Dylan Bain: It is time to reject the domestication of a manufacture society and reclaim the human wisdom that lives within our hearts. Welcome to The Human Revolution. I’m your host, Dylan Bain.

Greg Ray, welcome to the podcast.

Greg Ray: Hey, thanks Dylan. I appreciate it buddy.

Dylan Bain: Oh, I am excited for this conversation. I’ve gone on a couple of your events. They’re just so unbelievably unique. But before we get to that, I kind of want to know, give us the story version of how Outdoor Solutions came to be.

Greg Ray: So literally quite by accident, but it’s a fun story.

It’s one that I love sharing. So whenever we first started this thing, so back in 2004, we will actually celebrate our 20th anniversary this October. So obviously we’re very proud of that. This started as a hobby business. I was a national sales manager for a fortune 250 company out of Chicago and was gone Monday through Friday.

So part time dad, part time husband. So I’d leave Monday morning and wouldn’t get back until Friday evening, home Saturday, Sunday. And do it all over again. And I got old. So I did that for six or seven years. And so my wife and I started looking at other opportunities. And we were actually looking at franchises.

And so keep in mind, this is 2004. We started looking at subway franchises. This is when they were the big hot deal. But man, I can make sandwiches. That’s, that’s not hard to do. Anyway, throughout my, my research, I came across a outdoor adventure company that was a franchise. I looked at it. I actually went to their headquarters.

Determined that I couldn’t replace my income, but it sounded like something really fun to do. And so my wife was super happy that I bought a side gig on top of being gone Monday through Friday. And that that’s me being sarcastic. She was not happy at all. She supported it, but you know, just something that took up more time.

And so the way that I did, the way that I started building the business, I could not do trade shows like the other franchisees did, so I bought two books from Barnes and Noble. I learned how to do pay per click advertising and I just started advertising on, on the web. And so what we did is we put together hunting and fishing destinations.

They had a network of outfitters that had already been pre vetted. And so we represented those outfitters. And so I just started marketing on the web and man leaves just started pouring in. So in the evenings when I’m in my hotel room, my laptop and my cell phone, that’s what I did. I sold hunting and fishing trips.

And it blew up really quick. And within a year of the company, we were not only rookie of the year, but we are also franchise of the year. So we flew to the number one spot really quick, and this is just doing it part time. So my idea was, well, man, if I can do this well, part time, how well could I do full time?

And so Debra and I started having discussions about possibly doing it full time. And I’m the risk taker. She’s more. Man, that steady paycheck, the insurance, the 401ks, those are pretty sweet, but I’m also tired of you traveling all the time. So we were discussing it and the decision actually ended up being made for us in October of 05.

So we’d been in this a year and that came in the form of a jeep going 70 miles an hour and crashing through our house and running over us while we were standing in our kitchen. So the Jeep actually hit my wife, launched her, she went through a wall and landed in our garage, and then the Jeep literally landed on top of me.

So fortunately she was not, I mean, she was hurt, but not, not bad. I, on the other hand, ended up with 11 surgeries, learning to walk again, really bad memory issues, just a lot of things. So anyway, through that course of all the different surgeries and the rehab, the physical therapy, I ended up losing my job.

And not necessarily in a bad way. The company was really, really good to me. We had great insurance. They were super cool to me, but they couldn’t keep my territory open because I couldn’t travel. And so the only option I had was I slept in a recliner for, I don’t know, somewhere between six, seven, maybe eight months.

And so I just sit there in that recliner with the laptop and mostly emails. I did some phone calls, but my short term memory was so bad. I can’t remember who I called and who I didn’t, unless I kept really good notes. So I repeated myself a lot. I probably still do that now, but anyway, I just started lots of emails and just started building the business and it kind of, it blew up and did really, really well.

We survived the crash of 2008 and then. I think in 2011 or 2012, our franchise agreement was up. We branched off. We actually partnered with the NRA and we created a program called NRA Outdoors. We ran it from 2012 to 2014 as an affiliate partner. Then in 2014, the NRA bought our business. And we became employees, so from 2014 to 2018, we were actually employees.

Most of myself and our team decided that we weren’t great employees. We like our own thing and a new executive director of the NRA came in and actually canceled the entire program. So our. Tire team got let go, but we did not have a non compete and we actually had their blessing just to do our own thing.

So that’s what we ended up doing. And we rebranded also option. We can use the NRA name. So we rebranded as outdoor solutions under the original LLC that we started and just kept going ever since. During that course of time. So we started out as just booking, hunting and fishing trips. So if you were to call me and say, Hey, I want to go on an elk hunt.

So either myself or our big game manager, Lindsey Moss would ask you a bunch of questions to find out exactly what it is that you’re looking for, send you two or three suggestions, and then we would narrow it down to one and we would get you booked on a hunt that service would be completely free to you.

Well, then as we grew, we started seeing a need for people learning how to shoot. Further than a hundred or two hundred yards. So we would get a lot of clients that would live in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, that maybe don’t even have rifle seasons, but they want to go out West and they want antelope and they want to hunt elk and they want to hunt mule deer.

And when we would prep them for those hunts and say, Hey, you need to be 400 yards. And they’re like, we can’t do that here. It’s like, we’re shooting slug guns and muzzle loaders. You know, one guy, this is a true story. One guy told me I was prepping him for a New Mexico antelope hunt. This is probably 12 plus years ago.

And I told him he need to be prepared to shoot out to 400 yards. He goes, I didn’t know bullets went that far. So he was, he was joking, of course, but he was like, no, we don’t shoot like that. So we saw a need to be able to teach people to shoot. Ethically further distances. So that’s why we started our long range schools.

We started that in June of 2012, I believe is when we did our first class. And since then, now we’ve opened, we’ve got two locations in Texas now. So we have three different locations, one in Utah, two in Texas. And it’s a three night, two and a half day experience. They’re 1, 000 yard classes. We do not advocate shooting at animals at 1, 000 yards.

You shoot at steel at 1, 000 yards. But when you get that 300 to 500 yard opportunity out west, you are a much more ethical hunter, and you know exactly what you need to do to take that ethical shot. So we do those now. Those are going extremely well. And then in 2019, we started from field to table, which is my new favorite thing that we do.

I say new 2019, it’s five years now and it has flown by, but with it, we take people on a hunt. We will teach them all aspects of hunting, at least in the beginning shot placement, how to use your firearm, proper caliber selection, bullet selection, you know, those types of things. But then we take people out on a hunt.

And they have the option of learning how to field dress. And how to skin the animal with the guides or the guides will do it. And then the start of the event is when one of our chefs come in, we have three that work for us and they will work with the individuals, uh, just like on the events that you’ve been at and teach them how to break down the primal cuts, which is the quarters.

And the back straps and the neck meat and the tenderloins and all that good stuff that gets put into a cooler, you’ll go hunt some more. You’ll be on the range some more. And then you come back and you will break those down into the sub primes and you will learn the ID. So you’ll learn where the flight arm comes from the front shoulder.

You’ll learn the cooking methods for it. You’ll learn that there’s 8 muscles in the hind quarter and all those muscles have a different category. They’re either going to be. Tender, less tender or tough, and then you’ll learn all the cooking methods for that as well. And at the end of the day, all the butchering, you’ll do some processing, you’ll make some sausage.

And then the final day, we’ll have everybody in teams of two. You’ll go in the kitchen with the chef. He’ll have a predetermined menu. And then each team has a recipe on that menu. And. You prepare it for everybody else that is there on the event. And then we all sit down and have a big wild game feast.

And then you go home with a cooler full of vacuum sealed package, wild game that you put in your freezer. And then you can start pulling it out as the weeks and months go by. You can go to our website then and use that as a reference, like, Oh man. What they say to do with the top round, I don’t remember.

So you pull it out, then you can go to the website and there’s literally a chart on there that says, top round, tender cut. Here’s all the cooking methods, here’s all the recipes for tender cooking methods. So anyway, it’s a lot of fun. I love doing it, love teaching people how to provide for themselves, and I think probably the main thing with that.

That I love seeing people get out of is a light bulb going off and then it, for me anyway, it’s not near as hard as I had built up in my head because that’s why I started doing it was for selfish reasons. That’s where my experience ended with learning all the things that you learn with hunting. I would go out West.

I’d put an elk down. I’d fill dress it. I’d skin it. I’d quarter it. I’d pack it out. I dropped off at a processor 5 years ago. I couldn’t have told you the difference between a flat iron or eye around where they came from or how you cook them. Now I can teach it. Not near as good as the chef’s, but I could if I had to do it’s a very, very satisfying event to put on.

Dylan Bain: I can certainly attest. And I didn’t plan it this way, but as you were talking, it occurred to me, our dinner tonight is going to be from a pig I harvested with you. Oh, nice. It’s a sirloin roast. It’s in the crock pot all day long. It’s a recipe I got off the site at outdoor solutions and field to table.

And it’s kind of ironic. I didn’t plan it that way, but that is exactly what’s happening here. That’s so cool. Yeah. So you’ve got outdoor solutions where you’re doing hunting and fishing. You’ve got your long range school, teaching people how to put lead on target at a thousand yards. And you’ve got the field, the table where we’re going to go hunt and we’re going to be processing this.

That’s a lot. In one business, I’m curious to know, like, I loved how you described like the evolution of it all, but talk to me a little bit more about the field and table. And what have you seen? I think this is a stereotype. Maybe, maybe I’m wrong, but you get a lot of dudes who they like the idea of hunting.

They’re willing to go out there. But then when you’re like, yeah, you got to cook this now. They’re like, uh, I don’t know what’s going on. That’s not my job. What have you seen as you brought more and more men out into this experience? We’re like, oh yeah, you’re going to make some gourmet stuff now.

Greg Ray: Like I said in the beginning, this is my new favorite thing and it’s for a multiple to two reasons.

1 of it, the question that you’re asking is, uh, we’re getting, we’re getting dudes in the kitchen that even, uh, Ryan Mickler, whenever he was at the event with us, he’s like, the 1st, he’s like, I’m not really into cooking. And now the 2nd, 1 that, that we just got done with this past March. He’s like, yeah, that’s a new favorite thing.

He likes cooking now, you know, so seeing that part of it, guys that normally wouldn’t spend time in the kitchen to learn how to cook something are really getting into it. But I think my, my favorite part about it, and I didn’t intend for it. This wasn’t my initial attention with creating field to table.

Like I said, it was more of a selfish thing because I personally wanted to learn when we first started in 2019, we did two events that year, and they were both at the location that you’ve been to there in Texas. Fast forward to, um, Last year, we did 22 events. It has really grown. We’ve spread out other than Texas.

You know, we do Alaska, New Mexico and Wyoming and Utah here in Oklahoma, in my home state, a little bit of everywhere, but what has happened, the way that has evolved over the last few years. Is as the word has gotten out, you know, we’ve done some media, we’ve had different magazines out, we’ve had different podcasts out, different YouTube channels.

So people have found out about us. But the cool thing is now at every class, unless it’s a private event, half of every class are brand new hunters. They’re doing their very first hunt with us. Uh, the last one that we just did in May, seven out of the eight, we’re doing their very first hunt. So that’s the biggest thing.

We didn’t plan it that way. It’s just, that’s just the way that it turned out and that is extremely satisfying. I always pick a new hunter and take them out myself. I mean, 1 of the guys takes us out, but I sit with them and we talk about, you know, the shot opportunities that’s coming up, or if that’s an animal that you should pass the 1, 1 that you should shoot that type of thing.

So I actually get to sit with them whenever they, they take their very 1st animal. And to see the excitement and something brand new like that and start seeing the light bulbs going off and the smile on their face is extremely satisfying because you go from that, from the range. We had one young lady in particular at this last one.

She never even fired a rifle before she’d done some pistol shooting. Uh, she lives here in my hometown. She’s actually my dog trainer. She trains my, my puppy Larry. So I think you met Larry, right? Was he at the event? I think so. Yeah. Uh, whenever she came to the house to meet him, I’ve got a lot of taxidermy.

So she’s kind of looking around, you know, what do you do kind of thing. And so we convinced her to come out. And so I was with her through every step of the way, but to watch somebody take their very first animal, be excited about it, be part of the process, pull the insides out, skin it, and then watch her all the way through in the kitchen.

Her and she’s with another young lady that actually works for federal ammunition. And so they paired up really well and they. What they made now, but anyway, watch them make their dish and then serve everybody. She said it was one of the most satisfying feelings that she’s ever had, that she harvested that animal and then she butchered it and processed it and then cooked it in the kitchen and was able to provide a meal for everybody was, she said, was beyond anything that she could have imagined.

Dylan Bain: Amazing. And I, I think that that’s the magic, right? Like you’re getting closer. To where the food comes from. And you’re able to see that whole process from the field where you you’ve downed the hog, you’ve done down whatever you’re hunting and then making that transformation process of breaking it down, understanding that, like you see, you see a sirloin steak.

In the, in the grocery store and you’re like, Oh, that’s what a sirloin steak is. But when you see it on the animal, it’s a whole different, you know, ballgame there. And I feel like that’s something, you know, what you’re doing is you’re offering this amazing experience that’s blending the modern experience of, of having really good food with the primal experience of actually hunting the animal.

And that to me is a really interesting piece that goes into it.

Greg Ray: Yeah, so, and that’s actually a really good point. That’s something that I hadn’t, that we hadn’t gotten into yet. But the dishes that we make, I mean, we’re not just, uh, deep frying stuff in grease and chicken fried this, or, or just backstrap steaks or whatever it’s elevated dishes.

I can’t remember what all we made at your event, but, uh, all the chefs, chef Albert Cliff and chef Joe come up with some really elevated stuff. And you can probably attest to this better than me. Cause you’ve done it more recently. But when you first look at the menu, especially for the very first time, the first event that you did two years ago, and you look at the menu, you’re like, holy crap, how am I going to make that?

They make the process so easy. It’s not that hard. And you can do some really elevated dishes that are really good.

Dylan Bain: A hundred percent. Well, like we, the last time I was down with you, you and your operation. Well, you had mentioned, right? Mickler, one time he had made egg rolls. Yes, he had made these egg rolls with sauerkraut, like a Reuben egg roll.

And it was like, wow. Like, and he even said, he was like, I never thought that this was something that you could a make by yourself, but then be also how easy it is to do. And I think that that, that is the thing that’s always been my experience with cooking. It’s like there’s a learning curve, but in bringing in those professionals, chefs, you’re lowering that learning curve.

You’re lowering the activation energy to allow them to actually step into that. Tell me a little bit more about what it’s like, you know, you’d, you’d mentioned that you have like these new hunters that are coming in. What do you think is. One of the barriers to entry for new hunters right now. And where do you see that evolving as time goes on?

Greg Ray: Great question. So that’s another thing. There’s just, there’s so many reasons why, why I love this program. So we have visited with a lot of these new first time hunters, whenever they come in and ask them, you know, it was like, why did you choose to do this? And the answer is pretty much across the board, the same from all of them, whether it’s male, whether it’s female, it doesn’t matter, but they all say it’s, it’s intimidating.

A lot of them are already pretty proficient with firearms, it seems. Maybe, that’s what I say a lot, probably about 60%, but there’s 40 percent that haven’t even picked up firearms. So, I mean, we have to go through, you know, we’re dealing with bolt guns, so it’s not like they’re, they’re not overly complicated.

But one, we got to be safe, and two, you got to understand how to use them. Whether they were somewhat experienced with firearms or not, the number one answer was, one, it’s intimidating. Two, where do you start, how do you start hunting? Do I just go for a stroll through the woods with my rifle? Well, obviously it’s not that simple.

There’s lots of rules and there’s regulations and there’s seasons, and there’s a lot that, a lot that you have to do if you were lucky enough and you put an animal down, well, then what do you do? That’s where a lot of intimidation comes in. It’s like, okay, I’ve got this knife. What am I supposed to do with it?

You know, how do I get the insides to the outside? How do I get the hide off? Yeah. So there’s just a lot of. A lot of things like that. It’s just intimidating. So they say that, you know, whenever they found out that there was a program, that there was literally somebody with them from A to Z, or obviously in our case, from field to table, uh, that the man is just a no brainer.

And as that progressed, our mission became to one, it’s our duty to make sure that they have a great first impression of hunters and hunting, because there are a lot of ways to have a bad experience. Uh, if you go out and try to do it on your own, you just find somebody off the internet. Most outfitters are great outfitters, but there are some out there that they are only in it for the dollar and they are way over hunting their properties or they are not as advertised.

And so our mission is to make sure that everybody, but especially these new hunters have a great first experience and a great first impression of hunters. Cause a lot of them, the, the, Mainstream media does not do us any favors. They, for the most part, portray us as a bunch of camo wearing, flannel wearing rednecks with a gun in one hand, a bottle of whiskey in the other, and we shoot at everything that moves.

And although there are some like that out there, that is not. The majority of the case, most of us are family people. We welcome anybody to come in that wants to be part of this. We don’t care, male, female, ethnic background, political background. It doesn’t matter. Come and join us and see what it’s all about because it is very family friendly.

And so that’s what we’re starting to see. We’re getting a lot of the demographic that we’re seeing now. Is a lot younger or we’re getting a lot of 30 somethings. These are people that are purchasing grass fed beef, organic chicken, organic eggs. They’re growing their own gardens. They a lot of maybe not full fledged homesteaders, but they’re doing a lot of things on their own, and they want to learn how to do this.

And so if we can provide them all the tools and give them that great first impression, then then that’s our job. That’s how we look at it. So

Dylan Bain: amazing. I think you hit it right in the head of like, how do you start? I was fortunate if I grew up in Wisconsin and we had people around us who would actually show us like how to hunt on some of the public land and how to do that type of thing.

When I moved from Wisconsin to Arizona, I, there was no one. And I had no idea. So I grew up hunting whitetails and grouse, woodcock, pheasant, but then you get to Arizona and it was like, where do I even go? How do I apply? Uh, oh, there’s a lottery system. What’s that? Cause like Wisconsin, you know, you go, you go to the gas station, you, you walk into the quick trip and they’re like, yeah, have a brownie.

And here’s your dough tag. Um, because we have to manage the herd. I like what you’re saying about bringing people in and like giving them that experience so they get a first good impression where they’re going to be in an environment where there are people who are experienced to help them manage it.

So it is a good impression and then helping the landowners also have a good impression of the hunters, because I think you’re 100 percent right. I have never had the whack doodle gung ho whiskey drinking experience, but I know it’s out there. But for the most part, it’s just guys that are looking to get closer to their food and closer to their friends.

Greg Ray: Yeah, exactly. And I think probably the, but not necessarily the last part, but another huge part of it too is the food itself. You know what you’re putting into your body and that’s something you’ll start hearing quite a bit more in detail about this from us soon. We’re actually putting some pieces together on, it’ll be a video form probably on our YouTube channel, but we are breaking down and doing some research on these plant based meat that is out there, Beyond Meat.

And I forget what the other one is called, but anyway, it’s been pushed by the media pretty hard. And you start doing the research on what’s actually in there. It’s crap. It is a highly over processed. plant based crap. So, but anyway, we’re going to do a deep dive into the science and do a, uh, do a comparison compared to venison, which there’s one ingredient in it, protein.

Anyway, so that, that is, uh, another reason here, here at our house, probably 90 percent of the protein that we get comes from wild game. We buy a little bit of chicken and then my family does raise cattle. So we do get some beef from my family, but other than that, everything is wild game.

Dylan Bain: Yeah, it’s interesting to me because I, you know, I am of the millennial generation.

I’m, you know, a geriatric millennial is what they call me because I’m pretty early in that. I remember a time where I didn’t have to take off my shoes at the airport. And it’s interesting because we’re now getting to the midlife crisis stage. And I’ve asked myself, like, what’s the millennial midlife crisis?

I think the answer is homesteading. I think for my parents generation, the artificial was like the new hotness, right? Like, oh my God, you can get, look at all this frozen stuff. Look at, oh, you have a TV dinner. Like, this was all novel to them. And I think for my generation, we’re craving the authentic. And then there’s also the part of us that we’re also the generation where we are aware of high concentrated feedlots.

You know, like here in Colorado, if you, I actually, I commented my wife on this, I can smell a pig farm from a mile away. And so while I’m on my way down to Texas to hunt wild pigs with you, I’m driving past these high concentrated feedlots where you’re five miles out and downwind and you can smell them.

And so I think that there’s people who are like pushing, who want to get away from that, which is where the beyond meat comes in, but it’s like, that’s as processed as a Twinkie.

Greg Ray: 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Dylan Bain: Like, you’re not getting to anything authentic and you’re not getting to anything ethical because of the farming required to bring in the, the, the inputs, you know, versus, Oh, here’s this pig that’s living his best piggy life.

He’s having a great time and, you know, he comes over to the feeder to get his chow and that’s it lights out. And now he’s protein for my family. Now he’s an experience with my friends. Now he’s an opportunity for me to practice the magic that is taking ingredients to a full table. And I love that experience.

That’s bringing that in and I loved how you talked about the beyond meat because I think that’s the the thing that’s pushed a lot of people away from hunting is they think like, Oh, you’re just gonna walk out there and, and gun down everything. And that’s just not the case, is it?

Greg Ray: No, not at all. I mean, there’s, like I said, there’s pigs being the exception.

Everything else is regulated. I mean, you’ve got seasons, you’ve got quotas, you’ve got tags. Yeah, it’s, it’s very. Heavily regulated for good reason for the longevity of of the species. So, and all the outfitters and ranches that we work with, they have their own management program. On top of that, so they may not even do as much as what a state would allow, and Texas is a great example of the place that you’ve been to the last couple of times is a great example of that for that particular ranch is 40, 000 acres, and they don’t even take half of the animals that the state would allow them to take.

They probably wouldn’t take 3 quarters. They manage it very, very well. So they’ve managed the pigs there. Most ranches that we go to, if it’s a hog hunt and say, yeah, however many pigs you want to shoot, but there, they put a limit on it because they want everybody to be successful and they want to help the longevity of the pigs there.

Even in our own world, in the hunting world, on TV, a lot of the TV shows for Texas hog hunting doesn’t do us any favors either because they show these massive herds. Where there are in certain parts of the state, but they are few and far between, but they portray the image that it’s like that everywhere you go.

So behind every mesquite bush is 30 hogs. And that’s not the case. You have to hunt them

Dylan Bain: a hundred percent. And that was one of the things with your operation that I thought was just so neat. I show up and I got it. You know, there’s a guide who’s going to help us out here because I had never hunted pigs before.

And so I’m in the truck with the guide and the guide, I said, other than guiding, what do you do? He’s like, Oh, I’m actually the conservationist for the ranch. I was like, what do you mean? He’s like, Oh, I manage all the plants. I manage the animals. I have to go and help them find and identify invasive species to pull out of here.

You know, we make sure that the hog population doesn’t get too big or too low. And I’m like, wow, these guys are true stewards of the land.

Greg Ray: 100%.

Dylan Bain: And now here I am also not only, you know, getting the experience to hunt and learn how to cook, but I’m also supporting that stewardship.

Greg Ray: Yep. Yeah. 100%. Yeah. So that was Lloyd that you were with.

Dylan Bain: Yeah.

Greg Ray: So he’s, he’s the ranch manager. Yeah. He’s a biologist and, and he manages, uh, 100 percent of that aspect of the ranch.

Dylan Bain: You know, when you were talking about long range school, you had talked about the ethical shot placement and for my audience who has not been hunting and doesn’t understand what you mean by that.

Can you just explain a little bit of what that entails?

Greg Ray: Sure, ethical shot is a, is a moving target. My ethical shot may be different than your ethical shot. I may be comfortable 250, 300 yards on a animal on any given day because I know what my capabilities are or the equipment that I have and my capabilities with that equipment.

Whereas with you, yours may be 500 yards. You know, you may have different equipment. You may have a different skill set than me. Yeah. So it is a, it is a moving target and that is a argument amongst. Our community, uh, depending on who you talk to about, oh, that’s not an ethical shot. So how do you know it’s not an ethical shot or that’s not hunting?

But what we mean by that is we owe it to the animal to put it down quickly. Now that doesn’t happen every time. I don’t care, um, how, Uh, good of a shot. You are how good of a hunter you are. If you do it long enough, you’re going to wound an animal. That is just the unfortunate part of hunting. You do it long enough.

It’s going to happen because there’s so many factors that you can’t control a gust of wind. Your gun rest slips. The animal takes a step at the very last second. You know, there’s just a lot of different things that that that can change, but you can still put the odds in your favor. With how often you practice, how you practice and the equipment that you use and understanding what your limitations are.

I think that’s probably the, the biggest thing is hunters will get excited. They’re on a trip of a lifetime and they decide it’s okay to send a Hail Mary and let’s see what happens. Well, more than likely you’re probably going to wound that animal, if that’s your mindset. And I understand in the heat of the moment, sometimes it can happen.

Anyway, and that’s one of the things that we teach at the class is to learn what your limitations are. So, during our classes, we actually provide all the gear that we do encourage you to bring your own. And we actually have a time set aside for you to use your own. And we basically go through the process again, using your equipment for that very reason.

You can find out the ballistics, of your particular firearm, but more importantly, find out what your limitations are with it and the limitations of the equipment that you’re using. So you, with our equipment, maybe getting out to a thousand yards was not a problem at all. You did very well. You were very consistent, but maybe you’re shooting something a little bit different, more than likely a different caliber as well, which can make a huge difference.

And you find out that, You did great out to 400 yards. You had amazing groups and you were hitting that bullseye every time, but at 500 yards, all of a sudden that opened up and maybe you weren’t necessarily covering the spread of what the vitals would be. You’re going outside of that boundary. And so now, you know, it’s like, all right, whenever I’m out hunting antelope, I need to get at least within 400 yards.

Of the animal, because anything beyond that, or at least down to 500 yards, I really opened up and there’s a good chance I’m going to win that animal. So that is a huge advantage of the, of the class is learning what your, what your limitations are before you go out on that hunt. In fact, that’s what one of our classes is called.

It’s called the hunter’s prep course. And that’s exactly what we teach.

Dylan Bain: That’s amazing. And I love how you said that because there’s, I’ve run into guys where they’re like, well, if you see it, you got to take a shot at it. And then my, my whole thing is like. If you’re in a shotgun county in upstate New York, and that deer is at 200 yards, like that slug is not going to be where you would think it’s going to be.

I love that. And also the conversation of the equipment. I think one of the things a lot of people don’t understand is that the choice of the bullet, the weight of the bullet, the caliber of the gun, how the muzzle brakes are set up, if you have muzzle brakes on it. All make a huge difference. I’ve always used your equipment when I’ve been out with you, but my personal long range gun, it’s a 308.

And I tried and tried and tried to get it zeroed at 300 yards, and I just couldn’t do it. And so I, I went to the gun store, I talked to the guys, I said, Hey, this is what I’m trying to do. They’re like, Oh, you need a muzzle brake. You need something on the end of that gun that’s going to help you regulate it.

And I put a muzzle brake on it and now I’m, I’m good out to 500 yards with that gun. Anything beyond that it’s questionable, but with 500 yards I can do. I think that that’s another component of this is that this is a practice, right? With perishable skills.

Greg Ray: Exactly. It is. And it’s 100 percent perishable just because you learn it once doesn’t mean that two seasons from now is like, Oh yeah, I took that class.

Two years ago doesn’t mean you have to come to another class, but you need to get the range and practice. What we teach you are good on our YouTube channel and look at some of the tips that we put up. You’re like, oh, yeah, we did talk about that. If I’d use that bag and put it underneath my elbow, my trigger finger.

I would be a lot more steady. That’s just an example, but yeah, it is perishables just like a lot of skills. You have to practice it and use it. Otherwise you lose it.

Dylan Bain: 100%. So if I had someone who’s listening to this and they’re like, yo, I’m a little bit worried about hunting. I don’t know if I can handle it.

I’m a little worried about field dressing. I’m a little worried about all this other stuff. What advice would you give to these new hunters who are looking at insane? I feel like I need this experience, but I’m I’m just a little bit worried about the arts and crafts,

Greg Ray: a good percentage that that is exactly the mold that they fed in.

And so whenever they come to 1 of these experiences, and usually the big question is on, on the field dressing. So you’re opening an animal up, you’re pulling its insides out. And a lot of people like, I don’t know if I can, my stomach can handle that or not. Because it’s, it’s pretty eye opening and you don’t have to.

To do anything that is part of the option that is available to you, but you can stand there and you can watch the guide do it. Who is very skilled. A lot of times when we’re doing a hog event, like, like what you’ve done or actually any of them in Texas. So we do a turkey and a hog. We do a deer and a hog.

We do hog only. So you’re shooting more than 1 animal. So if you want to watch on the 1st, 1. And say, okay, I want to try it on the second one, even with just the help of the guide, or if you want to do it 100 percent of your own, that’s, that’s fine too. But you’ve got that option. So, like, nope, sorry, you got to do it.

And we’re going to say, you’re not going to eat dinner until until you skin that hog out. We’re not going to do that to you. And we’ve had numerous examples of that as well. Uh, 1 of my favorite ones is we had a young man come with his. To be brother in law and father in law. Yeah. Had never fired a firearm other than I think maybe pistol.

So he’d never filed, fired a rifle. He’d never been on a hunt, very much a city boy sitting at a desk all day long. So he hasn’t even really been out and done a whole lot of outside type stuff. And I can’t remember if it was his hog or not, but you know, how we stand around there. It’s at the same location where you’ve been, how we stand around and if the guides are doing the field dressing or actually in this case in the processing center and they’re, they’re gutting the animal.

And we’re all just kind of standing around and watching. Well, we were all doing that. And he was standing in front of myself and it was my son. And then Eric Suarez, um, that I know you’ve at least spoken to on the phone. I don’t know if you’ve met him or not, but anyway, this, I can’t remember the gentleman’s name, but he’s standing in front of us and we’re watching him.

All of a sudden he’s. He’s doing this. He’s, he’s wobbling back and forth. And we’re like, security go down and his wobble got bigger and bigger. And so we reached up and grabbed him by the arm. He’s like, I think I need to go outside. I was like, yeah, let’s go outside. So we took him out and we got him some air.

And he’s like, Ooh, he’s, I didn’t expect that to happen. And so we called it a night that night for him and then the next day, as you know, so the carcass goes in the cooler and once it goes in the cooler and it gets chilled down, it feels completely different. It’s not, it doesn’t feel like a warm body anymore.

It’s a cold hunk of meat. And so he’s like, Oh yeah, I can handle this. So I’m working with him and whoever his partner was. And And we’re just doing the primal cuts. We’re taking off the quarters. He’s like, I think I need to step outside. I said, man, go right ahead. So he went outside for five minutes, came back in.

He’s like, all right, I’m good. He’s cutting away a little bit longer. He’s like, oh, nope. I’ve got to go back outside. So he went out again. He did this several times and we ended up getting that, the primal cuts done. And then by the time that we got to the next day to the sub primes, He was completely fine and he stated he stuck with it.

You know, he had, he had to go in and out multiple times. He said his pride aside, obviously that’s a little bit embarrassing. As a guy, we have our egos and, uh, he didn’t let that get in the way. He kept coming back. And I’ve got a picture of him and. I can’t remember if it was just a random partner or if he was with his brother in law or to be brother in law, but we laid out all of their individual cuts, you know, on the cutting board tables, the white backdrop and everything.

And he looked like the, the kid that had just graduated kindergarten in the, in the picture, man, he’s standing up tall with his chest out and he’s got this big old smile on his face. And he was just so excited that he completed that portion of it and that he stuck it out and didn’t quit. So, if he can do it, anybody can do it.

Dylan Bain: That’s amazing. It just occurred to me while you’re telling that story, this is the advantage of going with an outfit like yours because there are people there who are going to treat you with respect while you work through that, right? I have been at field camps where I’ve watched people get woozy and then everyone’s like making fun of them, you know, a lot of a lot, but like, it’s an intense experience to open the ammo and pull it’s guts out.

Greg Ray: Very much so.

Dylan Bain: You know, especially with the hog, the way you, you got to reach into the body cavity and get the heart and the lungs and you’re literally elbows deep. And so like, I feel like that would be the ideal way to be introduced to this in an environment where You’re respected and would let you know people to help you to basically have your back

Greg Ray: Exactly, and that is the biggest compliment that we get not only in the field of table But even in our long at our long range schools Some of our instructors, they’re pretty big, burly looking dudes, you know, we’ve got guys that are former Green Berets, SEAL team guys, door kickers for SWAT teams, and yeah, they’re just big guys, guys, you know, and they’re pretty intimidating looking.

And so when people first come to a class, they’re like, oh crap, I’m gonna get yelled at. And then they walk away on the last day and they’re like, this has been the best experience ever. Your guys are so nice. They didn’t talk down to me. They didn’t talk over my head. They weren’t kicking my feet into place in a prone position and they didn’t make me do pushups.

That I think is probably one of the biggest compliments that we get is that we’ve got a very, even though they’re very knowledgeable, they’ve been there, done that. They’re a very respectful group of guys too. So, and that’s obviously with intention, we’ve developed a team like that. So that people don’t feel intimidated.

Now that doesn’t mean that we might not give you a little bit of crap, but. We’ll do it all in good taste.

Dylan Bain: Well, there, there’s a, a gulf of difference between some good taste tackling and, and something where it’s just putting somebody down. And I can attest to that. My big goal this last year, when I was out with you guys is I wanted to hit.

I wanted it to steal at a thousand yards. And so we, I made that request, you know, we took me a couple of shots to get dialed in and then I did it. I did it three consecutive times. It was so, so cool. And I walked away with like this renewed sense of like, wow, I’m, I’m actually a fairly decent shot. I actually know what I’m doing.

I felt even though we’re in a, it was all guys. And we, we all have our friendly competition. I still walked away with this feeling of like, wow, these guys got my back. This is an amazing experience. And I would, I just want more people to experience this. And so thank you to that.

Greg Ray: That’s mission accomplished for us.

That is our goal. Uh, I can say we just, uh, I think before we started recording here, we just came off of a eight consecutive events, uh, streak here that we’re all down in, in Texas, and we’re already getting some very nice emails in from clients about what a great experience that they had. So that makes, uh, the time away from home worth it.

Dylan Bain: 100%. So I got to ask you before we wrap this up, what is your favorite hunt you’ve ever done?

Greg Ray: I get asked that a lot. So I’ve been doing this in the industry since 2004. I started hunting as a kid. I grew up on a 2000 acre cattle ranch here in Oklahoma, and I’ve been very blessed to get to a lot of places from Africa to Argentina, to Alaska, all over Canada.

My favorite hunts. are any hunt that I get to do with my son. Eddie is, uh, will be 25 this year. He’s been going with me since he was five years old. So for 20 years, uh, he’s been going with me on that. So I have two favorites that I always tell everybody about. My first one was, I wasn’t even the hunter. It was his first bear hunt at 12 years old.

It was a spot and stalk hunt in Idaho, which if you’ve ever hunted Idaho, the elevation isn’t super high. You’re maxed out at around 8, 200 feet. But every bit of it is straight up and straight down. And it was a very physical hunt. We packed in about 15 miles, yeah, about 15 miles along the Selway river.

And so it was a complete back country hunt, pumping it every day. And, uh, he busted his butt and he was one of, I think maybe only two. That harvested their bears, several guys missed and anyway, it was one of those, you know, becoming a young man stories, you know, so he went from a little boy to becoming a young man on that trip.

Actually, there ended up being a really cool article written about him. We had a writer from American hunter magazine that happened to be on that trip and he ended up turning the whole article in about Eddie. And that’s kind of the theme of the story about going in a boy and coming out a young man on that particular trip.

So that one is definitely one of my favorites. And then my next favorite hunting buddy is Lindsey Moss, who has worked for us since 2006. He and I are great friends and we do a lot of DIY hunts together. And probably our favorite place to hunt is the Gila in New Mexico for elk with our bows. And he and I were on an epic hunt, Cali, it’s been probably eight years ago.

We were gone for 16 days. I believe the season was 14 days and we went two days early to scout. And we didn’t release an arrow until the 10th day, the 12th day that we were there. And I connected on, on a bull, but we hunted our butts off. We averaged 14 miles a day, uh, obviously with packs carrying our bow kind of thing.

And we were getting into bulls pretty regular. We were on them. We just, we just didn’t get them figured out. They were smarter than us. And one finally made a mistake. And, uh, let an arrow go at about 35 yards and watched him pile up 80 yards later. That same evening, Lindsey was on the herd bull that we had been chasing.

We’d been focused on trying to get him a bull. I had killed a bull in that same unit the year before with my muzzleloader. And then this year, uh, we drew archery tags. And so we were really focused on trying to get him one. And he finally said, dude, he’s like, let’s just split up. We’re down to get two days left.

Let’s split up. And so he went after the herd bull, our little honey hole, where we had been seeing him. And he had him at 12 yards and couldn’t let his arrow go. They were on opposite sides of a juniper bush and just kind of dancing around each other. He said, I mean, I just kept cow calling, kept cow calling the bulls.

Like, man, I think it’s a girl, but I’m not sure. And finally, finally he winded him and took off. And I had a fun story of calling my bull in and he started to come and then he hung up. And so I turned away instead of cow calling. I did basically like a challenge bugle, another bull acting like, you know, coming in for that cow that had been calling and that pissed him off.

And man, he came down the mountain in a hurry. He could hear nothing but the shell rock and everything. I didn’t have time to pick lane or nothing. I just, I just had to stand there. And he came into a lane. I had to guess my yardage. I didn’t even have time to arrange it. And when he stopped, usually it’s the opposite of this.

The only thing open was his vitals. I could just see the top of his antlers. I didn’t care how big he was. It’d been 14 days. And when he stopped, man, there was a lane and his vitals were the only thing open and, and I let the, let the arrow fly. And it was fortunately a very good shot. You know, he didn’t go, but the 80 yards and we worked extremely hard for that one.

So it was, it was a lot of fun.

Dylan Bain: That’s amazing. That’s amazing. Well, I feel like that’s the mic drop moment of the entire podcast for people who want to know more about what you’re doing, outdoor solutions, long range school field, the table, where can they go and how can they find you?

Greg Ray: So we have two websites and the first one, which will have the long range schools and it will have all of our hunts on it is outdoor solutions.

That’s C O R P like short for corporation. com. And then all of the field to table stuff is from field to table. com. So those are the two websites we are on pretty much all the social medias. We have a YouTube channel that has lots of great shooting tips, cooking tips, and then just some of the adventures that we go on and then Instagram.

Is we have two of those as well. One is outdoor solutions, underscore official. And that is the one where we have mostly our long range schools and our adventures on. And then fill the table is OS underscore from field to table.

Dylan Bain: Fantastic. We will get that all linked up in the show notes for everyone who wants to come and find you and Greg Ray, thanks for coming on the podcast.

Greg Ray: Dylan, man, I appreciate you asking me and I look forward to seeing you again soon, buddy. Thanks a bunch.

Dylan Bain: Thanks for listening. The conversation doesn’t stop here. You can find me on all the social media platforms at TheDylanBain and you can sign up to get updates on workshops, events and more at dylanbain. com.