Speaker 1: Welcome back to another exciting episode of Cutting the Distance podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to be here because this episode is all
Speaker 1: about you guys. I'm answering your questions this week. Um,
Speaker 1: these are some of my favorite podcasts to do because
Speaker 1: I make sure that I hit specific topics and a
Speaker 1: lot of these questions that I've compiled, there's multiple questions
Speaker 1: on the same topic. Now, in all honesty, almost all
Speaker 1: the podcasts are about you guys, because a lot of
Speaker 1: the direction I choose to go each week depends on
Speaker 1: the type of questions that come in. But these will
Speaker 1: just be answering specific people's questions. So what I want
Speaker 1: to do is I'm going to talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about some testimonials that we've got. I'm gonna answer a
Speaker 1: few questions, and then we'll even uh maybe give some
Speaker 1: life advice. So let's get it going. You know, if
Speaker 1: this is actually the first podcast you're listening to, it
Speaker 1: will really help you become a better hunter. Now I
Speaker 1: can say that because I personally maybe like the tips
Speaker 1: that we give, but I think that it's better coming
Speaker 1: from someone else. So let's read some testimonials. So the
Speaker 1: first one comes from Dan. He says He's an avid
Speaker 1: listener and he lives at the East Coast but tries
Speaker 1: to make it out west annually to hunt somewhere. Dan writes,
Speaker 1: your New Year's Resolution episode made me think about what
Speaker 1: else I could do to make my experience even better,
Speaker 1: and I've started leaving my boots along with pack containing
Speaker 1: three ten pound done bells wrapped in towels at my
Speaker 1: front door and just put it on every day while
Speaker 1: walking the dog. Also, your episodes about still hunting made
Speaker 1: me realize how much I watched my feet while walking,
Speaker 1: so I've added keeping my head up walking the dog
Speaker 1: to my daily routine as well. Turns out I can
Speaker 1: turn a dog walk into a daily exercise in being
Speaker 1: a better hunter. Keep up the great work, Dan, That's awesome.
Speaker 1: That is some inspiration right there. There's so many things
Speaker 1: that you can do in your daily life to make
Speaker 1: you a better hunter, and you can take some of
Speaker 1: these tips into everyday things, just like walking around, keeping
Speaker 1: your head up, paying attention to things when you go
Speaker 1: on a walk or an exercise, throwing that pack on,
Speaker 1: wearing your boots outside of the hunting season. All those
Speaker 1: little things are just huge when it comes to now
Speaker 1: turning what you're doing in your daily life into its
Speaker 1: hunting season and how am I going to be more successful?
Speaker 1: So thanks for that, Dan. We've got one more testimonial
Speaker 1: and as always, feel free to email. I'll give you
Speaker 1: guys the email at the end of the podcast, but
Speaker 1: you know we'll be looking for some testimonials and some
Speaker 1: other things. So these are great. There's a lot of them,
Speaker 1: and I love reading people have success from something in
Speaker 1: this podcast, so this one. I thought this one was
Speaker 1: really awesome, says Remy. Just harvested my first pig with
Speaker 1: a bow last night. While waiting on some does, a
Speaker 1: saunder of pigs ran by my stand at about a
Speaker 1: hundred and ten yards out. Usually I would have waited
Speaker 1: at waited out hope they came into range, but I
Speaker 1: had recently listened to the practice on Small Game podcast
Speaker 1: and decided to expand my repertoire. I got down, slipped
Speaker 1: off my boots thanks to the shoes off situation episode,
Speaker 1: and crept into twenty yards, smoked a nice little forty
Speaker 1: pounds sow and was able to share it with a
Speaker 1: buddy who hadn't had much success this year. I never
Speaker 1: would have had the confidence to try and stalk without
Speaker 1: your show, and I'm so blessed to be in a
Speaker 1: situation where I can share the harvest with others. Thank
Speaker 1: you for putting together such helpful content. It's benefiting both
Speaker 1: listeners and those around us. Please keep up what you're doing.
Speaker 1: It helps more than you know. Respectfully, Nate Mason. Thanks Nate.
Speaker 1: I am super stoked that that worked out for you.
Speaker 1: It's really cool to to hear people kind of doing
Speaker 1: something a little bit different, maybe getting out of their
Speaker 1: comfort zone and finding some success. I know a lot
Speaker 1: of people that listen to this podcast. You know it's
Speaker 1: it's very Western based hunting, yet there are tips and
Speaker 1: tricks that everybody can pull no matter where you hunt,
Speaker 1: whether you're in North America, the South Pacific, Europe, it
Speaker 1: doesn't really matter where you hunt. A lot of the
Speaker 1: things that I talk about ring true to so many
Speaker 1: different places, species, other things. So I'm I'm super excited
Speaker 1: to hear that. It's great when somebody finds success in
Speaker 1: a way that they didn't think and maybe try something
Speaker 1: a little bit different, things outside the box, and comes
Speaker 1: home with some meat. Let's jump into the first question.
Speaker 1: I always love questions about elk if I were to
Speaker 1: think about something that I would do. I mean, I
Speaker 1: honestly could probably do an elk podcast a week and
Speaker 1: just make this a full on podcast on elk hunting.
Speaker 1: I've done a lot of elk hunting. I have a
Speaker 1: lot of experience with it. I've guided professionally for elk.
Speaker 1: I've spent thousands of days chasing elk throughout every season.
Speaker 1: So when it comes to talking about how to hunt elk,
Speaker 1: I'm super passionate about it. I love it, and I
Speaker 1: feel like there's a lot of things that I've picked
Speaker 1: up just doing it so much that I can share.
Speaker 1: So anytime elk question comes in, I I'm super excited
Speaker 1: about that. And in the future, one thing you can
Speaker 1: look forward to is maybe a good another series on
Speaker 1: elk hunting because the calling last year that was probably
Speaker 1: one of my favorite ones to do. You could probably
Speaker 1: tell my passion about it while I was doing it
Speaker 1: and people, you know, a lot of great response. Now
Speaker 1: I understand not everybody elk hunts, but gosh, everybody should
Speaker 1: and this hopefully this podcast will inspire people to try
Speaker 1: it if you haven't. So here's this question. My question
Speaker 1: is about elk sent I've come to learn from you
Speaker 1: and others. Elk rely heavily on their strong sense of
Speaker 1: smell to avoid predators. But I never hear you or
Speaker 1: others talk about any scent blockers, sprays, wafers, etcetera to
Speaker 1: use to prevent this, much like the ones we use
Speaker 1: in the Midwest for white tail hunting. Is there anything
Speaker 1: that is effective to use for scent blocking and do
Speaker 1: you use anything? Thanks Dan, So that is a great question,
Speaker 1: And this is a question that has come up so
Speaker 1: many times. I just I can't even uh, there's just
Speaker 1: like between social media and this email, so many questions
Speaker 1: about scent. Now, when you're white tailing, you have to
Speaker 1: understand the type of hunting you're doing and how sent
Speaker 1: control plays in. So I'm I'm not gonna discredit send
Speaker 1: control when it comes to stand hunting for white tails,
Speaker 1: because when you're stationary, you know, you do everything in
Speaker 1: your power to get the wind right for your stand,
Speaker 1: but you also aren't a hundred percent sure which direction
Speaker 1: the animals coming in from. So there's there's sprays, there's uh,
Speaker 1: what what are those um osonics type ozone blockers? There's
Speaker 1: scent wafers that now sent way for if you aren't
Speaker 1: familiar with. It would be like a dough and estris
Speaker 1: scent on almost like a cotton type wafer. I don't know,
Speaker 1: like a piece of plastic. It just depends on what
Speaker 1: it's on. But um, it holds the scent, so it
Speaker 1: could be maybe a bucky urine scent. There's other things
Speaker 1: like cover sense people. A long time ago my dad
Speaker 1: used to use for antelope pumping out of a blind,
Speaker 1: used to use just skunk spray, um, So those would
Speaker 1: be to mask the scent. And then things like dough
Speaker 1: estris or um buck urine or whatever maybe to kind
Speaker 1: of be a to mask the human scent as well
Speaker 1: as maybe us as an attracting So when you're sitting there,
Speaker 1: you know the wind's gonna do something. You're gonna base
Speaker 1: your stand on where you think the animals are gonna
Speaker 1: come in from, and then you're gonna pick a stand
Speaker 1: so that you're down wind from that. But deer might
Speaker 1: circle around, they might come in from a different direction.
Speaker 1: The winds may swirl and you can do nothing about
Speaker 1: it because you're stationary. So using scent control in those
Speaker 1: scenarios may give you a slight advantage if the wind
Speaker 1: shifts or starts blowing towards an animal, and they don't
Speaker 1: wind you because you're you're up in a tree. You're
Speaker 1: you're using some kind of scent control, and it gives
Speaker 1: you a little bit of an advantage over the animal
Speaker 1: sense of smell, because for almost all the animals we hunt,
Speaker 1: big game animals, their sense of smell is way tuned in,
Speaker 1: and it's their first instinct is to always run when
Speaker 1: they smell danger, whereas if they see something off, they
Speaker 1: might kind of look stare and you can get over it.
Speaker 1: You cannot trick the nose of an elk or a deer. Now,
Speaker 1: why does that not translate to Western big game hunting. Well,
Speaker 1: it's the style of hunting. So when we're talking about
Speaker 1: spot and stock and moving around elk hunting, in order
Speaker 1: to kill an elk, you could sit a stand and
Speaker 1: that is possible. So I would say that if you
Speaker 1: are stand hunting for elk, sure use the scent blockers,
Speaker 1: use the sprays, use the ozones. If you're sitting in
Speaker 1: a blind or whatever, you could even use scent wafers, whatever. Now,
Speaker 1: if you're hiking around, that stuff is immediately rendered useless
Speaker 1: as soon as you start hiking, because what happens is
Speaker 1: your body starts sweating. The sweat goes on the outside
Speaker 1: of your clothing you're moving around. So in order scent
Speaker 1: control for spot and stock hunting, still hunting. Hunting on
Speaker 1: the ground is just using the wind. There's no better
Speaker 1: scent control than getting the wind right. So that's gonna
Speaker 1: be your number one focus. So it doesn't matter how
Speaker 1: much spray you spray down with. If that wind shifts
Speaker 1: after you've been hiking and running around the mountains, they're
Speaker 1: gonna smell you. I know because I've tried it. I
Speaker 1: used to bring a bottle of spray down stuff on
Speaker 1: hunts with me. Before i'd stock a mule here, I'd
Speaker 1: spray down. And it's not a bad idea. If you're
Speaker 1: if you've got some swirling winds, maybe it'll give you
Speaker 1: a slight advantage. You will notice, like the first day
Speaker 1: that you hunt, animals are less likely to wind you.
Speaker 1: But on a backcountry hunt, you you aren't showering every day,
Speaker 1: your clothes aren't clean. You know, all where the same
Speaker 1: pair of clothes every day for five days, just because
Speaker 1: it's that's the feasible way to hunt. So sent control
Speaker 1: kind of just renders itself useless because when the wind shifts,
Speaker 1: no matter what you do on top of it, they're
Speaker 1: gonna smell you. Now, specifically with elk I have had
Speaker 1: when I was guiding. One time I had a guy
Speaker 1: bring one of those elk scent wafers, so it was
Speaker 1: like a cow estra scent, and he had it pinned
Speaker 1: onto his hat. About the first day, he got back
Speaker 1: in the truck and I said, hey, let me see
Speaker 1: that sent wafer, and then I threw it out the window.
Speaker 1: The reason is is because the first thing is a
Speaker 1: lot of times when you're chasing elk or whatever, they
Speaker 1: can smell the other elk in the herd, and if
Speaker 1: they smell the cow next to them, but your scent
Speaker 1: blows to them, they're still gonna smell you. Like the
Speaker 1: live elk won't mask your scent, So just adding it
Speaker 1: to yourself really isn't gonna help. The other crucial thing
Speaker 1: in elk hunting is I use my nose a lot
Speaker 1: when hunting. I hunt into the wind, and there's so
Speaker 1: many times I would say, I don't even know what
Speaker 1: percentage say of the time when I'm hunting in somewhere
Speaker 1: that's especially archery season or in thicker cover, I'll smell
Speaker 1: the elk before I see them, and that cused me
Speaker 1: into knowing where the elk are, where they've been elk
Speaker 1: or very pungent animals. You can smell wallows, you can
Speaker 1: smell where they've been by urine on the ground. You
Speaker 1: can actually smell the smell of an elk. Once you
Speaker 1: practice it, you can actually distinguish the smell between the
Speaker 1: smell of a bowl, the smell of a cow, and
Speaker 1: the smell of wear a bowls bent, and the smell
Speaker 1: of a live animal. And I've used that training of
Speaker 1: the sense of smell to turn that into success. So
Speaker 1: if you have, say a sent wafer that's blocking your
Speaker 1: sense of smell, you're really actually just limiting yourself. So
Speaker 1: the key is, use the wind, use your nose, and
Speaker 1: you're gonna be a lot more success all so, you
Speaker 1: just will find more success without those things. Now, if
Speaker 1: you decide you're gonna hunt a blind or something like that,
Speaker 1: feel free, go for it. You know, if you hike
Speaker 1: into your blind, hike in in one set of clothes
Speaker 1: and change your clothes, spray down, sit in your tree.
Speaker 1: Stand send control works for tree stand hunting does not
Speaker 1: work for hiking around spot and stock hunting. Here's another
Speaker 1: elk question, so let's just keep it in the in
Speaker 1: the elk family here, says Hi Remy, thanks for the
Speaker 1: cutting the Distance podcast. I'm learning so much, and as
Speaker 1: a beginner, I'm learning a ton from the info you share.
Speaker 1: I've listened every show you've put out, and there's no
Speaker 1: better resource for me. Would you be willing to do
Speaker 1: a show on how to go from basic archery skills
Speaker 1: and some hunting experience to archery hunting elk? It seems
Speaker 1: like a huge leap for me. I've hunted for pigs
Speaker 1: with a guide and done waterfall and upland hunting with
Speaker 1: friends and mentors, but there seems to be a huge
Speaker 1: leap required to get into something like archery elk hunting.
Speaker 1: What kind of plan could I put myself on to
Speaker 1: be ready next season? And then he says, I'm already
Speaker 1: working on my New Year's resolutions to be a better hunter,
Speaker 1: although I have to admit I've done zero of the
Speaker 1: hundred miles with a pack. Thanks Evan. Alright, so what
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do? I think I'll just break it down
Speaker 1: into five steps Okay, So these are gonna be the
Speaker 1: five steps. If you have not hunted elk before archery elk,
Speaker 1: here's how you're gonna get started. Step one, you're gonna
Speaker 1: pick the area to hunt. So what you gotta do
Speaker 1: is you gotta narrow it down to a state and
Speaker 1: a unit that right there once. Once you've decided that,
Speaker 1: then you can start to make your plan. So there's
Speaker 1: only a few states where this can be possible now
Speaker 1: because we gotta we gotta make a plan or doing
Speaker 1: it for this year. So Utah is available. Montana is
Speaker 1: not do yet, so you could still obtain a tag
Speaker 1: in Montana. You could look to Idaho, and you could
Speaker 1: look to Colorado Wyoming, it's too late. You had to
Speaker 1: do that by January, so that one's out. And then
Speaker 1: there's other states that have a lot of draws, but
Speaker 1: you're gonna want to pick an area that's more of
Speaker 1: a general unit where you can kind of guarantee yourself
Speaker 1: a tag. So general area, Montana, General areas, and Utah.
Speaker 1: Some of those you can actually get uh later too.
Speaker 1: They have leftover tags if you go back. There's actually
Speaker 1: a podcast on draws and units and tags. So definitely
Speaker 1: listen to that and then kind of make a plan
Speaker 1: and find somewhere to hunt. Once you have that, you
Speaker 1: can narrow it down to a unit you're gonna go to.
Speaker 1: Now Step two, plan a week in mid September, so
Speaker 1: you're gonna archery hunt. You want to find a hunt
Speaker 1: that hits the peak of the rut. It's just gonna
Speaker 1: be better for you. I prefer either the mid September.
Speaker 1: So I'm actually gonna pull up my calendar right now.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pick some good dates for you, and I
Speaker 1: don't have them off the top of my head, but
Speaker 1: normally around the nineteenth I always just find the nineteenth.
Speaker 1: That's kind of like peak rut. So, oh, this week,
Speaker 1: you've got a Saturday, the nineteen, and you can hunt.
Speaker 1: To the man, that should be a good day to hunt.
Speaker 1: A little bit early would be that week before. But
Speaker 1: if you're gonna go weekend to weekend, if I was
Speaker 1: to pick one weekend, I would go the nineteenth to
Speaker 1: that's just you know, peak rut if you can, if
Speaker 1: you can swing it. So step to pick a date
Speaker 1: in September, and you want to try to get peak
Speaker 1: at because if the bulls are bugling, are going to
Speaker 1: be easier to find. It's easy for elk hunting is
Speaker 1: cool for something during archery season for people that have
Speaker 1: never done it, because if you're in an area and
Speaker 1: you aren't finding elk, sometimes they'll just yell at you
Speaker 1: until you where they're out there, like whoa, I'm what
Speaker 1: we're here, dude? So that's great. Now. Step three, this
Speaker 1: is the research section. You've got your unit. You know,
Speaker 1: you've got your dates. Now talk to people that have
Speaker 1: maybe hunted the area. Go use social media for good.
Speaker 1: Find people that have maybe hunted that certain area. Talk
Speaker 1: to them maybe uh talk. Read some stuff on phishing
Speaker 1: game websites about the unit. You'll be surprised how much
Speaker 1: information the Department of Wildlife for each state has. You
Speaker 1: can go to eat specific unit. They'll tell you where
Speaker 1: the highest concentrations of animals are in the unit, and
Speaker 1: it will just really help you narrow it down. Then
Speaker 1: you're gonna eat scout at home at night, maybe every
Speaker 1: night before bed. You can take your maps out. Get
Speaker 1: the Onyx hunt app. That's honestly the bet I like.
Speaker 1: I literally, I don't think there's a day that goes
Speaker 1: by that I'm not on. That just completely scouting new areas,
Speaker 1: looking at new stuff, maybe trying to find something new
Speaker 1: because it's got the unit borders, it's got everything. Go
Speaker 1: back to one of my EA scouting podcasts, re listen
Speaker 1: to it with that in mind, like have it out,
Speaker 1: look at it, listen to it, and I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: doing some more in depth stuff in the future. So
Speaker 1: just keep listening to the podcast, but that will help.
Speaker 1: Do some research on that, and just start figuring out
Speaker 1: where you're gonna hunt, make a plan, take some notes,
Speaker 1: and once you have a plan, figure out Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna check out this area. So up until that point,
Speaker 1: step four is gonna be practice, practice with your calls,
Speaker 1: your bow as well as just like get in shape,
Speaker 1: do that, do your training, follow through with your becoming
Speaker 1: a better hunter, get that hundred miles in this summer,
Speaker 1: shoot your bow as much as possible, and practice with
Speaker 1: your calls. The best time to practice with an ELK
Speaker 1: call is when you're driving by yourself. Have some If
Speaker 1: you don't know how to use a diaphragm call, get
Speaker 1: a couple of diaphragm calls. Use those. God man, it's
Speaker 1: just it's so handy to have a call in your
Speaker 1: mouth that you don't have to use your hands. But
Speaker 1: then also get some read calls, practice, some bugling, practice,
Speaker 1: some cow calls, and I'll try to do a few
Speaker 1: more calling ELK calling episodes in the future too, so
Speaker 1: but there's plenty of resources out there, so that's a
Speaker 1: practice those calls. Now, Step five, execute your plan. You're
Speaker 1: gonna pack up your truck. You're gonna do whatever it takes.
Speaker 1: You're gonna get out. You're gonna get into the unit.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have a plan based on a map. You're
Speaker 1: gonna follow that map and then start hunting, start looking
Speaker 1: for ELK. Once you're there, you're gonna have a lot
Speaker 1: better chance of being successful. Then if you just think
Speaker 1: about it and say, oh, that's something that I don't
Speaker 1: know how to do. The key is to just dive
Speaker 1: in to get out there. Whether you're successful or not,
Speaker 1: you're gonna learn something on that trip that's gonna help
Speaker 1: you in the future either way. But odds are if
Speaker 1: you're out there, the chances of getting an ELK or
Speaker 1: a lot better than or infinitely better than if you
Speaker 1: stay home. Also, if it's your first time man, invite
Speaker 1: someone to go with you, find somebody that might be interested.
Speaker 1: It's a lot easier mentally and just splitting costs of
Speaker 1: travel and doing something new like that. If you've got
Speaker 1: a buddy with you, so go out with a buddy,
Speaker 1: find a buddy to go with you, and enjoy the experience.
Speaker 1: And that's it. Just do it. And also one thing
Speaker 1: to think about when you start planning that trip, scroll
Speaker 1: through the list of the past podcasts. There's something that
Speaker 1: kind of covers every one of those steps. So once
Speaker 1: you have that in mind, really listen to those because
Speaker 1: you'll probably pick up things that you missed the first
Speaker 1: time if you already listen to it. And I suggest
Speaker 1: that for everyone. If you're if you're planning something, there's
Speaker 1: something in one of these podcasts that kind of lines
Speaker 1: up with what you're planning on doing. It's something that
Speaker 1: you want to learn more about. Do that and then
Speaker 1: maybe even take some notes on things. Okay, I need
Speaker 1: to I need to know this a little bit, and
Speaker 1: then find out do a little more research on it,
Speaker 1: maybe find some books or some other online videos, whatever
Speaker 1: you can to help you with that. I like this
Speaker 1: question because it relates to a lot of things. I
Speaker 1: think I actually kind of wanted to do a whole
Speaker 1: podcast on this, but I want to talk about it
Speaker 1: just for a little bit here. So it says early
Speaker 1: season scouting tips for deer and elk, as in what
Speaker 1: to look for when scouting for elk, as far as terrain,
Speaker 1: how early and when should I stop scouting for deer
Speaker 1: elk and what to do if you're seeing animals during
Speaker 1: this scouting season but they disappeared during the hunting season.
Speaker 1: So this is a great question. Uh. This from Jesse Adam,
Speaker 1: So I I really like that question because it is
Speaker 1: something that happens a lot. I think if you have
Speaker 1: access to scouting, you're gonna hunting area. Starting in the
Speaker 1: summer is a great time to start now. I actually
Speaker 1: would consider consider scouting almost year round if you can. So.
Speaker 1: I like to go out in the springtime and look
Speaker 1: for for shed anilers. It's just an enjoyable time. You
Speaker 1: see a lot of animals out there. I like to
Speaker 1: go later once the winter is warn't off. Don't go
Speaker 1: too early, so late spring, early summer, I go kick
Speaker 1: around look for sheds. While you're doing that, you're gonna
Speaker 1: see a lot of animals on what would have been
Speaker 1: the winter range and it's not necessarily going to be
Speaker 1: where they're at during the hunting season. So there's a
Speaker 1: lot of things like migration other things. But understand those
Speaker 1: animals in your unit, where are they wintering? Then you're
Speaker 1: gonna work backwards and say where are they coming from?
Speaker 1: So the odds are that they're they've moved from a
Speaker 1: high country area in the summer to a down low
Speaker 1: winter range. Winter, they're spending their time on north slopes
Speaker 1: that burn off snow. They've got a lot of feed
Speaker 1: and feel safe, and then in the summer most of
Speaker 1: the bulls and bucks will go up higher into the mountains.
Speaker 1: Now at summertime, okay, we're gonna be up at the
Speaker 1: tops of the mountains. This is where we're gonna find
Speaker 1: the animals. So what I do then is I make
Speaker 1: notes of places that the animals are hanging out. So
Speaker 1: there's two type groups of animals. There are migratory and
Speaker 1: then there's resident herds. So the resident stuff is going
Speaker 1: to be the stuff that's not necessarily up at the top.
Speaker 1: So if you go to the top of the mountain
Speaker 1: you're in the alpine, you're gonna see animals there because
Speaker 1: a lot of animals will summer there. Now, if you're
Speaker 1: planning on hunting to say an archery season in or
Speaker 1: an early season, you're probably better off scouting and looking
Speaker 1: for resident animals, animals that are in an area that
Speaker 1: they don't have to move. They probably won't change between
Speaker 1: winter and summer range. Those animals will probably stick around longer.
Speaker 1: But if you do go into the alpine you start
Speaker 1: seeing animals, odds are that you will not find them
Speaker 1: when it comes time for your hunting season. So if
Speaker 1: you've if you've gone into the alpine, you see a
Speaker 1: bunch of mule deer, especially, they'll be velveted up, they'll
Speaker 1: be bachelored up. And then you've got say a September
Speaker 1: muzzleloader hunt, and you're like, man, I watched these deer
Speaker 1: all summer. I go up there at the beginning of
Speaker 1: September and I cannot find a single animal. What's going on? Well,
Speaker 1: you have to factor in what happened. So for mule deer,
Speaker 1: they've shed their antlers. And I find that most animals,
Speaker 1: like if they're in the alpine or whatever, they'll drop
Speaker 1: from their summer range about a thousand feet in elevation
Speaker 1: and they'll find a spot where they can kind of
Speaker 1: just bulk up and prepare for the rut that's coming on. Now,
Speaker 1: elk and deer are different, so let's just let's just
Speaker 1: pick mule deer and I'll just talk about mule deer
Speaker 1: and elk. You can kind of factor in a different
Speaker 1: way because what happens after the summer elk rut in September,
Speaker 1: So the bulls might be in the alpine now they're
Speaker 1: going to go to groups at cows. So if you're
Speaker 1: scouting for elk, there's no time too early to understand
Speaker 1: where is a resident group of cows living, and then
Speaker 1: that group of cows will act as a magnet. And
Speaker 1: if you're hunting later in the season, you're gonna decipher
Speaker 1: where the elk summering and where they wintering, and then
Speaker 1: you kind of create on your map a line of like, okay,
Speaker 1: this is probably where they're traveling from. Now. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying you have to find the same elk on the
Speaker 1: winter range and they'll find them on the summer range
Speaker 1: and cut them off, but you can kind of decipher, Okay,
Speaker 1: they're here, they're going to hear They're gonna be somewhere
Speaker 1: mid range living where it's secluded timber, they've got everything
Speaker 1: they need in between during that main hunting season, so
Speaker 1: that might be something in like October November. You can
Speaker 1: kind of figure out their route along the way and
Speaker 1: then hunt those areas later in the year. So knowing
Speaker 1: where they are early, knowing where they are late can
Speaker 1: pay off. Now, something like mule deer, they shed their velvet,
Speaker 1: they're gonna drop down, say a thousand feet in elevation.
Speaker 1: The reason they do that they're they're bulking up. They
Speaker 1: can be in the timber more because they're they're antlers,
Speaker 1: are no longer soft um. They might even break off
Speaker 1: their bachelor groups and then they'll start to prepare for
Speaker 1: the ruts. So they're just gonna bulk up because they're
Speaker 1: gonna rut November. But what you'll find is if you
Speaker 1: were seeing deer in the summer, say in the Alpa,
Speaker 1: you're gonna now concentrate on areas of thicker cover lower
Speaker 1: on the mountains, so you'll know where they were, and
Speaker 1: now pick spots in that same general area, say down
Speaker 1: the canyon, in the thicker cover, and really spend a
Speaker 1: lot more time looking because they're gonna be harder to
Speaker 1: see Uh, they won't be out in the open as often,
Speaker 1: but they should still be in that same general area.
Speaker 1: So I hope that helps. That's the way that I
Speaker 1: think about it, and it's it's proven a lot of
Speaker 1: success over the years. All right, let's move on to
Speaker 1: the next. One says, this actually just address is something
Speaker 1: that I talked about earlier. So it said, Remy, you
Speaker 1: noted that you will be speaking in Chantilly, Virginia on March,
Speaker 1: so I'll be speaking at the Pope and Young Club there.
Speaker 1: It says, I don't see on the schedule when I'll be,
Speaker 1: so if I happen to know, give some info, thanks Leland.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I appreciate that. So Friday, I'll be at
Speaker 1: the Pope and Young Convention in Virginia and Shantilly, Virginia.
Speaker 1: They've got some like an archery shoot around the hotel there.
Speaker 1: It should be pretty sweet. They've actually acquired one twenty
Speaker 1: two archery world records, like the actual antlers, mounts, everything,
Speaker 1: and then the core. The archery course is going to
Speaker 1: be um like reproductions of a lot of the world records,
Speaker 1: so it's kind of cool. You can shoot a foam
Speaker 1: three D target that represents the world record archery as
Speaker 1: far as like size and everything, so that's gonna be
Speaker 1: pretty sweet. So on in the morning, I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: doing a Western Big Game Q and A. I think
Speaker 1: that might be at nine am. I don't think that
Speaker 1: the actual schedules out yet, but this is just it
Speaker 1: should be by the time this goes. So in the morning,
Speaker 1: I'm doing a Q and A. Then there's a luncheon
Speaker 1: panel at eleven, and then there's a dinner at night.
Speaker 1: I think it starts at six or whatever, and I'll
Speaker 1: be the keynote speech during that and they're gonna do
Speaker 1: some other cool stuff during that dinner. So if you're
Speaker 1: in the area you're traveling to that event, try to
Speaker 1: be there. And you want to catch up with me
Speaker 1: Fridays the day because I actually have to fly out
Speaker 1: in the next day. I'm going hunting for red deer
Speaker 1: in South America. So if you want to catch me
Speaker 1: on that awesome. I'll be around And I think even
Speaker 1: Thursday I might be walking around shooting that course. So
Speaker 1: I really want to do that. That sounds really fun.
Speaker 1: So if you find me on the course, jump in.
Speaker 1: We'll shoot together. Let's let's jump into a little life advice.
Speaker 1: You know that's that's always fun, something a little bit
Speaker 1: out of the box. Uh, it says Remy, I've got
Speaker 1: a monster of a question for you. It's a rough one.
Speaker 1: Looking to get into bow hunting. The hardest part is
Speaker 1: convincing the wife I need a bow when I've been
Speaker 1: rifle hunting for the past six years of our marriage.
Speaker 1: Now here's the thing. I smoked a rack of ribs
Speaker 1: and a pork shoulder on my homemade smoker last weekend.
Speaker 1: She confronted me after I was complaining about my smoker
Speaker 1: and told me she's on board with me buying a
Speaker 1: new pellet grill, but can't get on board with a bow.
Speaker 1: What say you do I keep fighting the uphill battle
Speaker 1: or do I concede and get the smoker. I told
Speaker 1: you this was a rough one. That's from Chad in Ellisburg, Washington. Alright, Chad,
Speaker 1: that is a tough one. Here's the thing. I think
Speaker 1: maybe maybe you're just going about it all wrong. Now,
Speaker 1: you built a smoker, and the smoker works, and I
Speaker 1: understand wanting the pellet gril. So if you can get
Speaker 1: the pellet grill, Gosh, that's a tough one. You've already
Speaker 1: your rifle hunting. That's great. Hopefully you're bringing home some meat.
Speaker 1: Here's my thought. If you want to get into archery hunting,
Speaker 1: but your spouse might not be on board, I think
Speaker 1: that you should make it a thing that the both
Speaker 1: of you can do together. Now. I don't know your wife,
Speaker 1: but I know that shooting a bow doesn't necessarily have
Speaker 1: to be about hunting. And there's plenty of people who
Speaker 1: I know whose wives really enjoy shooting. I've I've got
Speaker 1: friends that don't even hunt that they go. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I didn't even know you could shoot a bow and
Speaker 1: not hunt. But what I would suggest is maybe before
Speaker 1: you do anything, make it a date. Go find a
Speaker 1: really good range that has rental equipment and a good instructor.
Speaker 1: Go out and make it a thing that the two
Speaker 1: of you can do together. Because I found that if
Speaker 1: there's anything you want to add to your life and
Speaker 1: you're taking time away from one thing and putting it
Speaker 1: into another, if you can make it about the both
Speaker 1: of you, if she starts to enjoy it, then you're
Speaker 1: gonna get a lot more support for it. Now, I
Speaker 1: don't know how you and your wife work. Like if
Speaker 1: you're a good coach, or if you know new into
Speaker 1: bow hunting, maybe you both find somebody. There's a plenty
Speaker 1: of ranges all over the place where they get kids, women,
Speaker 1: new hunters, new shooters, just into shooting. Find something like that.
Speaker 1: Make it a make it a thing, make it fun.
Speaker 1: Go do that and see if she enjoys it, because
Speaker 1: the act of shooting a bow is really I I
Speaker 1: find it extremely enjoyable. Um, I just got my wife
Speaker 1: into shooting a boat and she absolutely loves it. Now
Speaker 1: she enjoys hunting too, But it wasn't something she was
Speaker 1: always into. Actually, just was it. Yesterday we're out shooting
Speaker 1: in the backyard. She shot a perfect shot on the
Speaker 1: target and then actually, like Robin, hooded the arrow. And
Speaker 1: once that happened, I mean, I'm pretty sure she's hooked
Speaker 1: for life. So if you can get her on board,
Speaker 1: this might seem devious, but if you can get her
Speaker 1: on board, she's gonna be way more likely for you
Speaker 1: to get on board. So I would go that route
Speaker 1: because if it's gonna be an uphill battle, just make
Speaker 1: it something that you guys can do together. And if
Speaker 1: it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. Uh, You
Speaker 1: should definitely take the offer of the pellet grill though
Speaker 1: while it's on the table, because that doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: the bows out of the question forever. You know, small victories, man,
Speaker 1: small victories. So if you got that pellet grill, you
Speaker 1: can make her happy. You can keep on cooking some
Speaker 1: good stuff. And maybe I don't know, or you just
Speaker 1: perfect that homemade smoker. Sell those on eBay, or trade
Speaker 1: a guy on eBay a homemade smoker for used bow.
Speaker 1: That's also a great idea by the smoke poker, trade
Speaker 1: the old smoker for a used bow. A little bit
Speaker 1: of life advice. I don't know. That was kind of fun.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna really dig deep for next week and
Speaker 1: find some fun stuff to talk about going through some
Speaker 1: more of these questions because I couldn't really get to
Speaker 1: all of them. But I'll tell you what in closing,
Speaker 1: If you have some questions, maybe you listen to this
Speaker 1: podcast other podcasts and you want your question answered, email
Speaker 1: me at Remy at the meat Eator dot com and
Speaker 1: then you guys can throw in some testimonials. You can
Speaker 1: throw in some questions and if you just want some
Speaker 1: general life advice that isn't about hunting throw those out
Speaker 1: there too. Those are kind of fun as well. I'm sure,
Speaker 1: just mix it up a little bit to help in
Speaker 1: the organization of it. If you have a testimonial, put
Speaker 1: that in the first part of the subject line. If
Speaker 1: you have a question, put that in there. And if
Speaker 1: you just have some life advice, put that in there.
Speaker 1: Maybe we'll get some funny stuff. So I'll try to
Speaker 1: do these. I try to. It's fun to do them
Speaker 1: about once a month or whatever. But if you've got
Speaker 1: those questions, email them there. And then if you just
Speaker 1: got short questions you're like, ah, that might not be
Speaker 1: a podcast question. At remy warrant it Instagram, you can
Speaker 1: reach me there. I try to get to as many
Speaker 1: as I can, so feel free to reach out there
Speaker 1: as well. Now, if you don't have a question, or
Speaker 1: you enjoy listening to this podcast, what have you? My
Speaker 1: next tip is to share this podcast with people you
Speaker 1: know that might also enjoy it and get them to subscribe.
Speaker 1: And if you aren't a subscriber, subscribe why subscribe because
Speaker 1: then the podcast are there, it's easier to listen to
Speaker 1: and it'll just help you in the long run hopefully.
Speaker 1: So if you subscribe, already, get a friend to subscribe.
Speaker 1: If you don't subscribe, go ahead and subscribe. If you
Speaker 1: like the podcast, share it because hopefully we'll be able
Speaker 1: to make everybody a better hunter. And you, guys, if
Speaker 1: you got friends that listen, you know, discuss some of
Speaker 1: the tips, plan a hunt together, do something new and
Speaker 1: then tell me about it, send me a testimonial, and
Speaker 1: if you've got questions on whatever you're doing, shoot me
Speaker 1: those questions. So until next week, keep the questions rolling