18 Yards, One Branch, and the Longest Blood Trail of My Life

What’s up everyone! This week I’ve got my buddy Sidney Smith back on the podcast, and dude, this guy is one of the most inspiring humans I know. Sidney was one of the earliest supporters of this show. He had one of my first podcast stickers slapped on his prosthetic back around 2015, when he still had one leg and a Forrest Gump brace on the other. Now he’s a double amputee who has done marathons, an Ironman, a bodybuilding competition, and this year he swam from San Francisco around Alcatraz Island and back. No swim prosthetics, just his stumps, 50-degree water, brutal currents, and a shark caught by a fisherman right next to his boat (which, thankfully, nobody told him about until after).

Sidney lost his legs to Charcot-Marie-Tooth, a progressive genetic disease that’s now creeping into his hands. That’s a big part of why he decided not to turn back his once-in-a-lifetime Boulder, Utah archery elk tag this year, even though he drew it while squeezing pus out of an infected limb on a bear hunt in the Bob Marshall. His thinking was that if he couldn’t get it done this year, it was only going to get harder.

And man, this hunt story is one of the wildest I’ve heard. Weeks of sitting water in 95-degree heat, a miss on a 360-class bull, then the second-to-last day he stumbles into a bedded herd, calls in a giant five-point with what he calls the sweetest lip bawl of his life, and shoots him at 18 yards. But a branch he never saw deflects the bolt. What follows is 2,200 yards of blood trailing, a sleepless night of negotiating with God, crawling a meadow on his hands and knees, and jumping the bull again with no shot. Just when Sidney’s ready to throw in the towel, a random Great Pyrenees sheepdog wanders up while he’s taking a leak, becomes his hunting buddy, and points him straight to the bull. You can’t make this stuff up.

We also dig into Misogi, the idea of picking one hard thing every year with a 50/50 chance of failing, and why doing hard things on purpose prepares you for when hard things choose you. Sidney talks about faith, gratitude, and his buddy Red, who lost a knee to infection right before this hunt and still kept texting Sidney encouragement on his inReach.

If you need a reminder that your excuses are smaller than you think, or you just want to hear one of the best elk recovery stories ever, this episode is for you.

Sponsors

onX Hunt - I use onX for way more than mapping. It’s my planning tool, my e-scouting tool, and everything in between. Now they’ve added onX SOS, an emergency rescue add-on that connects you directly to Overwatch Rescue for 24/7 crisis response. My phone works almost everywhere these days, so having that insurance right inside my onX account means I carry an inReach a lot less. Check it out at onxmaps.com and use code TRO to save 20% on an Elite membership.

Maven Optics - Love the Maven guys and love their products. They’re a direct-to-consumer optics company out of Wyoming, and I always say they’re the best bang for your buck in optics. From rifle scopes to spotting scopes to binos, I run Maven across the board. The B6 is my go-to bino. I run the 12x50, but the 10x42 is amazing too. Head to mavenbuilt.com and use code TRO for a special gift at checkout.

Bridger Watch - Bridger is the smartwatch I wish existed, so we built it. We’ve been developing it for three years. It does all the health, sleep, and fitness tracking you’d expect, plus features built for hunters: offline mapping, onX waypoint integration so you can send waypoints straight to your watch, ballistics integration with Hornady or Sierra, a red-light-only Redshift mode that protects your night vision, and a built-in flashlight. Built by hunters for hunters. Check out the Reckon at bridgerwatch.com and use code TRO.

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro and sponsors
03:30 - Re-recording the best podcast in years
04:45 - 10 years of friendship and the original TRO sticker
06:15 - Charcot-Marie-Tooth and losing both legs
08:30 - Becoming an athlete after amputation
10:00 - What Misogi is and why you need one
11:45 - Swimming around Alcatraz with no legs
15:30 - Fighting the current: swimming on a treadmill
18:30 - Cold water, wetsuits, and could anyone escape Alcatraz?
21:00 - How to choose your own Misogi
24:30 - Learning to bugle on drives to the prosthetist
27:00 - Drawing the Boulder tag in the middle of an infection
30:00 - Early-season archery: water sets and tree saddles
32:30 - Missing a 360-class bull
34:30 - The last week: going higher and hunting alone
36:30 - Walking into a bedded herd at 20 yards
39:00 - The giant five-point and the perfect lip bawl
41:00 - An 18-yard shot and a branch that changed everything
43:30 - 2,200 yards of blood trailing
46:00 - Jumping the bull with no shot
49:00 - The sheepdog that found the elk
53:00 - Lessons on prayer, gratitude, and his buddy Red
57:00 - Sidney’s speaking, DO Utah, and how to help
1:00:30 - Wrap up

Three Key Takeaways

1. Choose Hard Things So You’re Ready When Hard Things Choose You - Sidney’s Misogi practice means picking one big challenge each year with roughly a 50/50 chance of failure, whether that’s an Ironman, a bodybuilding show, or an Alcatraz swim. It doesn’t have to be physical. It could be mental, spiritual, or a weight loss goal, but it has to scare you. His advice: start planning next year’s Misogi while you’re still training for this year’s, or you’ll slide into a comfort lull.
2. Never Quit on a Blood Trail - Sidney tracked his bull 2,200 yards, came back at first light, crawled a meadow on his hands and knees, and kept gridding even after he’d mentally written the bull off. He also learned that a quartering or obstructed shot is worth passing. He turned down a Texas heart shot early on, but missed a small branch in the excitement of the moment. When you’re on a wounded animal, give it everything before you even think about another one, and when you lose the trail, go back to where you last had sign and grid from there instead of guessing.
3. Gratitude Is the Antidote to the Lowest Lows - In the middle of feeling sorry for himself, Sidney kept thinking about his buddy Red, a fellow double amputee who had just lost a knee to infection and was still sending him “you’ve got this” messages. Elk hunting will break you down, and when it does, remember what you still have: your hands, your eyes, your friends, and the chance to be out there at all.