Speaker 1: As a guide an 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. Welcome back everybody. I hope
Speaker 1: everybody's doing well and has some hunting on the mind.
Speaker 1: I know this time of year there's a lot of
Speaker 1: pre planning going on, but it should be that time
Speaker 1: where maybe some draw results are coming back. Maybe you
Speaker 1: drew a good tag, or you applied for tag and
Speaker 1: didn't draw, but you can maybe start planning out a
Speaker 1: little bit more, maybe looking for some over the counter
Speaker 1: hunts or just kind of get that fall season figured
Speaker 1: out and understand maybe what what you're doing, what you're
Speaker 1: getting into, or maybe year thinking about a new hunt
Speaker 1: and that's on the docket. So I got a lot
Speaker 1: of questions coming in about just different types of hunts,
Speaker 1: you know, for me personally, Nevada draws came out. I
Speaker 1: drew a late season deer tag archery deer tag with
Speaker 1: my wife, so this will actually be her first archery
Speaker 1: tag and her first Nevada tag. She had quite a
Speaker 1: few points built up and hadn't been able to draw,
Speaker 1: so she decided, hey, if I want to draw, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna start applying for archery and did and we drew
Speaker 1: a tag that we're gonna be hunting together this year.
Speaker 1: So I'm really excited about that. That's for me. Really,
Speaker 1: I think that's really the only tag that I've drawn
Speaker 1: this season. So everything else is going to be kind
Speaker 1: of over the counter type hunts and planning that out.
Speaker 1: But a lot of people have reached out about nonresident
Speaker 1: guys that have maybe listened to the podcast, and there's
Speaker 1: quite a few people that have been listening to the
Speaker 1: podcast decided to apply as a nonresident Nevada and drew
Speaker 1: some good tags, which I'm like, that's awesome. Good for
Speaker 1: you guys, Congratulations everybody that maybe drew something. You know,
Speaker 1: as as these plans start to formulate, a lot of
Speaker 1: questions come up. So this week we're gonna go and
Speaker 1: answer those questions. I'm covering literally a very wide range
Speaker 1: of topics from scouting and new hunt expectations to some
Speaker 1: moose tactics, butchering and then picking a good guide. So
Speaker 1: this week we're focusing all on your questions in our
Speaker 1: monthly Question and Answer. Before we get too deep into
Speaker 1: answering some questions, I always like to read a few testimonials,
Speaker 1: some some people that have had some success based on
Speaker 1: what they've learned here on cutting the distance. So this
Speaker 1: one comes from Jeff says here, Amy just wanted to
Speaker 1: say thank you for the podcast in particularly for the
Speaker 1: recent spring bear podcast. I live in northern Idaho and
Speaker 1: over the weekend got my first black bear. I paid
Speaker 1: attention to your tips on the stages of food and elevation.
Speaker 1: The elk, deer and moose are starting to have their
Speaker 1: babies and that's where I got this guy. Anyways, thanks
Speaker 1: a million, and I came with a picture of a
Speaker 1: great black bear. So awesome work. Jeff love to hear
Speaker 1: those kind of success stories. I got a ton of
Speaker 1: them from people, especially about the spring bear stuff. A
Speaker 1: lot of people that have had trouble hunting spring bears
Speaker 1: or bears in the past and found those very very useful.
Speaker 1: So here's a question that has to do with spring bears.
Speaker 1: So kind of piggybacking off that it's from Trevor, and
Speaker 1: Trevor says, hey, Remy, I'm a huge fan of cutting
Speaker 1: the distance and had a question about calling for bears.
Speaker 1: You mentioned that when you were calling, you should find
Speaker 1: a spot that is difficult for a bear to circle you.
Speaker 1: I was wondering what that spot would look like. Would
Speaker 1: it be you set up against the bottom of a
Speaker 1: steep slope or something like really thick brush. That's a
Speaker 1: great question. I don't know if I covered it completely,
Speaker 1: so if you listen to the Spring Bear Tips podcast,
Speaker 1: I didn't mention about calling. Calling bears works great in
Speaker 1: the fall as well as springtime when elk and deer
Speaker 1: calving as well. But what I'm talking about, essentially for
Speaker 1: preventing bears from circling you is mostly because of the
Speaker 1: wind um some people you know you do. I've heard
Speaker 1: in the past people saying like, set up with something
Speaker 1: at your back so they can't jump on you, and
Speaker 1: they do. You know, animals, predators, other predators can come
Speaker 1: in quiet and kind of give you where they have
Speaker 1: to walk around to the sound and your peripheral vision,
Speaker 1: which is a good idea as well. But what I'm
Speaker 1: mainly concerned about is just calling for that amount of
Speaker 1: time and having a bear circle me, get my wind
Speaker 1: and run off and me never know it. So I
Speaker 1: try to pick a spot where I can predict where
Speaker 1: the bear might come from down wind and then have
Speaker 1: a sort of an area where it will funnel it.
Speaker 1: If the bear is going to circle me, I should
Speaker 1: be able to pick up movement or see it before
Speaker 1: it fully gets around to the wind. So if there's
Speaker 1: an area, say, it's just really depends on what the
Speaker 1: area looks like most of the time. If it's like
Speaker 1: a thicker, choked out canyon, I might be in the
Speaker 1: bottom of that canyon down wind in a spot where
Speaker 1: I know that you know the bear is likely going
Speaker 1: to travel, and I can see that area. Honestly, it's
Speaker 1: just really depend ends on where you are. But you
Speaker 1: just want to think of, all, right, where are you
Speaker 1: expecting the bear to be, where's the wind going? Now,
Speaker 1: put yourself in a position where that bear has very
Speaker 1: few options to go from where you think he's going
Speaker 1: to be to getting down wind from you. And that's
Speaker 1: really the key there. And and that's all in the
Speaker 1: setup because it does take a lot of energy to
Speaker 1: blow on a predator call for that long to get
Speaker 1: the bears to come in, So you want to make
Speaker 1: sure that you've got to set up where it's hard
Speaker 1: for them to circle you and get your wind without
Speaker 1: you being able to see it, and a lot of
Speaker 1: times that may not even be possible. But if you're
Speaker 1: expecting a bear like down in the bottom, instead of
Speaker 1: getting in the bottom, you might want to be just
Speaker 1: up a little bit out of the thick stuff where
Speaker 1: you can have a little bit more visibility. So just
Speaker 1: playing it a little bit like that, as opposed to
Speaker 1: just setting up right in the middle of the thick
Speaker 1: of everything where you think, okay, there's gonna be a
Speaker 1: bear in there, trying to just call him out of
Speaker 1: something a little bit thicker where you've got a little
Speaker 1: bit better vision and eyesight on it as well. The
Speaker 1: next couple of questions kind of fall into this scouting
Speaker 1: and in hunt expectations. So this next question comes from
Speaker 1: Connor from Utah and says, Heyremy love the podcast. Appreciate
Speaker 1: what you do and think it's very well done. My
Speaker 1: question is how early is too early to begin scouting
Speaker 1: in area? For practical reasons, he lives in Utah and
Speaker 1: has been doing many hikes trying to cover as munny
Speaker 1: miles as he can. He's seen a few tracks and
Speaker 1: found what appears to be a good area, but there's
Speaker 1: still snow on the ground. He's wondering if this will
Speaker 1: change dramatically in three months when the season starts. Any thoughts,
Speaker 1: I plan to continue scouting in June, July, August. But
Speaker 1: will the things I scout now in June be old
Speaker 1: information come hunting time. That's a question that I do
Speaker 1: get asked a lot, and it really depends on the
Speaker 1: type of area and what you're hunting. So you have
Speaker 1: to understand what are you chasing? So is it mule deer?
Speaker 1: Is it elk? We'll just pretend it's to those two,
Speaker 1: And what kind of area are you hunting in and
Speaker 1: what season will you be hunting in. There have been
Speaker 1: areas where I've scouted elk in June and gone in
Speaker 1: there in September and taking an elk that I found
Speaker 1: and watched grow all summer. There are other areas that
Speaker 1: you could scout in June and there will not be
Speaker 1: an elk there or deer there any other time of year.
Speaker 1: So you really have to understand, Okay, are the animals
Speaker 1: you're hunting a migratory herd a resident herd? If you're
Speaker 1: finding an animal in June. It's probably a resident animal.
Speaker 1: And what will probably happen is there are some animals
Speaker 1: that will stay where they're at, and there are many
Speaker 1: that may go up into follow the snow line. So
Speaker 1: dear Love, well, most animals they love that new growth.
Speaker 1: So what you're gonna get is as the spring, as
Speaker 1: snow starts to melt on a mountain, they'll pretty much
Speaker 1: be following that green up up the mountain. So springtime
Speaker 1: they're gonna be down lower that's where they wintered. And
Speaker 1: this is like, you know, some animals do this on
Speaker 1: very large scales over migrations, and some do it in
Speaker 1: smaller scales. But most of the time most areas, this
Speaker 1: is just rings true for that area, unless you're hunting
Speaker 1: in a really high alpine area that cannot winter animals
Speaker 1: um in which case you know they'll just travel further distances.
Speaker 1: But you know they moved down in the winter and
Speaker 1: they go into what would be their winter range. That
Speaker 1: winter range is gonna be probably low line, lower elevation,
Speaker 1: a lot of open area where the sun can burn
Speaker 1: off snow, and they're gonna be able to feed throughout
Speaker 1: the winter and be protected as well as maybe have
Speaker 1: some good stands of timber for cover and other things.
Speaker 1: But they'll kind of have everything they need in that
Speaker 1: winter area. Then as that snow starts to melt, you know,
Speaker 1: snow in the higher elevation stays longer, so as spring
Speaker 1: starts to come on, you've got snow line starts moving
Speaker 1: up the mountain. And with that snow line starts that
Speaker 1: green up. And what green up is it's just the
Speaker 1: first growth, while those spring shoots actually are the most
Speaker 1: nutritious out of everything. So you've got like old grass.
Speaker 1: You know, you see an area with tall grass and whatever,
Speaker 1: that tall grass doesn't have as much nutrients as that
Speaker 1: fresh first growth of grass or whatever the brow this
Speaker 1: happens to be. So they're gonna move up the mountain
Speaker 1: following that really good high protein, high energy. They're growing
Speaker 1: their antlers and that takes a lot of energy, so
Speaker 1: they're just more efficient eating everything that's just starting to grow.
Speaker 1: So they're gonna follow that snow line up and then
Speaker 1: they'll probably be up in the alpine in the summertime
Speaker 1: and they'll stay and hang out and summer there. Now,
Speaker 1: you know, there are animals that have resident animals that
Speaker 1: will stay in certain areas, so it is dependent. But
Speaker 1: then as the season progresses, you kind of get that
Speaker 1: reverse action where they then start moving back down for
Speaker 1: other things. Might be for running, it might be for
Speaker 1: winter time. So you really just have to understand, okay,
Speaker 1: the type of area you're at, what's the snow and
Speaker 1: the animals doing then, and then if you've got the
Speaker 1: time to kind of follow it through a couple of
Speaker 1: months through the summer figuring out, okay, well when's your
Speaker 1: season and will they be in that same area. One
Speaker 1: thing that I have found is scouting in the springtime
Speaker 1: is actually not a bad time to figure out where
Speaker 1: animals might be in that October season. And it's just
Speaker 1: it depends on the area. Again, but I have found
Speaker 1: that in that after winter range, kind of when they're
Speaker 1: in that spring range but not all the way up
Speaker 1: on their summer range, it's kind of this mid area,
Speaker 1: and you will tend to find animals again in that
Speaker 1: similar area come October. So it's not bad to scout
Speaker 1: that and kind of understand where they like in those
Speaker 1: particular places because many of those animals will return. I've
Speaker 1: done that, just like scouting, watching and then kind of
Speaker 1: hunting that same area later, but it really kind of
Speaker 1: depends on your area. But just think of the way
Speaker 1: the animals move follow the snow and that will really
Speaker 1: help you out as far as understanding where they'll be
Speaker 1: later on. This next question comes from Brent. He says, remmy,
Speaker 1: thank you for the awesome content with Solo Hunter as
Speaker 1: well as through the mediatre outlets. I'm the lucky recipient
Speaker 1: of a late season alternate tag in Nevada. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to give the actual unit here, but he says,
Speaker 1: although I have many years of white tail experience in
Speaker 1: the Southeast, this will be my first true experience hunting
Speaker 1: in the West. Other than the obvious necessities being in
Speaker 1: great shape, proper gear, EA, scouting, etcetera, do you have
Speaker 1: any advice for the first time we're heading into this
Speaker 1: type of hunt. Fortunately, I compete in several endurance and
Speaker 1: triathlon type events, so I think I can endure the
Speaker 1: physical elements for the most part. I am honestly intimidated
Speaker 1: by the big country and what to expect. Your podcasts
Speaker 1: on pack dumps and gear have been extremely helpful as well.
Speaker 1: Thank you in advance for your time. I think that
Speaker 1: that's a great question and it is something that I
Speaker 1: feel like I do talk about a lot, but I
Speaker 1: honestly think it gets kind of understated or undersold, And
Speaker 1: that's just the mental preparation of having the right kind
Speaker 1: of expectations on something like this. And I've I've mentioned
Speaker 1: this before, but a lot of time the guys that
Speaker 1: are in the best shape seem to be the ones
Speaker 1: that do the worst in some ways because they mentally aren't.
Speaker 1: They just like don't really know what to expect, and
Speaker 1: then they get into it and it is difficult. So
Speaker 1: what you want to do is just set your mindset
Speaker 1: of knowing that this type of experience is going to
Speaker 1: be difficult, but that's the whole point of the experience.
Speaker 1: Creating that positive mental attitude before you get in there,
Speaker 1: and don't be scared of what you're going to expect.
Speaker 1: Just enjoy the experience. You might have trouble finding dear,
Speaker 1: you might think you're doing things wrong. You might get
Speaker 1: out there and it just be hotter than heck, hard
Speaker 1: to breathe, very difficult. You might get out there and
Speaker 1: it might be way easier than you're expecting. It doesn't
Speaker 1: really matter. Just have that positive attitude of every day
Speaker 1: you get up you're gonna enjoy it, whether it's sucking
Speaker 1: or not. Enjoy it, and you embrace the suck, enjoy
Speaker 1: the suck, and you're gonna be fine. Honestly, there's I mean,
Speaker 1: I've seen so many hunters that go up a trail
Speaker 1: or a hiking trail. They've got their gear and they're like, okay,
Speaker 1: this is they're they're mentally beat. And yet in the summertime,
Speaker 1: that same trail is taken by very out of shape
Speaker 1: or non outdoorsy people doing just the normal hike in
Speaker 1: um flip flops and with a JanSport backpack, and they
Speaker 1: survive and they're fine. And I don't know, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just like it's one of those things that happens
Speaker 1: some of the I've literally seen people in the summertime
Speaker 1: on trails that I go hunting on later, and they're
Speaker 1: just out there having a good time, enjoying what it's
Speaker 1: out there, taking their time and enjoying it. And there's
Speaker 1: many hunters that get out on that same trail that
Speaker 1: by all means should be successful in at least not
Speaker 1: feeling too over their head, and yet I feel like
Speaker 1: they're just way too far out of their element. So
Speaker 1: I say that to say, it's all about your mindset,
Speaker 1: It's all about your attitude. Expect things to be tough,
Speaker 1: but that you will be completely fine. Don't freak out,
Speaker 1: don't over analyze how hard it's gonna be. Just know
Speaker 1: that going into it it might be challenging, and whatever
Speaker 1: gets thrown your way, you're going to deal with. And
Speaker 1: that's really it. And then listen to as many of
Speaker 1: these podcasts as you can, and I guarantee you'll be
Speaker 1: more prepared than the people out there. All Right, I've
Speaker 1: got I don't even know over a dozen questions about
Speaker 1: moose hunting, and I honestly think that that's because a
Speaker 1: lot of draws came out. Idaho draws came out from Moose, Montana,
Speaker 1: moose draws came out, so I think Colorado did as well. Now,
Speaker 1: probably one of the reasons I haven't done a moose
Speaker 1: hunting podcast is because the only time you're hunting moose
Speaker 1: is whether I mean, if you live in Alaska. There's
Speaker 1: actually quite a few guys from Canada that listen. And
Speaker 1: then in the lower forty eight you have to draw
Speaker 1: a tag and it's very difficult to draw. I have
Speaker 1: never drawn a shiris moose tag. However, I've been fortunate
Speaker 1: to be on many hunts because I get to guide
Speaker 1: those hunts, So there's a lot of there's a lot
Speaker 1: of that when this certain species that take a long
Speaker 1: time to draw, could be very hard to draw. Most
Speaker 1: of the people that have the most experienced hunting I'm
Speaker 1: have actually never pulled the trigger on one or how
Speaker 1: to tag in their pocket themselves. So I think it
Speaker 1: would be good, and that's probably another reason why a
Speaker 1: lot of people want information on it, because I think
Speaker 1: that most people who draw a special tag like that,
Speaker 1: whether it be moose, mountain goat, or sheep um what
Speaker 1: I would consider the big three, most of the people
Speaker 1: that draw those tags that might be the first and
Speaker 1: only hunt that they'll go on for those species, so
Speaker 1: they don't have a lot of knowledge or whatever, and
Speaker 1: there are a lot of nuances with each one of
Speaker 1: those that is different than other things that you hunt.
Speaker 1: So I think it'd be great to just answer a
Speaker 1: few of the questions here, and there's quite a few
Speaker 1: of them, so I'm gonna just go through and kind
Speaker 1: of all of them target a little bit something different.
Speaker 1: So this first question comes from Ethan he says he
Speaker 1: started listening to the podcast and he's up to episode.
Speaker 1: He figured you'd reach out and see if I had
Speaker 1: any tips for moose hunting. He drew two weeks ago.
Speaker 1: He's very fortunate to draw a Bullshiris moose tag for
Speaker 1: southwestern Montana. His wife and not him are headed down
Speaker 1: to start some early scouting for the season. He says,
Speaker 1: I don't exactly know what to ask, but do you
Speaker 1: have any tips for moose hunting? By no means need
Speaker 1: to shoot a huge bowl, but I would like to
Speaker 1: find a nice bowl for my once in a lifetime tag.
Speaker 1: Any information would be appreciated. Thanks in advance, Ethan. That
Speaker 1: is probably how most people who draw a moose tag feel.
Speaker 1: I don't know what to ask because I've never done
Speaker 1: this before, and that is actually a great question. What
Speaker 1: should you be asking, at least for the Montana moose hunt.
Speaker 1: I think that one thing that can really go in
Speaker 1: your advantage for hunting moose is hunting during the rut.
Speaker 1: Bulls can be called in. The bulls are moving that
Speaker 1: time of year, and it's gonna be your best chance
Speaker 1: at success if you can hunt during the rut. For
Speaker 1: in most areas, now when you're thinking about, well, what
Speaker 1: do I look for for moose. It's the same thing
Speaker 1: as you look for for any species, identifying good habitat
Speaker 1: and then concentrating in those habitats. Moose are different than
Speaker 1: other deer species. There browsers a lot like say mule,
Speaker 1: dear white tail or as elk or more grazers, so
Speaker 1: they're gonna be eating more wooded plants. A lot of
Speaker 1: moose really survive off of willows, especially later in the season,
Speaker 1: and they do like that more swampy, wet area, But
Speaker 1: that does not mean that moose are only around those
Speaker 1: marshy areas. I found identifying their prime habitat though, would
Speaker 1: be that that more marshy area, especially if you're scouting,
Speaker 1: the cows and calves will be in more river bottom
Speaker 1: or even high up like high alpine marshy areas, wet
Speaker 1: areas areas with a lot of runoff. So when I'm
Speaker 1: e scouting, I'm looking for those areas anywhere that funnels
Speaker 1: water into something that might flatten out a little bit,
Speaker 1: creek bottoms, drainages, and the higher up the better early season,
Speaker 1: so if you're scouting, follow that snow line up. Moose
Speaker 1: love those early shoots up high in the willows, stuff
Speaker 1: that you can find in really wet sep areas. They're
Speaker 1: going to be moving up in those areas. Start looking
Speaker 1: for concentrations of cows because that's probably where the bulls
Speaker 1: are going to be focusing on later. Then think about
Speaker 1: I really want to learn how to call moose. I
Speaker 1: use a combination of cow sounds and bull sounds, and
Speaker 1: something that works really well is raking handlers like I
Speaker 1: actually carry when I'm guiding shiris moose ons in Montana.
Speaker 1: I carry a cut off paddle or in my pack,
Speaker 1: and I'll use that to scrape and rack willows. When
Speaker 1: you're calling moose, it does take a long time for
Speaker 1: them to come in, and they're fairly quiet. I kind
Speaker 1: of consider moose hunting very similar to the bear tactics.
Speaker 1: So find where their good habitat is and then hunt that.
Speaker 1: If you're calling, you're gonna have to call for a while.
Speaker 1: You kind of cut your hands over your nose and
Speaker 1: make a m and you're gonna do that into a
Speaker 1: bugle tube or like a moose call um, and then
Speaker 1: the cows make more of a wine like a doing
Speaker 1: a combination that with some raking. You'll pull moose out
Speaker 1: of really thick cover that you probably will never see
Speaker 1: them just by trying to glass, unless you happen to
Speaker 1: have an area that is open. If your area is
Speaker 1: less timbered. You know, there's so many different types of
Speaker 1: moose terrain less timbered stuff. They're a great animal to
Speaker 1: glass for because you can get up on a knob
Speaker 1: and see them from a long ways away. They stand out.
Speaker 1: It's a very large, black colored animals standing out, you know,
Speaker 1: in the open in the willows. Don't be afraid to
Speaker 1: look in some of those more open areas. Those are
Speaker 1: the things that you're gonna want to concentrate on alright.
Speaker 1: The next moose question comes from Swede and he says, Hey, Remy,
Speaker 1: I'm a huge fan of the podcast and your tips
Speaker 1: on using onyx maps and how to read maps help
Speaker 1: me be successful with deer North Idaho this fall, especially
Speaker 1: how to read Tobo maps. Thank you for those tips
Speaker 1: and the podcast. I was hoping you could do a
Speaker 1: podcast on moose. I applied and was successful on Nate
Speaker 1: November one, fourteen, bull moose in North Idaho. I was
Speaker 1: hoping for some tips. I went and looked for sign
Speaker 1: and was successful, and local knowledge in the area said
Speaker 1: they see moose regularly, So if you could do a
Speaker 1: podcast on moose hunting tips, that would be great. So
Speaker 1: I singled this one out of some of the other
Speaker 1: moose questions because of the date, November one to the
Speaker 1: last question. I said, the best time to hunt moose
Speaker 1: is going to be during the rut, and that is
Speaker 1: not during November one to the fourteen. That is more
Speaker 1: end of September, beginning of October in most areas, or
Speaker 1: the first couple of weeks in October probably for North
Speaker 1: Idaho Montana. So when you're getting into November, you've you've
Speaker 1: kind of got to change your philosophy. Especially if you're
Speaker 1: gonna start scouting now, you're gonna be looking for old
Speaker 1: moose sign because that's probably where they're at later in
Speaker 1: the year. One thing that you'll you'll like as far
Speaker 1: as that that North Idaho habitat is going to be
Speaker 1: a lot thicker. So moose, like a lot of things,
Speaker 1: they do love thick cover. They love those wet areas.
Speaker 1: But later in the year, you would think, like everything
Speaker 1: else we talked about animals moving up and down with
Speaker 1: the snow, moose or one of the animals that actually
Speaker 1: often go higher on the mountain as the snows get deeper.
Speaker 1: While the elker moving down, the moose are moving up.
Speaker 1: The reason is because they're taller and their food sources different.
Speaker 1: Moose can survive on willows throughout the winter, and they're
Speaker 1: tall enough to get through the snow and eat stuff
Speaker 1: that other animals can eat. So whereas elk have to
Speaker 1: move with down with the grass, the moose can move
Speaker 1: up and survive off the willow and other brows. That's
Speaker 1: a little bit out of reach for some animals like
Speaker 1: deer that would just get stuck in the snow and
Speaker 1: can't survive. So as that November weather starts hitting, you
Speaker 1: may end up finding moose in those higher elevations. A
Speaker 1: good place the scout would be scouting up in some
Speaker 1: of that higher elevation more winter range, or like after rut,
Speaker 1: because what happens is the moose may move down to rut,
Speaker 1: but once the ruts over, they may end up kind
Speaker 1: of dispersing and recuperating in an area that has a
Speaker 1: lot of food and it is just away from any
Speaker 1: kind of pressure, and that might be a little bit
Speaker 1: higher than they are during the rut and in some
Speaker 1: really thick stuff. So seeking out the good habitat as
Speaker 1: well as thinking of it in terms of hey, they
Speaker 1: might be a little bit higher if we get weather
Speaker 1: than some of the other animals. Now I do see
Speaker 1: them pretty high late November, but that beginning part of
Speaker 1: November could be a difficult time to find them. So
Speaker 1: if you're scouting, you're gonna be looking for that old
Speaker 1: moose sign mostly on logging roads. Moose are big animals.
Speaker 1: It's a lot to get through a lot of that brush,
Speaker 1: and they do travel and bed on old unused logging
Speaker 1: roads that you can walk on. Cruising those looking for
Speaker 1: old sign and then fresh signed during the season is
Speaker 1: a great way to be successful finding moose in that
Speaker 1: time of year. And you never know, I mean, there
Speaker 1: might be still a little red action going on. You
Speaker 1: could try calling, but for the most part, I would
Speaker 1: just say focus on that, all right. The last moose
Speaker 1: question of this series so far from Charlie says he's
Speaker 1: new to moose hunting and Lord Willing will have a
Speaker 1: time slot in September in Alaska. He can scout the area,
Speaker 1: but doesn't know besides swamps and willows. Before the season
Speaker 1: what to look for. I guess I already covered that
Speaker 1: Alaska Yukon moose are different than Shiris moose, but they
Speaker 1: do have a lot of the same habits. Now, this
Speaker 1: is the word I really wanted to focus on. He says. Also,
Speaker 1: I've killed elk and deer, but our moose a lot larger.
Speaker 1: How do you keep your wits and not stress about
Speaker 1: time slash distance You've got to go when butchering an
Speaker 1: animal that large in the mountains. So that's a great question. Yes,
Speaker 1: when you walk up on a moose, a moose is
Speaker 1: very especially Alaska Yukon moose, they are an absolute different
Speaker 1: animal as far as size wise. Anybody that might be
Speaker 1: going on their first moose hunt, take somebody else with you.
Speaker 1: It's not a task that is fun by yourself. I
Speaker 1: have while guiding taking care of many a moose alone
Speaker 1: and it sucks. It's just it's just all that it
Speaker 1: really does. Um. There's a lot of animals, even a
Speaker 1: fog neck elk like just some animals that are the
Speaker 1: size of moose, but moose are They're the largest deer
Speaker 1: in the world and they can be a chore to
Speaker 1: deal with. But no matter the size of the animal,
Speaker 1: whether it is a small Couis deer in Mexico or
Speaker 1: a Alaska Yukon moose in the North, you just gotta
Speaker 1: take it one piece at a time, literally, So start
Speaker 1: with what you have to do, break it down, dump, dump, heat,
Speaker 1: and then just one process at the time. Don't get
Speaker 1: ahead of yourself of wow, this is a lot of work.
Speaker 1: What am I gonna do? It's just one step at
Speaker 1: a time. Anything that's big and heavy. If it's your
Speaker 1: first time hunting elk and you're gonna which you're an elk,
Speaker 1: that's a huge task as well. I know, the thought
Speaker 1: of dealing with an animal that large in a situation
Speaker 1: that you might not be used to can be a pain.
Speaker 1: So have some extra gear that makes it easier for you.
Speaker 1: Have some cordage like I talked about in the gear episode.
Speaker 1: Have something set up ahead of time where you're gonna
Speaker 1: hang the meat. Um, if you've got another guy keeping
Speaker 1: watch for bears and maybe building that while you start
Speaker 1: cutting and skinning, and then you know, use two people
Speaker 1: to move and lift and not injure yourself in that aspect.
Speaker 1: And then when it comes to the pack out, it's
Speaker 1: literally just have your meat hanging and take what you
Speaker 1: can and start packing, and it's just it's just one
Speaker 1: of those head down, grit your teeth and go and
Speaker 1: it's all part of the experience. But yes, when you
Speaker 1: walk up on them, it looks like a very large task,
Speaker 1: but when it comes down to it, it's just a
Speaker 1: larger version of what you've already done. It's going to
Speaker 1: be heavier packs, but just one piece at a time.
Speaker 1: Instead of packing out maybe the whole gear in one trip,
Speaker 1: you might just be getting one moose quarter and you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to know, Okay, I gotta get this out,
Speaker 1: and it might be how over many trips, so there's
Speaker 1: two guys, maybe it's two trips or four trips or whatever.
Speaker 1: But keep that in mind too when you're hunting picking
Speaker 1: areas and spots. I think for moose that you know
Speaker 1: you're gonna be able to handle it because the most
Speaker 1: important thing is getting all of that meat out and
Speaker 1: you need to make sure that you don't bite off
Speaker 1: more than you can choose. So hunting in areas where hey,
Speaker 1: maybe you've got boat access, river access, or you know
Speaker 1: that you've got enough people to handle the job ahead
Speaker 1: of time, that's great. You know, I think of other
Speaker 1: large animal like bison. I've packed out bison that we're
Speaker 1: definitely not drivable to on various trips. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's just like anything. You just start, you quarter it out,
Speaker 1: you do the exact same process, and just that process
Speaker 1: might take longer, but remember meatcare is number one, and
Speaker 1: just make sure that you have all the tools necessary
Speaker 1: for that task at hand with you don't skimp on
Speaker 1: you know you're gonna need a knife sharpener and maybe
Speaker 1: an extra saw to cut, some poles to hang it on,
Speaker 1: and some extra cordage. It's just some extra heavy duty
Speaker 1: stuff for a heavy duty job that actually segways really
Speaker 1: well into these questions on butchering, so Mark asked. He says, Hey,
Speaker 1: remmy question for your next week's Q and A. Could
Speaker 1: you break down home butchering and meatcare from quarters to
Speaker 1: serving size and cuts, grinders, sausages, vac seal versus other methods.
Speaker 1: He says a side note, can't remember when or where
Speaker 1: heard you mentioned Mark forn strike and Areno drove up
Speaker 1: the other day and best out door stop ever been too,
Speaker 1: So thanks for that. That's a lot to chew in
Speaker 1: that question. Pun intended, but yeah, I'll break down kind
Speaker 1: of what. Let's just say, this would be my list
Speaker 1: of how I the cuts that I kind of really
Speaker 1: enjoy and get off of an animal. I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: break it down. This is something that almost needs to
Speaker 1: be shown, but I can definitely explain it in a
Speaker 1: way and answer some of these questions. So the first thing,
Speaker 1: let's go with a backstrap. I cut the backstrap off
Speaker 1: and I like to keep my backstrap and what I
Speaker 1: would consider a roast, so I cut the backstrap into
Speaker 1: say four inch to six inch long pieces. The way
Speaker 1: I butcher really has to do with the way that
Speaker 1: I like to cook. So I like cooking it whole
Speaker 1: and then slicing it afterwards, and I do that with
Speaker 1: the majority of my cuts, so I don't steak out
Speaker 1: a lot of cuts. I like to cut a hole
Speaker 1: and then cut my steaks after I cook it, or
Speaker 1: if I want something where I've got a steak, I
Speaker 1: can cut it during the prep process. That also, because
Speaker 1: I do butcher a lot of stuff, it really cuts
Speaker 1: down all my butcher time, leaving more whole pieces. So
Speaker 1: when I do all the loose meat, like most of
Speaker 1: the ribs, unless I do a lot of bone in
Speaker 1: loins with like Tomahawks style cuts. But all my other cuts,
Speaker 1: you know, I'll do like the ribs, the neck meat,
Speaker 1: some other stuff that I want. If I want the burger,
Speaker 1: I'll do that in the grind and anything extra as
Speaker 1: I'm butchering and trimming, that will all be grind for
Speaker 1: my burger. I do like on smaller animals like deer,
Speaker 1: like a bone in shoulder, So I just leave the
Speaker 1: shoulder blade actually in that for slow cooking, and then
Speaker 1: I'll leave bone in shanks front and back because I root.
Speaker 1: That's one of my favorite cuts to cook. And it
Speaker 1: sounds crazy, but man, slow cook there's something there's just
Speaker 1: so good cooking and shank like that. And then the
Speaker 1: shoulder I think really does well slow cooking because that
Speaker 1: holds in the moisture. It's easy to do, and then
Speaker 1: you don't have to deal with cutting up the shoulder
Speaker 1: and everything and turning that into grind, or you can
Speaker 1: if you want. Then we moved to the back quarter.
Speaker 1: I mean essentially, the easiest way to explain it would
Speaker 1: be take the hind quarter, I flip it with the
Speaker 1: bone the hip, sock it up and then you just
Speaker 1: kind of like follow all the guides in there where
Speaker 1: the meat the muscles separate. You separate those out. Um,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get some like muscles that I I like
Speaker 1: to call it a turtle roast where all the hind
Speaker 1: leg muscles come together. That I leave is a roast
Speaker 1: that I can slow cook or I put that in grind.
Speaker 1: Everything else is separate out into big, nice muscle groups.
Speaker 1: And I actually kind of cut mine where I've got
Speaker 1: this cut. I call it the fake loin, and it's
Speaker 1: just I take the leg muscles and I cut them
Speaker 1: where it looks like whole backstrap roast. You really cannot
Speaker 1: tell the difference between most of like if it's a
Speaker 1: backstrap or if it's from the hind quarter. And I
Speaker 1: do that because I could stake that out later, or
Speaker 1: I can just cook it like that and slice it
Speaker 1: and whatever. It's just so many different options. It's so
Speaker 1: fast to do. And that's really how I do a
Speaker 1: lot of my butchering. Now I would say that my
Speaker 1: specialty cuts. I'd like to do cube steaks with some
Speaker 1: of the hind quarter, like some of the sirloin cube
Speaker 1: that or even some of the shoulder steaks on bigger
Speaker 1: animals like elk, I'll cube that and the cubing is
Speaker 1: just essentially like pounded out flat where you can make
Speaker 1: schnitzel or elk palm or whatever something like that. Now,
Speaker 1: as far as grinder's sausage, vac seal, other methods I
Speaker 1: use made with me eat stuff, I actually just started
Speaker 1: working with them, so you can see a lot of
Speaker 1: that on my Instagram. Some of the stuff that I
Speaker 1: do with that. When I grind stuff, I just I
Speaker 1: do actually add fat to a lot of my game
Speaker 1: meat only because it's so lean and it helps hold
Speaker 1: it together better for burger and stuff. If I'm adding fat,
Speaker 1: I'll normally add pork fat to my sausage. I do
Speaker 1: about pork fat and then you know, mixed in with
Speaker 1: the game meat. The key to grinding you just gotta
Speaker 1: keep it cold, especially with sausage making, so I'll actually
Speaker 1: put ice in when I grind it help keep it cold,
Speaker 1: add some moisture back for when I smoke it, and
Speaker 1: other things. But there's just too much to talk about
Speaker 1: here in one Q and A. But I do cover
Speaker 1: a lot of this cooking stuff on my social media.
Speaker 1: So and then a vaccine versus other methods do vaccine
Speaker 1: is the best. I mean, I it's it looks nice,
Speaker 1: it looks pretty. It takes a little bit more time
Speaker 1: outside of accial. The only other method that I suggest
Speaker 1: would be double wrapping, which lasts as long as vacciel,
Speaker 1: But I think the seals just a little bit better
Speaker 1: because you can throw it in the cooler and it
Speaker 1: doesn't leak blood everywhere. I use a chamber back. They're
Speaker 1: a little more expensive, but man, it's like commercial grade.
Speaker 1: And when you're talking about grinders and meat processing stuff,
Speaker 1: I put it in the same category as binoculars or optics, where,
Speaker 1: honest to God, by the best you can afford, because
Speaker 1: the higher horsepower motors for grinders, and like actually having
Speaker 1: the right tool for the right job makes it so
Speaker 1: much easier. If you're trying to butcher a whole elk
Speaker 1: on a kitchen aid like set up, it sucks. I've
Speaker 1: done it. I've done it on the cheap grinders. I've
Speaker 1: done it on the low horsepower grinders, and it's a
Speaker 1: toiling process. And then I started getting better stuff and
Speaker 1: it like cuts the time in half, makes it so
Speaker 1: much easier. It's like trying to build a house and
Speaker 1: not using hammer but using a wrench to hammer and nails,
Speaker 1: or you can have like the sausage stuff or the
Speaker 1: mixer and the grinder, and if you're really going to
Speaker 1: get into it and you're gonna do all your own processing,
Speaker 1: and just factor out how much time it's going to
Speaker 1: take you, how much you're gonna do, and then how
Speaker 1: much you're saving over versus maybe even taking it to
Speaker 1: the butcher and maybe get a couple of guys in
Speaker 1: or whatever, and invest in good processing stuff, like it
Speaker 1: is so much better product at the end, and so
Speaker 1: much easier and more enjoyable when you have the right
Speaker 1: tools to do it. I can't stress that enough. Man,
Speaker 1: I feel like every hunter has gone through the process
Speaker 1: of having bad processing equipment, Like that should be the
Speaker 1: thing that you invest the most in, because that's the
Speaker 1: best part about hunting is having all this great meat.
Speaker 1: And when that process sucks or is a pain, you
Speaker 1: don't want to do it, or it's takes so long,
Speaker 1: Like it's just man, having good stuff is so much better.
Speaker 1: So that I can test to j d Ass, he says,
Speaker 1: have you ever cut tomahawks steaks out of deer or elk?
Speaker 1: Winner how difficult it would be? In the field. The
Speaker 1: answer is yes. I would say nine of the time
Speaker 1: I do that. Now, a tomahawk steak would be the
Speaker 1: backstrap with part of the rib in it. It's super
Speaker 1: easy to do in the field. Now this might surprise you,
Speaker 1: but you can actually even do it with the gutless
Speaker 1: method in a way. So I'll do everything how I
Speaker 1: normally do. Skin up the back, remove the hind quarters,
Speaker 1: and then instead of taking the backstrap out the way
Speaker 1: you normally would, I cut down the back of the
Speaker 1: back strap. So the part that's against the spine cut that,
Speaker 1: but not the lower part that's against the rib. You
Speaker 1: leave that attached. Then you take your knife and you
Speaker 1: can go from the stern um. If you don't have
Speaker 1: a saw, you can go from the stern um um
Speaker 1: and use your knife to split up the stern um
Speaker 1: and then cut you know, around the rib there. And
Speaker 1: it's so you're now getting into the cavity, but you
Speaker 1: don't actually have to like gut the full deer because
Speaker 1: everything else has removed. Your just removing the ribs. You
Speaker 1: do that, and then you push it up and you
Speaker 1: take your knife and you run it along between the
Speaker 1: ribs and the spine on the top side and remove
Speaker 1: the ribs from the spine and your backstrap is now
Speaker 1: still attached to that. That's the easiest way to do it.
Speaker 1: Do it all the time in the back country. Now,
Speaker 1: I start carrying this a little tiny gerber saw, and
Speaker 1: what I'll do is I'll go halfway down the ribs.
Speaker 1: I'll rip down the ribs with the saw and then
Speaker 1: I'll fold it up and then I use my knife
Speaker 1: to remove the rib from the spine because it's a
Speaker 1: little bit cleaner than cutting it. And you don't, you know,
Speaker 1: get the like it's just easier, I think, But like
Speaker 1: a stout knife works really well. But I've done the
Speaker 1: same process like with wild pigs and everything, even just
Speaker 1: with a replaceable blade vital knife, so it can be
Speaker 1: done with anything but awesome cut to do all right,
Speaker 1: Now here is the last question comes from Todd. He
Speaker 1: says he really enjoys the podcast and loves the infro
Speaker 1: in every episode. Plus it's entertaining. Thank you very much
Speaker 1: appreciate that. So he says, this question is can you
Speaker 1: give advice on finding a guided way estern hunt? He's
Speaker 1: from Virginia and most of my hunting experience has been
Speaker 1: our local white Tales. I would love to take my son,
Speaker 1: who just finished college, on a Western hunting adventure. We
Speaker 1: have never been West or applied for tags. I was
Speaker 1: thinking for our first experience, maybe we should opt for
Speaker 1: an outfitter guided hunt, but don't have a clue on
Speaker 1: what states or species to get our first taste. Any
Speaker 1: advice would be appreciated. That's a great question because as
Speaker 1: an outfitting guide, I know that the value of going
Speaker 1: with an outfitting guide, and a lot of this stuff
Speaker 1: that I talked about is you know how to do
Speaker 1: it on your own or whatever. But that does not
Speaker 1: mean that even guys that hunt a lot, there are
Speaker 1: many hunts that they should go guided for or with.
Speaker 1: If you have the ability to do it. It's a
Speaker 1: great way to get on a great hunt, and you know,
Speaker 1: hunt with somebody that has more experience and knowledge and
Speaker 1: can really help you in the process of getting to
Speaker 1: the point of success. I will also say that, having
Speaker 1: guided my entire life, I've worked for some outfits. If
Speaker 1: I booked a hunt with aside from them hunting with me,
Speaker 1: it was just a ship show and I and I
Speaker 1: would say that most of my clients that come hunt
Speaker 1: with my outfit have been on a bad trip at
Speaker 1: some point until they land on our outfit. I'm not
Speaker 1: like just trying to dispurge anyone, but I'm just saying that, yes,
Speaker 1: there are good ones and bad ones like anything out there,
Speaker 1: and it can be very hard to distinguish, honestly, and unfortunately,
Speaker 1: the really good ones are near and possible to get
Speaker 1: in on because they're booked up with repeat clients. So
Speaker 1: I would say, here are some things that you should
Speaker 1: think about anybody going on a guided hunt. And honestly,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of good guys. You know, you
Speaker 1: gotta understand, well, what kind of unit is it? Is
Speaker 1: it private land, is public land? Is it hard to
Speaker 1: get tags? Easy to get tags? So there's a lot
Speaker 1: of factors into it, but word of mouth talking to
Speaker 1: people is probably the best way to find somebody that
Speaker 1: you're gonna have a good experience with or at least
Speaker 1: matches your expectations. Also, you can get a good feel
Speaker 1: for people just by talking to them. There are a
Speaker 1: lot of outfitters out there, and I would say the
Speaker 1: vast majority of them are really really good at what
Speaker 1: they do, and they're probably the few bad ones are
Speaker 1: the ones that give the rest of us a bad name.
Speaker 1: But you know, I think one thing that's important is,
Speaker 1: if possible, talking to references of people that you know,
Speaker 1: you can search online, you know, look for photos and things,
Speaker 1: and maybe just try to talk to some references of
Speaker 1: people that have hunted with them, both successful and unsuccessful. Now,
Speaker 1: I will say, you know, they may not give you
Speaker 1: reference of people that had a terrible experience, but also
Speaker 1: there are some people that may have gone and just
Speaker 1: will never be satisfied and could have had the best
Speaker 1: experience of their life and may not be satisfied either.
Speaker 1: So talking to people that have done it, and then
Speaker 1: you know, just looking at possibly just a track record.
Speaker 1: I think one of the best things is if you
Speaker 1: get somebody that went on a hunt and they said,
Speaker 1: you know, I wasn't successful, but the guy worked really hard.
Speaker 1: It was very enjoyable, very knowledgeable. Those are the people
Speaker 1: you want to go with, the people that really embody
Speaker 1: the entire experien arians. You know, where you should be
Speaker 1: careful as the people that were successful, but say, yeah,
Speaker 1: but it just wasn't that great of a trip, or
Speaker 1: maybe not that great of a trip, but the only
Speaker 1: reason they were happy was because they were successful. I
Speaker 1: think a hunt should be based on so much more
Speaker 1: than just that, So finding people that align with that
Speaker 1: and are about the entire experience, not just success or unsuccess,
Speaker 1: because there are many hunts out there that you could
Speaker 1: go and you'll be successful, but it's just a shitty experience.
Speaker 1: So those are the ones you want to avoid. The
Speaker 1: ones you want to go on are the ones that
Speaker 1: are about everything. You know, success probably will be high
Speaker 1: with those type of people, but they also focus on
Speaker 1: the experience as a whole. That concludes our Q and A.
Speaker 1: I hope that that really helped some of you. I
Speaker 1: really appreciate all the questions that I got, and I
Speaker 1: know I picked some very specific stuff as far as
Speaker 1: like the moose hunting and things like that, but it
Speaker 1: was one thing, like I say in every podcast, the
Speaker 1: questions that come in really try to dictate what I
Speaker 1: talk about. And when I start getting a pile of
Speaker 1: moose hunting questions, that tells me that there's a lack
Speaker 1: of information out there on that. So maybe I will
Speaker 1: do in the future some shiris moose hunting episodes or whatever.
Speaker 1: But I also try to make things that are very
Speaker 1: applicable to many people. I think that talking about butchering
Speaker 1: and cooking. That thing also should be talked about a
Speaker 1: lot more, because I mean, as hunters, that's something that
Speaker 1: needs to be integral to what we do, and I
Speaker 1: don't think that it really gets talked about as much either.
Speaker 1: The fact that most hunters out there probably that do
Speaker 1: their own butchering, have terrible equipment and hate the process,
Speaker 1: and so just having some of those key pieces, that's
Speaker 1: that's good stuff to talk about. So I really appreciate
Speaker 1: all the questions from everyone. It's that time, it's planning,
Speaker 1: the season is coming, we're gearing up, we're talking about
Speaker 1: gear and other things, and I just really appreciate all
Speaker 1: the interaction going through these questions that I got. You know,
Speaker 1: I try to skim through as many of them as possible.
Speaker 1: One thing that kept coming up was like, man, love
Speaker 1: the podcast. I can't believe we get this information for free,
Speaker 1: such good information, And it made me think, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know why I do it. You know, I do
Speaker 1: it because it does make I honestly believe in what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. And I have noticed that even just being
Speaker 1: out recently in some place talking to some people that
Speaker 1: have just found success. I'm like, man, am I giving
Speaker 1: away too many of my secrets, But if you enjoy
Speaker 1: things that we're talking about, please honestly feel free to subscribe.
Speaker 1: I've said it before, but that helps us out. You know,
Speaker 1: that keeps all the things going. Subscribe, drop us a
Speaker 1: great comment wherever you listen, or a good rating, and
Speaker 1: tell your friends to jump on in and subscribe and
Speaker 1: listen to I appreciate that. I hope that you guys
Speaker 1: appreciate this, and I honestly appreciate everything you guys do
Speaker 1: as well and the interaction that I get. So, like always,
Speaker 1: if you've got more questions or want to reach out,
Speaker 1: shoot me a message via Instagram at Remy Warren or
Speaker 1: Remy at the meat Eator dot com. Keep the questions coming,
Speaker 1: and until next week a round and rad hand bound
Speaker 1: and grad