Check engine light on? Take the guesswork out of your check engine light with O'Reilly Veriscan. It's free and provides a report with solutions based on over 650 million vehicle scans verified by ASE certified master technicians. And if you need help, we can recommend a shop for you. Ask for O'Reilly Veriscan today. O, O, O'Reilly Auto Parts.
You ever get that feeling, the walls closing in, the concrete jungle suffocating you? You crave some wide open spaces, the chance to connect with nature, maybe in a spot all your own. Well, head over to land.com. They've got ranches, forests, mountains, streams, you name it. Search by acreage. You can search by location. You can search by the kind of hunting and fishing you're dreaming of. Land.com. It is where the adventure begins.
Market House has the cleanest, leanest, juiciest meat and seafood shipped to your home overnight. Expect the service of a local butcher and the convenience of a large supplier. Unlike many online butchers, you can grab just one meal's worth or lock in for a subscription box. Choose from grass-fed and grass-finished beef, American Wagyu, free-range poultry, grass-fed lamb, wild-caught king crab, seafood, and more.
This podcast is presented by Yeti, built for the wild.
Welcome back to the Cutting the Distance podcast. I hope you've been enjoying some of the stuff we've been talking about recently. A little bit of small game, some still hunting. If you haven't listened to those, go back, check them out. For me, the small game season just ended yesterday. The last weekend of upland bird season was this weekend in Nevada. So me and my wife actually went out with a couple of friends, Mike and Dan, and we chased some chukar.
It was a lot of fun. It was a lot of work. My wife did great. She shot her first checker. So that was something to really celebrate about. One thing growing up hunting checkers, you just kind of think that bird hunting is one of the toughest hunts you can do. Cause I think after I've done a lot of big game hunts this year, and that was probably the one of the more physically demanding hunts you can do because you're walking all day. It's rough terrain, a lot of elevation gain and you,
It was just an awesome trip. I almost got a limit one shy and it wasn't for lack of birds. I mean, in full disclosure, I was just not making the best shots.
But I got a few birds. We walked out of there with quite a few birds between all of us and it was a great weekend. But this week, what I'm going to talk about is the questions that you guys have. So what I like to do is at least once a month or so, I try to just take a break from what I want to talk about and pull out a few of the questions that you guys send me and go over those. Because I think that there's a lot of tips and tactics in those questions that
that are for maybe something that I am missing or haven't talked about yet. Maybe people need clarification. And then there's probably just a lot of stuff that's applicable for a lot of different people or different scenarios. So I like to just go through and answer a few questions.
We'll just start it off. I'm going to kind of run through bullet point questions here. A lot of the questions that you guys email in. Now, if you are listening to this, you're like, well, where did I send my questions at? You can always send them in to me via social media on my Instagram at Remy Warren or Remy at TheMeatEater.com. So that's the email for this. A lot of them here from their
And some of them I either reply to or get read on the podcast. So feel free to send your questions in.
Now, this first question I think is probably will resonate with a lot of people because I do specifically a lot of my podcasts based on Western big game hunting, mountain hunting, that kind of stuff. That's my bread and butter. That's my wheelhouse. But I think a lot of the tips, I mean, I've hunted a lot of whitetails in Montana and other places. And I think a lot of these tips can also be translated to whitetail hunting, especially when you're talking whitetail hunting in thicker cover. So I'm going to go ahead and
This question comes from Kel Jackson. He says, big fan, any tips for guys like me who hunt dense public lands? And then he had a little bit of a story, but then he mentions that he lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has been struggling to connect with big game here in New England. He did some food plot rifle hunting where he's from in Alabama, but he'd moved and
And now he's been out bow hunting where he lives now about 12 times this past season and had zero shot opportunities. So he's pretty much asking for some tips on hunting public land whitetails in an area that's really thick, really dense. Now I did do a little bit of still hunting tactics, which I think taking some of those tips works anywhere.
hunting thick cover. A lot of places you hunt, it's not, you really can't glass. You can't spot and stalk in that way where still hunting is just a better form of hunting or maybe the only form of
If you don't want to sit, but if you're talking whitetail hunting, here's a couple of tactics that I've used. You know, I'm sure there's a lot of people out there that have a lot more experience with whitetails. But for me, I think kind of one of the true things about hunting a lot of different species is there's a lot of similarities in the tactics from place to place. So in Montana, I've hunted some public ground areas for whitetails. And what I did there was I like to do a lot of scouting in the middle of the day.
If I'm in a new area, and this goes for a lot of other deer that have similar habits that might be fairly patternable. Whitetails, I feel like whether they're on private ground or whether on public land, they have routes and trails that they use to feel safe and secure. They have patterns that they use. They have places that they like to feed and things they like to feed on. They have areas that they like to bed in.
So I try to find one of those areas, whether it's a food, a bedding area, or a travel area, and kind of concentrate on that. So one of the places that I have in Montana is a travel area. It's in thick timber, and I've found some good game trails and a lot of sign, and I just sit up and wait. I don't really use tree stands there, but I do set up a ground blind, and I'll call a lot. It's based on a travel route. But I think one of the tactics that I've found
is a little bit more successful for whitetails in areas where it's like, I can't, a lot of people set up trail cams and other things, which you can definitely do. But if you're just going on public land and you don't want to mess with all that, what I like to do is I will do a lot of my scouting in the middle of the day. The reason is because what I'm looking for is where I find the deer bedding.
Now you might think, well, you wanna go in and be very unobtrusive and not disturb the animals. Yes, but if it's a large section of land, you're gonna have to cover that area. And the best way to cover it is just by walking around, figuring out where things are. Half the time what I'll do is I might bump a deer up. If I see the deer running or bump a deer or hear a deer run, what I'll do is I'll mark that area and then I can come back later or even then maybe set up a tree stand, set up a blind
and plan on hunting there because I feel like the deer will continue to use that bedding area. It might be an area that's thicker, it's shaded for most of the day, they feel really secure there. There's a reason that they're probably bedding there. So, I mean, a lot of people that hunt private land probably stay out of bedding areas. And once again, I'm not a whitetail expert by any means, but there's just ways that I've been successful on public land for them.
I've shot quite a few whitetails that way. My first archery buck, I actually walked into a really thick area, spooked out a deer, thought, okay, this is where they're bedding. Ended up hunting in there the next day, just set up waiting and shot one of my first bucks with a bow on the ground in there. So there's just a lot of different ways to hunt that. That would be probably the tactic that I do.
Now, you might not want to try that during the middle of the season either, though, because if there's a lot of people hunting, you're just going to be blowing out. It just depends on hunter congestion and where you're at, too. I'm not real familiar with hunting the Northeast. I never have, so...
um that's just a tactic you might want to consider it might it might work where you're at but also just understanding deer movements where are they working you know if you've got a little bit of undulations in the hill like pick a feature that might be different if everywhere's thick and there's a small opening hunt that because there might be better food sources kind of pay attention to what the deer eating and moving and then make your plan accordingly the next question comes from jeff from arizona
So he says, "Hey Remy, great podcast on still hunting this week. Thanks for making it. Question, what do you consider perfect quiver size for wide open Arizona muleys? I have a G5 six arrow quiver, but I'm wondering if I'm toting more than I need sometimes."
Yeah. So the thing about quiver and arrows, you could probably, hopefully you only need one arrow. You should bring more than one arrow though, because in case something happens, you might need to make a follow-up shot. Or if you're in a situation where maybe you missed and you're going to continue hunt back country hunt, I like to bring more arrows. You never know what's going to happen.
I have gone, I started out hunting with three arrows. Now I carry seven arrows. So I've been all over the spectrum. The reason I have a seven arrow quiver in it, it's not something that everybody needs, but some of the areas that I hunt, you might be able to hunt multiple animals and pack in. So it's nice to have a few extra arrows. But what I do, whether it's a
like a five arrow quiver, I think is great because I generally always have a couple arrows in my quiver, at least one that has like a blunt tip on it for shooting small game or even just in the middle of the day practicing, doing what's called roving. And I kind of talked about that on the small game podcast. I'm kind of re-saying what I've already said, but it's nice to have that arrow just in case you need it.
You probably only need three arrows for hunting purposes, in my opinion, because you're going to make a good shot on your first arrow and then you've got a couple just in case. But it's not bad to have that five arrow quiver and maybe put a couple extra practice tips in there. Just make sure that you do something so you don't get them out in the moment and shoot at big game with them. I generally have a blunt tip in there and I put them behind the
I liked the seven arrow quiver because I could put them behind my other arrows. So then I do not get access to my practice arrows. So that's why I have that quiver. One of the main reasons, but I think that a five arrow quiver is fine. There's no real reason. If you want a smaller quiver, go for it, go three arrow. Um,
I don't think it really makes that big of a difference. If you're noticing some problems shooting because of the weight with it, you could always add a stabilizer off the other side, like a back bar on your bow. I've done that before, but for the most part, you know, the size of the quiver, it's just, if that's what you've got, it probably works fine, but you don't necessarily need five arrows, of course.
Okay. Pete asks, he says, just started cutting the distance. Great podcast so far. Do you have any recommendations for a good entry level spotting scope for my first DIY elk hunt this fall?
So I would suggest for a good entry-level spotting scope, you know, Vortex is a company that I work with, so I'm familiar with their products and I've used a lot of their products. They've got three levels of optics. So they've got their Diamondback series, their Viper series, which is their mid-range, and then the Razor series.
Honestly, I've used the Diamondback. It's the 20-60 power with the 60mm objective lens. I've used that scope quite a bit, and it's actually a really good scope. It's still not cheap, but it's the best price option in there. It's great clarity. The objective lens, I like the smaller objective lens for elk hunting because it's just going to be lighter. As opposed to a larger scope, you might get more light gathering there.
you kind of sacrifice a few things by having that with smaller objective lens but by having the larger objective lens you're adding a little bit of weight that diamondback scope is really it's pretty lightweight so i think it's it's easily packable it's got up to 60 power magnification it's not maybe a scope that you're going to want to be glassing through all day so you're going to still use your binoculars which i suggest anyways i don't really suggest glassing through a spotting scope a lot
but it's perfect for verifying something at long distance, checking a few spots out long distance, looking through it when you need to. And you still can glass through it at long distance, but honestly, your binoculars are more effective for glassing over a long period of time. So I would say if I'm picking a...
spotting scope for elk hunting, I'm going to go with that. I'm going to go 60 mil objective lens, something that's got some good magnification, I would say, you know, in that 20 to 60 power range, because it's going to give you that extra push over your binoculars. And I think that the lightweight aspect of it is awesome.
So I did an episode a few back about application. Actually, if you're thinking about it, Arizona applications are due here pretty soon for elk and antelope. Just if that's something you were going to consider, if that was one of the states that you thought might be a good one for you.
But Dave asks, and I had a few people actually ask this about applying as a party and some people were kind of confused. So Dave asked, if I apply as a party with my friend who has more points, do I hurt his chances or do we have better odds of drawing by going in together? I have five points. He has 10. Should we put in as a party? What would you do?
So here's what I would do. If I was Dave, I would definitely put it in as a party because, well, it also depends on the state. So you have to first look up what are the rules in the state you're applying for party applications.
If it's a state of Colorado, it would hurt the guy with more points because in Colorado, everybody goes in with the guy with the least amount of points. Now, if it's a state like Nevada, Montana, I would say Montana, if you're the guy applying with someone with more points, yeah, do it if they don't mind. But it will hurt the person with more points chances because what they're going to do is they're going to put you in as one application. And I think this is where some of the confusion came in.
So most states, as a rule of thumb, you're applying as one application. So if one person has more points, the other person has fewer, they average the points and then you go in as one application with that amount of points. Now, let's say, because I also got a question from some other people about, well, are our chances better or worse applying as a party? Because I think some people are confused where two people are in. So do they have two chances in there? No, you always go in with one chance.
But really, if you think about it, your odds are insignificantly less if you both have the same amount of points applying for a party. Because the only way you would get kicked out
is if there are not enough tags to fill the amount of members in that party. So if you put in for an area with 100 tags as a party of two, and you're in there one time as one application, if your application is drawn, both people are awarded tags. The only time they would not be awarded tags is if you were unlucky or lucky, I guess, but unlucky in the fact that you drew the last tag. 99 tags had been filled and your party drew the 100th spot.
in which case there is only one tag left and there's two members in the party on that application. Therefore, you're kicked out and the next person that applied as an individual would get that tag.
That you would never know any of that happened. That would all be done by a computer instantaneously. So I think you have to remember if you're applying as a party, there has to be enough tags for every member in that party to receive a tag. Now, if you're applying in an area where you're applying in a party of three and there's only four tags, well,
you'd have to be pretty high up to draw, but it might be statistically, it might be a hard unit to draw. And so you'd probably have to draw it as one of the first people drawn anyways. So it might not really change your actual odds of drawing. I hope that kind of answers that question for some people.
O'Reilly Auto Parts are in the business of keeping your car on the road. I love O'Reilly. In fact, the other day, I'm not kidding you. The other day I went into an O'Reilly Auto Parts looking for a part. I needed a different thing that wasn't really in there, you know, only like tangentially related to what they carry.
They did not have it, and the dude told me specifically where I would go down the road to find it is how nice they are. They offer friendly, helpful service and the parts knowledge you need for all your maintenance and repairs. Thousands of parts and accessories in stock, in-store, or online, so you never have to worry if you're in a jam.
They'll test your battery for free. If you need your windshield wipers replaced, a brake light fixed, or quick service, they'll help you find the right part or point you to a local repair shop for help. Whether you're a car aficionado or an auto novice, you'll find the employees at O'Reilly Auto Parts are knowledgeable, helpful, best of all, friendly. These guys are your one-stop shop for all things auto, do-it-yourself,
You can find what you need in-store or online. Stop by O'Reilly Auto Parts today or visit them at OReillyAuto.com slash MeatEater. That's OReillyAuto.com slash MeatEater. We've all seen plenty of gadgets and fads come and go, but here's one product that stood the test of time. Seafoam Motor Treatment. Lots of hunters and anglers know that seafoam helps engines run better and last longer.
It's really simple. When you pour it in your gas tank, sea foam cleans harmful fuel deposits that cause engine problems. I'm talking common stuff like hard starts, rough engine performance, or lost fuel economy. Sea foam is an easy way to prevent or overcome these problems. Just pour a can in your gas tank and let it clean your fuel system. You probably know someone who has used a can of sea foam to get their truck or boat going again. People everywhere rely on sea foam to keep their trucks, boats, and small engines running the way that they should the entire season.
Help your engine run better and last longer. Pick up a can of Seafoam today at your local auto parts store or visit seafoamworks.com to learn more. Fishing Booker is the number one platform for booking fishing charges worldwide. Search and compare over 36,000 fishing trips at your fingertips when you download the Fishing Booker app.
from the Google Play or App Store. Fishing Booker works with about 8,000 charter operators and guides worldwide, so there are always plenty of options to choose from no matter where you are. They check thousands of charter rates every day to make sure you pay the lowest price online when you book with them. In other words...
If you find the exact same trip with the same captain for cheaper elsewhere online, Fishing Booker will match that price by refunding you the difference. If you're a captain and want to create a listing, Fishing Booker will advertise your business on the world's largest online service for fishing trips,
Absolutely free. They'll write an SEO friendly description, make sure your photos look as good as possible and promote your business to their customers all over the world. They'll also advertise your listings on Google, Bing, Instagram, Facebook and other online platforms to help maximize your exposure and to get you bookings. And they provide 24-7 captain support.
Go to fishingbooker.com today. That's fishingbooker.com. So I got another question here about some early season elk hunting. Sean asks about elk hunting when elk are not calling or very vocal. He had an archery tag in an area a couple of years ago and it was during August and
And he felt like the two weeks that he hunted, it was just a long game of cat and mouse and nothing really responded to the calls. So any tips if you have happened to have an elk tag early season or earlier in the season? There's quite a few states like Utah and Nevada where the elk season for archery is actually pretty early end of August and then kind of goes into September.
So one thing, it kind of goes back to the application strategy. You got to look at the season dates when you apply and understand what type of hunt it is going to be. So sometimes in August, depending on where you're at, the elk might start calling, might be vocal, but for the most part, hunting early September, late August, you're
the elk aren't going to be real responsive to calls. So your strategy on that kind of hunt is going to be more spot and stalk. You might be able to throw out some locator bugles and get some elk fired up just to kind of figure out where they are, but they might not really want to come to calls. Now you can go back and also listen to the Calling Silent Bulls episode that we did. I think it's toward the beginning, maybe episode six or seven. I'm not even sure. Somewhere in there.
But I think you kind of have to take that as, okay, I'm going to alter my strategy. Yes, I'm bow hunting, but it's better to probably spot and stalk. And then you may also want to consider sitting water. Sitting water is a great way to hunt elk early if you're in an area where there's limited water. But most of those early hunts are in places that the elk don't necessarily have access to water everywhere. So it might be a tactic that you want to think about.
And maybe I'll just touch about on this a little bit now. I think maybe later in the year, I'll talk a little bit about tactics for hunting wallows. I think a lot of people are kind of confused on wallow hunting because people think, oh, I'll put up a tree stand over a wallow and hunt elk. But a lot of guys try it early because they think, oh, it's hot.
and the elk aren't being very vocal or aren't rutting very hard. Well, you might get the occasional elk coming into the wallow, but at that time I wouldn't even consider it a wallow. It would be more of a waterhole. They're going to drink.
Elk wallow as a sort of perfume to attract cows, assert their dominance and mark their territory. So what an elk does, what a bull elk does when he comes up to wallow is he like stands there, he urinates in the wallow, then he rolls around in the mud and the mud holds all that scent on him.
and it's more of a pheromone attractor to tell everything else that he's the dominant bull in the area. And he'll tear up that area. He'll cover himself in mud. It's more of a mating display and a way to attract cows and assert his dominance over a territory and over an area. And then other bulls will come in and check that wallow to see if another bull is trying to claim cows in that area. So they'll
They'll use it in a lot of different ways. One is just as pheromones, almost like a cologne station. And then another as kind of like marking their territory and seeing what else might be in there and who else is dominant. So wallows actually pick up as the peak of the rut picks up. But they're a great place to target when you might be hunting an area that the elk are call shy and
or not responding well to calls because they're locked into the rut, but it's the peak of the rut. So you could get those bulls that have a harem of cows. They aren't going to come to maybe a lot of calling, but you might be able to ambush them at a wallow when they go to do their ritual of rolling around in the mud and pheromoning up.
Now we talked a lot about some small game stuff lately, especially because a lot of the big game seasons have been over. And I just wanted to touch on some great stuff for beginning hunters and just some awesome fun ways to hone your skills and things to do to get you out there. I think this is a really good question that just like hasn't been talked about very much. So Isaiah from Mountain Home says, I'm an adult onset hunter and I've learned a ridiculous amount from your podcast. So big thank you.
The only successful trip I've had so far in the sense that I came home with something was a day trip with my dog on the last day of quail season. I didn't kill any quail, but I did get a jackrabbit. And having read all the recipes on Mediator and Wild and Whole for the old long years, I was stoked.
However, I got myself all worked up thinking the meat was going to spoil if I didn't skin it right away. So I hastily skinned him and wound up getting hair and dirt and whatnot all over the meat and just felt like it was poorly handled and is going to be gross when I cook it.
My question is this. On a mild day, say about 50 degrees with no clouds or wind in this case, is it really all that important to get small game critters cleaned up as soon as possible to prevent spoilage? Or can they wait a while before all that? Like a couple hours when you get back home or to camp or whatever.
That's a great question. So with small game, for the most part, even earlier in the season, if I'm out chucker hunting or bird hunting, I always wait to clean the animals till at least I get back to the truck. There you should have a cooler if it's hot out or some, like I always have a cooler and then some bags and everything. So I just process them there, but I leave them whole in my vest for a while.
for most of the day while I'm hunting. I've never had any birds go bad. I mean, you have to understand too, right when you shoot, say, say you just shot a rabbit, its body temperature is going to be warmer than the ambient air temperature. So it's still, after you shoot it, going to take a little while for it to cool down because it's actually cooler outside than the animal's body temperature is. So it will cool down.
So it would have been no problem if you have a bird vest, probably if you're bird hunting, you've got a bird vest. You also have to think about, you aren't keeping it in the direct sunlight. A bird vests are great or a pack or something is great because you can put the bird in it, the rabbit in it, whatever. And it's not actually getting direct sunlight. The vest itself kind of shades it and keeps it a little bit cooler. Now, if it's really hot out,
I would definitely on rabbits. I'll just gut them right there So I'll just cut a little slit in the belly pull all the guts out and go I've even done that with upland birds early or ducks in the marsh if I'm like I'm gonna be out there for a while It's warm. I just make sure to keep them in the shade I may gut them but if there's a lot of flies around I actually just don't because I don't want flies creating a mess going in making laying some eggs and all that stuff so
But for the most part, just keep them out of the shade and somewhere cool on a day like 50 degree weather. You're, you're perfectly fine. Now, when you get back to the truck, especially if it's a warm day, I'll definitely process it right there. When I get back, skin it, uh,
You can use your tailgate, maybe even have a little butcher station set up. We always have all of our stuff with us, whether it's like I use a lot of shears for processing small games. So shears or a knife, some baggies. You don't have to get them super clean, but it's just nice to cut it up, get it clean, and then you can put it in a cooler.
And that's what I do. Now, if you live pretty close, you could also wait until you get home. But a lot of times for most small game stuff, I will at least gut it in the field if I can, if I'm not going to pluck it. Now, if it's ducks or something and I'm going to pluck them at home, I like to pluck them first and then gut them. But...
that's up to you. For the most part, small game animals, especially in not super hot weather, you've got plenty of time. You should be fine. Now, I wouldn't really worry about, in this particular one, you said you got it dirty and some hair and stuff. The meat will still be fine. Just let it air out. Clean it up when you get home. You can wash it off. Just make sure you dry it before you store it. So what I'll do is I'll wash it off in the sink under cold water. Get the dirt and any hair off. You could even use a
torch to singe the hair if you want and then wash it again and then just put it in the fridge and you should be fine.
There's actually three questions here. So Jordan wrote three really good questions. I really liked some of these. They're great questions, but I think I can answer them fairly quickly here. So he says on the podcast and in solo hunter, you leave your pack and shoes behind a lot. I know that's advantageous for being stealthy, but does it ever impede your ability or ability to make a move on an animal because you're caught between your pack and the animal?
I think what he maybe means by that is you're thinking like, okay, I can't leave my pack here the whole time the animal's moving off. That happens a lot where I'm stocking in and then the animal moves and it's like, well, do I go back and grab my pack or do I just continue restocking? It's very situational. Now, I also really take my shoes off and my pack off in situations where the animal's pretty stationary, right?
And it just depends on how everything's set up. Sometimes I end up stalking and not taking my pack or shoes off if it's more of an ambush stalk where the animal's moving, I'm trying to get into position, I don't have time, like I got to be there while the animal's there. Then I just prefer to say, okay, I'm going to sacrifice a little bit of stealth for just being mobile and not having to worry about going back. Now, a lot of times I'll
what i will do is i'll have my onyx maps ready to go and if it's something where i might be moving a lot i'll definitely drop a pin on where i drop my shoes and my pack but i've gone as far as two miles without my stuff now i i do carry what i like to call a pocket water because i sometimes will put like a small water bottle or some form of water in my pocket and i always have my flashlight or headlamp in my pocket as well if i drop my pack
I want to make sure that I have a couple of things that I may need in case I go a little bit further or the stock takes longer than I was expecting. So that's always good.
But there are those times where you think, okay, it's moved, but then you have to really assess the stock and say, okay, if I continue now, am I just pushing it? Am I trying too hard when I can just pull back, give it a minute and reset and figure out a better way to stock? Because sometimes you get in the moment and you just keep chasing, chasing, chasing and pushing it in a way that
because you're so close, you're rushing and you aren't making the best stock possible. So in those situations, I think, okay, I'm going to go back, grab my shoes, grab my pack and really think about this. Maybe there's a better way to do this.
The second question was, you did an episode on fire and how to hunt burns. Do you treat logged areas the same way? Yes, I definitely do. If you live in big timber country, like in Oregon, Washington, a lot of places in Idaho, I mean, even places I would even imagine in the Northeast or other areas, their logged areas create great habitat for elk, but also for deer because they create that new growth and that new browse.
Now, a clear cut might be an eyesore, but it definitely builds habitat. It bolsters populations for a lot of animals, and it's a great place to hunt. I do target clear cuts quite often, especially in heavily timbered areas. Clear cuts are a go-to for me. I treat it just like a burn. So if you're in an area where there's not a lot of burns, but there's a lot of clear cuts,
That's a great place to hunt. It's a great place to start. Even areas that have been thinned, where they aren't completely clear cut, but they're thinned and logged out. I found those to be really productive because they get better grass growth underneath, yet they still provide shelter and everything that animals need for good habitat. So those are some awesome areas to key into. And I actually saw that Onyx has...
timber cuts overlay as well, just very similar to the fire overlay. So I'll probably, that actually might be a good one to talk about in the future is hunting some timbered logged areas because I do hunt those a lot and it's very successful.
The third question is, "I have no moral issues with shooting a bedded animal, but I've heard and seen shots go wrong because vitals and muscles can be a little different position when the animal is bedded versus standing. How do you treat a bedded animal to ensure a clean kill?" That's a really good question.
Now, it's kind of a funny thing where some people think, oh, it's not ethical to shoot a bedded animal, but it's very situational. I think if you just throw blanket ethics over everything and say, oh, it's bedded, so you shouldn't shoot it, that's not always the case. Sometimes you get a better shot on an animal that's bedded. It's not alert. It's not moving.
Its vitals might be perfectly exposed. While an animal's laying down, their vitals are moved in different positions. Sometimes the shoulder protects it, but there are shots on bedded animals that can be an extremely clean ethical kill. And I don't think that there's any, it doesn't make it give the animal any less advantage because it's laying down. So there's a lot of times that I've taken a shot on an animal that's bedded.
What I do do though, is if I'm going to take a bedded shot, I really analyze it because you, if you're taking a shot on an animal that's bedded, you probably have a lot more time. I'll only take a bedded shot if I have a clear line of sight of the vitals and you kind of have to understand the way that the animal's laying. So a mule deer, I actually just did a deer hunt this year where I shot a bedded deer with my bow in Nevada. It was on a Ridge Reaper film and
But that deer provided a perfect clean broadside shot. I had a spot that I could aim at and I looked at it closely with my binoculars to see where the bone structure of the shoulder was before shooting. That's something that I'll do a lot on a bedded animal. Even if I'm bow hunting, I'll use my binoculars at that close range because you can actually see the ribs. You can see the shoulder. You can really see a lot of the definition by looking up close at close range and the
And then I can say, okay, here's where I'm going to aim. Now, if it's quartering to me, it's really hard to make a successful or ethical quartering to bedded shot. So I try to find those shots where, okay, he's bedded. I can maybe move and shoot quartering away or broadside. I see where is the way he's laying and where his vitals might be. And I really just pick a good spot, analyze the shot and shoot.
It's no different than an animal standing. You have to really analyze where you're going to shoot, pick the right spot and hit the right spot. But it can definitely be done ethically and successfully on a bedded animal for sure.
That's all the questions for this week. But as always, feel free to write any questions. And if I didn't answer some of your questions that you might have, feel free to write them in. You can reach me at remyatthemeteater.com or you can always get me on social media as well, at remywarren.com.
I generally try to, most of the ones that I reply to on social media is just easier for me, but please keep sending the emails in because those are generally the ones that get read on the podcast. If you have a question that you think a lot of people might want to hear about,
shoot us an email at remyatthemedeater.com and I'll try to get to as many of them as possible. Also, just keep them flown because it'd be nice to add a couple of them to some of the other podcasts as well. I love just hearing from you guys. I've said it a million times, but I'll say it a million and one times, maybe, well, and then a million more.
This is really just to help make you better hunters. So if you have ideas on podcasts, you'd like to hear things that you want to know about. I just compile all that. And then I start talking about it. So some of the stuff about the new hunters, some of the small game stuff, it's all from everybody that listens. So I want to make sure that there's stuff out there that you're hearing. And I think some of the things that I've been seeing a lot stuff from guys in New Zealand and Australia about some of the species there. So I think in coming episodes, it's going to be
fun to maybe talk about some different species where you got the guys from over there got to listen to all the species from over here. But I think a lot of the tactics are transferable. So I'm going to talk about some different stuff. I've got a lot of questions that I didn't talk about yet on spring bears and a lot of seasonal things, some application stuff. So until next week, keep the emails rolling. See ya.
Hey, we're going to take a little break here and talk about interstate batteries. Now, if you're like me, enjoying the great outdoors, you need gear that is as reliable as it gets. That's why I power my adventures with interstate batteries. I use interstate batteries in my boats. I use interstate batteries in my camper. Great for your truck, too. From Alaska to Montana, they're outrageously dependable.
Battery is essential. With over 150,000 dealer locations, finding one is easy. For all your vehicles, land or sea, choose Interstate. Head to interstatebatteries.com and find your power today. You ever get that feeling, the walls closing in, the concrete jungle suffocating you? You crave some wide open spaces, the chance to connect with nature, maybe in a spot all your own. Well, head over to land.com.
They've got ranches, forests, mountains, streams, you name it. Search by acreage. You can search by location. You can search by the kind of hunting and fishing you're dreaming of. Land.com. It is where the adventure begins.