probably about in the mid-90s, I started attending the annual May show called I was so overwhelmed and amazed at all the items. You looked up, and there was tables and tables and guns and uniforms and swords and rifles, and I was just overwhelmed. So I had to come back again for a couple of years. There was everything from the large military arms to the typical shotguns, rifles, and handguns that we all know about today.
SPEAKER 07 :
So how… You talk about the shows like that, and those happen in May, and we’ll be pushing that real strong for you guys next year. But when you look at those first few shows to maybe last year’s show, how have those changed over the years?
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, my gosh. They have changed so much. Our first show was in 1966, and it was held at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds. I think we had 140 tables then, and the admission was 50 cents to get in.
SPEAKER 09 :
50 cents.
SPEAKER 04 :
50 cents to get in. People just brought used guns and old guns. And today, it’s a collection of the antiques that we mostly focus on and that we all love dearly. The antiques that made our country what it is today.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s so cool. And, man, back then, think about the freedoms of just probably people loading up guns in their trucks and coming in the front door with them. It wasn’t a big deal.
SPEAKER 04 :
Exactly. It wasn’t. We went from Jefferson County to downtown Denver.
SPEAKER 09 :
Right.
SPEAKER 04 :
So imagine downtown Denver in today’s climate pulling up. to the Corrigan Hall or the Albany Hotel or the Hilton Hotel. We were at many of those hotels down there first. And like you said, pulling up in a truck, unloading things in the middle of downtown Denver.
SPEAKER 07 :
Wow, that’s awesome. All right, let’s talk about the purpose. Now, Gun Collectors kind of tells us that, but what’s kind of the mission or purpose? How would you describe that?
SPEAKER 04 :
The purpose of this organization is to establish in our state of Colorado a permanent organization for the promotion of friendship among and the mutual benefit of persons interested in the collection, preservation, and study of firearms and other accessories.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. And man, that must bring you people from all walks of life, so to speak.
SPEAKER 04 :
It does. It really does. Early on, our club began with a group of guys just sharing stories and showing some particular guns that they had brought, some that they thought were really cool. And they decided, well, let’s just start a club. So in 1966 is when our club was first started. And I’m proud to say that I knew five of the founding fathers.
SPEAKER 09 :
Really?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes. And one of our founding fathers is still alive. He attends our meetings, and he’s also active in our gun shows. So he’s gone from gun show number one to gun show 58 so far.
SPEAKER 07 :
My goodness.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes. Wow.
SPEAKER 07 :
So when people want to get involved, well, let’s let’s talk about this way. Let’s let’s talk about the members and the growth that you’ve seen. And you mentioned a little diversity now, a lot of women involved in it, too. So kind of talk about the growth through the years.
SPEAKER 04 :
So our club is now a little less than 500 members. We’re in 39 states, including Hawaii. We have two members that live in Hawaii. Our oldest member is a lady that’s 100 years old, and our oldest gentleman is also 100. Wow. Our youngest member is 20. And we do have families that have several members of the family that is in the club. They attend regular meetings. They help with our gun show.
SPEAKER 07 :
Wow. Now, how often do you have meetings?
SPEAKER 04 :
We have meetings once a month. in Southeast Denver off of I-25. Our meetings are generally a presentation from one of our members that’ll talk about a particular gun or series of guns or a type of gun. And it’s very educational. We have a lot of fun with it. Then we also have social time.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, wow. Once again, Cindy Jewell is with us. We were talking about the Colorado Gun Collector Association. And, hey, if you’re interested, you can check out their website. Just Google Colorado Gun Collector Association, and that will direct you to their website, and you can learn more about membership there. So do most of the members have, like, one era of firearms or swords or uniforms that they’re interested in, or how does that work?
SPEAKER 04 :
Our members collect a large variety of items. They can range from military, American, British, German, turn of the century, or as special as Colts, Remington, Smith & Wessons, Winchesters. And depending on the collector, sometimes a collector wants to focus on only 1911s. So that’s a model number. They will explore and try to achieve as many of those 1911s as they can. They generally try to get the most pristine. Sometimes they will go for…
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s okay. Sometimes they’ll go for just certain types of models or different things that they like, right?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes. Yes.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 04 :
Sometimes they will incorporate the handguns into the rifles and the shotguns. Sometimes they’re only rifles. Sometimes they’re only shotguns. Sometimes it’s only military. For example, our big makers, Colt, Smith & Wesson, they also made military guns.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, right. A lot of people probably don’t know that, right? So you were mentioned before we came on air here, the chase, you called it. And that’s where certain collectors are looking for certain things to purchase for their collection. And it’s fun for them to go figure out how to find that item and buy it, right?
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, it’s so much fun. One of our members told me that he saw the movie Winchester 73s.
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, yeah, Jimmy Stewart, yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, and he decided he wanted a Winchester 73. He wanted one of 1,000. So he looked and he searched. He went to a lot of pawn shops and smaller stores at that time. He finally acquired three of them that were one of 1,000. He acquired a .32 caliber, a .38 caliber, and a .44 caliber.
SPEAKER 07 :
Wow, how cool.
SPEAKER 04 :
And another one of our stories that I’ve heard is a member was at a gun show waiting to speak to the vendor. There was a guy in front of him, and he was drunk. My person was very much interested in a particular gun that was on the table. Well, the guy in front of him just happened to buy that gun when my buddy was standing behind him. So he says, well, I still want that gun. So it took him about 15 years chasing that gun, but he finally got it. Wow. And it just completed one part of his collection.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. Yeah. So, you know, in being around you guys over these last few months, and you all were at the gun room over there when we did a live remote this summer, and really want to get more people involved, but also young people, because that’s important to keep this going, isn’t it?
SPEAKER 04 :
It’s very important. One thing that really stands out to me a lot that I’ve noticed in the last couple years is that our gun shows, the young people are coming in for the history. I met, through another connection of mine, a lady that says, oh, my son would love to see all of those. He’s majoring in history and firearms. So he came down to our show and thought it was awesome. This past year, we had a group of junior… junior children come in, middle school children. Okay. And they came in and they toured our show and they were learning all about guns in school.
SPEAKER 07 :
Wow. Isn’t that awesome? That’d be really neat.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, it is.
SPEAKER 07 :
I think it’d be cool for like homeschool groups, you know, different things like that, where maybe the kids don’t get to normally go get to do a lot of activities for something like that, for them to come in and see something like the gun collectors. Yeah. So what does Cindy like to collect?
SPEAKER 04 :
I like unusual things.
SPEAKER 07 :
Things that… Now, your husband looked at me kind of weird when you just said that. You like unusual things. He’s sitting over in the studio in the corner. What do you like?
SPEAKER 04 :
Early in my gun show travels, I saw what they call a palm pistol. And a palm pistol is a circular… gun that sits in the palm of your hand with the trigger that comes out between the second and third finger. It was just very different than anything that I had seen. And the one that I happened to see that really caught my attention was pretty well worn. And my husband had said, well, we can find one that’s better than that. So again, I got in on the chase because of its uniqueness. And it took me several years to find it, but I found one. just a couple years at our show, and it was made in France in the late 1800s, and it’s actually one of the first concealed carry guns.
SPEAKER 07 :
Wow. Well, that’s cool.
SPEAKER 04 :
And it’s very easy. You just hold it in the palm of your hand, and… Yeah. Very easy to use.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, it’s amazing when you look at some of those, and if folks have ever been to the museum in Wyoming… Cody Fire Museum, which I highly recommend that. That is something to really see when you just look at the involvement of the different type of weapons through the years. I mean, it’s amazing.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, several of our members have guns on display at the Cody Museum.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 04 :
And also at the NRA Museum.
SPEAKER 07 :
Wow. Well, how special is that? Now, the other ladies, let’s take that sector that are involved. What do some of them like to collect that you visit with?
SPEAKER 04 :
A lot of times the women are into the smaller guns. They’re easier for us to handle, control, carry. Derringers are some of the types that they usually like, or just the small, small caliber guns.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right, right. Once again, it’s the Colorado Gun Collector Association. Again, they have their big show in May every year, and that’s up in Greeley, correct?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, it is.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, and we’ll get you more information on that as the time comes, but I’m telling you what, if you’ve been thinking about it or maybe this is the first time you’ve heard them on the show and you didn’t even know they were around, hey, check into their website there. Become a member. It’s Colorado Gun Collector Association. And you guys are even doing some things here for the holidays, aren’t you, for your group?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, we are. We just did a charity auction. And all the money that we made from that is going to go to youth shooting groups, generally the scouts, and then there’s a couple of schools that have shooting teams. So we donate the money to them. We also will be having a Christmas party in December in place of our meeting.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. Well, that always works.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, yes.
SPEAKER 07 :
Get to eat instead of have a meeting.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 07 :
Anything we forgot you want to touch on? That’s okay. Look through there. I want to make sure we get everything that we got for you. And once again, it’s the Colorado Gun Collector Association. And, hey, it would be great. Dads and moms out there, get your kids involved in this. Just give them something to learn a little bit about history of guns would be a great thing. And it’s not all guns. I mean, there’s swords, all kinds of different things. So anything else you saw we need to hit?
SPEAKER 04 :
No, I think I’ve shed a little bit of light on things.
SPEAKER 07 :
No, absolutely. You’ve done a wonderful job, and we appreciate it. And thanks for all you do for them. And we’ll look forward to getting you back on again.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right. Thank you.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you. That’s Cindy Jewell, Colorado Gun Collector Association. Once again, check them out. Just Google Colorado Gun Collector Association. You can learn more about them. If you’ve got any questions, of course, you can get in touch with us here at the station. You’re listening to Sportsman of Colorado. We’ve got to take a quick break, and we’ll be back with more right after this.
SPEAKER 08 :
If you’re in the market for a new rifle for the big game season or a new shotgun for some doves or upland game birds, head on over to the Gun Room. Kevin Flesch here from Sportsman of Colorado inviting you to visit Denver’s oldest gun dealer. And that’s the Gun Room at 1595 Carr Street in Lakewood. They offer buy, trade, consignment, transfers, and appraisals. And if you purchase a gun, we’ll cover your background check fee. It’s the Gun Room, 1595 Carr Street. Tell them Sportsman of Colorado sent you.
SPEAKER 05 :
KLZ 560, your home station.
SPEAKER 07 :
Welcome back to Sportsman of Colorado. Always good to have our good buddy, Travis Peacock. Airgun Outdoors. Now, you’ve heard Travis on the show several times. It just seems to be a few months in between each time, which is my fault. So, Travis, great to have you back in studio. How are you?
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey, great to be here, Scott. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER 07 :
You bet. Hey, it’s Airgun Outdoors. They are located at 12543 North Highway 83, Translation Parker Road. All right, so… Sounds like North Highway 83. Where is that and how far is that? Hey, it’s just on Parker Road. And that’s right off of Pine Lane and Parker Road. All right. And their number is 720-603-3099. First of all, let’s visit back. You came to the Mile High Hunt and Fish Expo in April, and that was our first year for that at the Gaylord. I’ve been asking people that we’ve had on the show, just as you look back on that expo and you’ve done other shows and stuff, your thoughts.
SPEAKER 03 :
I thought it was excellent. They really did a great job with facilitating a great show. Lots of really good vendors, outstanding people. It was run very professionally. So from my standpoint as a vendor having a booth there, it was great. I would definitely be back.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, and I’ll tell you, I don’t know. There was just a vibe there. It’s hard to even—and I’ve told people, I don’t really know how to explain it, but I think with just the different types of vendors and not just outfitters and things, but manufacturers, guns, archery stuff, I mean, just everything that was there, I mean, it just seemed like people really engaged with, you know, our— display folks, the folks that had booths and everything. I don’t know. I think everybody loved being out at the Gaylord, too. That’s not a bad place to be at.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, it was a great venue. Yeah, there was an excitement about it, and I think part of it is it was all hunter-centric. It was outdoors, everything. Every booth was something. So that was really nice. It was refreshing because nowadays you go to other shows and you’re inundated with
SPEAKER 07 :
you know a lot of other stuff so it’s nice to see everything you know from the outdoors world yeah right and our wives usually don’t mind coming out to the gaylord right no not at all yeah exactly it was you know it was a um it was a just you know i i don’t think i could pick apart anything that wasn’t you know just done really well you know there were some in the evenings i mean it was long days a little bit but then we would end about six or so and then both nights we had a you know we had a real cool after party after uh friday night i think it was and saturday night we had this really nice banquet And a super nice breakfast buffet for the vendors and all. We’re like, wow, who does this? So it was.
SPEAKER 03 :
It was just awesome, man. And just so many nice people. I met tons of other people at booths, and just the people running the show were super friendly. Right. Yeah, I will definitely be back.
SPEAKER 07 :
And more importantly, you sold a few guns there, so hey, that’ll work.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, definitely. I’ve had several people come in that were at the show, and they just got kind of a taste. We had a line most days just explaining things. Right. That’s the thing with the high-powered precision air guns. People, I would say 80% of the people walk through my door have absolutely no idea what they are until they walk in. And then it’s, you know, my favorite part of my job, I would say, is explaining and sharing the hobby with people because it’s kind of foreign to a lot of folks. Everyone thinks airsoft or BB guns, and it’s completely not that. Completely. As you know.
SPEAKER 07 :
Which we’ll get into. And, you know, I mean, you do. You open your door. And if you just take somebody in there and go, OK, what are you in right now? Well, I’m in a gun store, you know, which is partly true. But I mean, they do not look like the oh, and I was teaching the other day when we went out shooting a little bit. I said, well, I used to have a Benjamin Crossman 22 caliber and had to pump it nine times or 10 times to shoot each time.
SPEAKER 03 :
And wow, has this changed. Definitely. And the interesting thing is everyone’s like, well, this must be a new technology. It’s been around since, you know, the 1600s. Lewis and Clark had one on their expedition, a pre-charged pneumatic air gun. But this is, you know, as with everything, it’s evolved and evolved. Now, you know, I have everything from 17 to 50 caliber, and the performance is outstanding. The accuracy is amazing. Yeah, really accurate.
SPEAKER 07 :
Again, Travis Peacock is our guest. It’s Airgun Outdoors, 12543, I’m just going to say Parker Road. All right, and if you Google it, it’s going to say North Highway 83, which is right at Parker Road and Pine there. All right. Now, let’s recap a little bit about you folks. I hadn’t heard you before. You’ve been doing this, what, 10, 11 years, 12?
SPEAKER 03 :
So in the air gun as a hobby, getting close to 20 years. OK. Business wise, I’m in my third year.
SPEAKER 07 :
OK. All right. I just know you’ve been doing it a long, long time. Right. Wow. And what made you pick? I mean, a lot of things you could have looked at, you know, in the outdoor world. And what made you kind of want to go this direction?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I think, you know, just the passion of, you know, I’m a big archery guy, too. So I was kind of like, do I go archery or do I go air guns? And there’s no other retailers like that. Of the caliber guns that I sell in the area. So that helped me make my decision, which it’s been a great decision. I’ve really enjoyed it. I’ve met so many nice people. And then just being able to – I would say probably on a weekly basis, I have five to ten people that come into my store, and they’re like – We’re so excited that there’s finally a real air gun store in the area instead of having to buy stuff online and have to deal with that. You want to take something, man, that’s for the family.
SPEAKER 07 :
This is it. I mean, if you live out anywhere where you’ve just got kind of a backyard, they’re so quiet.
SPEAKER 03 :
It’s ridiculously quiet. And the accuracy, like I showed you the photo where we’ll literally shoot flies at 35 yards, individual flies. That’s how accurate the guns are. So things like that is I have guys literally that have a long basement, and they’ll set up a range in their basement because you don’t have powder. So you don’t have to worry about the toxic fumes and things like that. And the quiet, generally, your impact is louder than the shot. Right.
SPEAKER 07 :
Now, you mentioned from the caliber 17 to 50 and got to shoot the 50 the other day. And wow, the accuracy of that and still the quietness of that, it still targets. I mean, and the loudest noise. when you pull the trigger, it’s hitting a steel target. Oh, sure.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, because it was shooting a 388-grain slug, and it wasn’t long-range. We were, I think, 7,500-yard, that type of distance, but it was rocking that 10-inch AR-500 steel plate like it was nothing.
SPEAKER 07 :
And you’ve got something pretty cool coming up here in a couple weeks.
SPEAKER 03 :
I do, actually. A week from today, I take off to South Africa to hunt plains game with air guns.
SPEAKER 07 :
With air guns.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yep. So I’ve been trying to get this going for quite some time, and I’m actually working with an outfitter there. They’re trying to promote air gun hunting because they know that it’s gaining popularity all over the world. And so I’m going to work with them, get out, check things out. There are several different animals that are on the docket, so we’re going to get out there and see what we can come across. But taking a .50 caliber and a .457.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. Wow.
SPEAKER 03 :
Should be a lot of fun.
SPEAKER 07 :
Should be exciting, absolutely. All right, so… Somebody walks in, they kind of don’t know what they’re looking at. They get air guns. They see all these cool guns. How does the conversation start when somebody, you know, hadn’t had one like me in 30 years? I mean, how do you find them, kind of their direction there?
SPEAKER 03 :
So it’s use case. So the first thing I’ll ask is, you know, what are you going to be utilizing it for? Is it targets? Is it fun, plinking? Is it competition, hunting? Then, you know, that’s kind of the start. And then the next would be budget. And then after that, we’ll go through form factor, things like that. We have bullpups. We have long guns. We have tactical looking. We have really nice laminate stocks or walnut. There’s a bunch of different options. So it’s kind of… Generally, when people are in the store, I’ll hand them a few guns and they know when they’ve grabbed something and feel it and shoulder it. And they’re like, OK, this is the fit. And then we work on getting it set up for what they’re going to be using. Like I have a lot of guys that are doing, you know, small game testing, stuff like that. Prairie dogs, coyotes. I have a bunch of guys that are doing hogs in other states. So, you know, then we go through and kind of, you know, tailor it to what they want to use it for.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. And I’m looking forward. I think I’m going mid-November down to Texas to our friends at Lone Star Hunts for a hog hunt. And I’m definitely going to take this one that I got the other day. And, man, I can’t wait to just see what that’s like. And, again, if you do that, what you’re saying is a lot of these hog hunting places, especially, they’ll have archery stands there. And that’s where you say, hey, that’s a great place to sit, right?
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. so that people understand why, you know, I, I, I would say, you know, get it a little bit closer. Cause you know, as you know, the pigs are, they’re moving their heads. We want to do a headshot if we can. Um, so having a, just a little bit closer and we’re not doing 3000 feet per second. So everything that I send out, it’s generally subsonics. So, um, But if you have them, I mean, it can easily take a hog out at 50 yards, if not further, with a headshot. But as you know, they move so much, you want to try and mitigate any potential of them moving it as you’re getting ready to shoot. Right, right.
SPEAKER 07 :
Now, let’s take the one that I got. Okay. And you kind of break it down because there’s a dial system on the back. Like if you’re just wanting to plink for a little bit and get extra shots, I guess we can say, you know, from the air tank and all that. So break it down in a professional level better than me of how all that works.
SPEAKER 03 :
No problem. So the gun that you’re talking about is the FX Maverick. It is a bullpup configuration, has a 700-millimeter barrel and a 580cc bottle. So the way that it works is you can increase your power, but then your shot count will go down. And it’s vice versa. As you go up with one, the other goes down. So if you’re going to just plink with it, there is a quick-tune system where you can just dial your hammer spring preload. So that you can say, hey, I want to just go plink in the backyard or someplace. I don’t need power, but I want shot count. You can dial that down, and it’s going to decrease your velocity but increase your shot count. And then you’re like, hey, this weekend I’m going to go shoot hogs or prairie dogs or something. I want more performance. You just dial it up. Obviously, you just adjust your zero for that change in performance. But as you saw, I mean, it’s, you know, you can pretty much dial that gun into whichever situation you’re in.
SPEAKER 07 :
It was unbelievable. And, you know, again, you say air rifle, of course, it’s quiet. But I’m telling you, until you really experience it… you know out shooting as we were doing the other day uh i just could not believe how quiet and yet how effective you took out several prairie dogs and it was the impact on the prairie dog at you know yeah 100 yards was louder than the shot it actually was yeah and you’re not disturbing everything else around you know a lot of times these may be on some um properties and maybe there’s horses around or cattle around and you don’t want to disturb other game you know with a with a 22 even, you know, and that air rock, man, it’s just, I mean, it’s just unreal.
SPEAKER 03 :
And yours is a 25 caliber. So, you know, you can go up into the, you know, 30, 40, 50 grain projectiles with that. And we have it set up shooting slugs. So better ballistic coefficient, you’re going to reach out. And I had mentioned before to you, there was a property that we took 2,100 prairie dogs off of that was just infested. They couldn’t even run cattle because they had eaten everything. Right. And with that, there was adjacent properties that were shooting 17 HMR or 22, and they would have to wait because the noise of the supersonic crack and just the muzzle noise was scaring the prairie dogs, and then they’d be gone for 15 minutes. And with air guns, they have absolutely no idea. And if you need to do some mitigation, you can definitely do that.
SPEAKER 07 :
Absolutely. Once again, it’s airgunoutdoors.org. 1-2-5-4-3 North Highway 83. That’s what it’s going to say if you Google them. It’s just right off Parker Road and Pine Lane. Again, the number is 720-603-3099. Now, make sure I get this in. The first Saturday of every month. You have kind of some get-together there, and everybody’s welcome to come in and chat. That’s got to be a cool thing. I’m going to try to get by there one of these Saturdays and come to that. So tell us about it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, definitely. It’s called Good Morning Airguns, so I bring in coffee and donuts. Local airgun folks come in, and also it’s always an open invitation to – You know, anybody that wants to come check things out and meet other people that are in the sport. And, you know, it’s the community outreach is kind of a big deal to me. I like, you know, that aspect of it. And, you know, you don’t always have to take my word. You know, other guys are you can be like, hey, what do you do? And, you know, there’s groups of guys that will get together and shoot. And so it’s a really good time. I enjoy doing it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. No, that Charlie gentleman, that was another day when I was there. You know, we ended up having a great conversation. We’ve known each other a little bit, but never had really a lot of time to visit. But, man, you can just learn a lot and see what other guys are liking, see what they’re shooting, see what they’re doing. And, you know, it’s a lot of fun for sure. Now, one thing I really love about your operation is this. You walk in, you get an air rifle. You walk out, you need nothing else, meaning you’ve got everything right there I need. So extra, you know, the tanks that you can do to fill up, the compressors for them. You’ve got optics. So, I mean, you’ve got pellets. So, I mean, we’re good.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and that’s the thing. It’s a one-stop. I mean, you don’t have to worry about, hey, I can’t find it. I’ve got to order it. I’ve got everything. And that’s the nice thing about air guns is the ammo is ridiculously cheap, and it’s always available. I mean, I remember chasing down firearms, ammo. Oh, my goodness. when it was like empty shelves i know we’re in a better position now but um when things get crazy like that and shelves start getting wiped out i you know that’s one really nice thing is i always have ammo um and when somebody comes in and buys a gun it’s not just here’s your gun see you later i you know i give everybody a card and any i tell everybody there’s no no dumb question you if you have any issues questions call me i’m always there and the nice thing is is that I have a lot of guys that will come in and they’re buying You know, cheaper stuff online, and it’s breaking, and they have to send it back to the manufacturer and things like that. If there’s issues on my end, which is very rare, you know, I’m right here. And I always put an emphasis on taking care of my customers. Sure, sure.
SPEAKER 07 :
Now, optics. Let’s spend a couple of minutes there. As a matter of fact, the gentleman I just mentioned, he was telling me, he goes, Scott, he goes, I’ve had all the high-end scopes. I mean, $3,000, $4,000, $5,000 scope. but he likes one that you carry. And it saves him a lot of money. He can put more money into a gun. and still have great optics. So kind of talk about what you cover there.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and that’s just it. I mean, most people think, well, you have an air gun store, you have air gun specific. I mean, my optics, you can run on pretty much anything. I have night vision. I have thermal. I have optics from Arkin is probably my top seller. I have Element Optics, Athlon. I can get others through distributors, but those are the ones that I mainly stock. My night vision and thermal I have from a company called Pard, which actually have a thermal sitting right here. So they’re going to check out. But just a blast, you know, being able to take a super accurate gun and put a really nice optic on it and seeing the performance from both sides. Right. Anything we missed? I think the biggest thing is people’s misconception of what air guns are. So if you go out and do a YouTube search for air gun hunting, it’ll probably surprise people what you can do. I mean, they’ve taken Cape Buffalo in Africa. I don’t think we’re going to be doing any Cape Buffalo, but we’re definitely looking at some of the larger planes games. Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
Man, it’s going to be so cool. And I appreciate you taking me out the other day and letting me shoot some. And man, I mean, again, folks, if you’re looking for something that’s just totally, totally fun. And again, for kids, it’s great. You can teach them firearm safety. You can teach them. you know, how to properly shoot and, you know, squeeze in a trigger and not jerk. I mean, there’s so much you can do with kids and they’re going to love it. I’ve seen so many times and, you know, I’ve seen videos where people give kids a gun they shouldn’t be shooting. It kicks them. The kid falls back and everybody laughs. Well, that’s not fun for the kid.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. And so the air guns, there’s no recoil. Yeah, there’s zero. Even the .50 cal is very minimal. You don’t even feel it, yeah. And then, you know, the noise. Right. I mean, in 90% of the cases, the hearing protection is not even. Oh, no. Because it’s nothing. So, yeah, it’s I mean, if you if you’re looking for something fun like that recently, like I said, I’d set up a bunch of guns for people hog hunting in Oklahoma and Florida and Texas. But another I’m doing a lot of coyote guns. So guys that are having predator problems. these are an outstanding solution because you have one come in, you take it out, and the other one that’s 200 yards away has no clue what happened. And, you know, so it’s not one shot and then you’re done at that location. So that’s been a lot of fun, you know, those guns set up as well. But totally family-centric. It’s, you know, you could have lots of folks that – it’s a funny story. I’ll have a guy come in and he gets an air gun. He’s like, I can’t tell my wife, you know. And then he’ll be back in three days later with her because now she wants one. Oh, really? Yeah, because she shot his gun, and she was like, this is amazing.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s fun, man. Well, hey, it’s Airgun Outdoors, and that really is spelled fun, fun, fun. All right, hey, it’s 1-2-5-4-3, North Highway 83. Again, that’s just Parker Road and Pine. Their number is 720-603-3099. When you go in, I don’t know if you heard them here on Sportsman of Colorado, and we’d appreciate that as well. Travis is a great guy. Hey, don’t forget the first Saturday of every month. What time do you open?
SPEAKER 03 :
On Saturday, it’s 9 a.m.
SPEAKER 07 :
9 a.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. during the week, correct?
SPEAKER 03 :
Correct. Yeah, it’s 9 a.m. for the donut day. Other than that, it’s 10 o’clock on Saturday. Oh, it’s 10 o’clock. Okay, all right, cool. All right, man, thanks so much. Thanks, Scott. We appreciate it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Once again, it’s Airgun Outdoors. Get by and see them, and I promise you, you will have a lot of fun just taking a look at the guns and then get you on and get out and do some shooting and have some fun. Hey, don’t go anywhere. More of Sportsman of Colorado Radio coming up right after this.
SPEAKER 02 :
Are you in the market for a new firearm or maybe looking to purchase your very first firearm? Well, wouldn’t it be great to have an experience worth telling your friends and family about while making such an important purchase? At Bighorn Firearms, we know how important that is, and it’s our mission to provide this experience to every customer that walks through our front door. Hi, I’m Ryan, owner of Bighorn Firearms, located in southeast Denver, and my team and I are customers too. We know what it’s like to experience the typical specialty store attitude, and we believe everyone deserves a first-class experience when purchasing a firearm. If you’re searching for friendly service, a knowledgeable and passionate staff, and a great selection of firearms, we’d like to invite you to Denver’s best independent gun store, Bighorn Firearms, one mile east of Evans and I-25. Whether it’s your first gun or you’ve been collecting for years, our friendly and knowledgeable staff are passionate about answering all of your questions. Service and selection is our commitment to you. That’s Bighorn Firearms, located at 2175 South Jasmine Street, Suite 105, Denver. Call us now, 303-758-9423, or shop online, bighornusa.com. AM560 KLZ, your home station.
SPEAKER 07 :
Welcome back to Sportsman of Colorado. Hey, thanks so much for being with us. Good luck to everyone out there in the archery world right now going on. And I’ve seen some great pictures on social media so far, which have, man, I did not draw an elk tag. I didn’t draw a deer tag. Kevin Flash is with us. So Kevin’s wiped that tear for me. But good luck to everyone. And hey. We got a great interview here for you now. Now, back in April, of course, we had our Mile High Hunting and Fishing Expo. And by the way, we will be back at the Gaylord next April. And boy, Kevin, was that a good. It was an awesome show.
SPEAKER 08 :
It seems so long ago now.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, it was.
SPEAKER 08 :
I’m looking forward to next year. And I know the guys are busy.
SPEAKER 07 :
lining things up and you’re helping them out and it’s going to be awesome lots of good things that continue the growth there so it’ll be awesome to see and one of our attendees there a good buddy of mine and kind of a relative in a roundabout way almost brian dean cold water outfitters how are you bud you know uh can’t complain it’s a good saturday morning up here in the dakotas hey good deal man Now, Brian, you were there at the Mile High Hunting and Fish Expo, and this is live. So, man, just kind of give your thoughts about the expo.
SPEAKER 06 :
I appreciated the fact that everything there was related to hunting, and it wasn’t popcorn vendors. Dips and chips. And, you know, in the things that are kind of a stretch to include in the hunting world, you can – honestly, if you were after birds, if you were after – uh, upland deer elk, you could find somebody there to talk to somebody to get some information from you use products that were there. So I think the guys that ran that show, Abe and them guys did a really good job filtering through and getting, you know, getting, getting, concentrating the areas of people like this is actually guys use not, Hey, how about this jelly? That’s not, that’s, you know, we have enough of those. So I think, I think they did a really good job. In that aspect, really just getting core hunting and fishing people in there that people could relate to. And I thought they did a great job.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah. Well, and certainly for you, I mean, you’re making the trip from the Dakotas. So, you know, you’re coming over here to try to drum up some business and tell people about what you do. And we’re coming into your season, aren’t we?
SPEAKER 06 :
We started our season, we dropped our first inner velvet muley down in South Dakota last week.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, you did?
SPEAKER 06 :
We are there, we are fair and square, and we’re rocking and rolling. Yeah. We’re ready to go.
SPEAKER 08 :
The problem with your area of the world right now is that there are too many things to do. You’ve got two, you know, you’ve got the mule deer, you’ve got the ducks and geese.
SPEAKER 06 :
You’re saying that wrong.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, right? I mean, and the fishing gets really good this time of year, too.
SPEAKER 06 :
You’re right, yeah, and that’s one of the things for an outfitter like myself, you have to pick… what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it because you could drive yourself nuts, you know, trying to keep up with everything we do. That’s why we concentrate all of our walleye catching and fishing in the spring before we go down to North Carolina for out-of-bank stuff. And right now we’ve got, from now until right before Thanksgiving, we’ve got anywhere from six to ten people a day down at our pheasant camp down in South Dakota and then our waterfowl lodge. kicks off at the end of this month with non-resident on the 28th i think this year so then we’ll have 18 20 people every day from then till uh thanksgiving so we’re running 40 45 people a day in two different locations and this is our this is our crazy season but you can’t you know if you try that and then you try to dip into fishing and you try to oh yeah there’s endless things that you can hunt up in the dakotas year round and it’s uh you gotta pick what you gotta pick what you can do well and stick with it yeah for sure did you guys have a cool morning today Oh, yeah. It was 43 degrees.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah. Back at my place in northern Wisconsin, it was 36 degrees this morning. And I was like, oh, my goodness.
SPEAKER 06 :
I wish it would tip a little bit before our youth season kicks off this next Saturday. So all my boys are ripping and roaring to get out. And I hope we get like one… just below freezing, like if it touches it, then the mosquitoes will die.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
Or else we’re going to be in swim trunks and tank tops, mosquito spray, trying to keep every, you know, because the ducks are here, it’s going to be an incredible year. Right. We had a lot of water this summer and spring, and there’s a lot of birds around. A lot of birds, good. Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
So, Brian, kind of walk us through just a little bit to give folks a little bit of a taste kind of about you. And, you know, I remember back when your early conversations when you were going to get this business going. Oh, yeah. But, you know, and you’ve been – I mean, hey, you know, we got together on an elk hunt over on the Western Slope a few years ago. So you’ve been with other outfitters and things. So as you kind of put your program together, what were some of the points that you said, hey, I want to make sure, you know, that – that we really offer a great service because we’ve all been with deals we could see improvements on. So what was kind of your mission and your points there?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, it was funny because before I knew you were going to call me, I was like, man, this kind of started with Scott because I remember exactly where I was at in my driveway when I was in my truck when I called you a couple years ago trying to see, man, what do you think? Honestly, I called a lot of people that were in the business, and probably the best thing that I did was I called people that had gotten out of the business and asked them, Like what went wrong? You know, if you could do it all over again, what’s a couple of things you would change? Um, in, in the commonality and really what I had found and kind of read between the lines is when guys go from making it a business about hunting rather than making it a business about hospitality, that’s where, that’s where the difference is. It’s the, the, the companies in my, in my circles, I think that really thrive are the guys that you go out, it’s a bluebird morning, there’s no wind and the birds don’t fly. Well, you have to deal with those 18 people back at camp, and you have to have them enjoy their day, right? Because if you didn’t shoot a bird, you didn’t pull the trigger one time. And those are the guys – if you can do the hospitality side of things and you can knock – I tell all the guys that come on board with us, you know, the things we can control – effort, timeliness, food, hospitality as far as the lodge and making sure it’s clean – if we knock those four things or five things out of the park – the rest of it takes care of itself. Because guys that come on trips, they understand, hey, we’re not going to do, nobody’s going to do 10 out of 10 every single day. Nobody’s going to limit out every single time. So it’s the other side of things when you can take care of people on the back end and make sure that they’re happy and it’s easy to be a guy when you’re slaying everything. That’s the easiest job in the world, right? Absolutely, yeah. The good guides and the good outfitters are the ones that guys feel appreciated and they understand that the effort went into it and there’s nothing we can do about it and they rebook. Those are the customers that are like, these guys understand. And it makes, you know, it just makes camp easier when you learn how to take care of people and understand, yes, it’s a hunting business, but ultimately, you know, these are guys that have, you know, saved up for a couple years to come on this trip and they want to have a good time with their buddies or, you know, it’s a couple that’s coming for the first time trying a new experience and you’re just trying to take care of people more like a hospitality business rather than just your focus is mainly on hunting.
SPEAKER 07 :
Sure. No, I was talking with Fred Eichler a couple of years ago. I don’t know if you know Fred, but he was actually at the Expo. But I just said, how do you vet someplace that you’ve never been or an outfitter? And he said, what you just said, he said, I want to talk to people that were there that were not successful on their hunt.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
Because if they say I’m rebooking, you know, just because of everything that you just mentioned. Okay. Because again, it’s hunting and it’s fishing, whatever we’re doing. And he said, that’s who I want to talk to. Cause if they’re still positive about the deal, then that I have no problem going.
SPEAKER 08 :
I think as well as those days that you don’t pull a trigger or you don’t catch fish. So those are the days you learn so much too. Cause then you see, you know, what you do to try to eke out that set that comes in or, you know, whatever. Yeah. that really tries to help you down the road and the guides that are working like that that are really talking to people that aren’t you know cussing and and and yelling at everybody about this or that and they’re frustrated too the ones that are really working are the ones that you’re like i want to come back because when we are slaying it where it’s going to be really good and it’s going to be fun yeah i mean you’re you’re right yeah and that’s one of the things early on we did why we decided that we’re not doing any one-day trips yeah you can’t because it’s it’s tough
SPEAKER 06 :
I mean, my wife will write a book about all the mistakes I made and how I’m not perfect, right? It goes in the guidebook. We make mistakes, right? We thought we should have been facing this direction when we came in in the morning, and then all of a sudden it flips directions. But if that’s your only and one chance to get somebody a taste of what you do, that was another thing. We don’t offer any one-day trips. So we’re based in North Dakota, but I think in the four years we’ve been doing this, I’ve had one customer that came to us from North Dakota. Everybody else, actually, this year, This fall, I have my last state is going to get hit, Hawaii. I got people that are flying over from Hawaii to come because they bought a trip to the STI banquet over there. And they’re flying in. They’re going to come duck hunt with me. So we’ve hit all 50 states except for Hawaii. Just one customer in North Dakota. That’s awesome.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right. So let’s get into everything you do as much as we can here, and we’re going to do this again. So getting to you, let’s talk about driving there.
SPEAKER 06 :
Logistics.
SPEAKER 07 :
Colorado, Denver area, and then flying in, what airport. Kind of give us some tips there.
SPEAKER 06 :
So for our – well, we have different things, right? So we’re here in North Dakota. We’re in South Dakota for our pheasants. Our team – moves to Arkansas for January. We hunt ducks in the timber January. Um, and then in the June, every June we fly, everybody goes to North North Carolina, Moorhead city for the outer banks, deep sea fishing. So we’re always at the locations and we’re, you know, about an hour, depending on where you’re at.
SPEAKER 09 :
Sure.
SPEAKER 06 :
Outer banks is about an hour away from the airport. Uh, if you come to one of our Bismarck trips, we pick you up at the airport cause we’re right here. So you fly Denver, probably United, I’d imagine. from Denver up there or in the area you can go through Dallas and American. But yeah, we pick you up at the airport and We’re right here. That’s awesome.
SPEAKER 07 :
And we are booked for next year. Yeah. Yep. It seems so far away, but it’ll be here before we know it. Yeah, the trouble with our radio show is we have too many options. That’s our problem. But, man, we are looking forward to coming out there and hunting with you, man. All right, so let’s break down. Give us kind of a couple-minute spiel on each one of these here. Let’s talk about your pheasant hunts first.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, sure. So, well, and I can start with this. One of the things that’s different about us, too, is my team that’s in North Carolina and South Dakota is the same people that you hunt with in Arkansas and North Carolina.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, good.
SPEAKER 06 :
So it’s the same group of guys. We’re Christian people, and we tried running in that direction on purpose to try to take care of people, and we feel like we have a pretty good culture. But one of the things we do is, if not, we never subcontract out our hunts. it is just us. So if you don’t like me at one of our hunts, you’re not going to like the other ones because I’m going to be there too. So that’s one of those things that we try to make people aware of. So our pheasant hunts, we’ve got 4,500 acres in South Dakota that we have. We have part of the preserve for people that want to come and shoot a lot more than their daily limit. We have that, but there’s also about 3,000 acres that is wild grass or they’ve got this year we’ve got some beans down there and there’s corn that’s planted in we’re right next to a refuge that’s really highly protected um and it’s it’s a beautiful area um it’s got a little bit of combination of every kind of pheasant uh crops that you’d want to walk through or different ground or cover so it works well if people bring their pointers or flushers it doesn’t you know either dog is going to be able to thrive and what we’ve got down there and it’s Taken a couple years to kind of build up what we needed to and work with the farmer in the area. Sure. But it’s a gangbusters hunt. We have a lot of fun down there. All right.
SPEAKER 07 :
And what’s your package right now for your pheasant hunt, Ryan?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yep. So it’s three days, three nights. Everything’s included. And that’s $29.95 per person. That’s all the meals, your beer, your lodging, all the guides, the dogs if you don’t have any, and everything. That’s, you know, you just got to get to camp and everything else after that’s taken care of. Cool. So it’s five pheasants per person per day down there.
SPEAKER 08 :
And what if somebody wants to bring their dog? What’s the facility set up for?
SPEAKER 06 :
I would love for you to, because I wouldn’t go anywhere without mine and I can’t blame you to do it either. So we encourage everybody to come bring their dogs when they come. We’ve got kennels set up for everybody. We don’t mix groups. Like if we have two different groups that brought dogs, we don’t put them together so the dogs stay separate. But it’s a blast to see. We’ve had some really weird breeds recently. that are surprising good bird dogs. So it’s kind of fun to see everybody bring their pup and how they work. And, yeah, that’s part of the joys of our job. That’s awesome. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 07 :
Brian Dean is our guest. He’s Coldwater Outfitters. Hey, check out the website. It’s huntcoldwater.com. And, Brian, what’s a good number if someone wants to reach you?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, 701-955-4346. All right. Say it one more time. 701-955-4346.
SPEAKER 07 :
4346. All right, and we’ll put a deal on our Facebook page, Sportsman Colorado Radio, for your contact. But again, it’s huntcoldwater.com. All right, slip down over to Arkansas. Tell us about that hunt a little bit.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, so that is our southern duck hunt. We have the one in North Dakota, but we all go down right after Christmas, after the last split, and you land in Little Rock, and we’ve got about an hour drive to camp in Searcy, and we’ve got a mixture of timber and crop fields, that we have down there, and that is a four-day, four-night hunt for $25.95, and it’s all-inclusive like all of our trips are. So, again, you just got to get there, make sure you bring some waders.
SPEAKER 09 :
A lot of shells.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, a lot of shells. We go through, you know, spec fields. We’ll shoot geese and all the ducks in the timber we can handle. Last year was a little funny for everybody in Arkansas. The weather really messed us up for the duck population, but this year is looking pretty good. We’ve already got some coals. cold weather up in canada pushing birds down so yeah it should be a pretty good pretty good january down there yeah was january warm down there last year then too no we haven’t seen it i left it was colder in arkansas when i moved when i went down there for the month and it was in north dakota we had we had six inches ice on the main river down there no kidding the property yeah it was it was uh i left all my stuff the cold stuff here normally it’s pretty you know it’s pretty reasonable you’re yeah you’re 40 in the 40s yeah nothing it’s nothing that you could handle so
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, last year was just a weird year all the way through that sort of flyway. So, yeah, it can’t be that the way it was last year. Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. So it’s a good year probably to book and get down there. Do you have any availability this year for the January hunts?
SPEAKER 06 :
We do. We’ve got a couple spots left at the end of January this year, which is kind of my favorite because after the, regular season. Then they have one last weekend for the veterans and the kids. Oh, that’s cool. That’s always a good time.
SPEAKER 07 :
I need a little getaway, Kevin, after the stress of the Christmas season. So stressful during Christmas. Hey, on your deer hunts, let’s talk about that a little bit.
SPEAKER 06 :
Sure. So we run those concurrent with our pheasant hunts in South Dakota. We’ve got really good deer down there. It’s a private property, so we’re the only one that’s on there. There’s a mix of mule deer and… Whitetails. Yeah, whitetails down there. And we, unfortunately, South Dakota is one of those states that it’s pretty tough to draw tags as a non-resident, but their bow tags are over the counter. And you can get, you know, some guys do the crossbow thing or whichever way, but we have about 10, 15 hunters a year that we allow on there to get bow hunt tags. Those are 4,000 apiece, and that includes, you know, your lodging. You can also… decide to do that in the morning, in the evening, and then go shoot pheasants in the afternoon.
SPEAKER 09 :
Wow, that’d be a fun day.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, kind of all day hunting. It’s early morning, but it’s spot and stock for the mule deer down there. It’s a lot of fun. The back southern half of that property that we lease up is very mountainous, so you can get a little good exercise, but that’s where the deer are at. We were So far, we’re one for one. The guy dropped about 180-inch.
SPEAKER 07 :
No, dude, I showed Kevin the picture a minute ago. Yeah, that’s a beautiful picture. Yeah, that’s a big muley.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, he had to crawl on his hands and knees for about 100 yards to get within 60 yards, but he… The mule he jumped up and popped up and looked at him, and he stuck him. He only ran about 20 yards, so it was a pretty good hunt.
SPEAKER 07 :
Man, that’s so cool. Again, Brian Dean is our guest. Coldwater Outfitters, check out the website, huntcoldwater.com. Now, listen, I didn’t ask Brian anything, but, Brian, I’m sure somebody gets in touch with you through our show, anything you can do for them, we’d appreciate it. And, you know, maybe we can figure out some sportsman of Colorado radio package.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 07 :
Hey. Maybe we’ll do something together and we’ll put together a deal. Come with Kevin and I. Yeah. We’ll go there. Exactly. Then Victoria won’t get on me with Kevin. It’s all work. That’s right. It’s all work. It’s all work. We want to make sure we help Brian out. Yeah. And so you got your deer as far as big game. What else? Anything else here?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yep. We got our waterfowl season in North Dakota and then our walleye fishing. Our walleye fishing.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. Let’s go to waterfowl real quick.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, our waterfowl, we start in three weeks, and that is the reason that I got into this crazy business, shooting ducks. And we are pumped. We have 320 people that are coming in nine weeks. Wow.
SPEAKER 09 :
My word.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, we sell out. We’re completely sold out for this year, but we have some space next year. Yeah. That’s one of the – this puddle duck region for North Dakota, we just get a lot of birds that come through here, and it’s – Again, taking care of people when they’re here and the rebookings is part of the reason that we book out so quick on the waterfowl hunts. But it’s an amazing time of year. We’re really excited about it this year. So, yeah, and that’s four days, four nights. And it’s the same price as our Arkansas at the $25.95.
SPEAKER 08 :
Brian, talk a little bit about, that’s a lot of people, but talk about the resource and how you sort of manage moving people around, such as your hunting grounds and what you’re doing to make sure that, I don’t know if you have ducks that get sort of conditioned in any way or anything like that, but talk to us a little bit about that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, sure. So we lease about 36,000 acres in North Dakota, and we have four or five guys that work full-time for me during duck season. So we spread out pretty good and it’s part of managing, you know, remembering what field you hit and where they were coming from. So they, they stay soft and they stay in the area.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
Um, and working with farmers, you know, making sure that we’re keeping them happy. And, um, yeah, that’s, that’s, that’s how we do. We have a lodge that we actually are, it’s the grand opening is in a couple of weeks for our duck season. It’s 3000 square feet that we built right around the road, right around the corner from my house. And it’ll hold about 24 people at a time, but it’s a, it’s a big, it’s a big investment on our part, but we, We’re excited to open it up for people, take really good care of them while they’re here.
SPEAKER 07 :
Wow. Well, I tell you, Kevin, I cannot wait. When are we booked, October? October of next year. Yeah, that’s what I was going to say.
SPEAKER 06 :
I thought it was October.
SPEAKER 07 :
So, man, we are looking forward to it. And you’ll be back in April, right?
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, yeah. I’ll be back. I’ve already talked to Abe. Okay, good. Good, good, good.
SPEAKER 07 :
Hey, you can meet Brian, and like I say, they are booked for a lot of things this year, but if you want to get in touch with them, you can do that through the website as well. It’s HuntColdWater.com. Be sure to let them know you heard them here on Sports from Colorado, and we’d appreciate that as well. So, Brian, man, hey, great to visit with you. We’ll do this more often, man. We want to let people know about you, so we appreciate it, and Kevin and I are really looking forward to seeing you, man.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, sir. You guys have a great weekend. You too. Thanks.
SPEAKER 07 :
Kevin, thank you, sir. Thank you. All right, man. Hey, thank you for joining us. Remember, our replay is now on Sundays, 8 in the morning, 8 at night, Thursdays, 9 to 10 a.m. right here on KLZ 560. Hope you have a great rest of your weekend. We’ll talk to you next week.
SPEAKER 05 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.