Kevin @ Wisconsin's Link
Congrats Les!!
Les and I elk hunted with him for a couple days in September 2013.
Hunter put the hammer down at 5:20 this morning.
My "dick move" with Kifaru was me voicing my disappointment through a private email for them not being able to fill an order that was made well in advance of hunting season and being told on short notice that I wouldn't have my pack frame until after hunting season. Yes, I probably was a little too assertive but I wasn't happy with the bind it put me in... Shame on me for being disappointed because they couldn't meet their commitment... I guess I should have been thankful for them allowing me to send them my money and place an order that they couldn't fulfill! The nerve of me!
At least I didn't go public with my complaint and call their actions a "dick move". Not the best public relations or customer service move if you ask me, Aron...
I don't think Aron needed to pick that scab, at least not in public. Maybe he should have discussed it with me...
I dropped Aron's name because Les and I had hunted with him and it was an attempt to get my order filled. I could have been more pretentious and dropped his name when I first placed the order, but I didn't. I didn't expect any special treatment. I only dropped his name in a later attempt to get my frame before my elk hunt. I guess it was a wasted effort though because after hunting with him for 2 days he didn't even know my name...
Heaven forbid that they feel responsible or apologetic for not being able to fill my order, but rather go on a pod-cast and call the customer a "dick".
It's one thing for a friend to joke around and call another friend a "dick" but it's pretty apparent that Aron doesn't consider me a friend and that I was just another customer to him. I'm sure if Les ordered a pack, the order would have been filled.
Excuse me, I have to go change my tampon and then clean up a pile of diamonds...
"Guys, I probably over reacted to Aron giving me a hard time. I'll edit my post above when I have access from my PC. "
I listened to it and your post doesn't seem like over reacting to me, imo they both kinda threw you under the bus and tried to make you look the fool. Someone should tell them all the swearing isn't as cool as they seem to think.
Another thing that doesn't really add up is when I sent the email to Kifaru about my order that they couldn't fill before elk season, I mentioned in the email that I had hunted with Aron and that he strongly recommended Kifaru products and I was disappointed that I wouldn't have my frame in time for my upcoming elk hunt. So after they got the email, Aron calls me and he says "you said in your email that I hunted with you, do I know you?" When I reminded him that I was Les's friend and we hunted with him for a couple days in Colorado, he said something like "Oh yeah you dickhead, why didn't you just call me to order your frame?" Implying that if I would have called him directly to order the frame he would have taken care of me and filled the order. But now on the podcast he says it was a "dick move" for me to drop his name and mention that I hunted with him. So which is it, am I a dickhead for not calling him and expecting special treatment when I placed the order or did I make a dick move for later dropping his name...? Probably both...
Sorry for the drama...
Mike the Dickhead
My gosh how did you kill anything before wearing Kifaru,,,,,,,,,,,,,
"I only made it the first 10 minutes"
It is hard to listen to because they sound like such idiots but if you skip to the 28 minute area and listen to 10 minutes of it or so that's where they rip on Mike for a while.
I think it's important to remember that although a person can't pick their family, they can pick their nose and their friends. :-)
My interactions with Aron have, likewise, been limited to exchanges on a couple of forums, a phone call and text exchanges. I don't know him. I've never hunted with him. However, he seems to be a down-to-earth, helpful guy.
I suspect that someone at Kifaru, feeling the pressure of the crush of orders prior to the season, may have been inundated with calls from guys who've talked with Aron on the phone and claimed to be his almost best buddy... and they then overstated the tenor of your name dropping.
But Aron seems to have a lot of fanboys and a degree of celebrity. Perhaps some of that has gone to his head.
Perhaps your focus on a hunt could be read as coal-to-diamonds tight-ass.
Public speaking or performance can put odd pressures on people and effect them. Though just a podcast, Les may have been nervous and came across wrong, or not.
I could be completely wrong about everything... and it doesn't really matter.
After all, I'm just another Dick on the internet!
Hope you have a great season, regardless.
-Rick (Just another Dickhead)
No chance I am going to give that another 10 minutes of my life. The first 10 minutes were pointless with no target in sight, ramblings going no where. The only connection I could put with Not Mormon friendly was how filthy the language was so I guess I am a Mormon.
Is the dickhead in the picture with Les this Aron?
NOT MIKE FRIENDLY WITH LES WELCH?
Agree with Darryl I can never get those 10 minutes back and I very much regret.
Harvey W
LesWelch's Link
In all honesty I really don't care what someone who doesn't know me, says or thinks about me. I've helped hundreds of people along my way, without ever asking for anything in return. That's my nature. My gear is literally scattered all over the United States right now being used by people who need it or want to try it before buying. Some of it I've gave away, some of it I'm borrowing out. NOTHING ever asked in return. I've given my contact info out also to many, many people, and have said to reach out if I could ever help with anything. Anytime.
As far as ego's......ha ha that is hilarious. You guys really don't know me. You didn't see me come on here or Rokslide talking about podcasts. I hunt for me, for the journey, and for my partners (mainly Hunter, Mike, and my Dad). I hunt for the experience sure AF not to say I killed a 350", 180", or 500# animal. Yep, it's always in our mind to shoot a great animal, but ask Mike.....I'm as likely to dump the trigger on a 200" bull as a I am on a 300" bull. It's about the experience. I love the mountains and the woods. If all of the companies I work with closed the doors tomorrow, I'd still be out there doing what I love, and actually I'd be doing it more because I would have more time.
In 2011 at 11:00 am Mike and I did a cold calling set-up, I was shooter. We run our sequence out. 30-45 minutes, like typical. Nothing. We moved about 50 yards to a small opening and sat down for lunch. A few minutes into lunch a bull let out a bedded bugle a couple hundred yards away. We sat there and ate for a half hour and made a plan, he wasn't going anywhere, we knew he was bedded. After a bit we executed that plan. I called that bull in for Mike, which at the time was his biggest bull. It was awesome. I can remember every detail of that scenario. Including sitting on a hillside 12 hours later, with heavy packs overlooking one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen in the middle of the night, as we picked the miles back to our camp after breaking down that bull. No jealousy, no ego. BTW this was a unit that I had started to research on my own, and then found out some information from a Colorado resident who knew a little about it. That resident who helped us out a little was Aron.
I was also along, actually about 1.5 feet behind Mike when he killed the 360" bull in Colorado. It's an amazing bull. We covered a $hit ton of hard, quiet, rough miles for that 24 hour window. We both killed our best bulls, at that time, on that trip. Who wouldn't like to have a bull of that caliber on the ground? Jealous, ha ha, hardly. Egotistical, nope. Tracking that bull I remember Mike getting really nervous, there's no way that bull should have went as far as he did, I told him many times we had it, it was good. I'm still proud of that hunt with him, and how it turned out. The next day we flanked a herd for a couple of hours. Mike ended up calling that bull in, and filming me shoot him. Ohh BTW, this was a unit that I flew out to the year before. Guess who picked me up at the airport, borrowed all of his gear for me to use, and then hauled me out there so we could go scout it? Yeah you got it, Aron.
The above said, this isn't one sided in any aspect. One of the biggest reason's I am as successful as I am is because of Mike. Essentially he taught me most of the finer points of elk hunting. Those little things that one can't always pick up by reading, it's a doing style that cut's that learning curve for me. Whether it's out of state scouting, fly fishing, sharing a deer camper, whatever, we have always been pretty good at helping one another out.
Aron's also helped me out a lot along the way with gear and information. Aron tells it like it is. Some people don't like that. That's fine too. That said he's also a hell of a good guy, and would do a lot for just about anyone. Honestly if you put them on a hunt together they would do just fine together. This is my opinion, so it really doesn't mean anything to either of them, but I think the whole pack/podcast thing is a little out of proportion. They are both good guys, willing to help others out, and like to kill stuff. Time to move on.
As for the podcast, literally 1 minute before we sat down to start it, I didn't know we were doing one. I was there to check out the new prototype frame and pack because I am doing a review on it over on Rokslide. It is what it is, if anyone wants to read into it, so be it. I know who I am, how I stand, and what I would do for people. This thread is one the exact reasons why a lot of people don't post on BS :) anymore.
Carry on.
I thought everyone was in on the joke and aron was busting Mike's chops.
If I could I would delete this thread.
Very true, unfortunately.. You were always a good asset to this site. You and Mike both.. Wish this site had more of you two.. Best of luck to you this season..
Noc
