Join us in this exciting episode of Sportsman of Colorado as we take you on a journey through the great Texan outdoors. Host Scott Whatley and Kevin Flesch recount their exhilarating experience with helicopter hog hunting, giving a glimpse into the world of adventurous hunts. From the scenic visits to Dos Plumas Ranch to the tales of high-octane hunting, listeners are treated to stories of unforgettable hunts and heartfelt memories shared in the hunting community.
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 Whatley.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome to Sportsman of Colorado. Thank you so much for joining us today. Hey, a beautiful day out there here in the Mile High City. It is Saturday, December 27th, which means this will be our last show here for 2025, and we are looking forward to 2026. A few things I want to mention here before we get going. Kevin Flesch will be joining me here shortly in the studio, but we’ve got a great show in store for you. Hey, we’ve got the guys from Rain and Skies Waterfowl going to be with us here A little while. And we’ve also got Jason and Melanie from the Wild Alaskan Lodge. Kevin and I did a trip there this summer. And then Kevin and I just returned late yesterday from a great experience, a helicopter hog hunt. And then we went over and saw our good friend Quentin Smith at Dos Blumas. right outside of Abilene and hunted hogs there a couple of days. And we’re going to tell you all about that as well. But around the corner here, January the 8th through the 11th, is the International Sportsman’s Expo. It is back. And I tell you what, we’ve got some tickets that they gave us to give away. So we will just take our caller here to 303-477-5600. I’ll tell you what, we’ll do a four-pack with this call here. And, you know, I listen to stations, and they go the 10th caller, 20th caller, all of that. You know what? If you’re the first caller, 303-477-5600. We’ll get you four tickets to the Denver International Sportsman’s Expo. Now, again, this is Saturday the 27th. If you’re hearing our replays on Sunday or Thursday morning, 9 to 10 in the morning on Thursdays, or the replays on Sundays from 8 to 9 a.m., 8 to 9 p.m., this is for the Saturday show because I promise you these will be gone. But, again, four tickets to the Denver International Sportsman’s Expo. Be the first caller to 303-477-5600. And then we’ve got the Mile High Hunt and Fish Expo. That is March 20th through the 22nd. And we are going to start probably talking about that just about every show leading up to that. Now, you know, we’ve been doing that over at the Gaylord Hotel. But we are not there this year. We are going to be at the brand-new facility at the Western Event Center where they have the stock show. They have built a brand-new convention center there, so we will be there. It is going to be awesome. And, again, that is March 20th through the 22nd for the Mile High Hunt and Fish Expo. And just stay tuned for more details on that as well. And with that, we will welcome Mr. Kevin Flesch in studio. How are you, Scott? From a bird hunt. That’s right. This morning, man. Parker Road was a little nuts. Hogs for a week and now some pheasants.
SPEAKER 06 :
You know, when you do it, you just got to go all in.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. How was it this morning? It was nice.
SPEAKER 06 :
It was dry, really dry. So I was with a buddy of mine that lost both of his goldens this year, and he is a breeder. out at Rocky Mountain Roosters. And so I have an English setter. They were poodle pointers. And when you think of poodle pointers, immediately when you think of that, that’s not what these dogs are. They look more like a griffon or sort of wire hair versus a curly-haired sort of poodle.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 06 :
But super nice dogs. They were fun to hunt with, and they did really well. Wow. Yeah, Kevin’s all excited about it.
SPEAKER 04 :
Cool. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, I mentioned in the opening that we just returned from Texas and did the helicopter hog hunt. And the guys from Rain and Skies are going to join us here in about seven, eight minutes. Then we’ll come back to this because we got a lot to talk about.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
But this was very cool. And this was from actually the Mile High Hunting Fish Expo. Hey, we have some great items I know already this year. If you can get to that banquet on Saturday night, get it. We have a live auction there, and we have a lot of great items there. There’s always great hunts and trips, and this was one of them. And it was very cool. It was. We have never done that before.
SPEAKER 06 :
No, it was. And, you know, talking about the expo and the evening events, that was a really fun event. You emceed it, did an awesome job. And then I was out there, you know, with a paddle. And you did an awesome job. Exactly. I don’t want too many people at the dinner because this is probably one of those hunts that’s going to be there again this year. And it was a really fun hunt. So if anybody has the capacity to do it, it’s certainly not the faint of heart for the price on it. But at the same time, if you’re ever able to do it, it’s… Uh, incredible. And I didn’t really know what to expect. I’ve heard of helicopter.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, sure.
SPEAKER 06 :
And you see it on YouTube and it, and it’s sort of like that. Right. Um, at least our version of it was in the sense of we didn’t, we didn’t see, it wasn’t like nonstop action, but just the fact of being in a helicopter, looking at game and watching, I mean, we saw being above turkeys when they flushed and coveys of quail and, you know, deer, we saw a bunch of big, big deer and, and, uh, cool. And then, of course, shooting hogs.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. And it was Divided Fine Ranch and Lodge and home to Helicopter Pig Hunting. And, boy, great, great guy out of San Angelo. And it’s dividedfine.com, Helicopter Hog Hunting, if you’re interested to take a look at that. But it is true Texas hunting and hospitality. And, boy, just great staff. They took great, great care of us. We made a lot of money. New friends as well. But I tell you, it is super cool. And so if you’re kind of wondering how they do it, they’ve had deals with ranches all around there and thousands and thousands and thousands of acres.
SPEAKER 06 :
Three million is what they told us. I mean, when you start thinking about that.
SPEAKER 04 :
yeah that’s a lot yeah and um and so they they go through everything with you a couple of daniel’s defense ars and uh red dot scope aim point pros i believe was the brand on that and uh you know and i was surprised because i really thought you’d have to be leading them running and us in the helicopter but really put the red dot on them squeeze the trigger there you go dead hog and guess what if you miss you get to do it really quickly
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. I mean, those, uh, those ARs were incredible as our, as our pilots said, those guns were made for this particular endeavor that they were, they were really fun to shoot. And the two, two, three is such an awesome load to be able to do that from a helicopter. Cause you don’t even know you’re pulling the trigger. You don’t, I mean, you can, they’ve got silencers and, and there’s enough noise from the helicopter and there’s, you know, there’s no kick on the rifle itself. So it was, yeah, you just gotta be, you just try to be as accurate as possible. Sure.
SPEAKER 04 :
And our good friend Quentin Smith, you’ve heard on the show for a number of years from Big Game Hunting. And now Quentin has a place right outside of Abilene in Trent, Texas, called Dos Plumas. And that’s D-O-S-P-L-U-M-A-S. And he has a great hog operation there as well. And, boy, just beautiful country around there to hunt.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, and a working man’s ranch. We went from sort of one extreme to the other in the sense of his – Quinton’s operation is a fair value, I would say, for what.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, absolutely.
SPEAKER 06 :
You know. Super fair. Completely. So if you’re in the mood for and never done a hog hunt, that would be the place to go and check it out. We got to sit in blinds, which was really fun. I hadn’t done that for decades. A lot of activity going on. We saw all kinds of stuff. And then if you don’t get enough hunting in the morning or the evening, you can go out and walk around and. Find snoozing pigs.
SPEAKER 04 :
If you’ve never heard a hog snore, we did. I tell you, walking through there, and the sun was out in the high 60s there in Texas, and I actually snuck up on a couple of hogs that were snoozing.
SPEAKER 06 :
Like walking by, I’m like, it sounds like an old man laying in the bushes. So funny.
SPEAKER 04 :
But it is a blast. And Quentin will be at the Denver ISE as well as our Mile High Hunt and Fish Expo. And so, boy, if you’re interested in that, great, great time. And Quentin just, he delivers. They have just a great, great operation.
SPEAKER 06 :
You know, that’s what we talked about driving down there. We said we’ve never had… a bad hunt with Quentin and, and he definitely delivered this week and everything down there is, is top notch and you get the full experience, which is really cool. I was kind of expecting a little bit more of a canned hunt in the sense of not feeling like it was necessarily, you know, it’s just, you always wonder about these hog hunts, whether they’re just dumping them out there and then you’re able to, but these hogs are wild hogs. Wild as you need them to be.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now his arrangement, just to give you a few details on it, it is a couple of nights there and got your hunting and they have their lodge there and nothing super fancy. Hey, you got a room with some bunk beds. You got a private bath and you got a nice sitting area out front. TV, leather sectional. You do all your own cooking there. Or I should say Kevin does all his own cooking. I’m not much in the kitchen, but… But seriously, they’ve got all the pots and pans, everything you need, refrigerators, recorders, everything that you need there. But you are responsible for your own meals. And then they have the hog hunt there available. And if you want to come in late at night, like we arrived there on Tuesday night, I believe it was. Then we hunted Wednesday, Thursday, and then left out early Friday morning. If you want to spend the night that second night, it’s like $35 a guy, so not a big deal. But they take great, great care of you. And once again, that is Dos Plumas, D-O-S-P-L-U-M-A-S, hog hunting there out of Abilene, Texas. All right. Again, we’ve got our guys from Rain and Skies who are going to join us here in just a second. Waterfowl, they will be at the Mile High Hunting Fish Expo as well. And then a little bit later in the show, we’re going to be talking to Melanie and Jason, our friends from the Wild Alaskan Lodge, Pelican, Alaska. And it was a great, great event as well. And I know John and Robert are going to be calling in here, Kevin, and their booth has been across from us the last few years, and we’re waiting for some weather to move in here to get out with them. So in all transparency, we haven’t hunted with them yet, but we’re on the calendar. Hopefully we can get out there and do it, but you can tell these guys know what they’re doing.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yep, absolutely. Yeah, and we were talking to them on the way. Back from Texas, just trying to coordinate. We’ve just had too many things going on. That’s really the problem.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, exactly. Just too many opportunities. That’s what my wife said. Too many things going on. Yeah, absolutely. So we’re trying to get these guys hooked up here. And once again, we’re all good. All right. All right, Robert, good to have you back on the show. How are you? How you doing, bud? Good.
SPEAKER 11 :
We’re doing good. We’ve been doing pretty good, you know, chipping away at the birds, getting ready for the holiday season. Can’t complain.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. And then we’ve got John on the line as well, right, John? Yes, sir. How are you guys? All right, good, man. Hey, got Kevin Flesch here with me, so you’ll be hearing both of us on. But, man, I want to thank you guys for joining us. So, Robert, I know you were on a few weeks ago. We kind of talked about the club a little bit. For those folks that missed that, just give us a little bit about raining skies in the club and tell us all about it.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, definitely. We’ve been around since 2015, running pretty hard. Family-oriented club. Our memberships include your spouse or live-in partner, kids 21 years of age or younger, or even those college kids that are out and about coming back in town are welcome to jump in and hunt. You get to bring a few guests per year. That’s a set rate of $21.50 per season. That starts September 1st for doves and runs all the way to the end of snow goose conservation season or when the last bird leaves. So we’re pretty much shooting birds from September to mid-end March. You’ve got open pit policies here which allow you to jump in and hunt with folks, meet new folks. All of our pits will house typically eight hunters per field, per pit. Most of our waterways, tributaries are going to be four to five men when you’re hunting ducks. Those ducks that we talked about before move pretty quick, so we want to keep those a little bit smaller, more exclusive type hunting arrangements just to keep the safety in the factor there. Otherwise, we’re at 100 reservable properties right now throughout the state, and that carries into Nebraska. Something that John and I have prided ourselves to have, have the opportunity to build such a structured organization of this magnitude to allow people countless opportunities for our members. We reinvest in the club. John and I are both business owners outside of the club. So this organization wasn’t built or designed to make a ton of money. It was designed to make a ton of opportunities for people of all demographics and sizes and working calibers to come out and have a good, successful opportunity at Burge for what we feel is a very fair rate. And you don’t necessarily need to own a decoy here. You know, you can jump in with guys. And another reason why we had designed the club to allow you to do that, to jump in with other members, is because let’s face it, a lot of guys don’t have those big rigs and that big money to put down on Canada goose spread. And most folks own a small duck spread, but we have a lot of really good Canada goose fields, snow goose fields, you name it. And you don’t have to own all of that stuff here. You can jump in with guys and learn the ropes and slowly build your spread. Or maybe you’re just not that guy. Maybe you’re a six-day-a-week worker guy and you just want to go out and hunt with good people and meet some good folks, and you get that opportunity here.
SPEAKER 06 :
You bring up a great point, Robert. The fact that you get to meet all these different folks and spend time with people, just those relationships relating to the club itself has got to be a real positive for everybody that’s involved.
SPEAKER 11 :
Definitely. We hear a lot about that every year. I mean, we’ve had kids grow up in this club over the last five years and meet folks of their age. Now they’re coming home from college and calling each other, hey, bud, I’m coming home. Do you want to hunt? These guys are 19, 20, 22 years old. Wives that have never hunted before have come out and hunt because we have eight-man pits, so there’s room for a wife to come and bring their five, six, seven-year-old or bring their dog and have that opportunity because we do really stress about that family orientation and those memories that you get to make here and and, uh, meeting the camaraderie of folks. So, um, it, it definitely paid its way tenfold. Um, and we hear the stories every year and the picture, the smiles, that’s what we do it for. John and I have been hunting since we were kids, you know, both him and I can attest. We’ve been hunting since probably we were five, six years old. Um, and this is what we do. This is our passion. And, you know, I didn’t get here on my own and my dad didn’t bring me here on his own. We had folks that brought us hunting and introduced us to these similar type situations. And it really prospered in, It’s just giving back to the community, and we’re big on the community. A lot of those things get swept under the rug, and they don’t get appreciated or valued, but our end goal is to give back the best we can with what we have to give, what we have to offer here. It’s a labor of love. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not easy, but the goal is to give back and put smiles on their faces.
SPEAKER 04 :
absolutely hey you can check out the website raining like we say it in texas all right without the g raining a-r-i-n-i-n raining skies waterfowl.com is the website and you can check them out there so john you know when you look at clubs and hey let’s be honest there’s some good clubs around colorado and all but what do you say i just said it this way what are you kind of proud of this you feel you guys are just kind of different at you know where you’ve tried to separate yourself and what you guys offer
SPEAKER 12 :
I think that, you know, our reservation system is state-of-the-art. It’s something totally different. It offers the members to see who’s hunting where, you know, who’s hunting in that pit or blind. It just opens up a lot of doors for people to see. You know, there’s other clubs that, you know, you got to call in and stuff and you don’t get to see that. And I think that’s what really brings the closeness of, of what I like to say, one large family here, you know, there’s nothing, you know, you know, there’s nothing hidden behind the doors. Everything is wide open. I think that’s one of the things. And I think that are just, we’re very diversified on where fields are. And, um, you know, the eight-man pits was something that me and Robert decided to do from the beginning. It’s not only, you know, to get guys and gals in pits, but it also puts more people in one pit and it lets other fields rest because you’re putting more people in one pit. And I think that’s what kind of sets us apart. And the way that our website is built, we have rest days built into there. So for us to have those rest days built in and then we can go in there and manually – rested as needed. We’re all about conservation here and giving these birds, you know, the rest when they need to. I mean, right now is whether they don’t need rest, but when it gets snowing and gets snow on the ground and gets sub-zero temps, you’ve got to give these birds a break. They’ve got to be able to get in there and feed, or we’re not going to have birds to chase for years to come.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, no, great, great point. And, you know, one thing that I just know from being around you guys, and I heard you guys even talk about, too, safety is premier, and that’s something that’s, you know, important to us, Kevin, as we go out, too. You know, you’re hunting with people where you know that’s practiced, and I know that’s a big thing for you guys, Robert, as well.
SPEAKER 12 :
Oh, definitely. Oh, absolutely. Safety is… is is is first and foremost you know we encourage members that uh you know have some experience in the industry to give a safety talk just like you were on a guided hunt they’re not they’re not a guide i mean they’re just a member like you but we’ve got to have those talks before we start that hunt because let me tell you we all love to do this and we and we all want to be there but man it doesn’t take long to have something go wrong real quick in a pit or a blind
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, no doubt, especially that leadership in the pit to have that conversation and make sure everybody’s aware of sort of how it’s going to go that particular day with regard to calling the shots and everything else. That’s so important. And you get folks with different experience levels that everybody kind of has a consensus about how it goes. So that’s really important to stress. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, Robert and John, timing is poor for us getting you in the studio to do this any different, but I wanted to get you guys on and just talk about decoys and decoy setup because there’s so much to know in waterfowl. um, you know, as far as setting up decoys. So, uh, Robert, you know, if you want to take it first and talk about some parts and then we’ll let John go, but, uh, walk us through first and let’s just take it from the person that’s never done it before. You know, uh, you know, how many decoys do you need? What kind, how do you set up, you know, as far as with, with wind or how birds are coming in? I mean, how do you know what to do?
SPEAKER 11 :
You know, this is probably going to be a controversial conversation amongst the entire state. That’s all right. From our perspective, what worked for John and I, how we’ve designed things, you know, for the new honor, everyday guy concealment is going to be one of your number one things. You want to make sure you’re hidden. You know, if you’re interrupting a bird’s day-to-day operations, they live out in this country, right? If you think you’re just going to lay in a field or sit on a weed edge or you know, what have you, getting a blind above ground, you’ve got to be concealed. Definitely concealment is one of the biggest things. You’ve got to be able to be hidden. Decoy spread, I’ll tell you, if you’re hunting lesser geese, in my opinion, you’re going to want to go a little larger. These smaller geese tend to run in bigger flocks. You want to match the hatch, as we like to say, John and I are both fishermen as well. We’re always matching the hatch in the river, and we’re going to match that hatch in the field. Scout, put some windshield time down on the pavement, guys. Go look at some birds in the park. Go look at some birds in an actual feed field. Go look at the birds in the pond. Get an idea of how they intermingle, how they communicate. Now, yes, you can’t communicate like them, but get an idea of the honking and the clucks and when they’re getting excited and when they’re calming down, when they’re ramping up. Spend some time and actually get to learn these birds here. And when you go to the field, you want to kind of replicate what you’ve seen. If you’re not on a feed field and you’re running some traffic, you want to play that wind. You want to be concealed. Again, you’re trying to trick the natural eye. Calling, a lot of guys over call. I mean, nine times out of ten. Guys are blown on these calls. You don’t have to be a championship caller, guys. You really don’t. A couple clucks, a couple moans, some basic fundamentals, if I can’t stress that enough. Just structure on the basics. Don’t worry about trying to be a competition caller. Most of these birds are finished to the ground or finished in shootable range with simple, just simple calls. You got a really windy day, put the wind at your back, you know, just some clucking moans for sure. And on windy days, be conscientious of that. You got to remember, you’re blowing a call. That call is going to echo twice as loud in that bird’s face. That’s another thing. Guys get raving on those calls and they’re just too loud. Read the birds. Watch the birds. Listen to the birds. A lot of guys like to hear themselves call, and they’re not listening to the birds. If any major advice I could give is just keep it simple. Keep it real simple. You don’t have to get a big spread. If you’re hunting big honker birds, when the honkers show up, you can hunt small little family group spreads. For years, I used to hunt over five to seven dozen decoys. I really did. And John’s like, we’re going bigger. And I said, let’s go bigger. And it works. But for me, when I’m hunting honkers, I very rarely throw 10 of those decoys out there. I’m shooting family groups. These birds are coming in groups of fives and tens, sometimes threes and fours. They’re not real big flocks. So, again, just be conscientious of your surroundings. Don’t overdo it. Be subtle. And let the birds, most importantly, tell you what they want. And that’s probably the biggest thing guys struggle. They just They’re not really paying attention to the species that they’re hunting, even if it’s deer. It doesn’t matter. Pay attention to the animal or the species that you’re hunting and try to mimic it, mirror it, you know, learn it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, it’s always interesting. And that’s, you know, back to your club aspect. I’m guessing lots of folks in the club will be able to give that sort of advice for folks that, maybe you’ve done it a long time and something isn’t working and, hey, try this or try that. And that’s really the great aspect about your community where you’re trying to build with the club.
SPEAKER 11 :
It goes a long way. A lot of guys blame bad hunting on bluebird days or stale birds. And yeah, we all get that frustration level. But I’ll be honest with you, if you just pay attention to what’s going on, you’ll be able to adapt and think outside of the box and be creative. Sometimes you’ve got to dig way deep in that magical hat and come up with some creative stuff. But that’s what it takes sometimes. Try something different. Change the spread around. Be completely different than the next guy. Don’t make that ball of decoys around your pit. Remember, the more decoys you’ve got around you, the more eyeballs are looking dead at you. So you’ve got to be creative. You’ve got to position these pockets accordingly where you want the bird to land. You’ve got to position your decoys to where you want those birds to be. And play the win, absolutely. So, another thing.
SPEAKER 04 :
rainandskieswaterfowl.com. Robert and John are with us. And once again, they will be back with us March 20th through the 22nd at the Mile High Hunt and Fish Expo. And make sure you get by and see them there. So John, as far as, you know, setting up the decoys and let’s just take ducks for right now. You know, you got some water and stuff. How do you go about in the design layout? What strategy do you have for that?
SPEAKER 12 :
I personally go match the hatch. You know, if I’m out there scouting, but I have two different setups. I like to set up a pond rig a little bit different than I set up a river rig. You know, a pond rig, I’ll put two pods, you know, with an opening in the middle. And, you know, normally put my mojos, which are spinning wing decoys, towards that middle area, kind of give them a little direction to go. I might pocket those pods, you know, a little pocket in each one of them. But then you go to the river, and, you know, the biggest thing is – On the river, you want to have some movement. So if you’re going to put a lot of decoys out on the river, I prefer not to go more than two dozen decoys on a river setup. And, you know, because ducks start circling, start circling, they don’t see nothing moving. You know, on a pond, it’s a little bit different. But when you’re on moving water, they expect them birds to be moving. So, you know, I like to get them in some rough water. And the old saying is, well… ducks don’t like to land in rough water. Now they don’t, but man, we’ve shot a lot of ducks over the last several years, you know, landing in rough water. It’s, it’s, you know, it, it, it just, one of those things, it, it, it goes back to match the hatch. We don’t normally hunt anything unless we scouted it. And, you know, we see, we see birds when they’re real comfortable, you know, you got some on the sandbar, you got some, you know, in the ripples, you know, um, just a little bit of everything. Um, you know, it’s, it’s, it, It sounds goofy, but it’s go back to the basics. Take pictures like Robert was saying earlier. Go watch these birds. See what they do. The more you can be like a real bird, the better off you are.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, Kevin, we’ve been on some deals before where, man, birds come, and all of a sudden, you can just tell they see something they don’t like. So I think it gets back to, Robert, your point. Either they see you, either you’re not concealed enough, or they don’t like something in the way the decoy did. So if you have two or three groups that do that, what do you think of first? Is it your concealment, or is there something in that decoy deal? Yeah. a couple of decoys blew over in the wind, or they just see something they don’t like. But they know what they don’t like, right?
SPEAKER 07 :
They do.
SPEAKER 04 :
They definitely do.
SPEAKER 03 :
Go ahead, Robert.
SPEAKER 12 :
When you hunt long enough, you’re going to see birds.
SPEAKER 11 :
Go ahead.
SPEAKER 03 :
Go ahead, Robert.
SPEAKER 11 :
John and I both have a similar aspect on this. Definitely, when you see birds that are shying away, I’m probably going to look at the concealment first for me. I’m going to think about the weather though. If it’s a, if it’s a snowy day, cold day, is that the snow built up on the decoy? Is it the frost on the decoy? Is it the shine of the pit lid? I mean, I’m, I’m always going to start with concealment first though, because your concealment is where the noise is coming from. That’s where you’re calling from. That’s where the dark edges, that’s where the boogeyman is sleeping. Like that’s the biggest eyesore. The decoys, I mean, yeah, sort of a shine or a fallen over decoy. Um, That can happen, but I’m always going to start with concealment and then talk about a decoy spread. But there are some elements you’re just not going to beat. Ice on a decoy, shine on a decoy, they’re going to pick that out. It’s not regular. No movement on a decoy, a dead wind day, they’re not seeing any movement, they’re going to pick you out. I mean, those are them days where I run a lot smaller rigs and give these birds a lot less things to look at. Or I’m going to run a lot looser spread and really push them birds out. Even on the river, we’re going to run a little looser spread We’re going to give these birds too much to look at. There’s too many things to pick out, and they’re just not going to figure it out. And when they do, it’s too late. But I always start with concealment. Whether it’s the blind or the pit, I’m going to start there.
SPEAKER 04 :
Man, cool. Well, hey, guys. Hey, I know I told you I’d keep you for 10 or 12 minutes, and I’ve kept you on for this long. But, hey, we appreciate you joining us. And, hey, our phones are standing by when the weather moves in. You guys got some birds for us? Give us a call. We’re looking forward to hunting with you. And, man, thank you guys again for supporting us on our Mile High Hunting Fish Expo and look forward to you being there March 20th through the 22nd for there as well. So, man, we appreciate it.
SPEAKER 11 :
You bet. Thank you for having us on. Hell of a show.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, man. Thanks so much. Check them out. It is raininskieswaterfowl.com. And, hey, when you call, let them know you heard them here on Sportsman of Colorado, and we’d appreciate that as well. We’ve got to take a quick break, and we’ll be back with more right after this.
SPEAKER 10 :
Hey, Dan, you know, our jobs are pretty different. I’m a baseball announcer. You’re an attorney and a talk show host. Yeah, but we do have something in common. Really? What’s that?
SPEAKER 09 :
Our favorite car dealer, Len Lyle Chevrolet.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, definitely not your typical dealership. That’s so true, Jack. No high pressure sales tactics. They respect your time. And when you have two jobs, that’s important. You know, I’d recommend Len Lyle Chevrolet to anyone. And with their low overhead, that means lower prices.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, we really do have something in common.
SPEAKER 10 :
Len Lyle Chevrolet. Go east and pay the least. Chevy. Find new roads.
SPEAKER 04 :
During the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it’s easy to forget how chaotic days, typical for this time of year, can affect our pets. Hey, this is Scott Whatley from My Friends at Lone Tree Veterinary Medical Center. Their staff understands how disruptions in daily routine can create stress and anxiety for our pets. Most pets need daily structure, new sounds and smells. Visitors coming over and other distractions can sometimes be overwhelming for pets and lead to unwanted behaviors. So even though your days are busy, remember your pets. Take time to show your love and appreciation for the joys of companionship they bring to your home. Extra hugs, a special treat, walks outdoors and indoor playtime can help assure our pets that everything is still okay. And if you need help, Lone Tree Veterinary Medical Center is just a phone call away. Whether it’s medical care, dentistry, surgery, boarding, grooming, behavior training, pet food or care products, They are there for your pets. Visit them at LoneTreeVet.com or call 303-708-8050 Monday through Saturday. That’s 303-708-8050. Lone Tree Veterinary Medical Center. It’s the place where my pets go.
SPEAKER 06 :
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 04 :
Looking for top quality hunting, fishing, and camping gear without the high prices? Head to the Outdoorsman’s Attic, Colorado’s premier outdoor consignment store at 2650 West Hampton in Sheridan. You’ll find wall-to-wall gear for upland bird hunting, waterfowl, ice fishing, and big game adventures, all at prices up to 50% off retail. Whether you’re gearing up for your next hunt or cleaning out your closet, buy, sell, save at the Outdoorsman’s Attic, where every trip feels like opening day. Come see Colorado’s largest consignment store for hunting, fishing, and camping gear. It’s the Outdoorsman’s Attic, 2650 West Hampton in Sheridan, and tell them Scott sent you.
SPEAKER 02 :
AM560 KLZ, your home station.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome back to Sportsman of Colorado. Major correction here. I said today was the 27th. It’s the 20th. That’s what happens when you drive from Texas yesterday and leave at 4 a.m. So it is the 20th. Hey, so you’re all set. You still got some time to buy some things before Christmas. We will be back on the 27th for our final show of the year. And the tickets are gone to the Denver ISE. And we will call that winner here right after the show. Kevin, you sent me an interesting email this morning.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, so I was down at Rocky Mountain Roosters this morning and was talking to Brett, the owner down there, and there’s a new bill that’s going to be coming out. He thinks that it’s going to be filed on January 9th. And it’s a bill that’s going to be outlawing basically puppy mills in Colorado. But with that, it’s also certain provisions of the bill, as written right now, would also outlaw certain types of, basically it’s going to try to minimize the amount of the ability to have a person sell puppies for profit for hunting and for other services. So not only for the puppy mills, but then they’re also basically just trying to take these, all of these dogs out of the, all of any sort of service. So your Labradors, your, English setters, all of those things, as well as anything having to do with police work and other service animals, they’re going to try to outlaw people being able to have those sorts of breeding services. And so it’s a really important bill if it actually goes forward. after January 9th. And we want to make sure that everybody gets out and, and hears about it. It is a house bill. I’m trying to get the number here because Brett sent me the email. And this would be, I mean, there’s a lot of great breeders that do this, right? Yes. A ton of them. And, and so that’s what’s why it’s so important that it’s, um, that we get out and get the word out about it. So it’s going to be finalizing on the 6th and then filed on the 9th. And, um, perfect timing right over the holidays so that no one really hears about it. But obviously the idea is that they’re trying to get rid of the puppy mills, but just like what we’ve seen with every other sort of legislation that we’ve had over the last few years, There’s always the end of the documents that really hit sort of the things that we find are important, and they’re just trying to chip away at sort of the hunting lifestyle and the use of dogs in particular. It’s just another way that we saw the cat bill, you know, and the use of dogs. We just continue to see these sorts of things with the folks that are advocates for this sort of, illegality doing everything that they can. So I don’t have the house bill number here. Oh, it here it’s LLS number 26-016.01. And so it’s just something to keep people in mind to start listening for relating to this bill because they’ll need folks to, and you’ll be seeing more on social media relating to the bill. over the next 30 days to get people down to the statehouse to voice their opinion about it and the fact that it’s more than just what they’re saying it is. Of course. Yeah, it’s the same old thing. But it just came up within, as a matter of fact, it was yesterday that they were working on it with their lobbyists and working on getting the word out. And so that’s what we’re doing is making sure that people are aware of it, take a look at it, you know, do a Google search relating to it, get to read the bill, get to learn a little bit about it, and make sure that if you’re in a particular state house that you get a hold of your state congressperson house or senate and make sure that they’re aware that you object to this sort of bill going forward so we can stop it before it goes anywhere. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, a good example is we’re just dealing with the change in the In the gun shows and everything that we were talking about, that may affect a lot of folks because they’ve redefined the definition of gun, include silencers and all these other things. And so it’s important for people to realize that our ability to do what we like to do in the state is constantly on attack. And so even though if you think, well, it’s not my particular interest, it’s all of our interests. What they’re trying to do is stop the sort of lifestyle that we all enjoy relating to hunting and fishing. And it’s fishing, too, as we’ve talked about before. Austin Parr, you know, sort of tip of the spear relating to the minnow ban and all the other things that they were trying to do at CPW this year. So the folks that are out there that want us to stop being able to do all of these activities that we enjoy doing are not stopping. They don’t see any of the losses that they may have had over the last few years. As a detriment to their cause, they’re continuing to try to push forward and doing it from several different angles and trying to do it so that we just want to have the ability to do that in the state. Right. A lot going on in CPW world. Oh, it sure is. Right now. And everybody should be aware of that, too. And watch what our governor is doing with regard to future appointments relating to the board and then also who’s going to be leading the organization and what qualifications they have. The position is open. right now for applications, even though they have somebody that’s been appointed there temporarily, at least it seems.
SPEAKER 04 :
And Dan Gates was Colorado’s responsible for wildlife management and said the fur ban thing that we won last year or last time it came up, that is going to be coming back, which affects simple things like flies.
SPEAKER 06 :
Tying flies, absolutely. Beaver cowboy hats. Anything with a fur and anything with a feather, they’re going to try to outlaw those. And it’s just another example where You’re like, ah, that’s not a big deal. But it is because we’ve got to fight every one of them because they’re just continuing to try to. We’ve seen that with the change in the magazine size. We saw it with the definitional change in regards to gun shows. Now you have to be starting next year. You have to be over the age of 21 to buy ammunition. So you can still buy a long gun in the state under the age of 21, 18 to 21. But now you’re not going to be able to buy ammunition for that gun. It’s just crazy. And we have to remember that when we go to vote every two years when we have these elections come up.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yep, absolutely. And, hey, if this is your first time to join us, welcome. And most of you know Kevin is an attorney and flesh law and helps with all things from personal injury, criminal law, things with wildlife violations, different things like that. And we were in an interesting conversation when we were down in Texas with our buddy Quentin Smith.
SPEAKER 06 :
talking about he still guides up here and does some things in Colorado that talks a lot about man people crossing over on his property yeah and you know exactly we were talking about the trespassing laws and and people being prosecuted for that and that’s kind of an interesting conversation to have as well because the Supreme Court recently didn’t take on the the corner crossing case that was going on in Wyoming. And that’s, uh, that’s like a whole nother topic for another show. But if you want some interesting reading relating to the, the issue of, of getting onto public lands, uh, where private lands are intertwined and how that’s going to work going forward, take a look at that case and think about what you’re doing with regard to everybody’s rights, public and private. And, uh, it’s an interesting debate and it’s one that we should have a sportsman as to what we think is, is appropriate.
SPEAKER 04 :
And, of course, Onyx is a great, great partner with us here on the show. We love them. But you know what? At the end of the day, you can have all the maps you want. It’s up to you to know exactly where you are. That’s exactly right. Or you can get in some big trouble. You can.
SPEAKER 06 :
And it really does depend about where you’re at and what’s going on. But you just got to be careful about that and be mindful of it no matter what. I mean, whether you’re a landowner and you don’t want people in your land that you don’t have permission to, or the individual who’s really just trying to get to public land and makes a mistake, you’ve got to make sure that we’re all doing things and be fair about it and be understanding of the situation and do the right thing and always be courteous. I mean, we need some more courtesy out there in the woods sometimes because there’s more and more people. That was the other conversations we’ve been having the last few weeks is hunting. There’s a lot of people coming to these states, especially ours, to do hunting, and you want them to have a good experience. Yeah. There’s some education there as well.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, absolutely. Well, as I said at the beginning of the show, our friends from the Wild Alaskan Lodge in Pelican, Alaska are joining us, and we’ve got Melanie Merlin with us. Melanie, how are you?
SPEAKER 05 :
I’m good, and you?
SPEAKER 04 :
Good, good. I assume Jason’s with you?
SPEAKER 05 :
Jason is right here with me.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, Jason, how are you, my friend? Good, buddy. How are you, Scott? We’re doing great, man. I’ve got Kevin Flesch here. And, Kevin, I always just say, I start to say favorite trip of the year. That’s a no-brainer. I mean, that was really fun. But really something we have never done. We’re doing some things here we’ve never done. The helicopter hog hunt. Yeah. We did a self-guided, see Alaska the way you want to do it, fish it the way you want to do it. We had never done that before to this summer, and it was awesome.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, it was. It was a fantastic experience, and we just had halibut the other night, and it was so good. You know, it’s one of those things where you can enjoy that experience for the next year or so before you get to do it again, hopefully. But Melanie, how was the rest of your year? Did you guys have a good fishing season?
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, yeah. We had an amazing fishing season. We ended, right, the first week of September was our last group. But, yeah, we had an amazing year this year and looking forward to 2026.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s awesome. You know, the thing that I realized when we went is you’ve got to, you know, this is truly, you guys give us a little help when we show up to kind of get us started as to what to do and where to go. But then after that, you kind of have to go figure it out. And sometimes it takes you a little bit to do that. And that’s, for me, that was the fun part of the experience. You know, Melanie, my wife really enjoyed it. She likes being guided. Yeah. And maybe because she’s fishes with me all the time, but she wasn’t sure about this unguided thing. But we got her turned around by the end of the trip. So I think the thing that I’m interested to hear from you, Melanie, is the things that you think from other people’s experiences, what it is that draws people to come back after they’ve been there that first time. What do you think it is that really makes people want to rebook before they leave?
SPEAKER 05 :
I think there’s several things. Number one is probably going to be that you can fish for what you want to fish for when you want to fish for however long you want to fish. So say you’re going to focus on, you know, how is it today? Yeah. All right. We’re going to stay in this spot. You and your group that’s on the boat, that’s the group that’s on your boat. comes with you we don’t put people on your boat to feel the boat um so who you book with is who you go so the being able to freedom to fish and go where you wanted to go without uh somebody and you know another thing uh hang it you know what did you want to say jason wanted to connect yeah i know he told me in the cup melanie i don’t know something else that i think
SPEAKER 08 :
When you get there and you see the absolute beauty and piece of paradise there, people are hooked immediately. We have three things that are real, several things, but the beauty of the place, the covered boats, and the amount of fish I think bring people back here.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, and I think you’re absolutely right. I think the boats, you always feel safe. Obviously, everybody has their own personal opinion about how rocky they’re willing to fish in or get to and from and the weather because it’s still Alaska. But the boats were a big deal, super safe, super nice boats, really easy to run. Great gear. Great gear. Yep, we broke a couple of rods. We did a nice job with that. That was user error. That wasn’t your fault at all. I think learning how to read the graph, figuring out where these schools of fish are, figuring out what fish you want to catch, that was super fun. Doing different things. Maybe you don’t want to troll. Maybe you want to look at your graph and find groups of fish and hover over them and drop the you know, drop lures down to them and catch them that way. There’s all kinds of things you can do, and like you said, you get to decide that. And then the halibut fishing is great. All of those species, really, whatever you want to key in on, you’ll be able to do from that spot, from Pelican. I mean, you guys are great in the sense of you’ve got that long arm, so if you do have some bad weather out in the big ocean, you can still fish lots of stuff within, you know, a 15-minute boat ride of where you guys are at.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely, because we have, you know, 15, 20 minutes to the open ocean. You’ve got about 15 minutes to the mouth where you can go to the inside passage, as they call it, or we have our inlet. So it could be choppy in our inlet and be calm as a cucumber out in the ocean. And I think another thing, too, is, you know, For me, also, hospitality and making you feel welcome is very important to me. And so that is something I know gets overlooked, but that is part of it. And that also just making you part of the family. Also, our fish processing, that’s a big thing for us, is quality of how we keep, you know, plain filet, vacuum-filled, and processed for fish. So that’s not something that is done well in a lot of places, but I just feel like that’s something important to us because it does make a difference.
SPEAKER 06 :
Sure does. It makes a huge difference, especially when you’re eating fish six months later and it tastes like it’s just caught.
SPEAKER 04 :
No, I mean, it was just caught yesterday.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. Yeah, and there’s no smell. I mean, it really is incredible on how you guys take care of that. And I think the hospitality is very true.
SPEAKER 04 :
And that’s exactly where I was going next. So I was hoping to beat you before you said it because I was going to tell you, you and Jason, you know, you get all – walks of life. They’re all different experience of people that, uh, you know, I fished a lot. Those hadn’t fished much at all. Uh, you get different ages, uh, everything. And you guys just did an exceptional job of making everybody feel welcome. You know, the, the meals were absolutely delicious and, and everything is just super comfortable. And, and like I say, you step out of your door there of your room and man, beauty, uh,
SPEAKER 06 :
in front of you right and left i mean man you’re floating over the water to begin with yeah yeah literally yeah yeah i mean and i think the meals having them family style the way you do with everybody getting together for for and that’s nice because then you learn things from other people you get to give people a hard time that maybe didn’t catch as many fish as you do which we had some ribbing relating to that the first couple of days with our lack of halibut but you know You get that stuff figured out, right? And you probably see that, Melanie, throughout the season. You’ll have different groups and different personalities of trips, and it’s got to be kind of fun for you guys, too.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, absolutely. You can go from a big group of friends, big group of family, buddies, husbands and wives, all walks of life. So, yeah, and, you know, not everybody does that. super cautious about fishing as we are, but we’re hardcore just like y’all. We go out as soon as we can and we’ll come in when we have to.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 05 :
Exactly right. Again, covered boats was non-negotiable for me just because, one, there are days the weather is really bad and so even having that partial cover with the hard plastic, you can still sit there and troll or even fish you know jigging or however you want to right there and still not be saturated with water um but whatever you know you catch you keep we uh don’t we don’t keep any fish from you so we you know you come say you come with two or three buddies we’ll ask you how do you want to you know, sort the fish. We just all are going to split it. Okay, perfect. That boat will get all their fish. We have you come into Juneau. We have a catamaran. We do catamaran mainly for the fact that the weather is unpredictable. And so where we’re at, you can get to us by boat or a float plane. And so float planes are like right now, They’re hitting winter. I think it’s going on day 26 that the plane hasn’t came. So even the people that still live in Pelican year-round, just think about that. I don’t want to scare anybody off, but it’s not the Bering Sea. It definitely… We have the rain gear. We have all the equipment you need. I always just tell people just bring a few light layers and some hoodies because you can always undress and always get warmed back up, warmed back up.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. No, you guys did a great – I wish I would have listened more to your suggestions on what to bring because I – Kevin will tell you, I pack heavier than needed. And Kevin will come up there with like one little duffel bag, you know, of something, you know, for a week, you know. But I’m telling you, everything that you guys laid out was immaculately perfect. And, you know, you guys got great gear for us there to keep us dry, and it was just awesome. All right, I’ve got about a minute and a half here, so tell us some pricing and dates available and what you’ve got going on.
SPEAKER 08 :
So right now, if you visit thewildelastmentlodge.com, it has all of our pricing on there and all of the dates. Our dates are already set, so it’s not like you’re going to fly in on a Saturday, finish or flying sunday and fish for five days and go home saturday so it’s a constant rotation you made your first day maybe on a wednesday and um we’ll pick you up at the airport put you on a high-speed catamaran and we’ll get you taken out to the lodge right you go to the lodge we’ll take care of your luggage
SPEAKER 05 :
So pack like Kevin, not like Scott.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, so we’ll get there, and we’ll have a family-style dinner, and we’ll go over the do’s and don’ts and some of the fishing techniques, and we’ll go down to the boats. If people are unfamiliar with running downriggers, we’ll help them with that. Um, so we’re just, we’re just there to help people and we’re, there’s nothing more that makes us happier when. When you guys come in and have a bunch of fish and tell us your stories, that’s the whole reason we built the lodge. We like seeing the excitement and the passion in other people. And that’s our main purpose. Yep, for sure.
SPEAKER 05 :
And not to cut him off, but I know we have limited time. So ours is six nights, five full days. If you book and you say, I mentioned that you heard it through the Denver Colorado radio show, you’ll get, yep, it’s going to be, we’ll give you $300 off. Okay. And if they place their deposit before the end of this December 31st, we will honor the price of our $4,300 is what we’ve had in the past. With fuel and everything going up, we are going up to $4,500 per person.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hey, I’ve got to cut you guys off. I’ve got to get out of here. But, hey, they’ll be here at the Denver ISC show January 8th through the 11th. Stop by and see them. Melanie and Jason, thank you so much. Hey, the Wild Alaskan Lodge, go see Alaska your way. You’ll love it. And tell them we sent you. Kevin, thanks, man. Thank you. All right. Thanks for being with us today for Sportsman Colorado.
