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 to the podcast Everybody.
Speaker 1: This week is our final live Q and A at
Speaker 1: the Pope and Young Club Convention, and there's still some
Speaker 1: great questions raised about hunting tactics that I think will
Speaker 1: really help a lot of hunters out there this season.
Speaker 1: So let's jump into part three of Live at the
Speaker 1: p n Y. I have two young boys, and um,
Speaker 1: what Western State would you suggest me to concentrate on them?
Speaker 1: For youth? Elcome Western State? To concentrate for elk is it?
Speaker 1: Are you thinking like something where over the counter, something
Speaker 1: over the counter where you know, you know not you know,
Speaker 1: nothing crazy access for a kid or anything like that.
Speaker 1: It's something where the kids need to work and you
Speaker 1: know earn it, that's for sure. Okay, I think that.
Speaker 1: I mean I would say, like, you know, I think good.
Speaker 1: Everybody's like, oh, go to Colorado. There's a compele from Colorado.
Speaker 1: Don't go to Colorado. Um, but that's not. Actually what
Speaker 1: I like to say is it depends on where you live,
Speaker 1: because the best like the best place to hunt somewhere
Speaker 1: that you can go and like have it's not so
Speaker 1: far away, so like you might hear of a unit
Speaker 1: all the way across, you know, eighty drive from you.
Speaker 1: It's like, oh, that's that place is on fire right now.
Speaker 1: But I'd rather pick the spot it's four or five
Speaker 1: hours away. You can get into that you can maybe
Speaker 1: spend the summer. And so for living in California, I mean,
Speaker 1: the closest over the counter tag is the organ you know,
Speaker 1: and there's and you're gonna find some good hunting. It's
Speaker 1: like it's just like anything where you spend your time
Speaker 1: and where I think there's like where's the best place
Speaker 1: to kill a bull? Where's the best place to kill back?
Speaker 1: Anywhere you got a tag? You know? And it probably
Speaker 1: the best places where you can get a tag multiple
Speaker 1: times in a year, in anywhere that you can access
Speaker 1: and maybe put in a little bit of time before
Speaker 1: and after the season, because if you're if you're close
Speaker 1: enough where you can maybe make a summer trip out
Speaker 1: of it with the family and you can go and
Speaker 1: get some summer scouting intel because it's one of the
Speaker 1: easier times to actually find animals, mostly for deer, but
Speaker 1: for elk as well. And then you can say, okay, well,
Speaker 1: now we've we've put in a little bit of time here.
Speaker 1: Now we can go back into that unit. It's close enough,
Speaker 1: we can make a trip out of it, and we
Speaker 1: can do this two or three years in a row.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be It's gonna be time well spent as
Speaker 1: opposed to chasing the best unit, or chasing this or
Speaker 1: chasing that, just picking something that you can access and
Speaker 1: go to. You I think you mentioned south facing slopes.
Speaker 1: Could you talk a little bit about that in your
Speaker 1: experience with whatever direction facing slopes are, how that impacts
Speaker 1: elk for instance. Biology. Yeah, so so the south slope,
Speaker 1: you know, it gets more sun, so it's gonna be
Speaker 1: the dry side. The north faces that wet side. Um
Speaker 1: the north faces more of like betting areas, thick cover safety.
Speaker 1: Oftentimes the north face is steeper because it gets more water,
Speaker 1: more precipitation, more runoff, you know, so it's holding that water,
Speaker 1: it's holding that snow than it's flushing it down in
Speaker 1: a faster rate. So it actually creates like oftentimes a
Speaker 1: more steeper part of the mountain, whereas the south face
Speaker 1: is often drier and more gentle. Um. You know, you
Speaker 1: look at a big mountain, it's like the north the
Speaker 1: company north face, it's like big steep mountains because that's
Speaker 1: that's the hard one to climb. Um. But the south
Speaker 1: faces where it's especially for elk canna provide that food
Speaker 1: and that forage. So um. You know, there is there
Speaker 1: is that kind of thought of kind of picking your
Speaker 1: your areas that you hunt based on the orientation of
Speaker 1: the mountain. But not all, not all mountain ranges to
Speaker 1: go north, south, east west. But it's just saying, like,
Speaker 1: you know, where's the dryer side, where's the difference, Like
Speaker 1: based on those two sides, and you've got two completely
Speaker 1: different types of habitat. And that can even be on
Speaker 1: one ridge. And I'm not saying like the north side
Speaker 1: of a mountain. I'm saying, like the north face of
Speaker 1: that one ridge, um will be that dryer side, and
Speaker 1: then the other side will be the bedding side. So
Speaker 1: what they're gonna do is they're gonna be popping out
Speaker 1: of the south side over into the north face, feeding
Speaker 1: and then dropping back and bedding into the south face.
Speaker 1: It makes it a little easier to kind of narrow down.
Speaker 1: And then and then so what I would do how
Speaker 1: I would expand on that as I would say, where's
Speaker 1: the predominant wind direction? You know? So I would go, okay, um,
Speaker 1: maybe the you know, like look at the predominant wind
Speaker 1: direction there, And I would say, where's the wind blowing
Speaker 1: down like down over that south face? And and then
Speaker 1: you can kind of figure out like based on those
Speaker 1: kind of things, start pinpointing. Okay, here's where I'm gonna
Speaker 1: start my hunt. So here's where I'm gonna start looking,
Speaker 1: because they're gonna bed in that safety. And then you've
Speaker 1: got that food nearby. So you got deer fell dear
Speaker 1: bedded thirty yards, you're in range only exist throw up
Speaker 1: the swords. You feel the wind changing, you want to
Speaker 1: get that there to stand up before it blows up.
Speaker 1: You're said, what's your best way to to stand up? Oh,
Speaker 1: that's a good question, because I've tried them all and
Speaker 1: I have found the best way. You know. It's one
Speaker 1: of those things You're gonna do something and it will
Speaker 1: either be the right thing or the wrong thing. I
Speaker 1: will tell you all the things I've tried. Um Uh.
Speaker 1: I have done the rock toss. Everybody Chris has done
Speaker 1: it successfully. I've had a lot of rock tosses go wrong. Um.
Speaker 1: I think one thing that I tend to do is
Speaker 1: it depends on um try not try not to do
Speaker 1: it too low. But like I like to, if I'm
Speaker 1: like this is gonna be bad, sometimes I'll actually just
Speaker 1: start my draw cycle and that sound of the draw
Speaker 1: is enough to make them curious, but not enough to
Speaker 1: spook him. So I'll draw. But there's times where it's
Speaker 1: like draw and they just don't even care, and you're
Speaker 1: like okay, and then it's like let down. And I've
Speaker 1: gotten five draws on one year, but that one time
Speaker 1: they troubles you. You know, sometimes they draw and they
Speaker 1: look at you, but at that point it might already
Speaker 1: be too late. You know, you're already settled in and
Speaker 1: you're ready, and then let her rip. Um I've done though,
Speaker 1: like uh, this was you know he'd probably like this
Speaker 1: is that was a terrible idea. But the giant buck
Speaker 1: that I was talking about, I snuck in thirty three
Speaker 1: yards to that deer, and um, I just had his
Speaker 1: head and neck above their the stage and I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, Okay, it's just waiting, waiting, and I'm
Speaker 1: like okay, and then I was like I was thirty
Speaker 1: three yards and this is like I didn't know anything
Speaker 1: about anything really, but um I knew how to get
Speaker 1: close to this stuff and what a big deer was,
Speaker 1: you know, but I it. So I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna sneak up. I was been there for hours,
Speaker 1: and I was like, I gonna sneak up three more yards.
Speaker 1: So like so I'm like, just so it's like an
Speaker 1: even thirty you know, as might as well. I got
Speaker 1: bored whatever. So I'm like guy, and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: maybe it'll get you know. Stand. So I started creeping
Speaker 1: up three more yards and then I'm like, tim, there
Speaker 1: now thirty yards and I feel the wind shift and
Speaker 1: just like and I'm like as soon as I felt
Speaker 1: that wind, I drew back and that buck just blew
Speaker 1: out of there, and I was like, damn it. And
Speaker 1: I thought to myself, like, what would I have done different?
Speaker 1: I thought, I'll just shoot him in the back of
Speaker 1: the head next time. It doesn't work, because I tried
Speaker 1: it once and it didn't work. A deer went away
Speaker 1: with an arrow stuck in his antler, and I was like, well,
Speaker 1: that's the last time I'll ever try that. Uh say
Speaker 1: that again. Yeah, Um, I have done the grunt as well. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, one thing, I've had it, I've had it
Speaker 1: work out, and i've had it not. You know, generally
Speaker 1: they're they're more calm. I'm like with ELK, I would
Speaker 1: do the alcohol for sure, because they're just they're more
Speaker 1: used to the sound the grunt call like will stop him.
Speaker 1: But they always kind of like the mule here for
Speaker 1: some reason look up first. They're like, you know, instead
Speaker 1: of like the stand up and look. And I think
Speaker 1: it just you know, I think that that kind of like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm already at full dry. I did the grunt and whatever.
Speaker 1: One time I did a turkey call and it worked
Speaker 1: really well, so I was just like, deer stood up
Speaker 1: and didn't even care. So I was like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I've tried it all, and I just don't know. I
Speaker 1: think over time the best option has kind of been
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's like whatever you feel in the moment.
Speaker 1: But I think the drawing thing generally works for me
Speaker 1: because it's just enough time that they like stand up,
Speaker 1: like they're like, do I get out of here? Stand up?
Speaker 1: And then it's like arrows gone. But there are those
Speaker 1: times where they don't even hear it and you gotta
Speaker 1: draw first grunt call on coast deer in the run. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: I've I find that they're more um, they're more susceptible
Speaker 1: to rattling. But I have used the grunt. I've also
Speaker 1: used like even just like standard white tail like snort,
Speaker 1: we'se um. But they I think that rattling is the
Speaker 1: most effective call for cou's deer. Well, I'll take it
Speaker 1: back rattling and distress call, which seems um interesting, But
Speaker 1: I feel like the distress call doesn't get used enough,
Speaker 1: and they most dear. I've I've been pretty successful calling
Speaker 1: in dear all species of dear with a with a
Speaker 1: distress call, just a wounded deer. It's um. It's got
Speaker 1: two effects. They run away or they run to you.
Speaker 1: But when they run to you, it's really awesome. UM.
Speaker 1: But the it works really well too in more arid
Speaker 1: places like so that's why I think it works on
Speaker 1: the Cou's deer and desert meal deer um pretty well.
Speaker 1: I don't know why that is. They're just maybe more uh,
Speaker 1: maybe there's like that higher like they're kind of a
Speaker 1: smaller deer, and I think coyotes probably can kind of
Speaker 1: get on them any time of year, so they kind
Speaker 1: of they group up and they defend whatever's in distress. UM.
Speaker 1: I kind of started using that call after I was
Speaker 1: stalking in him on this group of deer uh in
Speaker 1: the high country in Nevada actually, and there was this
Speaker 1: little fawn that kind of ran away from the herd,
Speaker 1: and this coyote came just barreling in there, and I
Speaker 1: heard and that entire herd of deer, thirty deer, like
Speaker 1: just every deer in the bushes, busted out and chase
Speaker 1: that coyote out. And there was three bucks in that
Speaker 1: group with those does, and they came to and I
Speaker 1: was like, m okay, and I've right it, and I've
Speaker 1: had bucks come running in um or. You know, you
Speaker 1: gotta kind of it's gotta be kind of the right scenario.
Speaker 1: You look for a scenario where there's deer with fonso
Speaker 1: during the rut. It works best because it's actually the
Speaker 1: does that are more doing it, and then the bucks
Speaker 1: come with um. But they get super like, um, I
Speaker 1: don't even know, like the best way, like they get
Speaker 1: super dumb when that distress calls coming out. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you've ever. Uh, it works really well on
Speaker 1: Havelina's as well. Um, Havelna distress call and they come
Speaker 1: running in and charging and and it works one time
Speaker 1: after that it like they get super wise to it.
Speaker 1: But the first time they're kind of dumb and they
Speaker 1: stand there and they're like what's going on? And they
Speaker 1: they keep coming back and investigating. So, um, you just
Speaker 1: kind of gotta commit to it if you decided to
Speaker 1: try that. But um, it's it also works. Is like
Speaker 1: when things don't work out, blow the distress call. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what are the chances of calling a hurt bull downhill
Speaker 1: during the rut? Uh? Not real good? Um I found
Speaker 1: Like so the herd bulls, like you know, he's like
Speaker 1: already got his thing and you kind of got it.
Speaker 1: The best way to kill a herdble during the rut
Speaker 1: is to actually like dog him, um, and to get
Speaker 1: to a point where he kind of feels like when
Speaker 1: he's uphill, he kind of has the advantage and he
Speaker 1: knows it, so he's like, well, come up to me.
Speaker 1: But they don't like when they have the disadvantage. So
Speaker 1: generally what will happen is when you get that hurt
Speaker 1: and kind of a frenzy and they start moving off,
Speaker 1: and you'll know, like, okay, the herd starting to split up.
Speaker 1: That's when your best chance to call in the herdble
Speaker 1: because things are going on and things are getting chaotic.
Speaker 1: That's when other satellite bills start peeling cows off. And
Speaker 1: it is like a super physical task. But what I
Speaker 1: do is I like start dog I call it dogging
Speaker 1: the bowl. So I'll just start following and bugling, bugling
Speaker 1: bugle and keep that herd just going, keep that noise going,
Speaker 1: and keep that bowl going. And I found that right
Speaker 1: when they crest over, So like when that bull crests
Speaker 1: over the hill, I want to be right at that
Speaker 1: ridge and let out the meanest bugle you've ever made,
Speaker 1: and nine times out of ten, that bowl whip around
Speaker 1: and come right back up to you. And it's just
Speaker 1: something those bulls like don't like about that. They don't
Speaker 1: like somebody else because that's like a dominant position and
Speaker 1: you're letting out that mean dominant bugle and they just
Speaker 1: don't like that. I would say, all the all the
Speaker 1: herd bull I would say, oh, I think about it most.
Speaker 1: I actually I have called in a couple of horribles
Speaker 1: up but um, most of the herdbles that I have
Speaker 1: called in in my life have been from being above them,
Speaker 1: not blow him. Um. Oh no, wait, yeah, no, I
Speaker 1: can't even think of a single one that I've called downhill. Really,
Speaker 1: does anybody think of some good ones that they've called
Speaker 1: in from down Hello? No, I don't know what it is.
Speaker 1: They just they they're like, well, if you if you
Speaker 1: think you're tough, come up here and fight me. And
Speaker 1: then when you're above him, they're like, oh he thinks
Speaker 1: he's tough. Oh no, he's about me. The cows are
Speaker 1: gonna think I'm weak. I better go get him. It's
Speaker 1: just like some weird thing that they don't like anybody else.
Speaker 1: In your opinion, what's the easiest toughest jar to hunt
Speaker 1: or is there a I? Um? I think personally, I
Speaker 1: think early season, like the ture meal deer or the
Speaker 1: hardest deer to hunt. Uh. And the reason there's a
Speaker 1: couple of reasons for that. I've I've said that for
Speaker 1: a very long time, and I think that actually out
Speaker 1: of all the North American species that I've been fortunate
Speaker 1: enough to chase, I think the mature meal dere's one
Speaker 1: of the I mean it's like for me, it's like
Speaker 1: that's probably like the trophy of trophies because they, you know,
Speaker 1: like everything else has like a really good like something
Speaker 1: or a season or something where you can exploit a weakness.
Speaker 1: And I kind of like build my hunting philosophies around that, is,
Speaker 1: like how how do you get in and you find
Speaker 1: that one little chink in the armor. Mule deer though,
Speaker 1: it's like, well, white tails they can be patternable or
Speaker 1: you know, they can follow out and you can you
Speaker 1: can ambush them. Um, you know, black tails is a
Speaker 1: very difficult hunt. But they also have like a black
Speaker 1: tail is the perfect mix between a meal or and
Speaker 1: a white tail, so you they do have those patternable tendencies.
Speaker 1: Mule deer is like it's one of the only animal
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it's like one of the animals
Speaker 1: that it's appear spot in stock game most of the time,
Speaker 1: like you have to you have to sneak in and
Speaker 1: get it, and that's that's what makes it so difficult.
Speaker 1: And they generally like don't lend themselves. Like you know,
Speaker 1: there's there's young dumb deer for sure, Like there's those
Speaker 1: ones that are just like, hey, i'm five yards off
Speaker 1: the road and you know somebody drove up and got me. Um.
Speaker 1: But there there are you know, like early season, especially
Speaker 1: when they're hiking, they're they're just a smart there. They're
Speaker 1: keyed in, they've got their ears out, they're listening, they've
Speaker 1: got great sense of smell, great sense of site. I
Speaker 1: think it's a pretty hard one to do because you know,
Speaker 1: like elk you can call in. Um, they just they
Speaker 1: just aren't really susceptible to those tactics. And they aren't
Speaker 1: they are patternable in a way that like makes you
Speaker 1: think that you can anticipate them, but they will like yeah,
Speaker 1: they're coming out here every day and then you go
Speaker 1: sit there and they're coming out yeah three yards that way.
Speaker 1: You know. So I think that that's probably in my
Speaker 1: opinion that I'm sure somebody else might have some other
Speaker 1: But you know, then you're talking about like okay, well
Speaker 1: I've I've spot and stocked a lot of white tails,
Speaker 1: and that's really difficult because in that thick, crunchy stuff, Um,
Speaker 1: they're super keyed in, but you know you can. You
Speaker 1: can also change your tactics and the same with meal here.
Speaker 1: I mean you could sit walk R but they don't.
Speaker 1: They generally don't hit the same water very often. Um,
Speaker 1: they're just a little more nomadic, a little less predictable. Well,
Speaker 1: do a couple more questions if anybody's got a few, Yeah,
Speaker 1: good for it. Uh, you obviously do D I Y stuff.
Speaker 1: And you guys, when you get guys that are primarily
Speaker 1: d I Y in camp and you're guiding them, what
Speaker 1: mindset do you want the Y I Guide too to
Speaker 1: bring too? Yeah, that's a great question because I've been
Speaker 1: that guy, and um, you know, I think like the
Speaker 1: best my you know, if you're with a guide and
Speaker 1: outfere that really knows what they're doing, you know, I
Speaker 1: think the best thing is like you bring the skills
Speaker 1: that are needed for you as the hunter, and then
Speaker 1: you know, like don't let them second guests themselves, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Your best opportunity with somebody that
Speaker 1: really knows what they're doing is let them do what
Speaker 1: they know to do, you know. Um, but also like
Speaker 1: bring the things that you can bring, which is be
Speaker 1: prepared with your shooting, be able to physically keep up,
Speaker 1: you know. I was like, well, I could go out
Speaker 1: and shoot an elk. I mean, I don't mean to
Speaker 1: be like, oh yeah, pack yourself. Like I feel like
Speaker 1: I could go out on public land and pretty much
Speaker 1: shoot if I'm just like not trying to film under whatever,
Speaker 1: shoot a bowl any day of the week with my bow.
Speaker 1: It's because like I can get after y'all, I can
Speaker 1: go in, I can I can do what it takes.
Speaker 1: And if somebody can stick with me and do that,
Speaker 1: then everybody's chances increase, you know. And so you're obviously
Speaker 1: hiring that person for a reason. And so whether it's
Speaker 1: their knowledge of the area, whether there, it's their experience calling,
Speaker 1: whether whatever it is, then like, you know, be there
Speaker 1: and just be able to to keep up, to do
Speaker 1: what they can do and like hunt like with them.
Speaker 1: And I think that that's gonna be the best recipe
Speaker 1: for success, um, you know, and because sometimes they'll be like,
Speaker 1: oh what do you think you know, and mostly it's
Speaker 1: just like tell me what to do? You know, And
Speaker 1: I've even been that person, like you know, I'm here,
Speaker 1: I'm with you. You know, these animals, let's do what
Speaker 1: you know is right because once you start getting the
Speaker 1: group think and everybody puts in their two cents, most
Speaker 1: of the time instantaneous decision making went out the window
Speaker 1: and and then it's like catering to someone else's knees.
Speaker 1: But if you can be that person that can just
Speaker 1: like I just want to, I just wanna we're just
Speaker 1: hunting like you would hunt, then you're gonna have a
Speaker 1: lot more success. But I also know that that's not
Speaker 1: always possible. So does that make sense to that? Yeah,
Speaker 1: and answer it. You're open a bowshot? Yes? So, uh,
Speaker 1: Tim Burnett that he does solo hunter with me, he
Speaker 1: opened a bowshop. It's over on um so on Longley. Um,
Speaker 1: so yeah, it's just getting getting fired off. So the
Speaker 1: doors are open. Um, there's still some bows and boxes everywhere,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it's still it's pretty much up and running.
Speaker 1: So pretty stoked on that for it. When practicing shooting
Speaker 1: a bow, what's your opinion on shooting in like awkward
Speaker 1: situations and positions? Yeah, that's um, that's like my number
Speaker 1: one thing when I when I shoot, everything I do
Speaker 1: is really focused on bow hunting. Like I mean, I
Speaker 1: love archery, but I don't really care to shoot paper
Speaker 1: at all. I mean I do. I I love to
Speaker 1: shoot a bow. I love the act of shooting a bow.
Speaker 1: And understand that a lot of people get into bow
Speaker 1: hunting through archery, but I got into bow hunting through hunting.
Speaker 1: That makes sense. So it's like everything I do is
Speaker 1: so focused on hunting. So when I'm practicing, I like
Speaker 1: to anything that I do. I like to practice like
Speaker 1: I'm doing. So that is like practicing those types of
Speaker 1: things through the years of the way that I've adjusted
Speaker 1: my practice as being like if I go on a
Speaker 1: hunt and I, like, say, missed a shot or did something,
Speaker 1: you know, like made a badge of whatever, I mean,
Speaker 1: I really replay those things in my head and then
Speaker 1: I go throughout the year and adjust those things. One
Speaker 1: thing that I realized that I was doing the number
Speaker 1: one shot that I would miss is like generally, when
Speaker 1: I'm talking and I was trying to come in from above,
Speaker 1: I think it's the most effective way to get in close.
Speaker 1: So I'd come in from above and then i'd be
Speaker 1: you know, say a steep hill and I've got the
Speaker 1: deer below me, I'm looking at the deer, I draw
Speaker 1: down low out of sight, and then I get everything settled,
Speaker 1: and I slowly start raising up and and then as
Speaker 1: soon as I can see that animal, you know, then
Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't want to get all the way
Speaker 1: up and be skyline, so I'm like crouched halfway down
Speaker 1: like this, you know, and then I'm off kilter. It's
Speaker 1: probably some kind of slope of the hill, and I
Speaker 1: would I would downhill shooting in like a squat position.
Speaker 1: I'm MUFTI more of those shots than I care to
Speaker 1: think about. And it's like never even dawned to me
Speaker 1: until I was like I started really going like, okay,
Speaker 1: I've missed a couple of those, and then I started
Speaker 1: practicing those and on like weird he'll pitches of hill
Speaker 1: and things like that. And then over the years you
Speaker 1: just find a better way to center yourself to to
Speaker 1: keep that, you know, like keep everything level, to a
Speaker 1: different way of leaning into the hill, in a different
Speaker 1: way of um and shooting. And and then there's sometimes
Speaker 1: too where I've said, that's not the most efficient way
Speaker 1: that I could have made that shot. Instead of being
Speaker 1: in a in a squat position like I'm doing a
Speaker 1: chair pose, why didn't I just go up to one
Speaker 1: knee and you know, keep my left knee down in
Speaker 1: my right knee up and and do it that way.
Speaker 1: Or maybe I didn't have enough uh lift for that,
Speaker 1: so maybe it's like why didn't I just go from
Speaker 1: here to actually just committing to being full up and
Speaker 1: locked in and steady and take that shot. So um,
Speaker 1: you know, but I do like to practice all those
Speaker 1: awkward positions, all those like hunting focus things while throughout
Speaker 1: like the year, um, and then another thing I love
Speaker 1: to do. And I think it's like I mean the
Speaker 1: traditional hunters will know, but like roving practice, like I'll
Speaker 1: get a rubber blunt tip on, and whether it's my
Speaker 1: recurve longbow compound bow, I love to just like walk
Speaker 1: around in areas types of places that I'm hunting and
Speaker 1: shoot pine cones and rocks and dirt clods because it's
Speaker 1: like that practice in the hill that it's like we
Speaker 1: aren't setting up a target, we don't have to do anything.
Speaker 1: We can just send it and you know, like get
Speaker 1: that practice of those you know, like I'll just be
Speaker 1: like that's the deer down there in my mind, raise up,
Speaker 1: shoot and just keep moving in hike and carried around
Speaker 1: and maybe shoot jack rabbits or whatever. But just like
Speaker 1: that that act of being in the field, getting those
Speaker 1: like in the field shots you're you're dealing with when
Speaker 1: you're dealing with terrain, you're dealing with who knows what
Speaker 1: other and and I even bring those on ivory hunt um,
Speaker 1: especially backcountry hunts, because it's a good way to like
Speaker 1: shoot your bow in camp and make sure that everything
Speaker 1: is like you took a tumble down the mountain and
Speaker 1: make sure everything's working right, like just shoot the blunt
Speaker 1: tip at something, you know, dirt clod or whatever in
Speaker 1: camp or in the field. What's your sight set up?
Speaker 1: Did you prefer like one pin to three pin or
Speaker 1: five pen or whether advantages? Yeah, I started out with
Speaker 1: h you know, I used to love like a big
Speaker 1: multi pin seven pin site. Now I'm going now I
Speaker 1: shoot the spot hog fast steady XL. So it's got
Speaker 1: it's a single pen site, but it's got the two indicators,
Speaker 1: so I'm essentially shooting a two pin with a single pin.
Speaker 1: I asposed to that maybe four years ago, and just
Speaker 1: I think it was I don't know, like you do
Speaker 1: something so long and you think like, oh, this is
Speaker 1: the best system, and then for someone I don't even
Speaker 1: know why I decided to switch to that, and it's
Speaker 1: just been a lot better for me. Um, I think
Speaker 1: I what I The first thing I noticed about it
Speaker 1: the first animal I shot with it that site. I
Speaker 1: was like, man, I can see everything, and I can
Speaker 1: actually like walk like see the animal and anticipate their
Speaker 1: movements a little better, and like just really get a
Speaker 1: feel for the everything that's going on while I'm at
Speaker 1: full draw and and my brain just clicked with that system. UM.
Speaker 1: I will say, like, you know, maybe starting out, you're
Speaker 1: like to be practicing and you go back and you're
Speaker 1: like okay, and then you go to walk to thirty
Speaker 1: yards and you just shot way over your target and
Speaker 1: broken arrow because your site was set at eighty five,
Speaker 1: and you're like dang it. Um. But over time I
Speaker 1: got used to adjusting it. Now the tupin thing in
Speaker 1: the single pin is good because I can set it
Speaker 1: like I like to. I'll just set it at thirty
Speaker 1: three yards walking around, and I can essentially shoot out
Speaker 1: to sixty yards without even adjusting it if I had to, um,
Speaker 1: because I know the drops and everything. When I first
Speaker 1: started switching over to that single pin system, I did
Speaker 1: have one thing where I was like I was hunting
Speaker 1: follow deer in Australia and I had this buck and
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, he's coming in and uh and I
Speaker 1: set my pin and then he walked like way closer
Speaker 1: and my brain was like I know all the drops down,
Speaker 1: I don't know all the drops up. You know. Luckily
Speaker 1: I just held under his belly. Shot perfect shot. But
Speaker 1: it really like clicked in my head like Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: always gonna undershoot the score and use the other and
Speaker 1: like I'd rather hold over. But also during my practice,
Speaker 1: I started doing a lot of undershooting and really knowing
Speaker 1: like Okay, if I had that pin set at fifty
Speaker 1: and I need to shoot it thirty, where do I
Speaker 1: hold um? So? But I like I now I would
Speaker 1: more adjust my pin where it's like my bottom pin
Speaker 1: would be that yard digen and I'd rather hold the
Speaker 1: bottom pin high than shoot underneath something. But the major
Speaker 1: downside to the single pin, and what I really miss
Speaker 1: about multiple pins is like you know, knowing your trajectory
Speaker 1: of your arrow and understand whether a brand you're gonna
Speaker 1: hit a branch at twenty yards or not. Because I
Speaker 1: would always draw back if the thirty yards or forty yards,
Speaker 1: and my twenty yard pin is centered on a limb.
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, tweak it a little bit. Um. It's
Speaker 1: a little harder to thread than the needle with a
Speaker 1: single pin, but the benefits away each other. Now, another
Speaker 1: good option would be like a three pin slide or
Speaker 1: something like that. But I've tried everything and I just
Speaker 1: kind of settled on this one for me personally. Yep. Ever,
Speaker 1: years ago, I think I seen a picture you killed
Speaker 1: it a really heavy ad meal deer and the desert
Speaker 1: stuff wrong that. Yep, what's your biggest takeaway from that?
Speaker 1: I think we can learn from you. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: I think a part of it is like there's that
Speaker 1: there's that thing about like patients and then like moving
Speaker 1: at the right times, you know. It was like so
Speaker 1: many hunts. It's like you gotta be you see something,
Speaker 1: You've got to be there right now. The way that
Speaker 1: I got that deer was it was moving up the
Speaker 1: canyon and I was like, I had a friend with me, actually,
Speaker 1: and I was like, we're running to the top of
Speaker 1: this thing, like we need to get to the top
Speaker 1: before those deer, and I sprinted to the top. It
Speaker 1: was everything I could do to get up there, and
Speaker 1: then it was like almost a second too late, those
Speaker 1: bucks are coming out, and I just laid down. You know.
Speaker 1: The first deer had kind of seen something. I laid down,
Speaker 1: and I just I mean, I've done this many times
Speaker 1: with deer or whatever. It's like being able to freeze
Speaker 1: and not freak out. Just like I laid there, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know what, if I got to take
Speaker 1: a nap, I will take a nap. Get yourself comfortable
Speaker 1: in that freeze position, because you don't want to be
Speaker 1: in this position, you know, like one leg out because
Speaker 1: it's not gonna work out for you. But get yourself comfortable,
Speaker 1: get and and be like I don't even need to look,
Speaker 1: you know, and just let them acclimate to like the
Speaker 1: presence of you, you know. And in some ways the
Speaker 1: rest of the deer fed around and fed off. I didn't.
Speaker 1: I end, I'm not speaking him, which is the goal,
Speaker 1: and the big buck wasn't with them. But I knew
Speaker 1: that between me and the bottom of the hill there
Speaker 1: was only one tree and that big buck. I was like, well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna stalk to that one tree because I wonder
Speaker 1: if that deer just knew something those other deer didn't.
Speaker 1: It's like I'm gonna bed here. I stalked down to
Speaker 1: that tree and I didn't see the dear. I was like,
Speaker 1: it's not here. But one thing that I stress no
Speaker 1: matter what you're hunting, is I I do this tactic
Speaker 1: of simultaneously assuming two things. I always assume that the
Speaker 1: deer has never left, and I always assume that they have.
Speaker 1: Like how do you do that? Because what that means is,
Speaker 1: as I'm stalking to that spot, I'm never going to
Speaker 1: second guess that it isn't there. I'm gonna say like,
Speaker 1: I'm stalking to the spot one knowing that he's there,
Speaker 1: but I'm also telling myself in my head, he probably moved.
Speaker 1: So that means that I have to be paying a
Speaker 1: hundred percent attention to everything around so I don't miss
Speaker 1: or misstep or miss going through something. And it's like
Speaker 1: just kind of this mantra in my head of like
Speaker 1: telling myself, I'm always expecting him to be there because
Speaker 1: I've had those hunts where like a deer's bed in
Speaker 1: under tree, I stock in. I get to twenty yards
Speaker 1: and I was like, the deer's not here, what's up
Speaker 1: and I stand up and that deer was asleep and
Speaker 1: blows out and you're like, wow, that sucked. Or there's
Speaker 1: times where you stock in you're like he's there. I'm
Speaker 1: you're so laser focused on that one spot, and then
Speaker 1: he blows out fifteen yards to your right and you
Speaker 1: didn't even your brain didn't. So I'm constantly assuming both things,
Speaker 1: and by that I'm I'm really just saying you're paying
Speaker 1: it mentioned everything, and so stalking into that um, he
Speaker 1: wasn't there, but I set up like he was, and
Speaker 1: it was kind of like one of those, you know,
Speaker 1: one of those things like wind shift. I did see
Speaker 1: another buck there, and I was like, Okay, this other
Speaker 1: buck is probably gonna see me. He might blow out
Speaker 1: a smaller buck um. And the second that that deer
Speaker 1: ran out, I was already at full draw and made
Speaker 1: that grunt sound. And I mean, like, if you I've
Speaker 1: listened to watch rewatch videos that I've filmed or whatever,
Speaker 1: and I'm always whistling or grunting for some reason that
Speaker 1: you know, people are why you whistle a mule deer,
Speaker 1: That high pitch sound actually kind of distracts them a
Speaker 1: little bit, just making that noise is like, if you know,
Speaker 1: they don't know what they got spooked with, they stop
Speaker 1: and look and at that point is already too late,
Speaker 1: arrows on its way and uh, yeah, I got that deer.
Speaker 1: So this is like a just one of those things
Speaker 1: where you kind of have to put everything together but
Speaker 1: that you know, being patient at the right time, going
Speaker 1: fast when you need to, and then simultaneously assuming they're
Speaker 1: there and assuming they aren't and you know, if you
Speaker 1: add all this together, you're gonna be pretty successful, are
Speaker 1: you Heck enough? Yeah, it's an it's definitely an advantage.
Speaker 1: But do you know, he's you gotta find figure out
Speaker 1: the things that you know, like okay, maybe you can't,
Speaker 1: but then it's like, okay, we'll figure out that thing
Speaker 1: that you're good at. Maybe it's like hey, you know,
Speaker 1: for for something like that, like I can't make it
Speaker 1: up there, then you know what I would do. I
Speaker 1: would almost back out and say I need to get
Speaker 1: a good view of this and I'm gonna watch those
Speaker 1: things until they bed, you know. So it's just a
Speaker 1: different tactic. But but basing on that, that's kind of
Speaker 1: like the same thing as like, you know, okay, what's
Speaker 1: a what's a good strategy for what's going on right
Speaker 1: here and for your like what you think you can do. Um,
Speaker 1: And then I think that that's like a good way
Speaker 1: to kind of mix all the things together. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: use a risk I use a risk trap trigger release.
Speaker 1: I think I've had the same one for like, I've
Speaker 1: only had two in my life and they're the same one,
Speaker 1: same like ones. It's pretty old, but I just like it. Um.
Speaker 1: I know that it's like I don't really know because
Speaker 1: I in my way into archery was me teaching myself,
Speaker 1: and I learned a really a lot of bad things. Um.
Speaker 1: I mean I I guess I got into compound shooting
Speaker 1: based on like I just shot a traditional bow from
Speaker 1: when I was a kid. My teacher was Byron Ferguson
Speaker 1: books of just like be the arrow I learned to shoot.
Speaker 1: I had a string with a softball in the backyard
Speaker 1: and I would swing the softball. I never shot at
Speaker 1: a stationary target until I was like, got a compound bow.
Speaker 1: He was like, that's how I shot, just swinging moving
Speaker 1: things and shooting them, which is really good. But when
Speaker 1: it came to, uh, you know, compound bow shooting, I
Speaker 1: didn't understand sites I didn't understand any of that, so
Speaker 1: I had a lot of really bad habits later on.
Speaker 1: You know, people were like, oh, you'll develop target panic,
Speaker 1: and I think, just shooting it probably paper targets. I would,
Speaker 1: but my mind is so focused on hunting that I
Speaker 1: think I never I was fortunate to not do that.
Speaker 1: I know. Um, I think if I was to restart,
Speaker 1: I probably go with the you know, like a different release.
Speaker 1: But for me it works, you know, so, and I
Speaker 1: do now. I actually have a pretty much every release
Speaker 1: ever made, and I will go out and I will
Speaker 1: shoot with multiple releases. Like if I'm shooting really bad,
Speaker 1: I'll just throw a back tension release on and shoot
Speaker 1: a few with that. Or I'll use my wrist release
Speaker 1: and hold it in here and fired it off with
Speaker 1: my pinkie. And I constantly like change up the way
Speaker 1: that I'm shooting. So I like to have like multiple options,
Speaker 1: but I always hunt with the risk release. And because
Speaker 1: one of my like mantras another thing hunting like a
Speaker 1: lesson learned. Um, my rule is like my release will
Speaker 1: be on my wrist on my bow because I have
Speaker 1: guided and I have come into encounters with like we
Speaker 1: got in I had a client one time, like I'm
Speaker 1: like calling and he's up there and he's ready, and
Speaker 1: I call in this herd bowl and he walks past
Speaker 1: him it like fifteen yards and nothing happens, and I'm like, dude,
Speaker 1: what's going on? And he's like, I don't have He
Speaker 1: came back, He's like, I don't have my release, Like
Speaker 1: he went to the bathroom. He set the release down
Speaker 1: and had no release in this ELK came in and
Speaker 1: he just missed his opportunity and I ended up um.
Speaker 1: I ended up getting some pecord out and making a
Speaker 1: release by doing like a kind of like a trucker's
Speaker 1: hitch where you can like run it through, back it
Speaker 1: and then hold it between his fingers, drawback and then
Speaker 1: just open his hand like this. It ended up working,
Speaker 1: but he didn't. We ended up hiking back out and
Speaker 1: get going. I actually had another release, and from that
Speaker 1: moment on, I actually started putting a spare release in
Speaker 1: my pack when I was guiding. But I I even
Speaker 1: had an encounter with a white tail where was like
Speaker 1: I learned that lesson myself was like going in UM
Speaker 1: to an area had my release in my I can't
Speaker 1: even remember. I couldn't even find it was like just
Speaker 1: going into here. I think it was my backpack or something,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh, big buck. The same buck that
Speaker 1: I've been trying to hunt all season is right here
Speaker 1: at thirty yards bedded, and I'm like, where's my freaking release?
Speaker 1: You know. I was like I've been there, so Um,
Speaker 1: that's one reason I like the wrist release. I and
Speaker 1: I always know where it is on my wrist or
Speaker 1: on my bow. Uh yeah cool. I think that's one
Speaker 1: last question. Yeah, what do you message you use when
Speaker 1: you shoot traditional? And how much do you shoot traditional
Speaker 1: versus compound? Yeah, I mean I don't know. I'm like
Speaker 1: I said, I I kind of shoot a little bit
Speaker 1: of every way. I mean, I shoot split fingers, I shoot.
Speaker 1: It just depends on my bow, like I've got certain bows. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I I think it's a combinat. It's more instinctive than aiming.
Speaker 1: But I do um use like a point on like
Speaker 1: my you know, yeah, point on target kind of thing. Um,
Speaker 1: it really depends Like I've got a recurp one recurp
Speaker 1: that I shoot one way, and I've got a long
Speaker 1: bow that I shoot another way. Um. I like to
Speaker 1: kind of just shoot all different ways and I kind
Speaker 1: of changed over. You know, it just depends on how
Speaker 1: that bow feels to me personally. But mostly it's it's
Speaker 1: a lot of instinctive. It's more instinctive than anything because
Speaker 1: I just kind of started that way, and it just
Speaker 1: like I don't know the whole Like I some people
Speaker 1: say it's not a good way to do it, so
Speaker 1: I don't ever try to tell somebody how to shoot.
Speaker 1: I just do know what works for me and do
Speaker 1: it minds more like the throw of all philosophy, Like
Speaker 1: I just see it and I do it um and
Speaker 1: I kind of do that. I still do that with
Speaker 1: a compound though. I mean I think it's a it's
Speaker 1: just like a way that I kind of don't worry
Speaker 1: about the action. I think, like, don't get that buck
Speaker 1: fever is like I just like people are like, well,
Speaker 1: what's your problem? And on my process is I just
Speaker 1: go in and kill the deer, and like it's a
Speaker 1: really good process, you know, like yeah, because you don't
Speaker 1: have time to work it up in your head. You're
Speaker 1: just like, well, I'm just going in here and I'm
Speaker 1: shooting the deer. And it's like if you make it
Speaker 1: that simple, then it sometimes is and and then when
Speaker 1: I start to think about things like anytime I'm shotgun
Speaker 1: shooting or whatever. Anytime I'm like doing uh, some kind
Speaker 1: of shotgun thing and it's like there's people and whatever,
Speaker 1: and I just start telling myself how to shoot. I
Speaker 1: will miss every clay that's thrown. But if I just
Speaker 1: if if I'm walking on the hill and I'm half
Speaker 1: sideways and a checker flies out at fifty four yards
Speaker 1: and I gotta twist turn and throw it up with
Speaker 1: my pack on, I'll shoot it in the head every time.
Speaker 1: You know, It's just like that's just how I am,
Speaker 1: and I not I know, not everybody's like that. So um,
Speaker 1: definitely more of an instinctive type shot on many things.
Speaker 1: So yeah, thank you so much. I appreciate everybody. Thanks
Speaker 1: again everybody for listening. That concludes our live Q and A.
Speaker 1: As the early season approaches, we have a ton of
Speaker 1: great topics to cover coming up, including pronghorn tactics, drought
Speaker 1: hunting strategies, maybe some wildfire workarounds. Also, don't forget to
Speaker 1: send me your hunt questions via Instagram, and also head
Speaker 1: over to my Remy warr On YouTube channel for some
Speaker 1: new hunts videos. How two all that stuff that's gonna
Speaker 1: be coming out. So until next week, I just want
Speaker 1: you to think about hunting. Yeah. Sure, maybe your work
Speaker 1: will suffer a little bit, it's okay. As long as
Speaker 1: you think about hunting, everything will be fine, especially with
Speaker 1: the season coming up. So keep thinking hunting. Und