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Speaker 1: As a guide and hunter, I've spent thousands of days

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Speaker 1: in the field. This show is about translating my hard

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Speaker 1: won experiences into tips and tactics they'll get you closer

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Speaker 1: to your ultimate goal success in the field. I'm Remy Warren.

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Speaker 1: This is cutting the distance. So here's the scenario. It's

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Speaker 1: archery season. You're in a hot, dry, arid environment. You're

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Speaker 1: hunting mule dear, You're about a hundred yards out from

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Speaker 1: a bedded buck. What's your next move? Now? For me,

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Speaker 1: the next move is always going to be take my

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Speaker 1: shoes off. Because a hundred yards to bow range, that's

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Speaker 1: some considerable ground to cover, especially on an animal that's

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Speaker 1: so well adapted to just hearing a small twig break

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Speaker 1: and taking off. You need to be completely silent. And

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Speaker 1: for these situations I call him an s o S

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Speaker 1: or a shoes off situation. If I think about pretty

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Speaker 1: much most of the animals I've taken with a bow,

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Speaker 1: they've been shoes off situations. I've been either barefoot or

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Speaker 1: in some form of stocking sock. So what I really

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Speaker 1: want to talk about is why shoes are allowed, identifying

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Speaker 1: these shoes off situations, and then what it really means

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Speaker 1: to toughen your feet, as well as some good options

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Speaker 1: for stocking socks. I want to take you to a

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Speaker 1: magical place I called the Bowl. Now, the Bowl is

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Speaker 1: one of my favorite early season mule deer hunting locations

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Speaker 1: in Nevada. It's not necessarily top secret because I've taken

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Speaker 1: a lot of my friends there and they've enjoyed some

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Speaker 1: considerable success in the Bowl over the years. But the

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Speaker 1: Bowl is located at a high elevation. I'd say it's

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Speaker 1: about between eight and ten thousand feet. You know, the

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Speaker 1: bottom of it's about eight in the top of it

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Speaker 1: can be as high as ten. And what it is

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Speaker 1: is this is the high desert. It's dry, it's August,

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Speaker 1: it's crispy. These bucks get hunted constantly by one of

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Speaker 1: the stealthiest predators on the planet, not myself, but the

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Speaker 1: Mountain Line. So they use their ears and noses and

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Speaker 1: eyes for survival daily. In order to get close to

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Speaker 1: one of these deer, you have to move in completely silent.

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Speaker 1: That's really hard here because the ground is dry, it's rocky,

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Speaker 1: it's loose. Everything you touch snaps, pops, cracks, moves. So

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Speaker 1: to get within bow range, it takes a considerable amount

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Speaker 1: of doing. But I like hunting this area because it

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Speaker 1: really perfected what I think of my art of being sneaky,

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Speaker 1: of stalking, of being silent. There was one buck in

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Speaker 1: particular I was hunting. This is probably the third year

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Speaker 1: I hunted the same area, and I'd seen a lot

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Speaker 1: of deer. I've spent hundreds of days in this area

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Speaker 1: just watching deer, stalking deer, hunting deer. Actually the first

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Speaker 1: podcast of the biggest buck of my life was in

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Speaker 1: the same general area. This is after i'd pretty much

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Speaker 1: given up on that buck a couple of years later,

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Speaker 1: and I thought, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna try to

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Speaker 1: get a deer. Now it's time. I saw this buck,

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Speaker 1: nice four by four inches wide, just a solid deer.

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Speaker 1: I'm sitting at the top of the bowl. He walks

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Speaker 1: out like okay, cool. I watched him and he goes

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Speaker 1: in beds with some other bucks. Now he was only

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Speaker 1: a hundred yards maybe well I think it was a

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Speaker 1: hundred twenty yards away from where I was sitting and watching.

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Speaker 1: I'm like, perfect, this is great. I'm just gonna stock

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Speaker 1: down there and get him. Yeah, good luck, man. I

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Speaker 1: left my pack up where I was glassing. But I

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Speaker 1: just thought. Now I don't know if I was being

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Speaker 1: lazy what I was thinking, I didn't take my shoes off.

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Speaker 1: I'm creeping down, crab crawling. I got my bow on

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Speaker 1: my lap, scooting down on these bedded bucks, and I

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Speaker 1: get to this point where they're out of sight. So

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Speaker 1: I'm just gonna slowly creep in. Trouble is, I learned

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Speaker 1: real quick that I should have taken my shoes off earlier.

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Speaker 1: I'm about forty five fifty yards from the deer, but

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Speaker 1: it's not like yards where you could get a shot.

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Speaker 1: I can't even see them at this point. I'm creeping

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Speaker 1: through the tall sage on the rocks. I can just

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Speaker 1: every step I take. Oh my god, this is so loud.

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Speaker 1: They're gonna hear me. Then I look up. I like

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Speaker 1: to keep my eyes where the deer are as i'm

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Speaker 1: stalking down. I don't like to be looking at the ground.

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Speaker 1: I want to make sure that I'm not gonna pop

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Speaker 1: out where they can see me, and I don't want

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Speaker 1: them to see me before they I see them. So

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Speaker 1: I'm creeping along and then I hear pop one dried

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Speaker 1: up stick from a piece of sage sitting on the ground.

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Speaker 1: I'd stepped on that snap got the entire group of

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Speaker 1: bucks to stand up, whip their head towards me. Jig

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Speaker 1: was up, Gig was up. It's the JIGGI gig. It

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Speaker 1: was all up. Those deer bounded out away across the valley.

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Speaker 1: I learned a pretty good lesson that was the shoes

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Speaker 1: off situation. Yet for some reason I did not feel

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Speaker 1: like taking my shoes off. And that was the last

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Speaker 1: time that I I ignored the shoes off sitch. So

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Speaker 1: fast forward it's three four days later. It's about time

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Speaker 1: to go home. I hadn't seen that buck again. So

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Speaker 1: I'm go down to my camp like ivan camp debating,

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Speaker 1: and was like, I gotta be back home, but maybe

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Speaker 1: I give it another day, kind of procrastinating packing up.

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Speaker 1: It's like, I'm here, it's the middle of the day.

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Speaker 1: I throw out my binocular glass and in one of

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Speaker 1: the draws behind camp, here's that same buck, bedded by himself,

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Speaker 1: chucked up against a mahogany tree. Now he's on this

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Speaker 1: ridge that has some shale above him, but the wind

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Speaker 1: is blowing uphill, so he's bedded facing downhill and the

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Speaker 1: winds in his face, like this is perfect. But I

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Speaker 1: look at where he's bedded. So I get out my

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Speaker 1: scope and I'm planning my stocking route. He's right below

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Speaker 1: this patch of dried balsom route. Now what balsom route is.

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Speaker 1: It's like a It's a plant that looks like people

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Speaker 1: who might call mules here. It looks like big ears.

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Speaker 1: And when that stuff dries out, it just cracks and pops.

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Speaker 1: It's the loudest stuff you can walk through. I'm like,

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Speaker 1: that's what this that's this year's game. He's betted with

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Speaker 1: the wind in his face, but it's a place where

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Speaker 1: it's shaded, and he's just using his ears to protect

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Speaker 1: him from anything coming from behind. This is not going

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Speaker 1: to be an easy stock. I get over there about

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Speaker 1: two yards away. I decided shoes off time, I dropped

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Speaker 1: my pack, I put on my extra pair of socks,

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Speaker 1: and I start my stock. Now. The nice thing is

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Speaker 1: he's out of sight, So what I really have to

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Speaker 1: worry about is the noise I'm making. First obstacle shale slide.

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Speaker 1: If you aren't familiar with shale, it's like a bunch

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Speaker 1: of maybe hands sized flat rocks stacked up into a pile.

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Speaker 1: It's like a rock slide that you step on it

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Speaker 1: and it sounds like bells going off almost. It's very

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Speaker 1: hard to move through quietly. But I have got my

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Speaker 1: shoes off, and what I'm doing is I'm feeling each

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Speaker 1: piece of shale with my feet for movement before I

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Speaker 1: put all my weight on my foot, just wiggling my

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Speaker 1: foot so it gets steady, stationary. Then I'm also using

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Speaker 1: my hand, almost like crawling or crab crawling down so

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Speaker 1: I have more points of balance, one step at a time,

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Speaker 1: feeling the ground, pushing it slightly so it makes a

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Speaker 1: soft noise, then putting weight on it, distributing my weight

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Speaker 1: between my two feet my hand, and I made it

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Speaker 1: through the shale slide. So far, so good. Now the

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Speaker 1: next part is that dried Balsom route. But also it

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Speaker 1: felt like there was a lot of other loud stuff

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Speaker 1: in this area, rocks, sticks, Balsom route. Now I knew

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Speaker 1: that I was approaching, but he was bedded in a

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Speaker 1: way where if he had just turned his head slightly

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Speaker 1: he would be able to see me. I needed to

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Speaker 1: keep this one mahogany tree with his eyes behind that tree.

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Speaker 1: So in order to stock properly. I can't be looking

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Speaker 1: at the ground. I gotta be looking up constantly, see

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Speaker 1: where his head's at, see which direction he's looking before

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Speaker 1: I make my moves. The plus side was I could

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Speaker 1: feel the ground with my feet. Every step I took,

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Speaker 1: I would test it, then put my weight, crawling ever

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Speaker 1: so slowly, moving in, moving in. Now this deer's bedded.

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Speaker 1: I kept moving into positions where I think i'd have

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Speaker 1: a shot. At this point, I'm thirty yards I can

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Speaker 1: see his antler tips sticking up, but I just don't

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Speaker 1: have a shot. So I think, well, i'll get a

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Speaker 1: little closer. I keep stalking, keep moving, keep feeling the ground.

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Speaker 1: I get to a point where I think, ah, this

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Speaker 1: is good enough. I pull up my range finder. The

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Speaker 1: buck is six yards away. I think I might have

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Speaker 1: gotten too close at this point. Unfortunately I didn't think

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Speaker 1: it out well enough. I should have just sat back

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Speaker 1: and waited for him to stand up, but I got impatient. However,

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Speaker 1: I got close. Now there was a log across the

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Speaker 1: deer's back, so I couldn't take a shot, so I

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Speaker 1: had to wait. The mistake I made was I was

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Speaker 1: waiting too close, so I decided to move to a

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Speaker 1: position where I could get a shot on him bedded.

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Speaker 1: This was gonna mean I had to move very slow,

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Speaker 1: feel the ground to get a shot. So I start

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Speaker 1: one step at a time, step to the left, hold

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Speaker 1: feel the ground, step to the left, hold until I

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Speaker 1: got a small window. I drew my bow back as

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Speaker 1: slowly as possible, anchored aim, put the pin where I wanted,

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Speaker 1: and shot that buck was probably only I would say

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Speaker 1: seven feet away, maybe between seven and ten ft when

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Speaker 1: I let that arrow go. And that was all because

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Speaker 1: I was able to feel the ground and sneak up

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Speaker 1: and trick. His number one defense in that situation his ears.

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Speaker 1: So why when you're stalking in on any animal, is

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Speaker 1: it better to take your shoes off? Well, I think

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Speaker 1: we first need to look at why shoes are allowed. Now.

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Speaker 1: When I was doing a show a few years back

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Speaker 1: called Apex Predator, I really wanted to investigate this entire

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Speaker 1: idea of stealth and quiet stocking. So we actually took

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Speaker 1: a force plate and walked across it in both shoes,

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Speaker 1: stocking socks and barefoot. Now, at the time, we were

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Speaker 1: trying to compare that to the force and sounds that

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Speaker 1: a mountain lion would make a predator that I really

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Speaker 1: consider one of the most silent, stealthy predators that hunts

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Speaker 1: the same animals that I do. The thing that we

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Speaker 1: found is shoes were at the top of the list

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Speaker 1: for noise. Then even just like a moccasin or stocking

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Speaker 1: sock was way more quiet as well as less force

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Speaker 1: exerted on the ground. There's a few reasons for that.

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Speaker 1: Is because when you can feel the ground, you tend

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Speaker 1: to place your foot differently than you do in a shoe.

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Speaker 1: A stiff sold you you can't feel the ground, You're

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Speaker 1: putting all that force into one spot, which might be

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Speaker 1: onto a stick, which breaks the stick, which causes the noise.

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Speaker 1: So the key with stocking quiet is being able to

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Speaker 1: feel the ground. Now, there's a lot of options for that.

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Speaker 1: You can go as far as bare foot, or you

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Speaker 1: can go with something like a moccasin or a makeshift

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Speaker 1: stocking sock. One of the things that I've always done,

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Speaker 1: and one of the things that I've always heard, was

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Speaker 1: just bring an extra pair of socks cover your feet.

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Speaker 1: That way just keeps some of the brush things that

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Speaker 1: might hurt your feet away, but also you can continue

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Speaker 1: to feel the ground. Now everybody's different. But I think

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Speaker 1: one of the things about walking barefoot or natural, like

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Speaker 1: in your stocking sock, it might be over a considerable

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Speaker 1: amount of distance. Sometimes things don't always work out, and

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Speaker 1: you need to have your feet prepared. A lot of

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Speaker 1: people ask like, Okay, well I don't have tough feet.

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Speaker 1: I have soft feet. Now. I understand that, but I

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Speaker 1: also don't think there is such thing as having tender feet.

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Speaker 1: It's really more just a weak mindset and something that

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Speaker 1: you don't do a lot. Think about it, Like, there's

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Speaker 1: so many people they just walk around everywhere in their shoes,

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Speaker 1: their backyard, their driveway, in their house. Even right now

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Speaker 1: I'm doing this podcast with no shoes on. Not because

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Speaker 1: I'm trying to prove a point, but I walk around

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Speaker 1: a lot without my shoes on. And the reason is

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Speaker 1: you get comfortable feeling the uncomfortable when I shoot my bow.

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Speaker 1: The best time to toughen your feet is when you're

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Speaker 1: out there practicing, walking between the target and where you're shooting,

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Speaker 1: or just walking outside. Yeah, there's a point where you

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Speaker 1: can build callouses by walking barefoot. I walk barefoot a

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Speaker 1: lot because I want to be able to go further

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Speaker 1: distances and them not be painful. But those callouses don't

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Speaker 1: change the way the ground feels. And that's something that

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Speaker 1: I never realized. I always used to think you build

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Speaker 1: the toughness, then you don't feel the ground. That's incorrect.

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Speaker 1: You're always going to feel the ground. Is just getting

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Speaker 1: used to the way the ground feels. I did a

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Speaker 1: long period of time when I was doing that Apex

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Speaker 1: Predator show, trying to toughen my feet because I was

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Speaker 1: gonna do an entire week of hunting with no shoes,

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Speaker 1: and during that time I would go do runs barefoot.

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Speaker 1: I would do a lot of things barefoot. And after

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Speaker 1: three months of that, I thought, my feet, I still

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Speaker 1: feel everything. I don't think there're any tougher. There are

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Speaker 1: any tougher. They just can endure the ground longer without

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Speaker 1: getting blisters or other things. But everything still feels the same.

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Speaker 1: So it's just a matter of getting used to feeling

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Speaker 1: the ground now. I've seen a lot of people ask

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Speaker 1: about these over soul, like these stocking socks that go

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Speaker 1: over your boots. Those are garbage. I'm sorry if you

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Speaker 1: make those, but their garbage because a lot of the

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Speaker 1: noise is from the stiff soul of the boot. It's

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Speaker 1: the pressure that you're exerting into that solid soul that

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Speaker 1: causes whatever is underneath your feet to make noise. Now, first,

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Speaker 1: before we decide to take our shoes off, we have

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Speaker 1: to identify the situations that are shoes off situation. That's

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Speaker 1: when things are getting real. That's when you need the

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Speaker 1: utmost stealth. And that's not every situation, because there's plenty

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Speaker 1: of times where it's more convenient to leave your shoes on.

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Speaker 1: Your more mobile, you can cover rougher country faster, and

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Speaker 1: sometimes you don't even need to take your shoes off.

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Speaker 1: So how do you identify the times where, yep, now

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Speaker 1: is the time I take my shoes off. I think

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Speaker 1: of it like this. It's based on the terrain, the animal,

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Speaker 1: and what else is going on. What kind of noises

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Speaker 1: are out there when there's a very little wind, it's

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Speaker 1: quiet in the middle of the day, or the deer

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Speaker 1: are bedded, that's when they're most likely to be listening.

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Speaker 1: Bedded animals are actually a lot more alert than animals

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Speaker 1: that are moving around feeding or distracted by other things. Also,

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Speaker 1: when animals are moving around feeding and distracted, those are

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Speaker 1: times where the plans constantly changing you might have to

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Speaker 1: go to a new area. You might have to follow

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Speaker 1: them for a mile before things work out. You just

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Speaker 1: don't know you're you're gonna be mobile, So to leave

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Speaker 1: your stuff in one spot you might actually impede your

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Speaker 1: success in that certain scenario where you removed your shoes

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Speaker 1: and now you're I've I've gone as far as four

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Speaker 1: miles and been like, dang it, where did I put

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Speaker 1: my boots. It wouldn't be the first time I lost them.

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Speaker 1: I actually, because of that, carry like that pink flagging

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Speaker 1: a lot and just tie it to my boots when

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Speaker 1: I drop them, boots and pack, because there are those

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Speaker 1: times where it gets away from you. But the best

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Speaker 1: times for these shoes off situations are dry country, bedded animals,

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Speaker 1: or stationary animals. You need to trick the ears, and

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Speaker 1: that's the quietest way to do it. So a lot

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Speaker 1: of country is not conducive to walking around without shoes.

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Speaker 1: There's stickers, there's rush. The only reason I'm talking about

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Speaker 1: this whole shoes off situation because I've noticed when I'm

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Speaker 1: doing my Instagram stories or videos that I've done, you know,

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Speaker 1: I always at that final moment, I'm taking my shoes off,

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Speaker 1: and I get a ton of comments like, why are

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Speaker 1: you taking your shoes off? I never take my shoes off,

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Speaker 1: And it just blows my mind because I think it's

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Speaker 1: a trick that I learned from old school bow hunters.

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Speaker 1: Traditional bow hunters, guys that need to get close, and

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Speaker 1: that's the first thing they teach, you take your shoes off.

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Speaker 1: Yet I think somewhere along the line we've replaced stealth

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Speaker 1: and getting close with just trying to shoot further. I

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Speaker 1: still like to get close, and I like the animals

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Speaker 1: to be completely unaware when I stalk in. I like

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Speaker 1: to give myself that advantage. So most of the animals

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Speaker 1: I've taken my shoes have been off. Now, if the

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Speaker 1: country isn't as conducive to it, you've got things that

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Speaker 1: are sharp, you are weak in the mind, and you've

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Speaker 1: got soft feet, whatever, or you just want that extra cushion.

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Speaker 1: Here's a few tips that I do or have used

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Speaker 1: in the past that I a or the best form

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Speaker 1: of what I would consider a stocking sock, because I

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Speaker 1: do use what I call stocking socks a lot. That's

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Speaker 1: just something an extra added element of protection for your feet.

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Speaker 1: And so the first one, the old school way is

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Speaker 1: the double sock or an extra sock that's just a

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Speaker 1: thick parawool socks. You can either swap out the socks

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Speaker 1: that you've got or put it over your other socks.

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Speaker 1: One thing I like about this is you can tuck

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Speaker 1: your pant leg into the sock, so it keeps your

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Speaker 1: pants tight from grabbing things that are around you for

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Speaker 1: extra stealth. Now, the downside of the sock is it

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Speaker 1: picks up birds and other things, lots of seeds from

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Speaker 1: different plants that end up poking your feet. Anyways, I

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Speaker 1: just keep the same pair of socks in my backpack

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Speaker 1: because they just get ratty and tore up pretty easy,

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Speaker 1: and it's hard to pick all this stuff out of them,

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Speaker 1: So that extra pair of socks is key. Now. One

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Speaker 1: thing that I do a lot in Rocky Country or

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Speaker 1: a Southwest is I get one of those crappy like

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Speaker 1: beach sandals, those thin foam ones. You can either take

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Speaker 1: the thong part off or whatever or leave it on. Um.

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Speaker 1: There's some that the part that goes between your toes

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Speaker 1: is actually not plastic, but like a webbing material like

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Speaker 1: a fabric. So those are the best, and you can

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Speaker 1: even shave the sandal down to half the width if

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Speaker 1: you want, so you can feel the ground a little better.

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Speaker 1: Then you keep your sock from your boot on, you

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Speaker 1: put your foot into the sandal, and then you pull

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Speaker 1: your stocking sock over that foam sandal. That's the best

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Speaker 1: homemade stocking sock that I've ever found. Now an upgrade

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Speaker 1: from that would be a moccasin type shoe. So these

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Speaker 1: can be either synthetic or leather. I've used natural leather moccasins.

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Speaker 1: I've actually hunted an entire weekend them. They're great. You

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Speaker 1: sneak up on stuff you didn't even know you're going

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Speaker 1: to sneak up on because you're walking so quiet. However,

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Speaker 1: the more you're walking without shoes, you know, shoes have

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Speaker 1: their place, because your your feet start to feel everything

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Speaker 1: in the ground, you get what I consider stone bruising,

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Speaker 1: which really, you know, you can't just go every day

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Speaker 1: like that unless you really really prepare for it. So

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Speaker 1: the moccasins great, but it's another added thing you have

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Speaker 1: to carry. I also use more of a waterproof type

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Speaker 1: sock as well. It's a more durable sock. Some of

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Speaker 1: them are just more of a like a booty, like

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Speaker 1: a Knopren type booty. Those were great as well. You

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Speaker 1: just gotta remember what you want is something where you

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Speaker 1: can still feel the ground and not have that hard

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Speaker 1: soul breaking and cracking underneath your feet. Just by getting

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Speaker 1: rid of removing that hard soul and getting something where

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Speaker 1: you can slightly feel the ground, you're just going to

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Speaker 1: be a lot more stealthy. And that stealth is what's

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Speaker 1: going to allow you to get closer more often and

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Speaker 1: give you the opportunity you're looking for your homework for

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Speaker 1: this week. Embrace the shoes off situation. Now, I'm not

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Speaker 1: saying you've gotta be some dirty hippie lock. Sorry, if

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Speaker 1: there's dirty hippies out there, you could be a clean hip.

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Speaker 1: Can't that an oxymoron? Not sure? I don't know. Look, man,

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Speaker 1: it's the middle of September. You have got some archery

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Speaker 1: mule dere probably coming up in a lot of states.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of stocking situations that you might encounter.

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Speaker 1: Be proud of your shoes off situations. Fly that shoes

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Speaker 1: off flag. You know, if you're in your backyard, kick

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Speaker 1: your shoes off. If you're in a fancy restaurant, kick

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Speaker 1: your shoes off when they look at you funny. Just

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Speaker 1: be like man shoes off situation. There are a lot

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Speaker 1: of shoes off situations around there. What I want you

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Speaker 1: to do is I want you, when you go to

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Speaker 1: your garage to get something for your next hunt, don't

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Speaker 1: wear your shoes practice at home. Be proud of that

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Speaker 1: shoes off situation. Always be on the ready for a

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Speaker 1: good stock, for a good sneak. Because it's cool to

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Speaker 1: be stealthy. It's cool to encounter those shoes off situations.

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Speaker 1: Share those shoes off situations with me. If you're a

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Speaker 1: fellow shoes off stock ger. If you aren't a fellow

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Speaker 1: shoes offstucker, and I are now going to try it,

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Speaker 1: you will be surprised how close you get. And that's

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Speaker 1: what I want to hear about. So thanks for listening.

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Speaker 1: You can reach out share your scenarios with me via

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Speaker 1: social media or remy at the meatia dear dot com.

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Speaker 1: That's where I'm at. Be stealthy, my friends,