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. Everyone. Now,
Speaker 1: when it comes to Western hunting gear, there's really no
Speaker 1: more integral piece of kit to get you to where
Speaker 1: you're going than boots. They're an essential piece of gear
Speaker 1: because you constantly use them in a way that's inherently
Speaker 1: uncomfortable hiking up mountains. It's the gear that, if not right,
Speaker 1: can literally stop a hunt in its tracks. As a guide,
Speaker 1: I've seen more blistered, tour up feet slow down those
Speaker 1: once in a lifetime opportunities or those really good chances
Speaker 1: on a hunt more than I care to think about.
Speaker 1: So on this week's gear Rundown, I want to go
Speaker 1: over the fundamentals and features for different boots and help
Speaker 1: you find the best option for your application and give
Speaker 1: you an idea of what to look for when it
Speaker 1: comes to boots for mountain or Western big game hunting.
Speaker 1: But before we go there, I want to share a
Speaker 1: funny story of a not so trusty pair of boots.
Speaker 1: This story takes place early in my guide years. I
Speaker 1: was guiding elk and deer hunters. This particular week had
Speaker 1: some guys from Texas and they were on their first
Speaker 1: elk hunt, so pretty much just like any other week
Speaker 1: back then, I really kind of I mean, the boots
Speaker 1: you could get were whatever standard sporting goods sold for boots.
Speaker 1: There wasn't a lot of really good mountain boots back then,
Speaker 1: and if there was, I mean I didn't know about them,
Speaker 1: or there were maybe just more than I could afford
Speaker 1: at the time. But as far as I can remember,
Speaker 1: I would always buy pretty much the best boots I
Speaker 1: could get from one of the major your boot companies
Speaker 1: that were, you know, something you can find in any Cabella's,
Speaker 1: big box store, whatever, and I'd pretty much burned through
Speaker 1: about two or three pairs of those a season. From
Speaker 1: the beginning of August through the end of December. I
Speaker 1: just wear through my boots because I was using them
Speaker 1: every day. They really weren't designed for heavy lots of
Speaker 1: use in the mountains, and so I kind of ran
Speaker 1: into this problem where I would have a good pair
Speaker 1: of boots and i'd like wear them guiding through archery,
Speaker 1: but then it'd be like mid rifle season and it's
Speaker 1: like crap, they're pretty much starting to wear out. But
Speaker 1: I don't really have the time to break in another
Speaker 1: pair because I'm in the middle of guiding. So if
Speaker 1: I really want to put another pair on and be
Speaker 1: uncomfortable for a few days, or just kind of wear
Speaker 1: these ones and see how much more I can get
Speaker 1: out of it, and let me wear them around on
Speaker 1: a weekend or something on my own hunt when I'm
Speaker 1: not guiding to get that like in between time to
Speaker 1: swap the boots out. So I'm taking these guys out.
Speaker 1: It's like the second week of the rifle season. My
Speaker 1: boots by this point are getting pretty hammered. It's like
Speaker 1: I probably should swap them out, but hey, they work
Speaker 1: like darren't really waterproof anymore. They're getting cold and wet,
Speaker 1: but that's okay. I can I can bear five more
Speaker 1: days with them and maybe throw on this new pair
Speaker 1: and break those in over the weekend on a personal hunt.
Speaker 1: So I've got these guys and we go out and
Speaker 1: we decided we weren't really seeing very many elk, like
Speaker 1: some weathered kind of moved in and my normal spots
Speaker 1: weren't very like being very productive. So I thought, oh,
Speaker 1: there's this one, this one place that I used to
Speaker 1: hunt with my dad as a kid, and we would
Speaker 1: just kind of like start hiking up the super steep mountain.
Speaker 1: It was just this really thick timbered face and just
Speaker 1: super steep, pretty timbered, but there was a few ridges
Speaker 1: that the elk would travel on that like little finger ridges.
Speaker 1: We looked for signing other things and then just kind
Speaker 1: of still hunt it. So I thought about it. I
Speaker 1: was kind of just you know, in my mind, I
Speaker 1: like to go over spots, potential spots, and I just
Speaker 1: kind of got this wild hair, let's go there. But
Speaker 1: when I got there, I thought, man, I want to
Speaker 1: hunt this different. It had been a while since I've
Speaker 1: been in there. I was a kid the last time
Speaker 1: I was there, just following my dad around. So I thought,
Speaker 1: let's go across the canyon up the other side and
Speaker 1: look into where we used to we used to hike
Speaker 1: and maybe we can glass in some of this stuff.
Speaker 1: So that other side was just as steep to get up,
Speaker 1: but we climb up and get to a good little
Speaker 1: glassing vantage, and I'm glassing, and I can actually see
Speaker 1: kind of it's like big pinion pines, a few little openings,
Speaker 1: fairly timbered, but there is some openings that I can see.
Speaker 1: And I remember we used to walk up this one
Speaker 1: steep ridge and then go into this little opening and
Speaker 1: we would always see some sign and stuff there. So
Speaker 1: I thought, okay, that's pretty much where we would kind
Speaker 1: of see sign of elk started glassing in there. So
Speaker 1: started to get closer to the evening and sure enough
Speaker 1: I'm looking. I'm like, oh, bowl, nice, big five by
Speaker 1: five bull steps out in that opening. I'm like, sweet,
Speaker 1: let's go get him. So he's at this point, maybe
Speaker 1: six hundred yards from us, and the ridge were on
Speaker 1: glassing kind of fingers down toward that ridge where the elks,
Speaker 1: so I try to keep him in sight. We move
Speaker 1: hustle down and get to about three hundred yards, but
Speaker 1: the bull had moved behind some pines and I knew
Speaker 1: he was still there, but he just wasn't out in
Speaker 1: the open. So we get set up. He gets ready
Speaker 1: on the pack and I'm like, all right, we're just
Speaker 1: gonna sit here and wait till he comes out. Waiting, waiting, waiting.
Speaker 1: It's getting closer and closer. Toward the end of the day.
Speaker 1: We still have maybe fifteen minutes or maybe twenty minutes
Speaker 1: of shooting light left, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: the bull steps out, like bull, he's out, give it
Speaker 1: a call. The bull kind of stops one hundred, puts
Speaker 1: the crossers on him. Boom. I hear the slap, and
Speaker 1: then the bull runs into the trees down low. I'm like, cool,
Speaker 1: there's a pretty good little creeked thing in between us.
Speaker 1: It's a really steep mountain on the other side. So
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, I don't know where you hit it.
Speaker 1: Because I just was between looking and calling and all that,
Speaker 1: I couldn't tell where he hit it, but I could
Speaker 1: hear the thump. It sounded good. But I just to
Speaker 1: be safe. I didn't want to push that bull in
Speaker 1: the dark into some really gnarly country. So I said,
Speaker 1: let's pull out tonight. We'll come back first thing in
Speaker 1: the morning. We'll try to find that bull. Cool, So
Speaker 1: we go back to camp, go back the next morning,
Speaker 1: and because it was so timbered, my thought was, we'll
Speaker 1: go back to the exact spot where we shot from,
Speaker 1: and then I can guide him in with hand signals
Speaker 1: to where the bull was. So we get set up
Speaker 1: on that point and I'm like, all right, cool, we
Speaker 1: can see where the bull was standing, I pointed out.
Speaker 1: I'm like, all right, I'm gonna just guide you over
Speaker 1: with some hand signals and then see if you can
Speaker 1: kind of find the bull just below. I'll kind of
Speaker 1: guide you where it looked like he went. So I
Speaker 1: guide him over there, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: it's kind of like it was a really foggy, kind
Speaker 1: of cloudy day, so we can see guide him into
Speaker 1: the spot and then can't see and now it starts
Speaker 1: to snow. I'm like, crap, so he can't find it.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, all right, just stay over there. And
Speaker 1: now it's like snowing and it's getting colder, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: jeez man, this sucks. But I definitely want to be
Speaker 1: able to guide him to where I think that bull
Speaker 1: ran into because it's going to be from there, you know,
Speaker 1: once it clears up, I should be able to glass
Speaker 1: into some of these spots and kind of ping around
Speaker 1: and see if I can find the bull before we
Speaker 1: like push him out, because I just wasn't sure based
Speaker 1: on the sound where he hit and if the bull
Speaker 1: is going to be dead or not. So, So we're
Speaker 1: sitting there, we're like waiting and storms moving in, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, all right, well, let's just build a little
Speaker 1: fire here while we wait this storm out and then
Speaker 1: we'll go in and try to figure out where the
Speaker 1: bull is. So build a little bit of a fire
Speaker 1: just to wait out the cold. I'm freezing my boots
Speaker 1: at this point, just feel soaked because the waterproofing and
Speaker 1: the stitching is not that great on him. And so
Speaker 1: we're just all standing around the campfire, warming up our feet,
Speaker 1: warming up our gloves, trying to stay warm and dry.
Speaker 1: The storm thing kind of moves through, probably, I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe an hour or two. I'm like, sweet, so it
Speaker 1: didn't dump a lot of snow, but it dumped, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe a good inch or whatever. I start glassing in there,
Speaker 1: and sure enough, just pick up that yellow of the
Speaker 1: bull actually really stood out after it snow. It was
Speaker 1: under kind of a in this little thick spot where
Speaker 1: I started moving around. Glassed in there, and I just
Speaker 1: saw the bull laying dead right pretty much right below
Speaker 1: where I had guided the guy into. But he just
Speaker 1: must he actually walked right past it. I don't know
Speaker 1: how he missed it but didn't see it. So we're like, sweet,
Speaker 1: there's the bull. Go over, cut up the bull, do
Speaker 1: all the stuff, pack the ball out. Awesome bull as
Speaker 1: a great mature animal. We were pretty stoked. So now
Speaker 1: it was time for the other guy to hunt, and
Speaker 1: I think he had a deer tag or whatever. So
Speaker 1: we go back. By the time we get they'll packed out.
Speaker 1: It's now dark. And the next day we decided to
Speaker 1: go back out, so load up the pack, start heading
Speaker 1: in and the trail, same boots that I was wearing
Speaker 1: the day before, did the pack out, everything like that.
Speaker 1: But now that night it just snowed a lot. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of fresh snow, probably I don't even know,
Speaker 1: maybe between your ankle and your knee deep, you know,
Speaker 1: just a good amount of snow. So trudging up the trail,
Speaker 1: walking along, and I just remember it was like this
Speaker 1: slow motion plant. I mean, it wasn't slow motion, but
Speaker 1: in my mind, it just felt slow motion plant. My
Speaker 1: right foot lift off like as I'm hiking up, and
Speaker 1: then just hear this and then step and I'm like it.
Speaker 1: It didn't even register at the point, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: what that happened, and I stopped and just everything felt
Speaker 1: really weird, really cold, and I look and the heel
Speaker 1: from my boot had completely removed from the boot itself.
Speaker 1: So I think with a combination of the fire before
Speaker 1: and now getting like wet and cold and planting in
Speaker 1: that snow, it was just enough that that whole heel
Speaker 1: just popped off the boot at once in one fail swoop,
Speaker 1: just one step, boom, heel off. My next plant was
Speaker 1: just boot on me with no heel attached. I'm like, oh, geez,
Speaker 1: I take a couple more steps and the other heel
Speaker 1: comes off the other bo Now I've got two boots
Speaker 1: with no heels on them, and we're still like maybe
Speaker 1: a couple of miles from the truck in quite a
Speaker 1: bit of snow. Oh great. So fortunately I didn't know this.
Speaker 1: I figured, oh, the hee would come off and then
Speaker 1: it would just be my sock. These boots somehow have
Speaker 1: like a maybe it was like the liner of some
Speaker 1: kind whatever. It was almost like a thicker sock mesh
Speaker 1: booty that was held on with the insole between the
Speaker 1: leather part of the boot and where the heel would
Speaker 1: have been. I'm like, well, what do we do? Now
Speaker 1: do I just like try to duct tape these boots
Speaker 1: back together or what. So I tried that for a
Speaker 1: little bit, but that didn't really work. It was fairly uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: So I ended up just hiking back the whole way
Speaker 1: with my boots in the snow that were no longer boots.
Speaker 1: Snow was just stuffing up around this whole thing. Scott,
Speaker 1: super wet, super cool. I just decided to keep moving
Speaker 1: hand made it back to the truck, and that evening
Speaker 1: I decided tomorrow will be the day I break in
Speaker 1: that new pair of boots. I'm not gonna lie. There
Speaker 1: have been many home improvement projects where I have tried
Speaker 1: to hammer in a nail with a wrench because I
Speaker 1: can't find my hammer and it does not work that well.
Speaker 1: Even like a large pipe wrench is not ideal for
Speaker 1: precision nailing. And as soon as you get that hammerback,
Speaker 1: the task just becomes that much easier, that much more comfortable,
Speaker 1: It goes that much smoother. It's just that old adage,
Speaker 1: the right tool for the right job. And I think
Speaker 1: that this is the approach that you really need to
Speaker 1: take when thinking about hunting boots, And it's an approach
Speaker 1: that probably most people don't think about. It's kind of
Speaker 1: matching your hunting style, the job, and the task at
Speaker 1: hand with the right type of boot that fits you.
Speaker 1: Boots are super important because they're one of those two
Speaker 1: touch points in the field that are gonna be on
Speaker 1: the uncomfortable action scale. You're doing something uncomfortable, you're hiking,
Speaker 1: you're climbing, your backpacking, and your feet or that mode
Speaker 1: of transportation. They're what you're using to hit the ground
Speaker 1: with as you move along. So that touch point needs
Speaker 1: to be comfortable in many ways, but also assist in
Speaker 1: the hunt for the terrain that you're in. So it
Speaker 1: really needs to fit your style of hunting. So what
Speaker 1: I want to do is I'm going to go over
Speaker 1: and compare various boot features for different applications to kind
Speaker 1: of help you build out mentally the type of hunting
Speaker 1: boot that will work for you. Everybody's a little bit different.
Speaker 1: I'll give you along the way, I'll kind of throwing
Speaker 1: the things that I like and other people may be
Speaker 1: completely opposite of that. So I kind of want to
Speaker 1: build it out where you could kind of understand the
Speaker 1: things to look for for what your application is, and
Speaker 1: then you'll find the boot that fits for you for
Speaker 1: most applications. Now, first and foremost, if we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about boots, they just app resolutely need to be comfortable.
Speaker 1: And I say that every time it's like what boots
Speaker 1: should I get? Well, the first thing is they need
Speaker 1: to be comfortable, they need to fit you well, and
Speaker 1: then you know, then you need to match it to
Speaker 1: the types of features and the things that you're looking for.
Speaker 1: There's so many boots out there, but just like anything,
Speaker 1: the better gear often has that higher price point, but
Speaker 1: that price point does come I think with boots in
Speaker 1: that better quality, it's something that's gonna last longer, it's
Speaker 1: gonna work in more scenarios, and you're gonna have it
Speaker 1: for a longer amount of time. I personally use and
Speaker 1: work with Schnai's boots out of Montana, so a lot
Speaker 1: of my experiences with their boots because they really fit
Speaker 1: me well and then they do a great job for
Speaker 1: what I want. And I've tried it pretty much almost
Speaker 1: every boot, different brands, model styles, whatever. But I want
Speaker 1: to just break down features that will help you find
Speaker 1: your right fit for me personally, when I like to
Speaker 1: kind of first think of, like what do I look
Speaker 1: for inner pair of boots and does it hit all
Speaker 1: these checkpoints. So the things that I need is something
Speaker 1: that's tough, supportive, and durable. And then I look for
Speaker 1: a boot that excels in steep and rugged terrain because
Speaker 1: that's kind of the country that I'm hunting in. I
Speaker 1: want something that's not going to eat my feet up
Speaker 1: where I don't get those hot spots. I don't I
Speaker 1: don't get maybe something that will wear down or pinch
Speaker 1: me in a in a spot that's gonna wear down
Speaker 1: over time over the course of a season or of
Speaker 1: a hunt. And then I want something that is going
Speaker 1: to make it easier to hike further, hike longer, hunt harder.
Speaker 1: So a lot of these comparisons in this breakdown are
Speaker 1: just gonna come down to your hunt style and personal choice.
Speaker 1: But I'm just gonna go through the list of things
Speaker 1: and then give you like something is always sacrificed by
Speaker 1: something else. So, for example, the first category we're going
Speaker 1: to talk about is the light first heavy. So boots
Speaker 1: are one of those things. You know, there's two different
Speaker 1: camps on this. You've got your light boot, let's go
Speaker 1: on the extreme side. You're like Solomon type, ultra runners,
Speaker 1: trail runners, whatever, some kind of like lightweight trail shoe.
Speaker 1: And then on the other end, you've got something heavier,
Speaker 1: like a full on mountaineering boot. Maybe it's full leather,
Speaker 1: maybe it's got a full shank shoot. There's even plastics
Speaker 1: out there for that, like high end expedition mountaineering. The
Speaker 1: mountaineering one's going to be super heavy, and the trail
Speaker 1: runner is going to be super light. You know, there
Speaker 1: is a lot of studies of weight on your feet
Speaker 1: translating that to weight on your back, So say like
Speaker 1: a pound on your feet is kind of equivalent to
Speaker 1: eight pounds on your back. So you go, okay, well,
Speaker 1: obviously I want the light boot. But there's give and
Speaker 1: take with everything. There's that's why there's not one perfect
Speaker 1: thing for one perfect type or one perfect type of hunt.
Speaker 1: What I like to do is I like to kind
Speaker 1: of build the idea of like this is what I'm
Speaker 1: looking for, and then I find one that fits the
Speaker 1: largest category in the largest range of application. So when
Speaker 1: you go light verse heavy, there's a lot of guys.
Speaker 1: I've got friends that they just hunt in the lightest
Speaker 1: boot possible, and that's a great way to go. On
Speaker 1: the flip side, you're like, well, why are mountaineering boots heavy,
Speaker 1: and why are the guys that are climbing the most
Speaker 1: serious mountains in heavy boots. Why wouldn't they just take
Speaker 1: light boots. It's because that there's that give and take.
Speaker 1: The light boot is really good for more flat terrain,
Speaker 1: longer miles, but really not aggressive rocky type stuff. They
Speaker 1: get eaten away faster, they break down faster. They also
Speaker 1: you would think, well, a pound on your feet as
Speaker 1: a pound on your back, so I would feel less
Speaker 1: felt weight and get tired less with the light boot,
Speaker 1: which is true in flat ground, more mile ground, but
Speaker 1: when you turn that into a mountain, when you turn
Speaker 1: that into an incline, you actually feel less fatigue, footwear,
Speaker 1: fatigue from your feet when you've got a heavy pack on,
Speaker 1: when you're hiking something steep, with a boot that has
Speaker 1: more support is stiffer, can dig in a little more,
Speaker 1: and you have to like use less balance, you have
Speaker 1: to your bodies, using less small muscles, your fear feeling
Speaker 1: impact less, and actually over time you feel less fatigue.
Speaker 1: So for me personally, I kind of like that mid
Speaker 1: that mid range where I'm finding something that's not super light,
Speaker 1: but also something that's not heavy, where it's got the
Speaker 1: mix of the durability, the ruggedness. But also when I
Speaker 1: hit those mountains, I can really go in any type
Speaker 1: of terrain. Now, there are certain hunts like antelope, pronghorn
Speaker 1: hunts or whatever. I'm like, hey, i'm gonna be running
Speaker 1: a gunn and I'm gonna be putting a lot of
Speaker 1: miles on. Maybe light's good for me. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of people that like that type of style of shoe,
Speaker 1: that type of style of boot. So finding something that's
Speaker 1: light is a great way to go. Now, if you're
Speaker 1: in real steep mountains, real rocky terrain, sometimes heavier is better.
Speaker 1: It might be a heavier boot, but there's features of
Speaker 1: that heavy boot that are actually going to make you
Speaker 1: be able to hike further, longer, and hunt harder. So
Speaker 1: that's the first comparison. Now we'll just go with a
Speaker 1: stiff verse flexible. There's so many type types of boots
Speaker 1: out there. I think one that's really kind of made
Speaker 1: its way into standard Western hunting is that more mountain
Speaker 1: style boot. And what that is is when I talk
Speaker 1: about a mountain boot, a mountain boot has a really
Speaker 1: stiff soul. They might have a shank in it. Summer
Speaker 1: made of metal, summer made of cardboard, summer made of
Speaker 1: carbon fiber. What it does is it just creates less
Speaker 1: flex in the boot. And you're like, well, why would
Speaker 1: I want less flex? What the less flex does is
Speaker 1: by moving less, especially in steep terrain, you're able to
Speaker 1: dig that foot in and you just feel it's like
Speaker 1: your foot's working less for each one of those steps. Now,
Speaker 1: on flat terrain, it's the exact opposite. It can be
Speaker 1: hard to walk on, it can feel uncomfortable, it can
Speaker 1: be a little bit clunky. Stiff boots last longer the
Speaker 1: stiff souls wear down less, but they're also a lot
Speaker 1: harder to break in. If we went on a scale
Speaker 1: of one zero to five, I think Schnas does a
Speaker 1: really good job with their boots of like labeling there
Speaker 1: the flex of the soul, so like zero's like a
Speaker 1: real flexible soul, more like a trail runner. In fives
Speaker 1: like a hard mountaineering boot that barely moves, good shank
Speaker 1: in it. So if you're going on that scale of
Speaker 1: like super stiff to super flexible, super flexible boots are
Speaker 1: going to break in faster. That's a bonus, especially if
Speaker 1: you don't have a lot of time, and they'll probably
Speaker 1: feel better on your foot, less potential for hot spots,
Speaker 1: and a shorter amount of time. Now those boots will
Speaker 1: break down faster over time, they'll probably be a little
Speaker 1: bit less durable because they're moving more. All that movement
Speaker 1: creates where whether it's in the leather or the boot
Speaker 1: itself and the soul itself whatever. Now the stiffer boot, though,
Speaker 1: is going to take a lot longer to break in.
Speaker 1: A flexible boot you might be able to break in
Speaker 1: in a mile or two, and a real stiff boot
Speaker 1: you might have to take up to fifty miles to
Speaker 1: actually break that boot into where your foot starts to
Speaker 1: feel right in it. So that's something to consider. How
Speaker 1: much time do you have and kind of like that
Speaker 1: suffer that suffer chart of like breaking in your boots
Speaker 1: for most people, if you don't live somewhere that has
Speaker 1: that same type of terrain that you're going to be
Speaker 1: hunting in, is very very difficult. Breaking them in in
Speaker 1: flat ground is one thing. Breaking them in in inclined terrain.
Speaker 1: I know so many people are like I put fifty
Speaker 1: mile I was on these boots at work. I tracked
Speaker 1: it on my whatever, my pedometer. I definitely I wore
Speaker 1: them every day. And then they get in the mountains
Speaker 1: and the first day out they've got hot spots in
Speaker 1: places they didn't know because they're using that boot and
Speaker 1: flexing it in a different way. It's very stiff. Their
Speaker 1: foot doesn't move with it, and then they end up
Speaker 1: with blisters or something else. Me personally, I tend and
Speaker 1: this is a personal preference, I tend to air on
Speaker 1: the side of more flexible. Now. I used to go
Speaker 1: always really stiff, really stiff, but that breaking period was
Speaker 1: so long, and I found that my foot does not
Speaker 1: really get that tired. Maybe that's just the way that
Speaker 1: I am. But I like being able to just throw
Speaker 1: on a pair of boots, start hunting with them, start
Speaker 1: going out and feeling comfortable and being like, Okay, I
Speaker 1: can move with these. I also like to be able
Speaker 1: to feel the ground a little bit more, so I
Speaker 1: kind of go with the side of more flexible soul,
Speaker 1: But I also like a lot of support. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna go with the next one, which is ankle support
Speaker 1: versus no ankles. No ankle support would be more a
Speaker 1: low top tennis shoe below the ankle, and then you
Speaker 1: can go up like above the ankle, short boot and
Speaker 1: then a full on, you know, six or eight inch boot.
Speaker 1: I like that. I don't like the boot up to
Speaker 1: my knee, but I do like it a little bit
Speaker 1: higher than the ankle. Me personally, I don't necessarily like
Speaker 1: the lower boots. I've tried them. They are lighter, but
Speaker 1: I feel like there's that give take where I like
Speaker 1: to be able to lace that boot up tight up
Speaker 1: a little higher and I don't have to look at
Speaker 1: the ground as much. I don't have to worry about
Speaker 1: rolling my ankle. I know a lot of people worry
Speaker 1: about that. I do actually have really strong ankles. Because
Speaker 1: there are some hunks where I will wear a lower
Speaker 1: top boot. My ankles are really strong. I've only rolled
Speaker 1: an ankle once and it was kind of like off
Speaker 1: a rock into between two other rocks and my body
Speaker 1: weight going over it, and that was a bummer. It
Speaker 1: was pretty bad. But for the most part, I actually
Speaker 1: have really strong ankles and don't mind not having that support.
Speaker 1: But for most the season, I like that extra because
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily have to pay as much attention. I
Speaker 1: can let just kind of use my legs as walking sticks.
Speaker 1: They hit, they plant, I can put a lot more
Speaker 1: weight on my back and have that support and stability,
Speaker 1: because I think that it really provides a lot of
Speaker 1: stability up my trunk when I've got a lot of weight,
Speaker 1: or I'm in that like steep mountain terrain, really slippery
Speaker 1: rock and shale type country sidehilling up, going up, straight up,
Speaker 1: and straight down. I like that extra support. I also
Speaker 1: find that that extra support is really nice for like
Speaker 1: super steep downhill declines or in that like really kind
Speaker 1: of terrain that moves a lot, because I can just
Speaker 1: dig the heel in, dig the healing, or if I'm
Speaker 1: going up, kick the toe in, kick the toe in,
Speaker 1: and it keeps everything straight aligned and really kind of
Speaker 1: supports me from swinging back and forth side to side,
Speaker 1: which I find over the long period of time really
Speaker 1: actually kind of increases your ability to just stay out
Speaker 1: there longer and get less tired. So ankle support is
Speaker 1: one thing that you want to think about. Really that
Speaker 1: is a lot of personal preference. My brother, he likes
Speaker 1: the short boots. They're a little bit lighter. He likes
Speaker 1: the feel of them. It's more closely kind of like
Speaker 1: what he wears to work all the time. I just
Speaker 1: over the years got used to a little bit taller boot.
Speaker 1: If you took ten hunters. You know, it comes down
Speaker 1: to personal preference and comfort. What's the kind of boot
Speaker 1: that you like. Are you guy that likes that more
Speaker 1: ankle support, that likes to be able to lace it
Speaker 1: up tight, have it a little bit taller. I also
Speaker 1: like it a little bit taller boot. If I was
Speaker 1: just to pick my perfect hunting boot, it'd be a
Speaker 1: little bit taller boot, you know, for crossing water and
Speaker 1: creeks and streams and other things. It's just something that's
Speaker 1: not even that deep. You don't have to worry about
Speaker 1: water running over the top, especially if it's waterproof, which
Speaker 1: brings us to our next one. Waterproof or not waterproof.
Speaker 1: I would always for hunting boots, say waterproof side, what
Speaker 1: are the pros and cons? There's very few boots out there.
Speaker 1: There's like a quality boot that's not waterproof. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: even suggest it, to be honest. That's probably the only
Speaker 1: one that I'm like, yeah, you want this, whether it's
Speaker 1: a gortex liner, whether it's an event or other fabric
Speaker 1: even just like I mean, you can go full green
Speaker 1: leather and just put some kind of wax sealer on
Speaker 1: it if it doesn't have that gortex type liner. But
Speaker 1: anything that kind of keeps that water out keeps your
Speaker 1: foot dry, because a dry foot ends up being a
Speaker 1: foot that doesn't get blisters, is often stays warm, stays
Speaker 1: more comfortable. So when it comes to a boot, waterproof
Speaker 1: is pretty much standard, gold standard, especially on high end boots.
Speaker 1: But something to think about now you're thinking, well, when
Speaker 1: would I not want a waterproof boot. If you hunt
Speaker 1: primarily desert, if it's hot all the time, your feet
Speaker 1: are always hot, that waterproof barrier, even though a lot
Speaker 1: of them are breathable, does create a lot more sweat
Speaker 1: build up and a little bit more heat. So if
Speaker 1: you're looking for something super lightweight, maybe something that breathes
Speaker 1: a lot better, then that's the time that you could say, Okay,
Speaker 1: waterproof isn't really a factor for me, I'm just looking
Speaker 1: for something super light. Another factor comes down to thinking
Speaker 1: of leather verse synthetic. I personally prefer leather in my boots.
Speaker 1: I like leather with kind of a rubber rand around
Speaker 1: above the or released in the tow part of the boot,
Speaker 1: something that comes up above the soul. What that does
Speaker 1: is that actually protects the leather from damage from kicking
Speaker 1: in the dirt, rocks, really rough country. That rand can
Speaker 1: get eaten away before it's actually eating away the boot itself.
Speaker 1: I found that they last longer that way. I really
Speaker 1: like leather because they tend to stay waterproof longer if
Speaker 1: you take care of them right, and they tend to
Speaker 1: last longer, in my opinion, once that synthetic starts to
Speaker 1: break in, it almost starts to break down. Also, catching
Speaker 1: it on really sharp rocks and other types of things
Speaker 1: tends to eat it away a little bit faster. I
Speaker 1: never get the same amount of life out of my
Speaker 1: synthetic boots as I do leather. Now I'm not talking
Speaker 1: about plastic boots. Plastics are for like real rugged, real
Speaker 1: rough country to use plastic boots and like in serious
Speaker 1: mountaineering type hunts New Zealand, Southern Alps, Alaska, some like
Speaker 1: really gnarly rock type stuff, and they're really good for
Speaker 1: like crossing streams and rivers because you can actually pull
Speaker 1: your the warm part of the boot pulls out of
Speaker 1: like the ski boot, and then you can put like
Speaker 1: these glacier socks over it and make a set of
Speaker 1: waiters and cross the stream, which is pretty awesome. The
Speaker 1: downside to those things is it's like hiking around in
Speaker 1: a ski boot, and over the years, I've just decided
Speaker 1: it's not worth it for me. I'd rather just go
Speaker 1: with the leather boot. I keep mine. I like to
Speaker 1: like even before trips, I'll use some kind of snow
Speaker 1: seal or other leather waterproof boot condition or whatever, something
Speaker 1: that kind of protects the leather itself and keeps it
Speaker 1: water resistant. I know they say you're supposed to use
Speaker 1: like wax with gortex membranes and other things because it
Speaker 1: makes it not breathable. I personally don't really get super
Speaker 1: sweaty feet. My feet are always cold. I've just actually
Speaker 1: got frostbite in the past a long time ago, and
Speaker 1: because of it, it just seems like my circulation and
Speaker 1: my feet is never that good. My feet are always
Speaker 1: kind of cold. I think that that's kind of the
Speaker 1: unnorm So I'm gonna go with insulation versus uninsulated. And
Speaker 1: I get this question all the time, like should I
Speaker 1: get the insulated ones? Should I get the uninsulated ones? Me,
Speaker 1: I like at least two hundred grams of insulation. But
Speaker 1: I'm the type of person I could wear two hundred
Speaker 1: grams of insulation in the summer. That's pretty rare. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of people that have to have uninsulated like
Speaker 1: their feet are always hot. I see dudes that walk
Speaker 1: around all winter long and uninsulated boots. I don't know
Speaker 1: how you do it. They just get a little bit
Speaker 1: thicker sock. As the season progresses on. I like to
Speaker 1: kind of tailor my boots to where it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: it works really good for me from September through the
Speaker 1: end of December. Even with the insulated boots, I would
Speaker 1: say that I'm like pretty comfortable for most of the season,
Speaker 1: and then as it gets later in the season, I
Speaker 1: actually just throw in like I've just started using them footwarmers.
Speaker 1: And the key to the footwarmer for me is just
Speaker 1: like putting it on top of my toes, on top
Speaker 1: of my sockets. Take the sticky thing, stick it right
Speaker 1: on the top of my sock on my toes, and
Speaker 1: stick my foot in my boot. Last year, it was
Speaker 1: you know, below zero for quite a few quite a
Speaker 1: few weeks, and those footwarmers save me. It's hiking. Yeah,
Speaker 1: your feet stay warm, it's when you stop and you
Speaker 1: got a glass in the cold that my toes just freeze.
Speaker 1: And I found that just using those little footwarmers they
Speaker 1: pretty much last all day, and then you can get
Speaker 1: a little bit more all season use out of a
Speaker 1: pair of boots that maybe has less insulation. I don't
Speaker 1: know it's for me, it works really well. I know
Speaker 1: a couple of my other guides started doing that system
Speaker 1: and it's been working for them as well, especially when
Speaker 1: you've got a pair of uninsulated boots and you just
Speaker 1: want to let them last. They're they're comfortable, they're lighter there.
Speaker 1: They work really good for the majority of the year,
Speaker 1: but it starts to get cold and you're like, man,
Speaker 1: what do I do now? I don't want to have
Speaker 1: two pairs of boots, which if you can afford it,
Speaker 1: that's great, get a pair insulated for late season and
Speaker 1: uninsulated early season. But if you can't, that footwarmer trick
Speaker 1: with some thick socks seems to work pretty good. I
Speaker 1: think one question is like how long will boots last?
Speaker 1: So you got to think of boots a lot like tires.
Speaker 1: They all have a limit on how long they can
Speaker 1: go and how long they will last, and that just
Speaker 1: depends on a few factors, how you use them and
Speaker 1: how you take care of them, and the type of
Speaker 1: country that you're in. I know, joke, have taken a
Speaker 1: pair of light boots, you know, something you'd find in
Speaker 1: any big box store and gone out on a hunt
Speaker 1: in Nevada. I've done this multiple times. Like I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: I would think I would get smarter, but go on
Speaker 1: a hunt in Nevada and literally the hunts that one
Speaker 1: hunt for seven days, those boots would be thrashed. They're done.
Speaker 1: But they're a light pair of boots, and I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: that gets expensive. So now I just take my mountain
Speaker 1: boots on those same hunts and they last a lot longer. Well,
Speaker 1: why is that? It's you know, in country where there's
Speaker 1: a lot of rock light boots, which are often I'm
Speaker 1: not even saying they're cheap, they might even be one
Speaker 1: hundred two hundred dollars, but they're just lighter material and
Speaker 1: there may be something that's synthetic. They seem like they'd
Speaker 1: be really good for that. And then you get back
Speaker 1: and the boot soles eating away the seams are busted out,
Speaker 1: the dirt gets in there everywhere and starts to rub,
Speaker 1: and the boot just falls apart after a week of
Speaker 1: heart hunting, and that's you know, a lot of miles,
Speaker 1: but that's the life of that boot. And then you
Speaker 1: get something more like what I run year round, where
Speaker 1: it's like, hey, I'm using these things all day, every day,
Speaker 1: and I can get a couple years out of it,
Speaker 1: which for most people might be in their entire lifetime.
Speaker 1: So that's the difference between there's so many different boots
Speaker 1: for different types of things. If you're going in the
Speaker 1: mountains with a boot that's not made for that, it's
Speaker 1: gonna wear out fast. You got to see it as
Speaker 1: a disposable boot. And then there's more mountaineering style boots,
Speaker 1: which you're going to get multiple seasons, multiple hunts, multiple years,
Speaker 1: maybe even your life, half your life, whatever out of
Speaker 1: that single pair of boots, which is more expensive. It's
Speaker 1: a higher price point, but you're going to get a
Speaker 1: longevity out of it, and you're gonna be able to
Speaker 1: go into more very terrain, more aggressive type terrain. So
Speaker 1: that's where it comes down to finding the right boot
Speaker 1: for the right job. The type of thing that you
Speaker 1: feel comfortable with and the type of boot that's comfortable.
Speaker 1: I know that's not necessarily the easiest way of saying,
Speaker 1: like which boots? I mean, I can go through the
Speaker 1: boots that I wear right now, I'm wearing the Schnai's
Speaker 1: Bear toothe. I've worn those for a couple of years.
Speaker 1: I've used those on everything from most of my elk guiding,
Speaker 1: to sheep and goats, sheep in Asia, goats in Alaska,
Speaker 1: a lot of different hunts. They're a really good mountain
Speaker 1: style boot, full leather. They're more expensive, but they last
Speaker 1: a long time. Those ones actually aren't even super stiff.
Speaker 1: If I were to go up, like into a more
Speaker 1: mountaineering style boot, a stiff or soul, those would last
Speaker 1: even longer. But then I got that give take in
Speaker 1: my mind of like, okay, I'd rather have one that
Speaker 1: has a little bit more flexible soul, which is my preference,
Speaker 1: but still can handle some more mountain stuff. Not super stiff,
Speaker 1: not super flexible. Full leather stays water proof, I can
Speaker 1: rub it down, but also not as durable maybe, and
Speaker 1: knowing that going into it is a full mountain boot,
Speaker 1: and then you know there's on the other end, you
Speaker 1: could go on a hunt where it's like, hey, I'm
Speaker 1: going pronghorn hunting, or I'm just doing like a day
Speaker 1: hunt where I don't need I'm not having a super
Speaker 1: heavy pack. I'm not going to be super far from
Speaker 1: the truck. I just want to be kind of mobile,
Speaker 1: light and fast. And then you go with something that's
Speaker 1: a lot lighter boot, something that's maybe it's synthetic, maybe
Speaker 1: it's more of like a trail runner style, something that's
Speaker 1: super light, and you know it's not going to be
Speaker 1: as durable, it's not going to be as aggressive. You
Speaker 1: can get by and pretty much everything you're going through
Speaker 1: that day, and it works really good, and it's not
Speaker 1: that extra weight of having a heavy boot or maybe
Speaker 1: a warm boot, especially something like spring bear hunting where
Speaker 1: I'm just cruising trails. I've got a light pack on,
Speaker 1: might just be cruising up for the morning, cruising back down,
Speaker 1: covering a lot of miles. Super lightweight boot, something that's
Speaker 1: super flexible, I can kind of feel the ground as good,
Speaker 1: and as my foot gets tired with that, I throw
Speaker 1: on my more heavy duty boot and hunt the rest
Speaker 1: of the week in that. And that's kind of the
Speaker 1: way that I use my boots. I like to have
Speaker 1: a kind of I know it's impossible to have the
Speaker 1: exact right boot for everything, so I like to try
Speaker 1: to find one boot that really does the most, and
Speaker 1: then maybe a secondary, kind of lighter weight boot that
Speaker 1: kind of fills in the jobs for stuff around that,
Speaker 1: so I don't put as much strain on my boots
Speaker 1: that might not be perfect for that. So something with
Speaker 1: a real flexible soul when I'm doing more flat ground,
Speaker 1: and then something with a lot of stiffer soul when
Speaker 1: I know that I'm going to be hunting the mountains. Now,
Speaker 1: my suggestion is, if you're like, what's one boot to
Speaker 1: rule them all, find the kind of hunting that you
Speaker 1: do the most, and then pick a boot that's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: it works for that application, but also can go up
Speaker 1: in scale where it's like, hey, it still works in
Speaker 1: the mountains, it works on these it won't get eaten
Speaker 1: away too much, and that for you is going to
Speaker 1: be the perfect boot. But always it's going to come
Speaker 1: down to finding the right fit. You want to make
Speaker 1: sure that you can try a boot on. I know,
Speaker 1: for me, there's been very few boots that I thought,
Speaker 1: this is uncomfortable when I first try it on, and
Speaker 1: it becomes comfortable later after the breaking period. That just
Speaker 1: doesn't happen for me. I don't know, maybe it happens
Speaker 1: for other people. I need a boot to fit right away,
Speaker 1: like right out of the gate. There are some of
Speaker 1: those really really stiff soul boots are kind of just
Speaker 1: inherently uncomfortable to start with. Once you start to break
Speaker 1: them in your fit, your foot starts to form to
Speaker 1: it a little bit better. Another thing, when it comes
Speaker 1: to boots, I like, I'm a big proponent of putting
Speaker 1: in a insul that works for you and it's comfortable
Speaker 1: and fits your foot. You could have the best boot
Speaker 1: in the world, and then your foot maybe you've got
Speaker 1: a flatter foot and that boot has a maybe a
Speaker 1: higher arch insul, or maybe you've got a higher arch,
Speaker 1: and just having an insul that fits your foot is
Speaker 1: as important as the boot itself. It's going to kind
Speaker 1: of create this much better boot experience for you. What
Speaker 1: I do is I know the type of insoles that
Speaker 1: works for my feet, so I just get that right away.
Speaker 1: I get a new pair of boots, I immediately swap
Speaker 1: out the insoles. Even though the insules in there might
Speaker 1: be a really good insul, it's just not the insul
Speaker 1: for my foot. I swap out those insoles and then
Speaker 1: I break my boot in with that insole to my foot,
Speaker 1: and then everything flexes, moves, bends, and I get I
Speaker 1: work out those hot spots. I start to build if
Speaker 1: it's got a hot spot, maybe a callous in that
Speaker 1: break in period in that spot, and I really break
Speaker 1: those boots in to form to my feet. One of
Speaker 1: the most important things with hunting boots that I stress
Speaker 1: to every hunter. If a hunter is like, gott a
Speaker 1: hunt with me, He's like, Hey, I'm coming hunting. What's
Speaker 1: something I need? What's a piece of year that I
Speaker 1: I say, you need boots that are broken in, and
Speaker 1: not just like lightly worn. You need boots that are
Speaker 1: broken in. So when you walk in those boots in
Speaker 1: the mountains for five days or whatever however long your
Speaker 1: hunt is, you're gonna be good. You're gonna be comfortable.
Speaker 1: And that is the most important thing. Having a pair
Speaker 1: of boots that fits, having a pair of boots that
Speaker 1: works for the application of hunting that you're doing, and
Speaker 1: one that are broken in. I don't know how many
Speaker 1: times I've seen guys like literally pulling the stuffing out
Speaker 1: of the toes of a pair of hunting boosming I
Speaker 1: just bought these boots online. I've actually done that myself
Speaker 1: because I've needed a new pair of boots at the
Speaker 1: wrong time of year. That happens to me every year.
Speaker 1: So now I've got like a system where I start
Speaker 1: breaking in if I'm going to wear a boot, I
Speaker 1: get them in the spring and start breaking them in
Speaker 1: shed hunting, doing other activities, and like paying attention to
Speaker 1: getting that boot ready. I've got like my next year's
Speaker 1: boot already in the lineup, Like I'll wear a boot
Speaker 1: to death essentially, because just like that story where I
Speaker 1: was like hiking and then the boots literally fall apart
Speaker 1: in the field, I don't want to ever get to
Speaker 1: that point again. So I like to have my next
Speaker 1: pair of boots before my other boots are completely wore out.
Speaker 1: And when you do that, you can kind of swap
Speaker 1: between the two pairs of boots. You actually have two pairs,
Speaker 1: and you can kind of put less miles on that
Speaker 1: one single pair. It's just like a good pair of tire.
Speaker 1: See you, Now you got to rotate those things, otherwise
Speaker 1: they're gonna wear out in a lot faster time than
Speaker 1: if you just rotate them. So I actually kind of
Speaker 1: rotate through one or two pairs of boots, maybe a
Speaker 1: cheaper pair of boots that I use for certain types
Speaker 1: of hunts, and then my really good boots that I
Speaker 1: use for those those bigger hunts where I need that
Speaker 1: high performance. But that's just a kind of a way
Speaker 1: that you can think about boots. I'm constantly always trying
Speaker 1: new pairs of boots. I mean, fortunately I get the
Speaker 1: opportunity to try a lot of different pairs. First thing
Speaker 1: I like to do, though, if I'm trying whatever it is,
Speaker 1: try the boot on it to see how it feels.
Speaker 1: Even with I mean, if you're going somewhere to try
Speaker 1: on boots, you can even try it with the type
Speaker 1: of insul that you like. Just know it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: is this gonna fit with my insul, with my hunting sock.
Speaker 1: Make it like you're hunting with it. Get that first
Speaker 1: little feel, does it feel good? Does it feel right?
Speaker 1: And then go from there, and then once you kind
Speaker 1: of find the type of boot that you like. I
Speaker 1: always try to I mean, there's always you know, you
Speaker 1: can kind of fine tune that to say, Okay, well
Speaker 1: maybe next time I'll get one that's uninsulated or insulated.
Speaker 1: It is a huge investment. It's an expensive piece of
Speaker 1: year that does wear out. It's just like tires on
Speaker 1: your truck. Man. Every time I go get tires, I'm
Speaker 1: like dang, but I know that I need them, And
Speaker 1: especially when it comes to boots, I don't mind spending
Speaker 1: extra money on something that is not gonna eat my
Speaker 1: feet up. It's going to be comfortable that I'm going
Speaker 1: to be in day and day out and know that
Speaker 1: I'll be able to be successful with them, because like
Speaker 1: just the actual ability to hunt hard and not be
Speaker 1: fatigued and not have my feet wear out is going
Speaker 1: to be the difference. Early on in the podcast, one
Speaker 1: of my first few episodes was about a client that
Speaker 1: I had that got gang green. Like hiking, and just
Speaker 1: like footcare, it's huge. It's important, and I would say
Speaker 1: that for most guys coming out West that have never
Speaker 1: done it, boot choice, having the wrong pair boots and
Speaker 1: having a pair of boots that's not broken in is
Speaker 1: the number one hunt killer, the number one thing that
Speaker 1: slows guys down and prevents them from being successful. So
Speaker 1: hope this kind of builds out a picture of when
Speaker 1: you're thinking about boots, you know, you realize that there's
Speaker 1: not one perfect scenario of light verse, heavy, insulated or uninsulated.
Speaker 1: You do got to find, like the type of hunt
Speaker 1: that you want to do, and then pick something that
Speaker 1: matches your preference, your style and fits into that niche
Speaker 1: of this is what I'm going to do, and this
Speaker 1: is a good pair of boots for that job, and
Speaker 1: then kind of you can continue to use that pair
Speaker 1: of boots for other things, but primarily focusing on the
Speaker 1: type of hunting you're doing and then picking a boot
Speaker 1: that fits that and your preference. I hope that these
Speaker 1: gear breakdowns have really helped you. Guys. I get a
Speaker 1: ton of questions about gear. It's probably one of the
Speaker 1: number one things. So I figured helping people understand my
Speaker 1: thought process and when it comes to key pieces of
Speaker 1: gear like this should be helpful for picking something that
Speaker 1: works for them and also kind of gives you an idea.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm fortunate that I get to try a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff, I get to spend a lot of
Speaker 1: time in the field, and so over the years I
Speaker 1: found things it's like, Okay, this is the balance between
Speaker 1: this and that. There's so many times you might go
Speaker 1: to the store and be like, oh, these boots will work,
Speaker 1: and then you take them out and then they wear
Speaker 1: out and you're like, damn it, that sucked. Or you
Speaker 1: know some pair of boots that is going to take
Speaker 1: a long time to break in, and maybe you don't
Speaker 1: have that amount of time, so you need something more
Speaker 1: comfortable to get into right away. So kind of finding
Speaker 1: that right balance and finding that right thing for you.
Speaker 1: I hope this has been helpful. Another thing that I
Speaker 1: get asked about all the time is packs, and packs
Speaker 1: are key because it's another one of those touch points
Speaker 1: of doing something inherently uncomfortable. So in the future I'm
Speaker 1: going to jump in and do a little bit of
Speaker 1: stuff on packs. There are some other things with packs,
Speaker 1: of the ways you can load them, the different types
Speaker 1: of packs in different styles that help lessen that felt weight.
Speaker 1: And that's what it's all about, like making something uncomfortable
Speaker 1: a little more comfortable, a little more bearable, and even
Speaker 1: in many cases allow you to do more, carry more weight,
Speaker 1: hike further, whatever. It's just it's another awesome piece of kit,
Speaker 1: we'll go into that. I think one thing, if you're
Speaker 1: planning on hunting spring bears this year, some spring bears
Speaker 1: seasons are just getting kicked off. If that's you, feel
Speaker 1: free to go back. Check out episode thirty three, especially
Speaker 1: thirty three. I think that's probably one of the most informative,
Speaker 1: as far as I know, the most one of the
Speaker 1: more informative spot and stock all encompassing bear tactics out there.
Speaker 1: And then episode thirty four is on bear calling. It's
Speaker 1: really fun tactic to use as well, especially in the fall,
Speaker 1: but works in the spring. One thing I do want
Speaker 1: to do is kind of hit on a few other
Speaker 1: bear tactics this year, so maybe i'll do those before
Speaker 1: the packs. I haven't decided yet. One thing that I
Speaker 1: do want to talk about is just kind of targeting
Speaker 1: emerging bears. It's a really good way hunting early to
Speaker 1: kind of target bars because they tend to be the
Speaker 1: first bears out. Those big boars are generally the first
Speaker 1: ones to come out of hibernation, and there's a few
Speaker 1: specialized tactics for finding them in a time of year
Speaker 1: that maybe necessarily doesn't have as much food or other sources.
Speaker 1: But it's a good time of year to start targeting bears.
Speaker 1: It might seem like, oh, they aren't out yet, there's
Speaker 1: not a lot of action, but it can be a
Speaker 1: great time to get out and hunt. So I want
Speaker 1: to touch on a few of those tactics. A few
Speaker 1: things for spring bear hunters coming up. But until then,
Speaker 1: keep on keeping on, keep on truck in, and make
Speaker 1: sure to break in your boots. We'll see you guys
Speaker 1: next week.