TRIGGERED - FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS SLAP THE TRIGGER

Guys, welcome to Elk Shape HQ. This is my friend Ryan Julian from California. We are going to check out his new gear for the elk hunting backcountry. We're also going to do some armchair quarterbacking on your YouTube video. You killed a nice bull in 2024. Then we're going to head to Spokane Valley Archery Range. Do you punch the trigger? Dan IQ. We might find out. We'll see how he shoots. Then we'll head back to HQ, bust a workout. Here we go. Valkyrie out of Oregon. Brent. Yeah, Brent. Cool. He's got that 3 to 1 cut on contact. How'd they fly past 50? Good. I haven't noticed any issues with the flight. It's a very specific arrow build, though. Do you have his hole system? Hole system, center pin. The juggernaut. Yeah, that little center pin that goes down and the jagger. The jagger. I think it's a great design. I think it's a great option for elk specifically. Agreed. I got 61. What release are you using, the Scott? The Scott. That looks like a really good shot. We're back. Oh, your first shot looks money. Second shot's not on. Yeah, for that angle, I don't really think you could get. I mean... How could you get a scoring arrow on that? I don't think... Way far forward. But all of us are exiting right here. Yeah. That's a dead ram. All right, what do we got? 88, standing antelope. Hi. Oh, so... So I went over the first one. Okay. Those geese are rowdy today. How's that? Didn't your first one go high? Yeah. You're spoiled when you go other places. But that's what's cool about Idaho. It gets you ready for... I mean, if you can hunt Idaho, you can hunt anywhere. You said it. I kind of agree, but it's true. So what bugle tube is that? I think it's a Phelps one, but... I'm not in love with it. It's kind of big. This is your product. Yeah, so this is my post design. So this is two sets. They telescope into each other. I put them in that bugle tube when I'm packing and not really using it because they... There am I. You don't see them. You don't think about them. But what's cool about my GameSticks is they work for a number of things. So in camp, I used them for my Cuyu tent. I have that one-man Cuyu tent. Those are nice. Simple, small, lightweight. And it just, you know, it's a tent post tent, and it props it up perfectly. So multiple uses for this GameStick. We'll have to podcast later today to figure out how you thought to do this. Yeah, absolutely. Getting a product launch is not super easy. No. Get ready for your micro adjustment. But this is not the main use of this thing, right? That's kind of cool that you have multi-use. Yeah, and I wish I maybe was a little bit more selective in how I poised it on the video because people see it, and they're like, oh, it's a tent post, you know, product. I'm like, no, it's not. But you can use it for a tent post, and it works lights out. Right, okay. And we're actually coming out with, I mean, it's going to be here in a week or so. It'll be on the website. But that whole tent post setup, it's going to be separate from your packout bone replacement. And all those perforated holes there, you can hang all your gear on it. So it's kind of a little gear shelf in your tent to keep your floor print all clean and organized, dry out your jacket, whatever you need. Do we want to talk about you punching a trigger? Do you punch one? I don't feel like I do. I'm pretty hooked around it. Get it fixed in whatever position, and then now you're just going to slowly start pulling your hand through the strap. Don't worry about aiming. Yeah, I don't know. I think Joel would come after you a little bit. Really? Yeah, a little bit. Point out for the record, Tyler is an 11. Great shot. Thank you. Get your aim done, all your things you do, and then you climb in on your release. Okay. Right there? Mm-hmm. Is that how it would be? Mm-hmm. Okay. Just keep pulling your hand through the strap. Don't move your finger. Just keep pulling this. Pushing, though. I want you pushing and pulling. Does that feel different than what you normally do? Yeah, I felt a lot more in my bow hand, and then it came through. You could feel the break. I could feel the break. Because archery is pushing and pulling, and really see if you can do more of pulling your hand through the strap versus moving this digit. Got it. Dan IQ. You put all your chips in and went for it. Yeah, I went about a quarter mile down to him, and what happened was the drainage funnel's down, and I got on the high side of the ridge, and that bottom bull had scented me, and he just peeled out, but the other bull was high enough to where my scent was going below him, and he didn't care. The other bull, he had just beat up. He was higher on the ridgeline, and so I had snuck down below him, looked up. I didn't even know he was right there, wide open, 83 yards. 83? Yeah, dropped to my knees, dialed my fifth pin on 83, and then drew back, stood up, and scented. Good shot. All good shots. Dead stag. That's a great shot, too. It's hard. Walk through your setup. So this is the V3. What's your ATA? 31. V3, 31. Okay, that makes, because they made a 27 and a 31 that year, so you got the taller one. The longer, yeah. Five pin. The thing I like about, which spot hug is it? The XO Fast Steady. I like the wire. I've always loved the wire down the middle, which is great. It's just kind of a big housing. It is. What size peep do you run to match that housing? You know what? It's a larger peep for low light conditions, but I think it's a good, maybe a little bigger. You got the BOMAR nose button. Yep. Are you running gas strings? Yes. Okay. Valkyrie setup, 250 spine, 530 aero weight total. You gonna stick with that? No. You gonna tinker? Yeah, I'm gonna go lighter. I want to play with it, so. So these are the hooks that shank me up top. These are what hold that whole quarter in place on your post. And I did quick attach for it, so you can just slide these off when you're ready to use them. Okay. And everything's just housed in. You have weights up front. Slide these off, pull them out, put them back on. Really easy to use. No vibration. We worked on it for a while, so pretty lights out system. That's cool. And you can hook it on your pants if you're glassing. You can finagle that any way you want. Show us that once you screw those back in. I want people to see that. Bow's out of hand. Glassing. Glass, do whatever you want. You can alternate it however you want. If you want to turn it, you can carry your bow like this. Where do you think it weighs? Just like that, yeah. This whole thing? We're at nine ounces. Okay. So. What do you think of Spokane Valley Archery? Love it. Except you can't find your arrows if you miss, so don't miss. Do you feel good about the hit? Phenomenal. Cool. Like, I had never felt more sure, but it's far, you know? Yeah. And I'm like... And it's bow hunting. You always kind of have a little doubt. Yeah. Until you don't. Yeah. You know? And it was straight up, so it looked like it hit well. But it's also straight up, and I'm like, well, if I hit well on the side that I see, it's going out high on the opposite side. That's a nice bow. How far did he go from the shot? 150 yards. So you double lunged him. Heart. Center punched. He made it 150 on a heart? Yeah. Center punch? He was blowing out. I was shocked, yeah. Yeah, that's a long ways for a heart shot. Yeah, maybe less. It feels like 150 yards because it's straight up. Is this your first ever archery elk, or you've done this before? Yeah. Is this your best bull ever? It's my best bull ever. That's a pretty good feeling. And, you know, to me, it's not a giant, but a public land giant to me. That's a great bull. Yeah. I'm never passing on that. Never. I don't think I'd pass on that. He's kind of heavy. Yeah. He had some cool features, a little crown on that backside. Yeah, what a great bull. And you spot and stalked him. Man, I love that. For that country, that's what you gotta do. Yeah, it was cool. It looked like you were doing all sorts of tactics, spotting and stalking, calling, still hunting, ambushing water, like a chameleon. Seeing what worked, you know? There's bulls that are by themselves, and then there's the bachelor groups. And you can kind of play them a little differently. You know, those bulls that are by themselves, you can maybe cow call to them and get them to respond. The bulls that are in a group, they want nothing to do with you. They're just... So you got... Did you get your horses all the way to that animal? Yeah, I did. Oh, you lucky dog. So I backed out, went and found my boots there a quarter mile away. I went up and got my camp and got back down there at 4 a.m., 3 a.m., and then just started tearing him apart. So guts were already out of him. He was cooled down. So this is where your product shines. Yeah, this is it. All right, talk us through it. Yeah, so... Right here, we're taking off the rear quarters, and it works phenomenal for the rear quarters. But we're just flaying that bone out, keeping that meat whole, as if there was bone in it, and dropping that Game 6 in there. That thing weighs... I think we're at 5 ounces now. That one was 6 ounces, but... It just... It holds the rigidity. It elongates the meat. You can hang it, take your game bag off so you can clean it up. It's not just... If you're deboning, it's not just a bag of meat that you have to drop your meat bag on the ground, get through it, air flow around it, move the outsides to the inside, and the insides to the out. It's like a bone-in quarter, but with 15 pounds less. How much meat do you have on that one right there? You got... That's a whole rear quarter on it. Intact, so... Yeah, obviously. Yeah, I just... So how much do you think the bone weighs that you're not having to pack out? That one weighed 13.8 pounds. So that's 13 pounds... Like, if you didn't have horses, that would be a significant... Yeah. I mean, even with my horse, it was a significant difference because one horse with dead weight on it, for me, I don't put too much dead weight on them. You know, times it by four. Yep. And depending on how far you're in... You got a drone up in there? Yeah. Nice. The hero film footage. I love this. That's a cool shot. Yeah, that was death right there. I said, just stop filming me. Like, I'm dying, dude. I'm over it. Yeah, I'm over it. Did he edit this or did you? He did. That's cool. Well, thanks for sharing. Guys, what do you think of the video? Kind of cool director's cut. Pinching in on the insight that the guy actually made the film. Check out the channel. We'll leave a link to his GameSticks. We'll leave a link to his YouTube channel. And hopefully that gets the bugle juice flowing enough for you. There's no bugles. But it gets the elk fever vibes that you know, oh, yeah, that's why I'm staying diligent, disciplined, reps, nutrition, taking care of the family, all the stuff we preach so that you can hunt guilt-free and hunt hard come September. Separations in the preparation. We'll catch you on the next one.