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hey what's up everybody did you get iced
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in snowed in as well this week uh didn't
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make it out for too much but we we're
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definitely gonna talk steelhead update
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we got the Washington coaches steelhead
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Seasons announced by wfw and I attended
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the call uh this week uh the virtual
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Town Hall oh my goodness there's some
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disappointing enraging news on the
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coastal steelhead front uh a lot of a
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lot of questions a lot of like what is
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going on here uh we gotta talk about
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some of this stuff and unfortunately we
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have more questions than answers so uh
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we'll we'll get through it we'll work
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through it definitely can still give you
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some ideas though of alternate places to
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look for steelhead this winter season in
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the state of Washington and throughout
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all right in terms of the highlights I
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mean I don't know what I got like some
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hot tub time in the snow here uh I kind
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of struck out uh deer hunting although I
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did almost have a shot opportunity on uh
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on a nice buck up up there in the
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mountains around Mount Rainier in the
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snow uh would have had to really uh you
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know I'm not I'm not that good of a a
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shot to be able to zero in on something
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with the Muzzleloader iron sights 120
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yards away uh didn't I passed up that
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shot but I was close that was close part
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of the problem is it's really noisy in
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the woods right now you know you got all
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that snow and then and then it froze and
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it's just super crunchy so uh not not
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great for you know I'm hoping we get a
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little bit of warmer weather a little
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bit of rain wet snow melt some of that
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stuff just make it a little bit less
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noisy to walk around the woods right now
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you know in terms of what's new we again
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we definitely gotta talk winner
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steelhead um they did announce Marine
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Area 11 black mouth shut down this week
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so uh that's over uh the catch rate kind
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of tailed off towards the end but uh for
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if you were able to get out get a fish
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that's awesome uh next opportunity
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besides uh shooting down the Marine Area
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13 is going to be Marine area 10 I think
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mid February was when that slave to open
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but uh it's gonna be a little while
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gonna um but if you're looking for some
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opportunity to be on the water do some
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uh do some Harvest Recreation we'll talk
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about that so let's talk about this
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steelhead thing so uh it's really
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disappointing you know you've got the
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Chehalis tread the Chehalis system where
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most of the Hatchery steelhead in the
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state return to and uh I mean you just
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got uh really no season on there to
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speak of uh it's really I think really
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frustrating because I I think you know
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the reason everyone's talking about it
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is like well uh we want we need to
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protect these Rivers because the while
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steelhead escapement spent way below his
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gaming goals ever you know every year
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for the last several years and uh but
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the problem with this is like you know
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it's like we're talking about how much
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wild steelhead are we impacting fishing
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the Skookum Chuck or the wainucci you
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know like you talk to Anglers you have
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your own experiences down there like no
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one's encountering wild steelhead in
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these places uh and so it's it's really
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you know uh you know the official line
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is that there's not enough data to say
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that it's safe to have a season but it
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just feels like there's something else
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going on there and you know we've got
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some questions I put an article up in in
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late September essentially predicting
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that this would happen you can go check
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it out pnwbestlife.com you'll find it
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linked from all the steelhead stuff I've
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um it's called the the coastal steelhead
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preview for 2023 but uh yeah it's it's
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it's really uh there's a lot of
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frustration in the angling Community
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um no one wants to catch the last wild
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still good but it's like all right are
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we talking are we talking legitimately
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about impacting wild steelhead or
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something else going on here you know
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there are some opportunities for uh and
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some good news here and you know
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starting with you know you've got you
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hum tulips and SATs up and some main
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stem Chehalis open December 1st December
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16th you know you're going to be able to
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you're gonna be able to Target those
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late returning Hatchery Coho which
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there's been some decent numbers of them
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decent fishing you saw from the video I
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posted and highlights last week right I
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mean it's it's decent fishing uh for for
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these Critters right now and you've got
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steelhead in these Rivers too you know
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you've got you've got some steelhead
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reporting on the uh on the escapement
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reports for the hump tulips like like
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there's there's gonna be a chance and in
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the regs you can keep two Hatchery
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steelhead on these Rivers so there's
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opportunity uh for sure
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um you know folks around the forks area
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we're generally happier with more
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fishing opportunity for boats uh more
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fishing opportunity in general up there
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um you know that people seem to be
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pretty happy about that
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um compared to what it was last year you
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know you have the wild steelhead fishery
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on the soul look the solux probably got
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the healthiest wild steelhead fishery in
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the state so uh people are going to get
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an opportunity to take advantage of that
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all the way uh through March 31st so
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all right let's talk about next week's
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weather so a lot of times when it comes
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to planning next week's Recreation it
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starts with that 10-day forecast
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seven-day forecast like what are we
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talking about for the weather and you
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know I'm looking at warmer temps overall
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maybe a little more rain more wet snow
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not really a lot of freezing in future
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tropolis area so it's gonna be more
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opportunity to you know put some miles
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on the on the old truck you'll rig there
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and and get uh get around to some of
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these places where there's opportunity
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you know hopefully uh hopefully get
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another chance get in the woods for big
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game hunting and Mac will uh you know
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hope man I can fill one of these tags
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it's it's getting a little ridiculous at
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this point uh but certainly you got to
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be thinking about the light Coho
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opportunity on the chehalas this ads up
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the hump tulips these Grays Harbor
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Rivers like you got to be thinking about
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these opportunities uh being pretty
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legit score one of these I mean these
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these coal are so Chrome and cut so
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bright red like that's a fantastic
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opportunity and then you might be able
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to run into a couple hatch free
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steelhead while you're there so why not
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why not give it why not give it a shot
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uh you know when it comes to um Chum
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Minter Creek is just absolutely uh Gone
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Bonkers I mean tens of thousands of chum
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returning through there you definitely
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have to check that out actually there's
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no steelhead yet that have returned on
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the bogey I'm calling shenanigans I like
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the Hatchery manager holding on to some
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of this data there's got to be fish
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steal it in the bogus Shield right now
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like that's if you're thinking about
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hitting Forks sometime like now is now
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is time there are fish to be caught in
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the bogus Shield you may want to
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consider steelheading in the south of
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Washington area I mean you've got a few
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fish trickling in the callus you've got
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fish in the Lewis Kalama other spots uh
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you know there's there's definitely
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steelhead making their way through
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Southwest Washington these Columbia
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River tribs right that may be accessible
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to you and within you like your your
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time range for a trip
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uh you know if you got to get the boat
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um definitely you know seeing reports
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you know wfw put this in their weekend
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report that squidding is picking up uh
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winter crowding in the north sound down
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to area 10 area 9. it's really doing
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well like you could do a crab squid
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combo not as good in the South Sound as
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I learned a week ago but even then the
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South Sound if you were stayed you know
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more towards the North End of ashon and
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things like that like more opportunity
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for sure and you know this all of this
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crazy crappy weather is is ideal uh bird
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hunting conditions east of the Cascades
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long as you can make it over the past a
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lot of birds being shot great
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opportunity I'm looking forward to uh
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checking that out I'm gonna go over to
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the processor area at my Airbnb over
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there that uh we're running and uh
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staying there a little bit mid-December
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and uh hopefully figure out some stuff
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that I can share with you all there
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about geese hunting and duck hunting in
7:59
that area at last if you're looking for
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some pnw best life merch check out the
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hoodie and rock in here got the logo on
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the hunter green hoodie I've also got a
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tech T and I've got a darker color
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scheme design I'm getting printed on
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some black hoodies I'll have that
8:16
pictures of that hopefully in the next
8:18
week and then uh we're gonna do we're
8:20
gonna do a 32 ounce water bottle and a
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uh a coffee mug tumbler
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uh coming up here so hopefully I've got
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to share drop me a comment or email me
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at Kyle PW best life if you want any of
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this merch take Paypal venmo we'll
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figure it out and uh yeah have a have a
8:40
great have a great week
