Speaker 1: As a guide and hunter, I've spent thousands of days
Speaker 1: in the field. This show is about translating my hard
Speaker 1: won experiences into tips and tactics they'll get you closer
Speaker 1: to your ultimate goal success in the field. I'm Remy Warren.
Speaker 1: This is cutting the Distance. Howdy and welcome back everyone.
Speaker 1: This week I'm calling it Spotting Stock Part Do. Last
Speaker 1: week we talked about the cutoff method of spotting stock hunting.
Speaker 1: This week we're going to talk about stalking a stationary
Speaker 1: orbedded animal. And that's a really great tactic in a
Speaker 1: scenario that's encountered quite often. It can be extremely effective,
Speaker 1: especially for bow hunters, because it can give you a
Speaker 1: chance to slip in within range unnoticed. It can also
Speaker 1: be one of the most exciting encounters during the hunt.
Speaker 1: So this week I'm gonna break down the bedding habits
Speaker 1: and stock planning, outlining what I think are the seven
Speaker 1: best tips for moving in on a bedded animal. While
Speaker 1: this type of tactic makes me think of early season
Speaker 1: mule dear, I want to share a story of a
Speaker 1: bedded stock on an old ram in the occluting a
Speaker 1: bow area of Alaska. About three years ago, I was
Speaker 1: fortunate enough to draw a tag in the Occlutina area
Speaker 1: of Alaska for doll sheep. This is an archery only
Speaker 1: area and you can actually shoot any ram, so unlike
Speaker 1: most areas in the state where you have to be
Speaker 1: full curl, this particular area you can take any any
Speaker 1: ram is legal with the tag, which is awesome because
Speaker 1: it's a bow hunt. But this area also has very
Speaker 1: low success because it's pretty difficult. There's quite a few tags,
Speaker 1: but there's only one nonresident tag. I happened to be
Speaker 1: lucky enough to draw that tag now is an honor resident.
Speaker 1: I couldn't just go in there solo, but a good
Speaker 1: friend of mine, Jeremy Rusink, runs Rogue Expedition outfitters, and
Speaker 1: so I could hunt with him or one of his
Speaker 1: guides in the area. And so I had a hunt
Speaker 1: planned with him, and we decided to go in and
Speaker 1: scout ahead of time. I got there early and figured, Okay,
Speaker 1: I want to learn this area the best I can,
Speaker 1: you know, even though I had someone with me, I
Speaker 1: wanted also to you know, be a part of every
Speaker 1: aspect of the hunt. So we went in early and
Speaker 1: did some preseason scouting. We ended up finding like this
Speaker 1: group of rams on this face across the river, so
Speaker 1: that this unit has like a river going up through it,
Speaker 1: and then there's actually a four wheeler access certain days
Speaker 1: of the week, and then outside of that, you know,
Speaker 1: the access is shut off. So while scouting, we found
Speaker 1: some rams up in this big pocket on this big
Speaker 1: basin by one of the bigger mountains, and then we
Speaker 1: also found some rams across the river kind of above
Speaker 1: this really thick scrub in this really steep band of cliffs.
Speaker 1: While we're planning out our hunt, we figured, well, let's
Speaker 1: go into that basin. We've seen some really good rams scouting.
Speaker 1: It seemed like a good place to camp and somewhere
Speaker 1: we can maybe get above the rams and hunt in there.
Speaker 1: So we kind of abandoned the rams and the nasty
Speaker 1: scrubby zone, not sure where they would go, and they
Speaker 1: were they seemed a little bit more where people would
Speaker 1: see them, and maybe too many people would be going
Speaker 1: after those rams, so we decided to try to get
Speaker 1: away from people and go up into the basin. The
Speaker 1: night before the opener, we hike all the way up
Speaker 1: into this high basin. We pitch our tent, We wake
Speaker 1: up opening morning and start from our glassy knob. We're
Speaker 1: looking for a particular full curl ram that happened to
Speaker 1: be bedded on the back side. The first morning, as
Speaker 1: the sun comes up, we're looking down there and the
Speaker 1: rams kind of like spooked around. I don't necessarily think
Speaker 1: that we spooked it, but what we came to find
Speaker 1: out is there's quite a few other hunters in this
Speaker 1: particular spot. There was a good trail in there, and
Speaker 1: where we had camped, we kind of got in right
Speaker 1: the night before and we didn't really realize where other
Speaker 1: hunters were. So we were sitting there, we're glassing, and
Speaker 1: we're in this area. We see some smaller rams and
Speaker 1: I kind of think, oh, man, my goal was to
Speaker 1: just get a ram with my bow, but also it'd
Speaker 1: be nice to see what was around. Scouting. We'd seen
Speaker 1: some really nice rams and figured I don't really want
Speaker 1: to stock one of these other rams yet, Let's just
Speaker 1: wait and see what we can find. So we're glassing
Speaker 1: and we saw quite a few other hunters and I'm thinking, man,
Speaker 1: this is the exact opposite of what we were planning.
Speaker 1: And while we're scouting there, I'm glassing back across to
Speaker 1: the rams that were in that real scrubby rocky nasty stuff.
Speaker 1: It's about four or five miles away, and I look
Speaker 1: and I'm like, dang, those rams are still there. We
Speaker 1: made the wrong decision, but they are very long ways
Speaker 1: away from where we're at. So I talked to Trigg,
Speaker 1: the guy that was with me, and we're like, okay,
Speaker 1: we can either keep hunting here. There are lots of rams,
Speaker 1: but they were spooked up. You know, it's going to
Speaker 1: be difficult most of the rams now that they're spooked
Speaker 1: or in the cliffs where you can't really get to
Speaker 1: What about packing up our camp and just making that
Speaker 1: long trek across the valley down and get on those
Speaker 1: other sheep hoping that nobody else does that same thing
Speaker 1: before we get over there. So like, sweet, let's do that.
Speaker 1: So we hike back to camp, load up our packs,
Speaker 1: like we still got all our stuff, you know, ten
Speaker 1: days worth of food everything. We pack all the way
Speaker 1: back down to the trailhead, go back up the valley,
Speaker 1: and then camp pretty much at the base of the
Speaker 1: mountain that night, and we had those same rams in sight.
Speaker 1: We watched them that full day to see what they did.
Speaker 1: In the morning, they fed low then as the sun
Speaker 1: came up, they walked up, they bedded, and then they
Speaker 1: got into the cliffs for the rest of the day
Speaker 1: and then came back down right kind of on dark,
Speaker 1: but not to where you could shoot in the evening
Speaker 1: or get to like it's just sheer vertical cliff. So
Speaker 1: we get down and we plan, all right, the next morning,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get up early. We're gonna get there and
Speaker 1: try to spot and locate where they're at. So we
Speaker 1: get up just as it starts to get light. We
Speaker 1: spot the rams and the group had kind of separated.
Speaker 1: There's four, like all mature rams on the left, and
Speaker 1: then on the right there was just this real heavy,
Speaker 1: good looking ram and a young ram. So we made
Speaker 1: a plan. We're like, okay, we're gonna we're gonna work
Speaker 1: our way over there. And the sun was actually rising
Speaker 1: behind us, so the sun was across the mountain, but
Speaker 1: the mountains were really tall. So the thought was, we
Speaker 1: have to get to where they are before the sun
Speaker 1: gets to them, because as soon as the sun gets
Speaker 1: to them, they're gonna do what they did the day before.
Speaker 1: They're gonna move up into a place that we physically
Speaker 1: can't get to. In the cliffs. So we kind of
Speaker 1: created this plan where we're gonna go after the rams
Speaker 1: on the left on the way up because they were
Speaker 1: actually down low feeding and there was some good cover
Speaker 1: getting to them. And then if we missed those rams,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get up above and then stock down on
Speaker 1: the other rams because they're in a gut where the
Speaker 1: shadow would be there longer. So we start working up.
Speaker 1: We also were kind of worried about the thermal switching
Speaker 1: as soon as that sun hit us, so it was
Speaker 1: kind of a race against the clock. Now, it wasn't
Speaker 1: the easiest mountain to get up because of the really
Speaker 1: really thick alders brush Devil's Club getting up to the
Speaker 1: rocky point where the sheep were at, and it was
Speaker 1: fairly steep, So we're going as fast as we can
Speaker 1: and you can see the sun starting to hit the
Speaker 1: valley below us, and I know that it's just going
Speaker 1: to be a race against the clock at this point,
Speaker 1: so we're moving as fast as we can. We get
Speaker 1: into position, and the rams are still feeding down low
Speaker 1: where we had originally seen them. At this point, we're
Speaker 1: like maybe ninety yards and I'm just waiting because there's
Speaker 1: four rams as we're stalking in, we're just waiting for
Speaker 1: them to get into a position where they can't see
Speaker 1: us and we can close that last little bit of distance.
Speaker 1: While doing that, the sun kind of it's just like
Speaker 1: bad time, and the sun starts to hit him, and
Speaker 1: they start moving up, feeding up, and as they're walking up,
Speaker 1: they're moving fast enough for they're just keeping that seventy
Speaker 1: eight yards ahead and offering no shot. We just need
Speaker 1: them to stop for a little bit. Then they get
Speaker 1: out of sight. I'm pretty sure that maybe the winds,
Speaker 1: like the thermal's, they might have caught our wind because
Speaker 1: they disappeared, you know, got to the top, got to
Speaker 1: the base of the cliff. The sheep were nowhere to
Speaker 1: be seen. So now is decision time. It's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that plan didn't work, but now we've got that backup ram,
Speaker 1: which is actually probably the best ram in the group
Speaker 1: on the other side, and it was a good approach
Speaker 1: from the top. So you work our way to that
Speaker 1: next steep gut and start looking thinking maybe the ram
Speaker 1: would be moving up like the others. But I noticed
Speaker 1: that it was just really shaded in there because it
Speaker 1: was so steep and it was a little bit different
Speaker 1: orientation where the sun wasn't hitting that canyon because they
Speaker 1: didn't see him at this point starting to heat up,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, man, they must be bedded in the
Speaker 1: shade of this gut somewhere. So we slowly start working
Speaker 1: down this avalanche shoot in the direction that those other
Speaker 1: two rams were. As we moved down, just kind of
Speaker 1: like slowly peeking and creeping, peeking and creeping, and then
Speaker 1: spot the RAM. I hear something and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: they're coming this way. So I get into a position
Speaker 1: where we can watch the ram like stops and then
Speaker 1: they both bed down right in the shade, right in
Speaker 1: the middle of this like big shale avalanche shoot. Luckily
Speaker 1: it was on the edge of this grassy area on
Speaker 1: the side of the avalanche shoot where there's a little
Speaker 1: bit of like brush in there and a really good
Speaker 1: opportunity to sneak in. Let them get settled. Now they're
Speaker 1: going to be bedded there for a little bit. Take
Speaker 1: off my boots because it's just so many little rocks
Speaker 1: rolling in other things normally on like sheep or mountain goats.
Speaker 1: You don't have to be super quiet. They're used to
Speaker 1: hearing rocks rolling all the time, but it was just
Speaker 1: one of those scenarios where it was gonna be really
Speaker 1: tight getting in and it was super dead, quiet, dead calm,
Speaker 1: and the area that I had to walk through is
Speaker 1: more sticks and other things then necessarily rocks, and I
Speaker 1: didn't want to blow away my position because if they
Speaker 1: heard me and looked up, there was a part where
Speaker 1: I was going to be super exposed. So creep in.
Speaker 1: I get into position and think it was like just
Speaker 1: less than thirty yards away. I'm like on my butt,
Speaker 1: scooting over, scooting over and get into position. The trouble
Speaker 1: is I was hoping to line up a shot on
Speaker 1: the bigger ram that was bedded, but the smaller ram
Speaker 1: was bedded right above him. They're both looking downhill and like,
Speaker 1: my heart is just pounding in my chest right now
Speaker 1: because this is a really good ram. I'm like thinking, Okay,
Speaker 1: what am I gonna do? How am I going to
Speaker 1: get a shot? I creep into position, and the one
Speaker 1: opening that I have, the way that the alders are
Speaker 1: growing up out of the rocks and where they're bedded
Speaker 1: in the pitch of the hill. I've got one little lane,
Speaker 1: and that lane doesn't offer me a shot. At this
Speaker 1: bigger ram, So I think, okay, I sit there and
Speaker 1: I'm waiting, and I'm like, okay, I'm just gonna wait
Speaker 1: till they stand up. I'm like hidden well enough, but
Speaker 1: I think that I can probably get a good close
Speaker 1: shot while this rams betted, because he's betted perfectly broadside
Speaker 1: from where I'm at. So I think, okay, I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna move a couple of scoots over and I might
Speaker 1: be able to get a shot on this bigger ram.
Speaker 1: As I'm scooting, that little ram caught some movement or
Speaker 1: something and whipped its head back and just stared right
Speaker 1: at me. And I'm thinking, this is it, man cover blown,
Speaker 1: the best opportunity I'll probably ever get it. A ram
Speaker 1: of this caliber just messed up by this little two
Speaker 1: year old banana ram, and I'm just like dead, still
Speaker 1: not moving. That ram whips his head back, stares at me,
Speaker 1: knows something's off, snorts and runs off, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh crap. At that point, I draw back, and that
Speaker 1: bigger ram stands up and follows that other ram. But
Speaker 1: they stopped like right across from me. I had plenty
Speaker 1: of time to pre range everything. I set on my
Speaker 1: pin let my arrow fly and it finds its mark.
Speaker 1: It's a perfect shot. The ram runs up onto a cliff,
Speaker 1: falls off stone dead a few seconds later. It was
Speaker 1: very close to being a blown opportunity, but the way
Speaker 1: that they was set up and then being bedded, and
Speaker 1: that bigger am not really knowing what was happening, led
Speaker 1: to me being able to act in that split second
Speaker 1: and get a shot off and take what was really
Speaker 1: one of I think the coolest animals I've ever taken
Speaker 1: with a boat. It was a thirteen year old doll
Speaker 1: sheep in an area that I'm not sure actually any
Speaker 1: non residents had actually ever filled that tag because of
Speaker 1: the difficulty and a lot of other things going against you.
Speaker 1: And that was just one of those moments in hunting
Speaker 1: that I just always think back as being one of
Speaker 1: the coolest experiences I've ever had. In the mountains. Well,
Speaker 1: I shared a story of stalking a bedded doll sheep.
Speaker 1: I think that probably the animal that really comes to
Speaker 1: mind for a lot of these tactics of stalking bedded
Speaker 1: animal would be early season archery meal deer hunting. It's
Speaker 1: something that a lot of people will probably be doing.
Speaker 1: It's one of the first hunts coming up for many
Speaker 1: and it's just mule deer, much like sheep, are a
Speaker 1: pure spot and stock species. It's very hard to pattern
Speaker 1: mule dear. It's very hard to call mule deer. At
Speaker 1: certain times a year, it's like archery season. It's it's
Speaker 1: primarily focusing on sneaking in being stealthy. And because mule
Speaker 1: deer in open country a lot like sheep and other
Speaker 1: mountain animals, you can really focus in and plan your
Speaker 1: stocks and and understand their habits. But stalking a bedded
Speaker 1: animal can really work for any species because most animals
Speaker 1: follow a certain pattern of the way they do things.
Speaker 1: Where there's a white tail and antelope, um cou's deer,
Speaker 1: mule deer, it's fairly similar, elk, it doesn't really matter.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna just kind of cover a little bit
Speaker 1: of the basics of an animal's daily routine. And what
Speaker 1: that involves is, you know, most most game species are
Speaker 1: fairly crepuscular. They move in the morning hours, in the
Speaker 1: evening hours, and in the midday is a lot less movement.
Speaker 1: They're conserving their energy and they're bedding down. So the
Speaker 1: morning generally starts out with the feeding face, they're they're
Speaker 1: out in the open. They're mostly in the open because
Speaker 1: that's where the good feed is, and that's when they're
Speaker 1: vulnerable to being spotted. And that's this idea of spot
Speaker 1: and stock is you have to often find the animal
Speaker 1: before you can go make a play. A bedded animal
Speaker 1: is a great animal to make a play on because
Speaker 1: they're generally stationary and there's a lot less moving parts. However,
Speaker 1: they are more aware of danger. Their ears are tuned in.
Speaker 1: It's a more controlled environment. And although they can be
Speaker 1: dozing in and out, there are generally one or two
Speaker 1: animals bedded in a group that something is always paying attention,
Speaker 1: so they actually feel very safe when they're bedded down.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna talk about how animals bed and then
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about planning stock. Once you've got an
Speaker 1: animal bedded. Let's just go with mule dear for now
Speaker 1: as the example, and think about me. In the morning,
Speaker 1: we're just gonna run through the day. It's the more
Speaker 1: running time. Sun's just rising. You're on a glassing knob,
Speaker 1: you spot a group of a couple of bucks out
Speaker 1: there feeding. What's gonna happen is those deer are going
Speaker 1: to feed, and then they're gonna go to a bed.
Speaker 1: What this bed is going to be is somewhere that
Speaker 1: provides shade and safety. It's gonna be a little bit
Speaker 1: more cover, but it's also going to be something that
Speaker 1: protects them from the sun throughout the day where they
Speaker 1: don't have to necessarily move around a lot. Now, what
Speaker 1: they're gonna do is they're gonna probably feed and then
Speaker 1: they're gonna go bed down somewhere. This might be in
Speaker 1: the early morning hours still, maybe the shadow of the
Speaker 1: sun hasn't actually hit where they're at yet. They fed, Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe they were even feeding before daylight hit you spotted them.
Speaker 1: Now they walked off and they bedded down. This is
Speaker 1: what I would call their first bed. Maybe they walk
Speaker 1: over to a tree or bed down, but it's generally
Speaker 1: not where they're going to bed for the full day.
Speaker 1: They might get up again and feed again, or they
Speaker 1: might just get up and go to a permanent bedding
Speaker 1: spot after that. How you can tell that it's not
Speaker 1: a permanent bed is kind of understanding the way that
Speaker 1: the sun is going to be moving, So as the
Speaker 1: sun's rising, that shadow is going to change throughout the day.
Speaker 1: Their permanent betting spot is probably gonna be something where
Speaker 1: they can sit for a longer period of time without
Speaker 1: having to move. So that first betting spot, you'll notice
Speaker 1: you go in there, and that dear is just gonna
Speaker 1: be Maybe he might even just be bedded out in
Speaker 1: the open. The sun is not hot on him yet.
Speaker 1: He's just gonna be bedded there, waiting and kind of
Speaker 1: feeling things out. What is he feeling out? Well, he's
Speaker 1: also going to see, hey, which way is the wind
Speaker 1: going to be going today, because that will likely determine
Speaker 1: where that animal is going to go to bed. He's
Speaker 1: gonna want to bed in a position where he's got
Speaker 1: that shade and he's got that safety that winded his
Speaker 1: back where he can look downhill, or he's got a
Speaker 1: good steady wind and he's going to go into that
Speaker 1: wind to bed. So when he beds, he's thinking about
Speaker 1: protecting himself at all costs, and that first bed is
Speaker 1: more just sitting down, relaxing, figuring things out, and then
Speaker 1: getting up and going to a betting spot. So if
Speaker 1: I'm watching an animal, I'll generally watch them through the morning,
Speaker 1: I'll see where they bed, then I'll follow them again
Speaker 1: to maybe where they're going to bed up and analyze
Speaker 1: that spot, whether it's a spot that they're going to
Speaker 1: bed for a long period of time, whether they might
Speaker 1: move again depending on what the sun is gonna do
Speaker 1: once we've put this deer to bed. So that's just
Speaker 1: the idea of watching it and then watching where it
Speaker 1: beds down. Now it's time to make a plan make
Speaker 1: a stock, and I think that there's seven important things
Speaker 1: that come into play. So we're gonna go through my
Speaker 1: kind of seven step process of planning out the stock
Speaker 1: on a bedded animal. The first step is going to
Speaker 1: be to anticipate the shadows, Like I said earlier, as
Speaker 1: that sun moves across the sky, so will those shadows.
Speaker 1: Understanding where the animal is, where the sun is, and
Speaker 1: where the sun is gonna be and where it's going
Speaker 1: to cast that shadow is really going to help you
Speaker 1: understand when to stock and if that animal will still
Speaker 1: be there when you get there. There are some bedding
Speaker 1: spots where deer will sit and essentially be there for
Speaker 1: most of the day. As the sun moves, they'll get hot,
Speaker 1: they'll stand up, they'll move a little bit, they'll sit
Speaker 1: back down. Then there's other times where they get hot
Speaker 1: and they've got really nowhere else to go, so they
Speaker 1: move to another bedding area. When you're looking at that
Speaker 1: that second bedding spot, that maybe that final where he
Speaker 1: feels the final betting spot, analyze it and say how
Speaker 1: long can they stay there? Can they stay there for
Speaker 1: two to three hours? If the answer is yes, then
Speaker 1: that's a good time to stock. Also understanding you know
Speaker 1: in the morning the shadows are moving a lot more
Speaker 1: rapid than they're moving like say midday, when the sun's
Speaker 1: high and beating straight down. You have a lot longer
Speaker 1: time frame in the middle of the day for that
Speaker 1: animal to potentially still be there. Because what happens is
Speaker 1: most bedded animal stocks get blown not by anything that
Speaker 1: you do, but why what the animal does? You go
Speaker 1: in you think that that animal is going to still
Speaker 1: be there. It got hot, got up and moved, and
Speaker 1: during that stocking process you don't know now what the
Speaker 1: next play is. You're going in blind where the benefit
Speaker 1: to you as the hunter of the stationary stock is
Speaker 1: you have an idea where that animals at. So the
Speaker 1: next thing I'm gonna do is step two would be
Speaker 1: analyzed the wind and thermals before I make that play,
Speaker 1: I'm really gonna have to figure out, Okay, what's the
Speaker 1: wind doing and what's the best approach for the wind.
Speaker 1: The wind is gonna be key, but you also have
Speaker 1: to factor in all the other safety things that that
Speaker 1: deer is taking into consideration, where it's betting, the direction
Speaker 1: it might be looking, and possibly the sounds that you
Speaker 1: can make getting into that position, what like brush and
Speaker 1: other things are in the way. But first we're gonna
Speaker 1: analyze the wind and thermals. In the mornings, the winds
Speaker 1: are often shifting because those thermals are changing. You want
Speaker 1: to wait till a point in the day, and every
Speaker 1: area is different, Like some areas that you'll hunt, maybe
Speaker 1: the mornings have a more consistent prevailing wind, or maybe
Speaker 1: that area isn't gonna have a lot of wind, but
Speaker 1: it's just gonna have that really initial thermal and a
Speaker 1: good updraft. Sometimes it's a really good time to make
Speaker 1: a move, or you might have to wait till everything
Speaker 1: stables out, maybe around eleven am. That time in a
Speaker 1: lot of places in the mountain seems to be like
Speaker 1: a good stable position where the thermals are cranking up,
Speaker 1: the prevailing wind is going a certain direction, and you
Speaker 1: can really anticipate what that wind is going to do
Speaker 1: for the next hour to three hours. The third step
Speaker 1: is kind of planning your approach. Now, planning your approach
Speaker 1: is saying, Okay, where is the deer, where's the wind,
Speaker 1: where's the thermals, which way is the sun gonna be?
Speaker 1: Is he going to stand there? And then which is
Speaker 1: the best way for me to stalk in? I consistently
Speaker 1: feel that stalking in from above an animal is going
Speaker 1: to be your best option for a few reasons. The
Speaker 1: first reason is generally, when an animal's betted, he's facing
Speaker 1: downhill because it's more comfortable, so it's harder for the
Speaker 1: animal to look uphill for danger. If you watch like
Speaker 1: other predators stalking in many times like a mountain lions,
Speaker 1: other like snow leopards, whatever, they're stalking in from above,
Speaker 1: it's a lot harder to see danger from above you
Speaker 1: than from below you. It's also you've got a factor
Speaker 1: in what happens when you get into position. You need
Speaker 1: to not only stalk into a place where you're close
Speaker 1: enough to shoot, but a place where you can draw
Speaker 1: back without the animals seeing and make a good shot,
Speaker 1: and that generally means stalking in from above. So I
Speaker 1: know what you're thinking, how many of the times does
Speaker 1: that scenario happen where the winds correct and you can
Speaker 1: go in from above. That's the hard part is finding
Speaker 1: the correct scenario, but by playing the thermals, and you know,
Speaker 1: depending on the area or like, the direction that you
Speaker 1: can come in above doesn't always mean directly from above.
Speaker 1: You can kind of angle it at a forty five
Speaker 1: from where he's at in an uphill direction to possibly
Speaker 1: get the wind right. And those are the scenarios that
Speaker 1: I look for, and those are the routes that I
Speaker 1: generally think are the most successful. While I have made
Speaker 1: stocks at animals from below and gotten into range and
Speaker 1: been successful, there are a lot more difficult to pull off.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna kind of think in terms of looking
Speaker 1: at where the animals. Now we're planning this approach, and
Speaker 1: we're gonna put more weight on the approach from above.
Speaker 1: And now if we don't have that approach from above,
Speaker 1: it might be a factor of just saying like, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna wait until I have a better approach
Speaker 1: or a better set up. You know, maybe that animal
Speaker 1: is going to get up and move a little bit later,
Speaker 1: which is very very likely, or maybe things are going
Speaker 1: to change with the wind or things are going to
Speaker 1: get more stable later on. So I'm looking for that
Speaker 1: high percentage stock now. Number four in analyzing and preparing
Speaker 1: this is just gonna be picking landmarks and then picking
Speaker 1: where I'm gonna stock to. We know where the animal is,
Speaker 1: and a lot of people just think, Okay, well, I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna stalk into that animal. What I like to
Speaker 1: do is I like to know where the animal is
Speaker 1: and know where I'm going to stalk into for a shot.
Speaker 1: Having that much forethought is so important. And the way
Speaker 1: that I start that is I use my range finder.
Speaker 1: I'll range where the deer is, and then I will
Speaker 1: range areas around the deer that I think would be
Speaker 1: good places to shoot from, especially anticipating maybe where that
Speaker 1: animal might move next, like when it's going to get
Speaker 1: up or if I can get a shot on it bedded.
Speaker 1: Where am I going to shoot from? Where am I
Speaker 1: gonna have cover or be out of sight? Where am
Speaker 1: I gonna be close enough to shoot from? And I'm
Speaker 1: gonna make that the place that I'm stalking to. So
Speaker 1: I'll arrange the animal, I'll range that spot that I'm
Speaker 1: going to try to get to, and then all subtract
Speaker 1: those two distances to give me an idea when I
Speaker 1: get in there. Okay that place, that bush behind it
Speaker 1: is thirty five yards or that bush behind it is
Speaker 1: a hundred yards, and that's not gonna work. Knowing that
Speaker 1: before you get in there is so important. I mean,
Speaker 1: before I started doing that, there's times where I'd see
Speaker 1: a deer and be like, oh, this is perfect. I'm
Speaker 1: looking at the hill and go, okay, I can get
Speaker 1: to that tree right behind him. Perfect. I go over there,
Speaker 1: I stalk into that tree. I arranged that deer. He's
Speaker 1: like a hundred and eighty yards, and I go, oh crap,
Speaker 1: Now what I'm gonna have to readjust on the I
Speaker 1: from here. If I maybe did a different approach from
Speaker 1: the beginning, I would have got right into range and
Speaker 1: been a lot more successful. The other part of that
Speaker 1: is just picking your landmarks, understanding where you're stalking into,
Speaker 1: because as you go into position, things are going to
Speaker 1: change with technology. Now, man, I'll use my on X,
Speaker 1: I'll mark where the deer's bedded on that, and then
Speaker 1: I'll mark where I want to get to. I can
Speaker 1: even use the distance tool on that and just measure
Speaker 1: the distance, make sure oh okay, it's thirty yards, its
Speaker 1: fifty yards whatever, Like that's a game changer. But I
Speaker 1: also think that there's something to be said for having
Speaker 1: those skills that don't necessarily also rely on technology, So
Speaker 1: getting good at picking landmarks and understanding where you're gonna
Speaker 1: pop over the hill, finding places where it's like you're
Speaker 1: planning out this route, because often the best option to
Speaker 1: get in is a way that you aren't seeing the animal,
Speaker 1: because that means he can't see you, So it might
Speaker 1: be going around the hill coming in from the top.
Speaker 1: Things are going to change, things are gonna look different,
Speaker 1: and making sure that you have good landmark from where
Speaker 1: you're stalking in. Another thing that I do a lot
Speaker 1: is at my view where I'm looking at the animal.
Speaker 1: Before I make that stock in the planning process, I'll
Speaker 1: take a picture with my phone with my camera at
Speaker 1: varying distances, so like a wide view of what I'm
Speaker 1: looking at. Then I'll zoom in, maybe through the spotting scope,
Speaker 1: at the animal and take a picture. What that allows
Speaker 1: me to do is just reference back to that original view.
Speaker 1: So if things change, like if I stock in there
Speaker 1: and that deer isn't there, I can look at that
Speaker 1: picture and say, okay, where would he maybe go? What's
Speaker 1: and really get like that original view back in your head,
Speaker 1: because a picture lasts a lot longer than the things
Speaker 1: that you think you're going to remember when everything's going on.
Speaker 1: Number five would be just like stealth is key. So
Speaker 1: when I'm planning my stock, I'm not only looking at
Speaker 1: the route that I'm going to take, but what are
Speaker 1: some obstacles in the way, What are some other deer
Speaker 1: that might be bedded there? What are especially with me
Speaker 1: you dear, or animals that are very sensitive to noise.
Speaker 1: What are some of the things that are gonna be
Speaker 1: no goes? Is there a shale slide behind it? Is
Speaker 1: there a large patch of balsam route that's dried up
Speaker 1: and just gonna be super loud? You know? Identifying those
Speaker 1: things from a distance and then choosing your route might
Speaker 1: be the difference between making a successful stock and making
Speaker 1: a stock where you get in and you get too
Speaker 1: deep and you're gonna make mistakes. That happens a lot,
Speaker 1: especially mule here. They generally like to bed in areas
Speaker 1: where they know that there's a lot of noise coming
Speaker 1: in from different directions. So identifying that before you get
Speaker 1: over there helps you one plan out how to get close,
Speaker 1: and two helps you understand the time factor because if
Speaker 1: you understand before you go over there, oh man, this
Speaker 1: is gonna be loud. So that means that it's going
Speaker 1: to take a lot more time. Am I going to
Speaker 1: have the proper amount of time to pull off this
Speaker 1: stock where he's at now? Or am I gonna have
Speaker 1: to throw down the weight card and say wait for
Speaker 1: a better opportunity. Also during the stock of the stealth
Speaker 1: is going to be key. This is where that shoes off,
Speaker 1: you know, stalking and your moccasins, your stocking, socks, your
Speaker 1: feet whatever. Also judging the situation based on that stealth
Speaker 1: and saying all right, from this point here, I can
Speaker 1: drop my pack and I've got two hundred yards three
Speaker 1: hundred yards, I'll drop my pack and my boots here
Speaker 1: and then I'll stalk in. Or it might be a
Speaker 1: scenario where you say, look, it's not worth the time,
Speaker 1: or it's going to be quiet enough. I'm not going
Speaker 1: to have to do that, you know, But understanding that
Speaker 1: going into it ahead of time and Planning for that
Speaker 1: stealth option is going to make you a lot more successful.
Speaker 1: Number six is just keeping an eye out for the eyes.
Speaker 1: When we talk about spot in stock, I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people get either too timid or I'll just
Speaker 1: say just too timid. I'm a fairly aggressive stalker, but
Speaker 1: I know when to move and what I can get
Speaker 1: away with. You have to realize if you can't see
Speaker 1: their eyes, they can't see you. That means like a
Speaker 1: solid obstruction obstructing their eyes. Many animals, actually their peripheral
Speaker 1: vision is a lot better than you might expect. When
Speaker 1: you think, oh, that antelope or that deer had eyes
Speaker 1: in the back of their head, they practically do because
Speaker 1: their eyes are on the side of their head and
Speaker 1: they can actually see quite a bit behind their heads.
Speaker 1: So using their head necessarily to block their vision isn't
Speaker 1: the best option. It isn't a option in certain instances,
Speaker 1: but it's not the only option. I would say, I'm
Speaker 1: looking for blocking their eyes with something solid when they're
Speaker 1: bedded down there lower so that's something solid might be
Speaker 1: the slope of the hill getting low enough. That might
Speaker 1: be a tree that they're bedded near and keeping the
Speaker 1: trunk or whatever of that tree. Out of their eyesight,
Speaker 1: you could see the whole body of the deer, the
Speaker 1: neck of the deer. But if it's heads covered, you're good.
Speaker 1: You're good to roll. And so that's something that you
Speaker 1: want to think about. Where is its eyes? Where are
Speaker 1: the eyes of everything else around? And how do I
Speaker 1: position myself? Keeping in a position where they can never
Speaker 1: see you is paramount, But it's also awesome because whatever
Speaker 1: you're stalking probably has antlers that will be sticking up
Speaker 1: and show you where that animal is, where its head is,
Speaker 1: and where it's positioned. But just keeping track of those
Speaker 1: eyes and understanding that as you move in and as
Speaker 1: you plan your stock from the sitting here looking phase
Speaker 1: to the now I'm on the hill, moving in phase,
Speaker 1: you're gonna want to think about where its eyes and
Speaker 1: how do I keep them blocked? Now Number seven, it's
Speaker 1: just gonna be the portion of the stock where you're
Speaker 1: moving in and you've lost sight of the animal. I
Speaker 1: said this earlier in the last podcast, but it bears
Speaker 1: repeating because it's it's a mantra that you need to
Speaker 1: constantly keep saying in your head. And this is something
Speaker 1: that I've learned over the years. If I don't say this,
Speaker 1: then I don't do it. And it's thinking you have
Speaker 1: to simultaneously assume that they are there and simultaneously assume
Speaker 1: that they're gone. You're covering all possible scenarios. So you
Speaker 1: always stalk in on a bedded animal like that animal
Speaker 1: is still there. If you don't do that, you're probably
Speaker 1: gonna blow it, or I know you're gonna blow it.
Speaker 1: Once you start thinking, oh, he's moved, he's moved, he's moved,
Speaker 1: with no proof that he's moved. That's when you rush things.
Speaker 1: That's when you do stupid stuff. No joke. I stalked
Speaker 1: in on a buck. I'm like fifteen yards from where
Speaker 1: it's at. I'm like, this deer has definitely moved, it's gone.
Speaker 1: I literally just stood up and started like walking off,
Speaker 1: and then I turned around and that buck busted out.
Speaker 1: It hadn't moved, it had just fallen asleep and was
Speaker 1: out of my sight. I didn't see it. I was
Speaker 1: just gut wrenched because I knew better, and I thought
Speaker 1: to myself, from that point on, I'm never gonna make
Speaker 1: that same mistake again, because I've made that mistake many
Speaker 1: times in the past. So assuming that it's there, but
Speaker 1: then also assuming that things have changed, that the other
Speaker 1: deer are in other places, that that deer might have
Speaker 1: got up and rebedded. Thinking about that as you move
Speaker 1: in really keeps you alert, keeps your head up, and
Speaker 1: keeps you constantly scanning, even as you're getting in within
Speaker 1: that hundred yards or less, throwing up your binoculars, glassing, stepping, glassing,
Speaker 1: looking glassing, moving, stepping glassing. That constant act of looking
Speaker 1: makes you much more successful and much more focused in
Speaker 1: on the possible things that can go wrong. There are
Speaker 1: a lot of facets to spot in stock hunting, and
Speaker 1: whether you've been doing it your entire life, or maybe
Speaker 1: this is your first year that you're going to try
Speaker 1: this style of hunting, there's things that you can learn
Speaker 1: from years of doing it that kind of ring true
Speaker 1: in different scenarios. And so next week what I want
Speaker 1: to cover is kind of that next step, that next
Speaker 1: step in the stock where the actions you take as
Speaker 1: you get within range, and how to turn a good
Speaker 1: stock into a good shot opportunity. I've noticed that there's
Speaker 1: so many times where I do everything right and then
Speaker 1: you do the things wrong when you're within that range
Speaker 1: of the animal, they're bedded, you're waiting, and just a
Speaker 1: few little things that you can do to kind of
Speaker 1: turn the tables in your favor, because just because you're
Speaker 1: within bow range doesn't mean that you can get a
Speaker 1: shot or execute a good shot. So I want to
Speaker 1: talk about the actions you can take in that next
Speaker 1: step when you're within range and you're either waiting for
Speaker 1: the animal or waiting for your opportunity. I've been getting
Speaker 1: a ton of great feedback from you guys on some
Speaker 1: of the topics we've been talking about and going into
Speaker 1: this hunting season, what I'm really doing is just trying
Speaker 1: to think of things that are topical then breaking them
Speaker 1: down into enough information where you can feel like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I've either learned something that's gonna help me, or you know,
Speaker 1: giving you the encouragement to say, yeah, what you're doing
Speaker 1: or have been doing is the correct way to do
Speaker 1: it or a really good way to do it. So
Speaker 1: we're gonna kind of keep on this spot and stock path,
Speaker 1: and the next month I'm just gonna go full blown
Speaker 1: Elks series, calling tactics, wallows everything. I'm gonna give you
Speaker 1: like thousands of days of elk hunting experience, into four
Speaker 1: condensed episodes of some of some form or another. Also
Speaker 1: kind of start thinking about elk questions because I want
Speaker 1: the next Q and A to be about elk hunting.
Speaker 1: So if you've got those questions about elk hunting, fire
Speaker 1: in my way, and then I've got some really good
Speaker 1: stuff planned. We're talking a couple of weeks down the road,
Speaker 1: but I like to get stuff early because hunting season
Speaker 1: will be upon us and I'm finding some leftover tags
Speaker 1: right now of you know, any kind of general hunts
Speaker 1: that I can find that might be going on, because
Speaker 1: Canada border doesn't look good for me, and I kind
Speaker 1: of put all my eggs in that basket prior to
Speaker 1: any of this COVID stuff and it looks like I
Speaker 1: probably won't be able to go. So I'm going to
Speaker 1: be thinking about finding some hunts and some last minute planning.
Speaker 1: I'm been doing a lot of research on some things
Speaker 1: that I've been thinking about for years and just haven't
Speaker 1: done because I've planned other stuff. So I'm actually kind
Speaker 1: of stoked on it should be should be pretty good.
Speaker 1: So today I am launching a math se giveaway and
Speaker 1: you can find the info on my Instagram page. If
Speaker 1: you don't follow me on Instagram, please do a lot
Speaker 1: of these things I'm gonna be showing, like videos and
Speaker 1: other stuff on things that I'm talking about, some of
Speaker 1: these tips and tactics, like some good illustrations and some
Speaker 1: videos on so head over there and the giveaway. I
Speaker 1: just thought, man, how awesome would it be if you
Speaker 1: could just get all the best gear in one go,
Speaker 1: like literally everything you need for hunting. So what I
Speaker 1: did was I compiled, like a lot of the people
Speaker 1: that work with me, companies and things, I just compiled
Speaker 1: essentially fifteen thousand dollars worth of the best gear out there,
Speaker 1: and the winner will take it all. I mean, full
Speaker 1: clothing kit, a full rifle set up with scope mounting
Speaker 1: and a top of the line scope, A brand new
Speaker 1: prime bow with pretty much everything you need. Arrows. We've
Speaker 1: got sleeping bag, stone glacier, tent, stone glacier pack, a
Speaker 1: deck system for your truck. Game processing, a chain member
Speaker 1: vacuum seiler, which if you've never used a chamber vacuum
Speaker 1: seiler do These things are commercial grade, incredible for game processing,
Speaker 1: a really high powered grinder. I mean, just too much
Speaker 1: stuff to even mention right here. If I just I
Speaker 1: should go down the list and just like get you
Speaker 1: all stoked on it. But you can go. There will
Speaker 1: be a link on my Instagram for this giveaway. Like
Speaker 1: the winner will be super stoked. Honestly, it's like fifteen
Speaker 1: dollars worth of some of the best gear on the planet.
Speaker 1: So I'm really really excited about that. I've never done
Speaker 1: anything like this. I've kind of shied away from a
Speaker 1: lot of giveaways in the past just because organizing it.
Speaker 1: This has taken me months of like work just to
Speaker 1: kind of organize this and make sure everything's right and
Speaker 1: we got everything forever for the prizes and all that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. So it's been a lot to do this,
Speaker 1: but I'm pretty stoked. I think it's like an awesome
Speaker 1: way to give back to you guys who have just
Speaker 1: supported me and listened to this podcast. I know so
Speaker 1: many of you have dropped in good comments or subscribe
Speaker 1: to wherever you listen, shared it with friends. I just
Speaker 1: really want to this is like my thank you to
Speaker 1: you for doing that, and I want to give one
Speaker 1: of you something super awesome that could change essentially the
Speaker 1: way you hunt and the thing whatever, and you know
Speaker 1: it's it's I'm just excited about it. That's also the
Speaker 1: contest opens today. Go to my Instagram. I'll put a
Speaker 1: link there, or you can go to my Remy Warren
Speaker 1: dot com website and find the link in there. It's
Speaker 1: essentially putting in an email and your name and then
Speaker 1: we'll email the winner random draw pretty much like two
Speaker 1: weeks from today. So go check that out. I'm super excited,
Speaker 1: and I just want to thank everybody for all the support.
Speaker 1: I think this is a way that I'm trying to
Speaker 1: say thank you back in combination with giving you some
Speaker 1: of my best tips that I know as far as
Speaker 1: hunting goes. Sometimes I give these tips out and I'm like, damn,
Speaker 1: that was almost too good. Like it's making people. I've
Speaker 1: been running into people out hunting using my tips and
Speaker 1: just like, wow, a lot of this is awesome. That's
Speaker 1: what I want to see. That That was the end
Speaker 1: goals is giving tips that I honestly think are actionable
Speaker 1: and really going to help you at whatever stage of
Speaker 1: hunting you're in. But just understanding the little bit of
Speaker 1: things that I've picked up in a formula for success,
Speaker 1: and I understand that there's a lot of awesome gear
Speaker 1: out there and one of you will be winning this
Speaker 1: incredible gear. So you go over there, check that out.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty excited about it. You know, share it with
Speaker 1: your friends. I know it. It might lessen your odds,
Speaker 1: but it might increase your odds of someone you knowing winning.
Speaker 1: And if you tell them, you'd be like, hey, man,
Speaker 1: put in, we'll we'll split some of the stuff. You
Speaker 1: get the rifle, I get the bow, You get the
Speaker 1: sleeping pad bag. I get the tent. You know, keep
Speaker 1: thinking like that, So I thank you guys. Appreciate it,
Speaker 1: you know, drop some comments and uh yeah until next week,
Speaker 1: stay stealthy. So yeah,