This week on Sportsman of Colorado, host Scott Whatley welcomes back Dr. Melissa Fling, the show’s exclusive audiologist from Custom Ear Solutions. The conversation kicks off with an in-depth look at suppressors, addressing common misconceptions about whether they’re truly “hearing safe.” Dr. Fling shares research-backed insights on why suppressors make shooting safer but not entirely safe for your hearing, emphasizing the importance of double protection and proper gear for both hunters and sport shooters.
Scott also sits down with Wynn Eubank of Colorado Outdoor Sports for an extensive conversation about club membership benefits, family-friendly hunting access, online reservations, and how
SPEAKER 08 :
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 05 :
Welcome to Sportsman of Colorado. Thank you so much for joining us today. Always good to have our exclusive audiologist with us, Dr. Melissa Fling. It’s Custom Air Solutions, 720-839-7705. You’ll also hear her on Wednesdays at 1230 on Haystack Help Radio in a segment we call Listen Up. And Dr. Fling? Always good to see you. How are you?
SPEAKER 10 :
I’m good. Good to be here. How are you?
SPEAKER 05 :
I’m good. I’ve got a couple of dates figured out with one of our gun rangers now that have invited us over.
SPEAKER 10 :
Oh, okay. Yeah, let’s talk about that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Come over and shoot some guns and say, oh my, now I want to come on the show every day to warn people.
SPEAKER 10 :
Okay, sounds good.
SPEAKER 05 :
How’s the last few weeks been?
SPEAKER 10 :
Everything’s been good. Yeah. Just moving right along. I’ve been working on, I’m giving a talk next month at our Colorado Academy of Audiology conference, which is exciting. So I’ve got to prepare for that. And another, another project that I’ve been working on an article with a couple of colleagues. So yeah, some cool things are coming up lately. Cool.
SPEAKER 05 :
How many people will be at that?
SPEAKER 10 :
Oh gosh. I don’t know. Maybe, well, Definitely, I would say at least 100, maybe two. And you know, there will be different talks happening at the same time. So everyone won’t come to my talk, just whoever finds the topic interesting, but Yeah, it’s a good amount of people that, you know, the audiologists in Colorado.
SPEAKER 14 :
Wow, that’s awesome.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, yearly conference that we have. Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, we’re going to talk about suppressors today. And, you know, we do that with a lot of our gun stores as well. And a lot of things are changing in that. In the big, beautiful bill that President Trump signed, the $200 tax stamp. that we’ve always had to pay every time you wanted to buy a suppressor, that will be going away January 1st. So you just simply have to pay for your suppressor, and most of our partners at gun stores are kind of letting you come in now if you want to do that and get your suppressor. When I say get it, do all the paperwork, and then in January you can pick it up if you don’t want to pay that $200 tax stamp. But from an audiologist standpoint, we’re going to get her views on suppressors because it is said sometimes in literature, in ads, and even from some folks that sell them that are on our show. And they do put air quotes around this hearing safe. So let me ask you in your opinion as an audiologist. Is there anything hearing safe as far as a suppressor in your world?
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, it’s not really my opinion. I had to do some research. And actually, it was a guest that you had on that called them hearing safe. And I thought, hmm. I’m not sure about that. I want to look that up. And, you know, that’s not to be critical, but it’s to get down to what is actually the fact about it. And the fact is suppressors obviously reduce how loud a shot is, which is good for your hearing, but it doesn’t reduce it so much that it makes it safe for your hearing. There’s still a significant difference. risk especially cumulatively depending on how many shots you’re taking or if you’re out shooting regularly then you’re going to have this cumulative damage exposure that causes damage that builds up over time so the overarching thought here is do suppressors make it safer yes safer not safe there still will be risk. And even to make it even safer would be to combine the suppressor with hearing protection. And that could be single hearing protection, meaning just earplugs or just muffs. Or if you’re in more of a reverberant environment indoors or you’re even outdoor, but you’re kind of inside something or you have a hard surface next to, you know, on either side of you, then you, it’s more ideal to have double hearing protection, earplugs and ear muffs. So this, that topic that was brought up on your show, I thought, Oh, that’s a really interesting topic that needs to be discussed a little bit further. I don’t think it’s appropriate to say that suppressors are hearing safe. Um, and actually we don’t even have a standard yet for how to measure how much they do suppress. I think there’s information out there about that, but I don’t know that we have a standard. That’s being worked on. Actually, when I looked it up, the American Suppressor Association has hired a consulting contract company called SASRAC. And a colleague of mine works for them. They’re working on developing a standard to even just measure the performance of suppressors. So I think we’re a little ahead of what’s current by saying they’re hearing safe. We don’t know that. Well, actually, we do know it. There have been studies that have shown that.
SPEAKER 05 :
there’s still a significant risk but they’re working on getting a standard so we can measure how much suppressors reduce noise which is good yeah that’s movement in the right direction and you know one thing that is a lot of times the sound it breaks the sound barrier way in front of you you know so it’s not really that here but i mean you’ll see we go to a gun range There may be somebody sit there for an hour, 45 minutes or an hour, just repetitive shot, repetitive shot, especially at a range, you know, hunting situation. Yeah. You may be shooting, you know, one time or a couple of times, but a lot of times it is gauzy, gauzy suppressors. It is a repetitive shot. Yeah.
SPEAKER 10 :
Now I have a question. You said it’s breaking the sound barrier sometimes way in front of you after it’s exited the muzzle. What about inside the muzzle? Isn’t the… What is it called? The… Well, the muzzle blast, but there’s another term that I heard. Oh, the ballistic crack, the bullet breaking the sound barrier. Can that happen inside the muzzle too?
SPEAKER 05 :
No, that’s going to happen outside of it. It does help a little bit there, but no matter what, you get into some bigger calibers, like a .22. I mean, it’s just… I mean, it’s really little, you know. Yeah, not very loud. But then you get up in what they call a 30 caliber can, which is like, you know, for a bigger rifle. I mean, it’s still some noise. Okay. But I’ve got a couple. So when we go.
SPEAKER 10 :
You have a couple suppressors?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. Okay. Yeah, so when we go, we can see.
SPEAKER 10 :
They also mentioned the use of subsonic ammo.
SPEAKER 05 :
And it really does quieten it. Yeah. A lot of times, especially on a semi-automatic, and you take a .22 or something, when it racks that bullet back and kicks out the hull, that makes more noise than the shell. So, I mean, it really does. But you know what? Here’s what I think the message would be from today is this. You’ve only got two ears. Why take a chance with something? I don’t care if it’s got it stamped all over it, hearing approved. If it hurts your hearing and you lose your hearing because of it, uh or attributes to hearing loss why take that chance yeah yeah they are a lot more comfortable to shoot they can i mean there’s a lot of different deals with a suppressor yeah you know and it doesn’t disturb other game it doesn’t disturb right as many of your surroundings and things as it normally does with a bigger larger caliber gun yeah um And so, I mean, they are nice, but we do want to put out good information here.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, yeah. And, you know, if you’re not using one, however you do it is fine, but it’s important that the information be accurate and based on measurements and studies that have been done around that versus just labels to… Reassure people so that they feel more comfortable buying something. That’s fine, right? But we don’t want to propagate misinformation.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. Yeah. And when you go to a range, most of you know this, if you don’t have your own headset for head protection, they will loan you some. You can rent some or eyewear, different things like that. And I think we all know they’re not going to buy the most expensive equipment. type of headgear for to protect your hearing yeah so that’s something to maybe look at investing some money into you know your deals which we’ll get into in just a second and then and you you’re even a fan of double protection some muffs over yeah some things yeah depending on the situation and the firearm and the environment and in all of that but
SPEAKER 10 :
Ideally, you’d have, and people are going to go, oh, this is, that’s not, I’m not going to do that. Or it’s not, you know, it’s not ideal for maybe like long range hunting for big game or something. You wouldn’t use subsonic ammo typically, right? It’s not ideal for that. Right. Yeah, but ideally you’d have a suppressor, subsonic ammo, and double hearing protection. But that’s not always appropriate for the use case. So I understand that. But yeah, so that’s just why it’s important to have a conversation about it and say, hey, actually, they’re not hearing safe, but they will make your exposure safer. And then if you want to make it even safer, then use hearing protection on top of it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
And very important, too. I mean, we’re into the hunting season now. Waterfowl’s kicking up soon. And upland bird hunting. Man, make sure everybody in your group is hearing safe, so to speak.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, got protection, especially kids. Because, boy, you want to put a kid on a long path that’s not going to be fun for them. Don’t shoot, you know, guns around them if they’re not wearing hearing protection as well.
SPEAKER 10 :
Correct? Right. Yeah. And it’s… Hearing safety is a part of overall firearm safety. It’s not just knowing how to use a firearm. It’s all the other things that come with it, the effects of it, such as how it exposes you to damaging noise levels. Yeah, that’s an important part of overall firearm use safety as well.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. All right. It’s been a while since we’ve done this. Let’s run through your lineup a little bit. Okay. And once again, we try to make this clear. Most of the time you’re an audiologist, you think hearing aids, hearing test, whatever. Dr. Fling does not have hearing aids, so to speak, in her shop. Her deal is, hey, helping you preserve the hearing that you have with several types of hearing protection. If you do a hearing exam with her, which we highly recommend, it’s only $125. You can schedule that by calling 720-839-7705. If she decides you do need to move forward with some hearing aids, she has colleagues then that she can refer you to. But let’s walk through your lineup.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, so it could be divided into two categories, services and products. So service wise, I offer hearing evaluations, which you’ve mentioned. I can also potentially offer earwax removal. and I can do ear mold impressions. So that’s impressions of your ears for the purpose of making custom fitted ear molds for whatever use. Some people come to me and they want to buy the product from me and others just want impressions so they can send it off to a manufacturer that’s going to make them in ear monitors for music or electronic protection for hunting or something like that so some people already have the company picked out that they want and they just come to me for the service of the impressions which is fine on the product side of things it’s all custom ear mold products that are meant for either hearing protection, or I could say protecting your hearing from noise, protecting your ears from water, if you need that, if you have a hole in your eardrum, or if you are susceptible to ear infections from water getting into your ears. Ear molds for communication devices, like the ones you’re wearing now, you’re wearing in-ear monitors essentially to listen to the radio versus wearing the ear muffs. So we had a pair of ear molds made to fit around those in-ear monitors for you. So you have a… more comfortable, secure fit. That would include Bluetooth earbuds like Apple AirPods. If you want something custom to fit around those, you can make those. Sleep ear molds. So those are the products. Now, as far as the lineup of hearing protection goes, the most basic, simplest option would be solid ear molds for maximum hearing protection. That would be when you don’t need to be aware of your environment. You just need maximum hearing protection like indoor target shooting or if you’re working in a warehouse or a manufacturing plant or something where there’s high levels of noise. You don’t have to communicate. You just need protection. Those are $165 for the pair. If you need hearing protection that will allow you to be aware of your environment, including being able to communicate with other people, then I would recommend filtered ear molds. And those would be 260 for the pair. And those could be used in environments, like I said, where you need to communicate with people, but also protect. Or hunting, like you have the filtered molds for impulse sounds. So those will allow you to hear fairly normally between shots, but then they’ll compress a shot when it’s taken or any loud impulse noise. And then the kind of top tier level would be electronic custom hearing protection. Those would be ideal for people who are hunting and want a little bit of amplification of soft sound so they can hear game or they can communicate with the people they’re hunting with. But they also want the protection to… compress on impulse sound to protect their hearing those are more of an investment and that would be for people that are really serious about hunting and would use those often those would range from about 1150 to 1350 for the pair okay what are you getting just curious what are you getting from 1150 to 1350 yes the technology level changes so you’ll get more features more programs um The protection, the hearing protection is the same, but it depends how many different scenarios you want to be able to use them in. So the top level will have multiple programs. The lowest level will have one to two programs. It’s more basic.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right. Anything we forgot?
SPEAKER 10 :
I don’t think so.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right. Hey, well, good job. And thanks for listening to Sportsman of Colorado. Yeah, I love that show. As we get information on things and on suppressors, different things like that, hey, we’ll bring it to light. And if we’ve got questions, we’re going to get with Dr. Fling and saying, hey, what do you think about this? This is what this company is saying about this. So we just want to make sure we get you good information. And once again, it is customeersolutions.com. Their number is 720-839-7705. When you call, just let Dr. Fling know you heard her here on Sportsman of Colorado and KLZ 560, and we would appreciate that as well. So, Dr. Fling, thanks for your time. Thank you. See you again soon.
SPEAKER 14 :
All right.
SPEAKER 05 :
You’re listening to Sportsman of Colorado. We’ve got to take a quick break. We’ll be back with more right after this.
SPEAKER 11 :
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SPEAKER 13 :
You’re listening to 560-KLZ, your home station.
SPEAKER 05 :
Welcome back to Sports from Colorado. Again, thank you so much for being with us. Just a quick reminder, now you miss our show here on Saturdays 1 to 2. You can catch us twice on Sundays. That’s 8 to 9 a.m., 8 to 9 p.m. And then the following Thursday from 9 to 10 a.m. So, hey, four times here on KLZ 560. And, of course, you can get our podcast wherever. You get yours. Hey, we had our next guest on last week just for a few minutes at the close of the show. Wanted to get him back in studio when you bank Colorado Outdoor Sports. How are you, bud? I’m good.
SPEAKER 15 :
I don’t know how it’s possible that sometimes I catch all four shows in a week. I must listen a little too much.
SPEAKER 05 :
Do they get better as you listen to them or worse? But I can start to predict what they’re going to say. Exactly. Well, hey, man. Again, we had a few minutes last week, but I want to recap just new listeners and all, or some people may not have caught the full interview. Let’s reflect back on how Colorado Outdoor Sports started.
SPEAKER 15 :
So I joined Colorado Outdoor Sports almost 30 years ago, and I joined it at that time for antelope opportunities and didn’t even know everything that was available to me. I had my blinders on, for lack of better terms, and I was only using it for what I could use it for and didn’t think about, you know, reaching further out and asking more questions. And then when my partner at that time, well, I joined and I was with him for, I don’t know, 12 years or so. And in those 12 years, I just used it, like I said. And then he got into a little bit of a bad spot and he called me up and he says, hey, you need to buy this from me. And I said, I can’t buy that. What are you, crazy? He says, well, I’m going to help you make it so you can buy it because I think you can do this better than me. So that’s where we it took me five years and I paid it off and I’ve had it now for 12 years myself.
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow. Very cool. All right. Hey, I’m going to just kind of walk you through some points. I remember kind of walking through some points and let you comment on them. OK, because these are things that to me kind of set you apart a little bit. OK, so I’ll just bring them up a little pop quiz here for you. But number one. Family friendly. So I’ll let you take that where you would like.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, we you know, we strive entirely, really hard to keep this a family oriented club. That’s so important to us, because for me, you know, I’ve been on outfitted haunts. I’ve been on guided haunts. I’ve been on other haunts. experiences with lots of people and um you know you don’t want to take your 14 year old girl out into a duck blind and not know who the other guy is in the blind with you and whether you know does he have an itchy trigger finger Does he have a mouth you don’t want around your 14 year old daughter? And, you know, or does he going to do other stuff like, you know, maybe, you know, is he in there vaping or smoking cigarettes or something else in the blind with you? So we don’t mandate that, you know, even if it’s a six man goose pit or five man duck blind. If it’s just you and your daughter, nobody else has to fill those other three spots. It’s okay. Right.
SPEAKER 05 :
Now, mentioning that, and that’s another thing that sets apart, because most of the time everybody wants, hey, every seat better be full. Exactly. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, that’s what they’re about.
SPEAKER 05 :
So if somebody, take your scenario, a guy wants to bring his kid out with him, and there’s four seats, he can invite four friends to come? That is correct. Okay. Yes.
SPEAKER 15 :
He can only bring one guest. As a COS, you can bring one guest per COS member. So, in other words, let’s use that six-man goose pit scenario. Okay. If there’s three COS members, you can have three guests. Okay. But each COS member can only bring a guest.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. So, if he reserved it and it was him and his daughter, that’d be his guest? Or would that not be because she’s family?
SPEAKER 15 :
That’s one of the great things about our club. Okay. Is that… We, your membership includes your spouse and your dependents. So if you’ve got two kids, how good of a deal is that for you? I’ve got two or three guys that got four boys. Now that’s a deal. The other thing is you get one guest per COS membership. Okay. So you can’t have two or three or, you know, four.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. Right. All right. Once again, Wynn Eubank is with us. It’s Colorado Outdoor Sports, 720-300-9400 is the number. Hey, call Wynn. I’m going to give the number out a few times during this segment. People get in and out of vehicles, so I want you to get in touch with him today if you can. 720-300-9400, ColoradoOutdoorSports.com. You don’t even need to write that number down. I know, man. I know. It’s kind of like mine, 720-201-8585. It’s a pretty easy number, too. Yeah. Okay. Online reservation. Now, let’s be honest. Do some people have that? Yeah. But here’s what I like about yours. First of all, it’s easy. Okay.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, if this hillbilly can design it, I’m pretty sure you can run it.
SPEAKER 05 :
So it’s super easy. And the way it works is first to click. That’s right. Right?
SPEAKER 15 :
That’s right, yeah. Yep, if you’re the first person to click that button, reservations open up seven days in advance at midnight. So, in other words, you know, Saturday morning, opening of duck season, seven days in advance, Friday night, when that button rolls over from 1159 to 12 o’clock, I’ve got five guys that are trying to push the button right then. Right. Now…
SPEAKER 05 :
How many total properties? A little less than 30, right? Yeah, 27.
SPEAKER 1 :
27.
SPEAKER 05 :
OK. Yeah. All right. And so I reserve a property. When will I get the information if it’s my first time to go out there? Like, you know, is there a key hid somewhere? Is there a gate code? I mean, when will I kind of get the instructions to how to get out there?
SPEAKER 15 :
I advise everybody that they should really go out and scout properties ahead of time. Don’t go out on a property unknown.
SPEAKER 05 :
But let’s clear that up how they would check, because I don’t want to go out there and you’re hunting. Right. You see what I mean?
SPEAKER 15 :
Right. So I always tell guys, if you’re going to go scouting, go in between 11 and 1 o’clock, because that’s our changeover time, the way our reservations work. Reservations are, and for lack of better terms, it’s sun up, a half hour before sun up to… But the system says 7 a.m. because you have to denote something.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 15 :
And then the second part of the reservation is set up from 12 till 7 p.m. But, again, it’s a half hour after sunset. Okay. So just like big game hunting hours.
SPEAKER 05 :
And, of course, with time change due to get started at 5. I hate that. I do, too.
SPEAKER 01 :
All right.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right. And you and I were talking yesterday a little bit. Sometimes there’s some clubs, they’ll talk about waterfowl, different things, but…
SPEAKER 15 :
sometimes there’s not a lot of water on every property so you’ve got quite a few water properties we’ll call it right yeah i um i came upon a crash i don’t know 10 years ago i actually brought on way too many water waterfowl members for how many properties i had And I heard a lot of guys, you know, really, really pining for water, for water, you know, to be able to hunt ducks more so than just goose properties. And, you know, as you know, we’re very, very diversified. We’ve got a little bit of everything. We’ve got fishing, hunting, camping. You know, so a little bit of everything in there. But the biggest thing is when that crash happened, I told myself – I got to do something different. I got to change something. So from that time on, I have actively stressed and gone after water properties. And we currently have, what did I count up? I think you told me about 18. 15 water properties. Oh, 15.
SPEAKER 1 :
15.
SPEAKER 15 :
There’s one or two that are, for lack of better terms, I call it sketchy. Okay. Because depending, we might have water in that pond this year. We might not.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 15 :
You know, we have one down by… Avondale, Colorado, south of Pueblo, going out Highway 50. When that pond has water in it, and what’s so cool about it, I’ve seen it to be five acres big, but it’s only one foot deep. What do you think the ducks think of that? Oh, man. Yeah. And literally, you can jump shoot the ducks on that pond, and what you do is you can walk around the edge and you shoot him here, and then they get up and they fly to the other side of the pond and you just walk around and do it again. Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s my kind of hunt. All right. Right? Right.
SPEAKER 15 :
Go ahead. But that one just doesn’t always have water. I wish it did. Right. We’ve had three years with water. This year, it’s a very, very small pond. And right now, it’s not attracting ducks.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. Okay. Now, you walked us through the scenario of timing. Is that for waterfowl hunting or is that for fishing and everything?
SPEAKER 15 :
well so that’s for everything but here’s what’s great about the way the systems are set up is that let’s say you know it’s it’s two o’clock in the afternoon you get off work early for some reason you’re bored and you’re like man i’d love to go fishing i wonder if anybody’s out at the ponds you go on you look in the reservation system you go you got five different or you have five five spots to pick from on the ponds and you look at it you go oh wow look bee pond is open It’s like go in, click from 2 o’clock on to 7, and you can use that afternoon reservation and go right now. But it starts seven days in advance, but you can still book it right up until that time. Sure.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right. Let’s talk about range of properties, and we’ll just say from— Denver, you know, and I know Denver is pretty big. So I don’t know. We’re in the tech center. So from the tech center or how you normally say it. Right. What’s your range of drive time?
SPEAKER 15 :
Less than two hours to almost all of our properties. OK, so can’t be that. No, we do have one or two that are outside of that, but not much.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. And man, it’s getting harder. and harder and harder i mean you’ve been doing this a long time but i mean it’s it’s getting way difficult because you know what we talked about this last week right some people have been on some property you go knock on a guy’s door he lets you and they ruin it and a guy won’t even talk to a guy like you right you know exactly correct so um you know and then the other thing you got out there and i don’t knock these guys you know because they’re trying to do their own thing whatnot you know but
SPEAKER 15 :
Infinite Outdoors and HLRB, oh, you know, those guys are helping us. You know, they’re making all the farmers think that they can make so much more money out of this and make it harder and harder and harder. And I just want to get those kids out there, you know. You know, I want everybody to have an enjoyable hunt. We’re not about, you know, having to, you know, live in a mansion kind of thing, you know.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. When you say rules, you just kind of went through one. Hey, you get one member per that. That’s kind of a main rule. Any top two or three other kind of guidelines or rules you want to mention?
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah. If you’re not respectful to a landowner, I’ll bounce you so fast it’ll make your head spin. But I want you to be respectful to other members as well when you’re on the property. We don’t allow open fires anywhere. I don’t care. I won’t have them. I can’t afford the liability of burning up somebody’s property. So we don’t allow gas engines. And when I say that, this confuses some people. You can drive your car onto the property. But we don’t allow ATVs. We don’t allow UTVs or anything like that. And the same goes for the boat, for the ponds. We don’t allow gas engines on the ponds because one drop of gas looks like the Valdez on our ponds.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, really? Yeah, it makes sense. Yeah. Okay, let’s switch over to big game a little bit because there are some things that are, quote, extras with membership, and that would be one.
SPEAKER 15 :
That’s above and beyond the cost of your membership. That’s correct. And that came about back when I first took over that very first meeting that I met all the guys. We were having conversations, and the guys were telling me, well, we don’t want the big game. Buying, you know, we don’t want the big waterfowl guys having to buy big game property because we don’t do big game. I said, all right, I can see that. I can understand that. So I made it additional fees for big game. But it’s not like outfitter fees, you know, 500 bucks for a bull elk, you know, 300 bucks for a deer kind of thing. Right. Not not, you know, three thousand dollars for a bull elk kind of thing. But it attaches to your membership and its additional fees. And at the end of the day, big guy now buys waterfowl properties. Okay. Yeah. So it actually works out the other way around because of those guys. And that’s me just listening to the members and saying what they want. And I do that still today. If guys, you know, communicate to me, that helps drive me to know which way and what properties to get.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. Would all tags be draw or with any over-the-counter?
SPEAKER 15 :
Everything. You have to draw all your own tags. I don’t mess with landowner vouchers. I don’t mess with… any of that stuff. So you have to draw all your own tags. I help you with that. I produced my own big game guide book in March. I hate to say it, with what CPDW is doing to… the draw system, even my big game guide book is going to become less useful. But I’ve got a 90% draw ratio. I can tell you if you’re going to draw your tag or not.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right, right. So if a guy wants to get in, hey, I want to get a pronghorn with you or I want to get an elk with you. They let you know that as soon as possible and then say they’re going to put in an extra for the draw and see what happens. And you can kind of tell them, hey, you’ve got to have at least a point or sometimes three or four or five points.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, it depends on what unit, you know, where the property’s at and whatnot. You know, we just killed a nice 15-inch buck last week. You saw that. So, you know, that’s actually one of the best bucks I’ve ever seen come out of that property.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER 15 :
So, yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
It is Colorado Outdoor Sports, ColoradoOutdoorSports.com. The number is 720-300-9400. A lot of zeros there. 720-300-9400 is a little easier. Hey, but give Wynn a call. Let him know you heard him here on Sportsman of Colorado. And like I say, I’m a member with Wynn. And I have dedicated myself that I’m going to get and take advantage of it more than I’ve been able to. But I’m telling you, heard nothing but good things about the club, the members. And I think you will. I think you could probably say this when that a lot of your club members are now really good friends and kind of your own community. Right.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, we do. And we actually have, you know, other members that have become members with other people that, you know, previous that they never met before now i couldn’t i couldn’t not meet them out on property and they will be together sure like literally i’ll be like oh jason’s here i know so-and-so is going to be here right right i’m going to be right there cool all right once again if you missed the beginning of this one very very crucial point
SPEAKER 05 :
Your membership is good for your immediate family. That’s correct. Correct? Your spouse and your dependents. Okay. Now, see, you should have said you could only bring your kids. Now a guy’s like, ah, I’ve got to take my wife hunting. Man, she’s going to be going, when are the deer coming?
SPEAKER 15 :
When are the ducks coming? Sometimes we use that as a sales tactic. I’ll tell them, tell your wife you’re buying this for her.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
SPEAKER 15 :
You know, so you could take her fishing. And, you know, that’s another thing, independent, dependent part. So dependents end at 18, traditionally. Now, we do extend, if the kids are still in year 1099 and you’re paying for them to go through school, we extend that up until 25. Wow, okay. Now, we do shut it off at 25 because we support education. But we do not support perpetual students.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. All right. 60 seconds. Let’s talk about cost.
SPEAKER 15 :
Okay. $4.95 initiation is traditional. We’re going to pass on a $100 reduction of that for the KLZ members.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right. So $3.95 then. Yep. $3.95 initiation.
SPEAKER 15 :
And $14.88 a year payable in dues quarterly, biannually, monthly, quarterly, biannually, annually.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s about any way they want to pay for it. Whatever your pleasure. Yep. All right. Yep. All right. So $14.88 for the year. It’s normally, round-off figure, $500 for initiation fee. We’re going to do it for a little less than $400, $395. But you’ve got to mention Sportsman of Colorado when you call. That’s correct. So give Wynn a call, 720-300-9400. Once again, Wynn will be at the Mile High Hunt and Fish Expo in March, and we’re going to be saying more about that in the days to come. And for that, we will not be back at the Gaylord. We’re going to be at the brand-new facility, at the National Western Center, and so we are super, super excited about that, the third week of March, and it’s going to be great. And you’ll also be at the Denver ISC show in January.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, it’s far enough in front of the draw that I just got to do it. Yeah, no, no, no, yeah, absolutely. Something else we haven’t mentioned, I know we’re getting low on time, we do have 11 goose properties. A little bit of mix-up of everything. A couple pits, a couple Heidi spots, cornfields. But I did want to mention that we’ve got 11 of those as well. So very diversified. All right.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, it is Colorado Outdoor Sports. Hey, now’s the time to join 720-300-9400 and let Wynn know you heard him here on the show. We’ve got to hit a quick break. Wynn, thank you, man. Thank you. We’ve got to hit a quick break, and we’ll be back with more right after this.
SPEAKER 09 :
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 Big Horn 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.
SPEAKER 05 :
Here’s your Water Talk Minute with Paul the Waterman, brought to you by Water Pros.
SPEAKER 02 :
The EPA announces it will keep maximum contaminant levels for PFOs and PFAs in our drinking water. What that means is that municipalities are going to have to test and monitor for these contaminants, and they will not move to the unregulated contaminant list. This is important for us, so that way in our water quality report, they’re going to tell us exactly what levels of PFAS are in our water supply. It’s important because you want to have a point-of-use drinking water system to remove these contaminants and understand the quality of water that’s being provided to you. I’m Paul the Waterman.
SPEAKER 07 :
Riding an e-bike will make you feel like a kid again. Just try it. Hi, I’m Randy Crancy, founder of e-bike of Colorado. E-bikes are a fun way to ride the trails. Pedal assist technology flattens the steepest hills. We have 14 major brands to choose from and our expert staff will find you the perfect bike. Come take a free test ride at e-bike of Colorado in downtown Louisville next to the historic grain elevator. Open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Learn more at ebikeofcolorado.com. Just try it.
SPEAKER 12 :
They’re the first on call and the first on scene. But did you know the suicide rate for first responders is one and a half times higher than the general public? At Hometown Hero Outdoors, we help to provide healing for veterans, law enforcement and first responders by creating memorable outdoor experiences designed to focus on camaraderie and mental health. Our mission is to serve those who have served us. Help us make a difference. To join Hometown Hero Outdoors or to help by donating, visit hometownherooutdoors.org.
SPEAKER 06 :
You’re listening to KLZ 560 AM, your home station.
SPEAKER 05 :
Welcome back to Sportsman of Colorado. Again, thank you so much for being with us. Just a quick reminder now, you miss our live show Saturdays 1 to 2. You can catch us twice on Sundays. That’s from 8 to 9 a.m., 8 to 9 p.m. And then the following Thursday is from 9 to 10 a.m. So, hey, four times a week here on KLZ 560. And, of course, we have our podcast on our website, sportsmanofcoloradoradio.com. And you can find our podcast where you find yours. Well, it’s always good to have a good buddy, Randy Caranci, owner of E-Bike of Colorado, with us. And they are located at 544 Front Street in downtown Louisville. Randy, good to see you, sir.
SPEAKER 07 :
Good to see you, Scott.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, man, when I reflect back and every time I talk about Sportsman of Colorado with you, I go back to how we met. You were at a Denver boat show downtown. I told Victoria, my wife, that morning, she goes, you never go to that show. And I go, I know. I said, I just have a feeling. I promise you this is the truth. I said, I just want to go down. I said, there’s got to be something there that I don’t have on the show that I would like to get on the show. And I hadn’t been in there 15 minutes and walked by through all the boats, through all the different things. And what did I see? Some e-bikes, which I love. Being very transparent with you. Knew nothing about how they worked. I mean, zero knowledge of e-bikes. But met a nice young man there. And he and I started talking and I said, well, who would be the decision maker? And he said, that guy over there, Randy. And he was kind of talking with somebody. And I said, well, man, I don’t want to interrupt him here to show you guys are here to sell something. But I would like to just say hello to him. And I think he came to you and said, this guy would like to talk with you. And you’re like, get a car. Yeah. I’m busy doing stuff, right? Which is, again, I was trying to be respectful because you are there to sell stuff, not to be sold. But I just wanted to meet you.
SPEAKER 07 :
If I remember right, I think it was close to the close. And, you know, by that time, we’re picking up in… loading up and getting out of there and you know you just spent you know those shows got you spend three days there and you’re it’s non-stop you’re on your feet the whole time if you get to eat something it’s rare and you’re usually something something you’re because you’re busy and that’s the idea of them but you’re you’re spent and pete said randy you got to talk to this guy and i said pete we’re finishing up he goes Pete’s still with me. He’s my very first employee, and he said, trust me, you want to talk to this guy. So Scott came over, and he goes, listen, I know you guys are busy. I know you’re trying to get out of here, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he said, would it be possible for me to come up? I have this radio station, radio show that I do. Would it be possible to come up and talk with you during the week? And I said, sure, sure. Here’s my personal cell phone number. And so it wasn’t because… The reason that Scott got close to me that day was because he was not pushy. He was not trying to do anything other than, I just want to show you what we do. I want to talk to you about that. That was my, that is my style. Totally. No pressure. No. And, um, gosh, Scott, that’s been what? Three years now. And we have built a friendship. I mean, this has been, this has been a really, cause you know, at the beginning you sit there and go on the way home, Pete and I are talking, I’m going, I’m not going to be able to afford a radio show today. advertise on and all this stuff and uh anyway that was history three three years ago and we had built a phenomenal relationship that’s um i don’t know it’s it it works yeah no i agree and it’s been you know
SPEAKER 05 :
I don’t want to get in trouble here with all my clients, so I’m trying to think this through how to say this, but I certainly try to have great relations with my clients. When we only do one thing with one industry, that I think has given us a lot of credibility. I could have taken the success that Randy had with e-bikes, went to a few other e-bike stores and said, hey, I got a guy that’s killing it. You want to buy some advertising, too? But we don’t do that. We pick one person in an industry. And, hey, if they choose us back, that’s our relationship. And that’s why you won’t hear many people on radio as host advertising for the same car company. e-bike company whatever they’re advertising for year after year after year after year all right and man i i pride myself in with that uh because it is great and that’s how you build relationships that’s how you build customer trust and faith in companies when they know well man that’s probably a guy i can buy from or a gal i can buy from they’re on the radio every week So they’re probably not going to jerk me around, right?
SPEAKER 1 :
100%.
SPEAKER 05 :
I mean, they’re there every week. So, hey, this is a company we can trust.
SPEAKER 07 :
And it adds credibility to you. Absolutely. You, you know, you’re not just out there trying to get the next dollar from some advertiser. Right. You’re actually looking for… I quality companies, people that you can people you trust. Your listeners may never meet you. They may not have very, you know, what you look like because you were radio and they but they have this trust. And because you’ve guided them throughout the years that they listen to for whatever, whatever your maybe it’s guns, maybe it’s knives, maybe it’s consumer product, maybe, you know, because you you do a lot, Scott. You have a lot of different types of venues that you do, you know, consumer product.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. I mean, products, services, services. Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
And then you have a sportsman show. And then so this is important because. We’re all looking for the right place to buy something. And we ask each other a lot of times, hey, do you know somebody that sells eyeglasses? I asked you that question the other day. I’m really discouraged with a company I’ve been doing business with for 30 years. Mr. Allen Stack is waiting on us. Yes. All right. And I knew that because I listened to your show and heard him. Yeah. I won’t forget this. He said, wash your glasses with Dawn dishwasher soap. I’ve been buying all this snow. Dude, me too. And it’s like, no, just wash it away. But it works.
SPEAKER 05 :
They’re cleaner than you’ve ever seen them.
SPEAKER 07 :
I’ve never met the guy. I don’t know. But I heard him on your show. I trust Scott. That’s what it is.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, good. Well, we appreciate it so much. Looking forward to many more years here doing this with Randy. Hey, if this is your first time to hear him, he is the owner of V-Bike of Colorado. They’re located at 544 Front Street, downtown Louisville. They are the largest e-bike dealer in the state. And, boy, I tell you, you walk in the door. Well, not even walk in the door. You pull up in the parking lot. They got bikes everywhere. They got bikes inside, outside, all types of bikes. And, hey, if you are interested. A little bit knowledgeable on e-bikes. They’ve got a staff ready to help you. If you know nothing, don’t worry about it. I didn’t either until I met Randy. And I’m telling you, Victoria and I, we love our e-bikes. And they have really been a game changer for us. Being Randy’s on this segment here, Randy, you know, again, you were at that outdoor show. We have seen a great growth for e-bikes usage. And maybe not just for hunting. Maybe it’s not for fishing. Maybe it’s for camping. Maybe you’re an artist. You just want to get out in the woods and drive and ride somewhere. You got a camper. You want to take them with you. And Kevin Flesch, our buddy. uh what did a great interview with randy at the international sportsman’s expo a year or so ago and kevin just talked about how he loved to get up early in the morning go fish and not wake up the wife and kids and then he could come back and but that extended his uh area to go downstream and fish just getting on his e-bike and coming back so randy a ton of usage for e-bikes
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. Yeah. And Scott, you know, we’re in Louisville and downtown Louisville. And immediately people go, oh, my gosh, that’s just so far away. We’re 15 miles from downtown Denver to our store. That’s not far. And you’re in South Denver and the studio’s in South Denver. What does it take you to drive there?
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, man. I mean, I’ve made it all different times. I mean, I’ve made it in like 42 minutes, you know, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. You know?
SPEAKER 05 :
Right.
SPEAKER 07 :
I mean… It’s amazing because it’s worth the drive. Our test ride area is phenomenal. Second to none. It really is. You don’t ride it in the parking lot. You do get to climb a hill. You get to go down a hill. You get… And we’re not talking about a little hill. We’re talking about that’s probably a half a mile long or more, maybe even a little bit more. It’s a good, solid ride. And it gives you the opportunity, gives a person the opportunity to see what an e-bike and how an e-bike is going to perform for them. Yeah. It’s a game changer.
SPEAKER 05 :
It is. And I tell you, I love it because… Man, you can get out. It’s quiet. You’re not disturbing anything around you. It has just been the greatest tool for me to get back in an area quicker. and have that bike there and then you know what if you do get something it’s easier you can just pack take a few trips and pack it out and uh and they’ve got all kinds of accessories that come with e-bikes randy what would be some great fitting accessories for outdoors well you know um some type of a of a bag you know like some kind of a pannier bag or something like that we actually offer some trailers that you can actually haul game out with um there’s uh
SPEAKER 07 :
Whoa, there’s bow racks. We can put a bow rack on your bike for you or even a gun rack in some cases. So lots of different accessories. The sky’s kind of the limit when it comes to that kind of stuff. And car racks, you know, something to put on the back of your truck so that you haul the bike.
SPEAKER 05 :
The proper… I was trying to say, we did, we visited on this last week, but let’s hit it again. Yeah. Because there is a proper way to carry an e-bike. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
And you need a really heavy-duty rack if you’re going to be driving in the backcountry. You can’t just put it on a regular Thule rack or a Cirrus rack or something like that because it does take impact. Where a solid-framed bike rack that fits into the receiver of your truck or your car is a must. It’s an absolute must.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. Hey, they’ll help you out. It’s E-Bike of Colorado, 544 Front Street, downtown Louisville. If you haven’t looked at these, I’m telling you, just go over and take a look. Hey, I don’t know. Average age of our listeners is up there a little bit from all of what our studies show, but… I promise you, these make it so easy for you. Our knees aren’t what they used to be, and maybe your stamina isn’t what it used to be. And you don’t have to hop on an e-bike. Get to where you want to go pretty quickly will work. Now, here’s something crucial. We talked about this on our – now, listen, on Wednesdays at noon, Randy’s with us every Wednesday at noon for a show we call Just Try It. And, of course, we want you to come out and just try it. The trail system is just a couple of blocks from the store, and you can ride as many bikes as you want. But rebate, if you are a Colorado resident, the rebate is currently $450. They’ve got some great markdowns on some bikes. I mean, I’m talking $1,000, $1,500, $2,000 markdowns. You can get that rebate of $450 instantly at the counter on top of the already markdown prices. But January 1, that rebate is being cut in half to 225. So not trying to get you to store tomorrow, but don’t wait. Until January 1, all right? But get by and see them. They’re open seven days a week for your convenience, 10 to 7. It’s 544 Front Street. And when you go in, be sure and let them know you heard them here on Sportsman of Colorado Radio. And they’ll take great care of you. They’ve got a great tire protection program. Randy, I think that’s crucial for the outdoors. Hit that real quick.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. So we do, we guarantee you no flats for two years on that program. And we use a thicker tube. We use a sealant inside of that tube, which is not slime. It is an orange seal. It’s called orange seal. And it doesn’t freeze. And if so, you get a sticker, you know, those goat heads or some kind of a sticker in that, even a cactus. You remove that. It will seal that up. And then we put a liner on top of that thicker tube. It’s a very, very solid product. It’s amazing that you won’t get flat. Yeah. It’s a must-have, in my opinion, for backcountry. Right. Best for anywhere, but for backcountry especially.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. Well, Randy, we appreciate it, bud, and we’ll look forward to our next visit. Thank you so much. Thank you, Scott. That’s Randy Karancy, e-bike of Colorado, 544 Front Street, downtown Louisville. And like I say, when you go, just tell them Scott sent you, and we’d appreciate that. I want to thank all of our guests today, but mostly thank you for joining us on Sportsman of Colorado. Hope you have a great rest of your weekend, and we’ll talk to you next week.
SPEAKER 01 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of Crawford Broadcasting, the station, management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting guide and country station.
