Caribou Gear Tarp

Stock Market Report - The 2016 Fresh Tracks Season in Review

Big Fin

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Well, I am finally home. Not without a bit more drama, having the red-eye flight cancelled in SLC last night and spending another unexpected night away from home. As tired as I was after a long season and three days in Vegas shaking hands and kissing babies, I probably could have slept out on the tarmac. The floor in front of Gate C11 was just fine for me.

This season is many ways was just the opposite of last season. We worked our butts off in both seasons. Last season, if it could go wrong, it did. This season, a few things went wrong, but none of the catastrophic variety as we had last year. What we have on media card should make for an excellent season of viewing.

BLUE CHIP STOCKS:

Idaho General Mule Deer Tags - I keep saying some day I'm going to force the schedule to allow for an Idaho General Mule Deer hunt. This being the second consecutive year that I have been sent lots of pics of tremendous public land general season bucks taken in Idaho.

ORION Coolers - I've tried many brands and sizes. I've put them all through the same abuse over the years. Paint me impressed, just like the crazy colors of those ORION coolers.

NOSLER Partition Bullets - Yeah, I know, a lot of new bullets have come to the market since John Nosler first introduced Partitions in 1948. They've been killing stuff with amazing effectiveness since then. The majority of the animals we took this year fell to a .30 Cal 165 grain Partition. If it ain't broke, don't ..........

Our Public Lands - Expect the fight of your generation in the next two years, as it relates to public lands and the access to hunting that this platform is built around.



SOLID INVESTMENTS:

Starting a YouTube Channel - If not for the attention-diverting effort this requires while on the road, it would be a Blue Chip Stock. Even with the lull from me being on the road the last month, we will break 3 million full length views in our first full year on YouTube. This will be a Blue Chip Stock with a bullish long-term hold recommendation for as long as I continue producing outdoor content.

Wyoming left-over and second choice deer tags - Yeah, they aren't units known for huge bucks on a regular basis, but if you are handy with a GPS and a surface map system, you can have some fun hunting at reasonable cost, year after year after year.

New Nikon P900 (83X zoom) camera - It takes some pretty amazing video for something that small. If each battery had better battery life, it would be up in the Blue Chip segment. A fun camera to take with for both video and still images. Just carry extra batteries.

2015 Nissan Titan - I know a lot of time was spent analyzing this decision to buy a new truck. A lot of good input was provided. There are trucks with better mileage, trucks with (insert feature here), but I have yet to find a combination that works as well for what I do.​


JUNK BONDS:

My body - Medical bills to prove it.

Gravity's impact on arrows - My shooting talent on big Utah archery mule deer seemed to have failed to calculate the forces so easily explained by Sir Isaac Newton. No need to elaborate. You will see it soon enough.

Hunting Archery Elk in a full moon with 80F+ temps - Anyone who hunted areas of the arid southwest in late September knows what I am talking about.

Expanding Montana Shoulder Seasons without evidence from the "Pilot Project"
- Enough has been said here about this idea.


BUY: Montana deer numbers are back, in a big way. We filmed a hunt here and it seemed to coincide with the same results Hunt Talkers had; lots of deer, following five easy winters since 2010-11. Barring a brutal winter, I make Montana deer another stop on the schedule for next season.

SELL: Montana is the place to shoot a huge mule deer. Yeah, the occasional buck can live long enough to express some rare genetic traits, but for the most part, the areas of Montana will top out with 150-165" mule deer. Nice bucks, tons of fun, but don't be the guys who stopped me and stated the frustration of "We just can't find the 180 buck. Lots of 170-175" bucks, but we're passing them, looking for that next age class." I gulped hard to swallow the words first springing from my lips, decided to wish them luck on their search.


BUY: A .308 Win. It is just a flat out critter-killing cartridge. Watching it shoot more elk and deer this year, if you told me I only get one cartridge to hunt with the rest of my life, it would be my .308 Howa Alpine Mountain Rifle shooting Nosler 165 grain Partitions. That lightweight rifle is scoped with a Leupold VX-6 2-12x. They tell me I will be swapping out that scope for the new products, but I might forget to replace that one.

SELL: That there are easy shots in hunting. When things get really intense and crazy on the beaches of Alaska and the largest black bear any of you have ever seen is staring straight at you from 200 yards, don't start thinking about your taxidermy bill under the premise that it is a slam dunk shot you can make 24-25 times shooting with your non-dominant eye. Just a tip for those who have not embarrassed themselves in such a way, take the time to get the position that feels best and wait for a broadside or quartering shot and don't worry about the fact he might run off without killing him on camera.


BUY: Sleeping in motels in late November.

SELL: My wall tents for sleeping in when November cold is here.


BUY: Using a Yamaha Viking to navigate many of the open roads I previously tried to ascend/descend/traverse in my Titan.

SELL: Two items - One, the idea that factory paint jobs hold up well to NV/NM juniper. Two, actually sell my old Titan that had 125K+ of America's worst miles to be relieved of the worry when the worst will happen, where it will happen, and what will hang in the balance.


BUY: Hunting late season Nevada Mule Deer, even in warm weather.

SELL: Shooting Colorado elk in north facing canyons that help them stay cool in warm November weather.


BUY: Mystery Ranch GEN2 Metcalf.

SELL: My stocks, as even with the BUY comment above, I'm not selling any of my Mystery Ranch GEN1 Metcalfs.


BUY: People will listen to bi-weekly podcasts, even if the host doesn't know chit from apple butter.

SELL: Committing to do a podcast every week.


BUY: Hunters watch a lot of YouTube content, if produced in high quality.

SELL: All the DVDs I still have in inventory now that we have downloads and free streaming on YouTube.


BUY: I have the world's best wife, but she's not for sale.


DISCLAIMER:

Stock recommendations and comments presented on HuntTalk.com are solely those of the owner. They do not represent the opinions of any expert who may provide far better advice on whether to buy, sell or hold particular positions as mentioned above.

Hunters should be cautious about any and all recommendations and should consider the source of any advice provided. Various factors, including personal biases, laziness, stupidity, lack of Dairy Queen Blizzards, or being a Vikings Fan, may influence or factor into the expert's analysis or opinion.

All hunters are advised to conduct their own independent research into individual items listed above, before making a purchase decision. In addition, investors are advised that past adviser performance is no guarantee of future adviser performance. This adviser provides proof of that each year.
 
Good stuff Randy.
As little I know of you personally,you are the consumate professional in this outdoors business, a nice guy and pretty good hunter.
Aces in my book!

And I can affirm quite a number of your picks/maybe avoids too....lol
You did not seem to really mind my uneeded comment on the new truck's,new NM pin stripe job...... before hiking almost 100 miles in 80's full moon walk on lava balls for bulls with Corey. You all pretty much looked like you had been playing with the aliens ,but with good spirits & amazing appitites.
And those elk quarters were still nice and cool coming from your nice coolers to mine as we loaded,checked rigs and said good byes in a combo T-storm hail storm.

Oh and for folks who do not know that Randy is the real deal.
The whole time we were doing the trailer transfer/gear check,Randy was on the ground helping a nice old local lady change her flat tire in a muddy parking lot.
Nuff said.
 
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Dude, You were kissing babies? That is hardcore! :) Glad to hear your season went well.
 
Awesome stuff Randy! Looking forward to seeing the new episodes. Congrats on a hell of a year and thanks for sharing your adventures! Rest up, app season is just around the corner along with the 2017 hunting year :cool:
 
Appreciate the feedback on your season and really looking forward to the episodes!

One question comes to mind. I have been shooting the Nosler Trophy Grade ammo out of my .308 for the past few years but all I see for sale in Oregon (or online for that matter) are Ballistic Tips (shoot well but self destruct on closer shots) and AccuBonds. I love the AccuBonds so your praise of the Partitions gets my curiosity up..... How do the Partitions compare to the Accubonds? I'm toying with the idea of getting into reloading to possibly slightly improve my already great opinion of the accuracy of AccuBonds but would love to try the Partitions first in factory loads if I can find them.
 
Congrats on a safe, successful season! I can't wait to see what Leupold has in line to supersede the VX-6 lineup. It must be impressive.
 
Motion seconded!

Actually, I really like the gear reports and maybe of better value than the praise for quality products is the "sell" type reports on products that didn't hold up to your expectations.

Sounds like a great season!
 
So with the youtube channel, does that mean you will stop producing content for TV?
 
So with the youtube channel, does that mean you will stop producing content for TV?

If TV continues to shrink and the costs stay at the ridiculously high current level, then yes, that could be a very real possibility.
 
If TV continues to shrink and the costs stay at the ridiculously high current level, then yes, that could be a very real possibility.

Direct TV wants an additional $30/month from me in order to get Sportsmans Channel. That's a non-resident deer tag per year. Bring on the YouTube, Randy!
 
Direct TV wants an additional $30/month from me in order to get Sportsmans Channel. That's a non-resident deer tag per year. Bring on the YouTube, Randy!

Same here, except I have Charter. Most of the crap in the package we have I don't want to watch, and the channels that I do have nothing on. They want $20 to go to the next package up that has Sportsman's Channel, but I'm already overpaying for the junk they pass off as tv and there is no stand alone options or a la carte. At least with Randys Youtube and Rinella being on Netflix a little bit Im not missing everything...... Still haven't seen Project Elk though even though my employer played a big part in it :mad:
 
Hahah..... one of the oldest investment advice scams there is.....


Idaho General Mule Deer Tags - I keep saying some day I'm going to force the schedule to allow for an Idaho General Mule Deer hunt. This being the second consecutive year that I have been sent lots of pics of tremendous public land general season bucks taken in Idaho.




SELL: Montana is the place to shoot a huge mule deer. Yeah, the occasional buck can live long enough to express some rare genetic traits, but for the most part, the areas of Montana will top out with 150-165" mule deer. Nice bucks, tons of fun, but don't be the guys who stopped me and stated the frustration of "We just can't find the 180 buck. Lots of 170-175" bucks, but we're passing them, looking for that next age class." I gulped hard to swallow the words first springing from my lips, decided to wish them luck on their search.
 
One of my "Buys" this year was the Kifaru Gun bearer. That thing is amazing!
 

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