Ep. 44: Answering Your Questions, Part 7
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As a guide and hunter, I've spent thousands of days in the field. This show is about translating my hard-won experiences into tips and tactics that'll get you closer to your ultimate goal, success in the field. I'm Remy Warren. This is Cutting the Distance.

Welcome back, everybody. I hope everybody's doing well and has some hunting on the mind. I know this time of year, there's a lot of pre-planning going on, but it should be that time where maybe some draw results are coming back. Maybe you drew a good tag or you applied for a tag and didn't draw, but you can maybe start planning out a little bit more, maybe looking for some over-the-counter hunts or just kind of get that fall season figured out and understand maybe what you're doing, what you're getting into, or maybe you're

thinking about a new hunt and that's on the docket. So,

I got a lot of questions coming in about just different types of hunts. You know, for me personally, Nevada draws came out. I drew a late season deer tag, archery deer tag with my wife. So this will actually be her first archery tag and her first Nevada tag. She had quite a few points built up and hadn't been able to draw. So she decided, hey, if I want to draw, I'm going to start applying for archery and did. And we drew a tag that we're going to be hunting together this year. So really excited about that.

That's for me, really. I think that's really the only tag that I've drawn this season. So everything else is going to be kind of over the counter type hunts and planning that out. But a lot of people have reached out about non-resident guys that have maybe listened to the podcast. And there's quite a few people that have been listening to the podcast, decided to apply as a non-resident in Nevada and drew some good tags, which I'm like, that's awesome. Good for you guys. Congratulations, everybody that maybe drew something.

You know, as these plans start to formulate, a lot of questions come up. So this week, we're going to go and answer those questions. I'm covering literally a very wide range of topics from scouting and new hunt expectations to some moose tactics, butchering, and then picking a good guide. So this week, we're focusing all on your questions in our monthly question and answer.

Before we get too deep into answering some questions, I always like to read a few testimonials, some people that have had some success based on what they've learned here on Cutting the Distance. So this one comes from Jeff. It says, Hey Remy, just wanted to say thank you for the podcast and particularly for the recent Spring Bear podcast. I live in Northern Idaho and over the weekend got my first black bear. I paid attention to your tips on the stages of food and elevation.

The elk deer and moose are starting to have their babies. And that's where I got this guy. Anyways, thanks a million. And I came with a picture of a great black bear. So awesome work, Jeff. Love to hear those kinds of success stories. I got a ton of them from people, especially about the spring bear stuff. A lot of people that have had trouble hunting spring bears or bears in the past and found those very, very useful. So here's a question that has to do with spring bears. So

Kind of piggybacking off that. It's from Trevor. And Trevor says, Hey, Remy, I'm a huge fan of cutting the distance and had a question about calling for bears. You mentioned that when you were calling, you should find a spot that is difficult for a bear to circle you. I was wondering what that spot would look like. Would it be you set up against the bottom of a steep slope or something like really thick brush or

That's a great question. I don't know if I covered it completely. So if you listen to the Spring Bear Tips podcast, I did mention about calling bears. Works great in the fall as well as springtime when elk and deer are calving as well. But what I'm talking about essentially for preventing bears from circling you is mostly because of the wind. Some people, you know, you do, I

I've heard in the past people saying like set up with something at your back so they can't jump on you and they do, you know, animals, predators, other predators can come in quiet and kind of give you where they have to walk around to the sound and your peripheral vision, which is a good idea as well.

What I'm mainly concerned about is just calling for that amount of time and having a bear circle me, get my wind and run off and me never know it. So I try to pick a spot where I can predict where the bear might come from downwind and then have a sort of an area where it'll funnel it. If the bear is going to circle me, I should be able to pick up movement or see it before it fully gets around to the wind. So if there's an area, say it just really depends on

what the area looks like. Most of the time, if it's like a thicker choked out Canyon, I might be in the bottom of that Canyon downwind in a spot where I know that, you know, the bear's likely going to travel and I can see that area. Honestly, it just really depends on where you are, but you just want to think of, all right, where are you expecting the bear to be? Where's the wind going? Now put yourself in a position where

That bear has very few options to go from where you think he's going to be to getting downwind from you. And that's really the key there. And that's all in the setup because it does take a lot of energy to blow on a predator call for that long to get the bears to come in. So you want to make sure that you've got a setup where it's hard for them to circle you and get your wind without you being able to see it.

And a lot of times that may not even be possible. But if you're expecting a bear like down in a bottom, instead of getting in the bottom, you might want to be just up a little bit out of the thick stuff where you can have a little bit more visibility. So just playing it a little bit like that, as opposed to just setting up right in the middle of the thick of everything where you think, okay, there's going to be a bear in there, trying to just call them out of something a little bit thicker where you've got a little bit better vision and eyesight on it as well.

The next couple questions kind of fall into this scouting and in-hunt expectations. So this next question comes from Connor from Utah, and it says, Hey, Remy, love the podcast. Appreciate what you do and think it's very well done. My question is, how early is too early to begin scouting an area? For practical reasons, he lives in Utah and has been doing many hikes trying to cover as many miles as he can. He's seen a few tracks and found what appears to be a good area, but there's still snow on the ground.

He's wondering if this will change dramatically in three months when the season starts. Any thoughts? I plan to continue scouting in June, July, August, but will the things I scout now in June be old information come hunting time? That's a question that I do get asked a lot, and it really depends on the type of area and what you're hunting. So you have to understand what are you chasing? So is it mule deer? Is it elk? We'll just pretend it's those two.

And what kind of area are you hunting in and what season will you be hunting in? There have been areas where I've scouted elk in June and gone in there in September and taken an elk that I found and watched grow all summer. There are other areas that you could scout in June and there will not be an elk there or deer there any other time of year.

So you really have to understand, okay, are the animals you're hunting a migratory herd or resident herd? If you're finding an animal in June, it's probably a resident animal. And what will probably happen is there are some animals that will stay where they're at. And there are many that may go up into follow the snow line. So deer love it. Well, most animals, they love that new growth. So what you're going to get is as the spring, as snow starts to melt on a mountain,

they'll pretty much be following that green up up the mountain so springtime they're going to be down lower that's where they wintered and this is like you know some animals do this on very large scales over migrations and some do it in smaller scales but most of the time most areas this is just rings true for that area unless you're hunting in a really high alpine area that cannot winter animals um in which case you know they'll just travel further distances but

You know, they move down in the winter and they go into what would be their winter range. That winter range is going to be probably low line, lower elevation, a lot of open area where the sun can burn off snow and they're going to be able to feed throughout the winter and be protected as well as maybe have some good stands of timber for cover and other things. But they'll kind of have everything they need in that winter area. Then as that snow starts to melt,

You know, snow in the higher elevation stays longer. So as spring starts to come on, you've got snow line starts moving up the mountain. And with that snow line starts that green up. And what green up is, it's just the first growth. Well, those spring shoots actually are the most nutritious out of everything. So you've got like old grass, you know, you see an area with tall grass and whatever. That tall grass doesn't have as much nutrients as that fresh first growth of grass or whatever the browse happens to be.

So they're going to move up the mountain following that really good high protein, high energy. They're growing their antlers and that takes a lot of energy. So they're just more efficient eating everything that's just starting to grow. So they're going to follow that snow lineup and then they'll probably be up in the Alpine in the summertime and they'll stay and hang out in summer there. Now, you

you know, there are animals that have resident animals that will stay in certain areas. So it is dependent. But then as the season progresses, you kind of get that reverse action where they then start moving back down for other things. It might be for rutting. It might be for winter time. So you really just have to understand, okay, the type of area you're at, what's the snow and the animals doing then. And then if you've got the time to kind of

follow it through a couple months through the summer and

figuring out, okay, well, when's your season and will they be in that same area? One thing that I have found is scouting in the springtime is actually not a bad time to figure out where animals might be in that October season. And it's just, it depends on the area again, but I have found that in that after winter range, kind of when they're in that spring range, but not all the way up on their summer range, it's

It's kind of this mid area and you will tend to find animals again in that similar area come October. So it's not bad to scout that and kind of understand where they like in those particular places because many of those animals will return. I've done that just like scouting, watching, and then kind of hunting that same area later. But it really kind of depends on your area. But just think of the way the animals move, follow the snow, and that'll really help you out as far as understanding where they'll be later on.

This next question comes from Brent. He says, Remy, thank you for the awesome content with Solo Hunter as well as through the MeatEater outlets. I'm

I'm the lucky recipient of a late season alternate tag in Nevada. I'm not going to give the actual unit here, but it says, although I have many years of whitetail experience in the Southeast, this will be my first true experience hunting in the West. Other than the obvious necessities, being in great shape, proper gear, e-scouting, et cetera. Do you have any advice for the first time we're heading into this type of hunt? Fortunately, I compete in several endurance and triathlon type events. So I think I can endure the physical elements for the most part.

I am honestly intimidated by the big country and what to expect. Your podcasts on pack dumps and gear have been extremely helpful as well. Thank you in advance for your time.

I think that that's a great question. And it is something that I feel like I do talk about a lot, but I honestly think it gets kind of understated or undersold. And that's just the mental preparation of having the right kind of expectations on something like this. And I've, I've mentioned this before, but a lot of time, the guys that are in the best shape seem to be the ones that do the worst in some ways, because they mentally aren't, they just like, don't really know what to expect. And then they get into it and it's difficult.

So what you want to do is just set your mindset of knowing that this type of experience is going to be difficult, but that's the whole point of the experience. Creating that positive mental attitude before you get in there and don't be scared of what you're going to expect. Just enjoy the experience. You might have trouble finding deer. You might think you're doing things wrong. You might get out there and it just be hotter than heck, hard to breathe, very difficult. You might get out there and it might be way easier than you're expecting.

It doesn't really matter. Just have that positive attitude of every day you get up, you're going to enjoy it. Whether it's sucking or not, enjoy it. And you embrace the suck, enjoy the suck, and you're going to be fine. Honestly, there's, I mean, I've seen so many hunters that go up a trail or a hiking trail and they've got their gear and they're like, okay, this is,

they're, they're mentally beat. And yet in the summertime, that same trail is taken by very out of shape or non outdoorsy people doing just a normal hike in, um, flip-flops and with a JanSport backpack and they survive and they're fine. And I don't know, I mean, it's just like, it's one of those things that happens. Some of the, I've literally seen people in the summertime on trails that I go hunting on later and they're

They're just out there having a good time, enjoying what's out there, taking their time and enjoying it. And there's many hunters that get out on that same trail that by all means should be successful in at least not feeling too over their head and yet feel like they're just way too far out of their element.

So I say that to say, it's all about your mindset. It's all about your attitude. Expect things to be tough, but that you will be completely fine. Don't freak out. Don't overanalyze how hard it's going to be. Just know that going into it, it might be challenging and whatever gets thrown your way, you're going to deal with. And that's really it. And then listen to as many of these podcasts as you can. And I guarantee you will be more prepared than 90% of the people out there.

Alright, I've got, I don't even know, over a dozen questions about moose hunting. And I honestly think that that's because a lot of draws came out. Idaho draws came out from moose. Montana moose draws came out. I think Colorado did as well.

Now, probably one of the reasons I haven't done a moose hunting podcast is because the only time you're hunting moose is whether, I mean, if you live in Alaska, there's actually quite a few guys from Canada that listen. And then in the lower 48, you have to draw a tag and it's very difficult to draw. I have never drawn a Shire's moose tag. However, I've been fortunate to be on many hunts because I've

I get to guide those hunts. So there's a lot of that when there's certain species that take a long time to draw or could be very hard to draw. Most of the people that have the most experience hunting them have actually never pulled the trigger on one or had a tag in their pocket themselves. So I think it'd be good. And that's probably another reason why a lot of people want information on it because I think that most people who draw a special tag like that, whether it be moose, mountain goat, or sheep,

what I would consider the big three. Most of the people that draw those tags, that might be the first and only hunt that they'll go on for those species. So they don't have a lot of knowledge or whatever. And there are a lot of nuances with each one of those that is different than other things that you hunt. So I think it'd be great to just answer a few of the questions here. And there's quite a few of them. So I'm going to just go through and kind of all of them target a little bit something different. So this first question comes from Ethan. He says...

He started listening to the podcast and he's up to episode 28. He figured he'd reach out and see if I had any tips for moose hunting. He drew two weeks ago. He's very fortunate to draw a bull shiris moose type for Southwestern Montana.

His wife and him are headed down to start some early scouting for the season. He says, I don't exactly know what to ask, but do you have any tips for moose hunting? I by no means need to shoot a huge bull, but I would like to find a nice bull for my once in a lifetime tag. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks in advance, Ethan. That is probably how most people who draw a moose tag feel.

I don't know what to ask because I've never done this before. And that is actually a great question. What should you be asking? At least for the Montana moose hunt, I think that one thing that can really go in your advantage for hunting moose is hunting during the rut. Bulls can be called in. The bulls are moving that time of year. And it's going to be your best chance at success if you can hunt during the rut in most areas.

Now, when you're thinking about, well, what do I look for for moose? It's the same thing as you look for for any species, identifying good habitat and then concentrating in those habitats.

Moose are different than other deer species. They're browsers a lot like, say, mule deer, whitetail, whereas elk are more grazers. So they're going to be eating more wooded plants. A lot of moose really survive off of willows, especially later in the season. And they do like that more swampy wet area. But that does not mean that moose are only around those marshy areas.

I found identifying their prime habitat though would be that more marshy area, especially if you're scouting. The cows and calves will be in more river bottom or even high up, like high alpine marshy areas, wet areas,

areas with a lot of runoff. So when I'm e-scouting, I'm looking for those areas anywhere that funnels water into something that might flatten out a little bit. Creek bottoms, drainages, and the higher up the better early season. So if you're scouting, follow that snow line up

Moose love those early shoots up high in the willows, stuff that you can find in really wet, seepy areas. They're going to be moving up in those areas. Start looking for concentrations of cows because that's probably where the bulls are going to be focusing on later. Then think about

really want to learn how to call moose, I use a combination of cow sounds and bull sounds. And something that works really well is raking antlers. Like I actually carry when I'm guiding Shires moose hunts in Montana, I carry a cutoff paddle or in my pack and I'll use that to scrape and rack willows. When you're calling moose, it does take a long time for them to come in and they're fairly quiet. I kind of consider moose hunting very similar to the bear tactic. So find where

where their good habitat is and then hunt that. If you're calling, you're going to have to call for a while. You kind of cup your hands over your nose and make a... And you can kind of do that into a bugle tube or like a moose call. And then the cows make more of a whine, like doing a combination of that with some raking,

You'll pull moose out of really thick cover that you probably will never see them just by trying to glass unless you happen to have an area that is open. If your area is less timbered, you know, there's so many different types of moose terrain, less timbered stuff.

They're a great animal to glass for because you can get up on a knob and see them from a long ways away. They stand out. It's a very large black colored animal standing out, you know, in the open in the willows. Don't be afraid to look in some of those more open areas. Those are the things that you're going to want to concentrate on.

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Go to fishingbooker.com today. That's fishingbooker.com. All right. The next moose question comes from Suede. And he says, hey, Remy, I'm a huge fan of the podcast and your tips on using Onyx Maps and how to read maps helped me be successful with deer in North Idaho this fall, especially how to read topo maps.

Thank you for those tips and the podcast. I was hoping you could do a podcast on moose. I applied and was successful on a November 1st to 14th bull moose in North Idaho. I was hoping for some tips. I went and looked for sign and was successful and local knowledge in the area said they see moose regularly. So if you could do a podcast on moose hunting tips, that'd be great.

So I singled this one out of some of the other moose questions because of the date, November 1st to the 14th. The last question I said, the best time to hunt moose is going to be during the rut. And that is not during November 1st to the 14th. That is more end of September, beginning of October in most areas, or the first couple of weeks in October, probably for North Idaho, Montana. So

When you're getting into November, you've kind of got to change your philosophy, especially if you're going to start scouting now. You're going to be looking for old moose sign because that's probably where they're at later in the year.

One thing that you'll like as far as that, that North Idaho habitat is going to be a lot thicker. So moose like a lot of things. They do love thick cover. They love those wet areas. But later in the year, you would think like everything else, we talked about animals moving up and down with the snow.

Moose are one of the animals that actually often go higher on the mountain as the snows get deeper. While the elk are moving down, the moose are moving up. The reason is because they're taller and their food source is different. Moose can survive on willows throughout the winter.

and they're tall enough to get through the snow and eat stuff that other animals can't eat. So whereas elk have to move down with the grass, the moose can move up and survive off the willow and other browse that's a little bit out of reach for some animals like deer that would just get stuck in the snow and can't survive. So as that November weather starts hitting, you may end up finding moose in those higher elevations. A good place to scout would be scouting up in some of that higher elevation, more winter range or like

like after rut because what happens is the moose may move down to rut but once the rut's over they may end up kind of dispersing and recuperating in an area that has a lot of food and is just away from any kind of pressure and that might be a little bit higher than they are during the rut and in some really thick stuff so seeking out the good habitat as well as thinking of it on terms of hey they might be a little bit higher if we get weather than some of the other animals now a

I do see them pretty high late November, but that beginning part of November could be a difficult time to find them. So if you're scouting, you're going to be looking for that old moose sign, mostly on logging roads. Moose are big animals. It's a lot to get through a lot of that brush and they do travel and bed on old unused logging roads that you can walk on. Cruising those looking for old sign and then fresh sign during the season is a great way to be successful finding moose in that time of year.

And you never know. I mean, there might be still a little red action going on. You could try calling, but for the most part, I would just say focus on that. All right. The last moose question of this series so far from Charlie says he's new to moose hunting and Lord willing, we'll have a time slot in September in Alaska.

He can scout the area but doesn't know, besides swamps and willows before the season, what to look for. I guess I already covered that. Alaska Yukon moose are different than shiris moose, but they do have a lot of the same habits. Now this is what I really wanted to focus on. He says, "Also I've killed elk and deer, but are moose a lot larger? How do you keep your wits and not stress about time/distance you've got to go when butchering an animal that large in the mountains?"

So that's a great question. Yes. When you walk up on a moose, a moose is very, especially Alaska Yukon moose, they are an absolute different animal as far as size wise.

Anybody that might be going on their first moose hunt, take somebody else with you. It's not a task that is fun by yourself. I have, while guiding, taken care of many a moose alone and it sucks. It's just all that it really does. There's a lot of animals, even a Fognac elk, like just some animals that are the size of moose. But moose are, they're the largest deer in the world and they can't,

can be a chore to deal with but no matter the size of the animal whether it is a small coos deer in mexico or a alaska yukon moose in the north you just gotta take it one piece at a time literally so it's

start with what you have to do, break it down, dump heat, and then just one process at a time. Don't get ahead of yourself of, wow, this is a lot of work. What am I going to do? It's just one step at a time. Anything that's big and heavy, if it's your first time hunting elk and you're going to butcher an elk, that's a huge task as well. I know the thought of

dealing with an animal that large in a situation that you might not be used to can be a pain so have some extra gear that makes it easier for you have some cordage like i talked about in the gear episode have something set up ahead of time where you're gonna hang the meat if you got another guy keeping watch for bears and maybe building that while you start cutting and skinning and then you

you know, use two people to move and lift and not injure yourself in that aspect. And then when it comes to the packout, it's literally just have your meat hanging and take what you can and start packing. And it's just, it's just one of those head down, grit your teeth and go. And it's all part of the experience. But yes, when you walk up on them, it looks like a very large task, but when it comes down to it, it's just,

larger version of what you've already done. It's going to be heavier packs, but just one piece at a time. Instead of packing out maybe the whole deer in one trip, you might just be getting one moose quarter and you're going to have to know, okay, I got to get this out and it might be however many trips. There's two guys, maybe it's two trips or four trips or whatever. But keep that in mind too when you're hunting, picking areas and spots. I think for moose that you know you're going to be able to handle it because you're

The most important thing is getting all of that meat out and you need to make sure that you don't bite off more than you can chew. So hunting in areas where maybe you've got boat access, river access, or you know that you've got enough people to handle the job ahead of time. That's great.

I think of other large animals like bison. I've packed out bison that were definitely not drivable to on various trips. And it's just like anything. You just start, you quarter it out, you do the exact same process, and just that process might take longer. But remember, meat care is number one. And just make sure that you have all the tools necessary for that task at hand with you. Don't skimp on. You're going to need a knife sharpener and maybe an extra scissor

saw to cut some poles to hang it on and some extra cordage and just some extra heavy duty stuff for a heavy duty job. That actually segues really well into these questions on butchering. So Mark asks, he says, Hey, Remy, question for your next week's Q&A. Could you break down home butchering and meat care from quarters to serving size and cuts, grinders, sausages, vac seal versus other methods?

Oh, he says a side note. Can't remember when or where, but heard you mentioned Mark foreign strike in Reno drove up the other day and best outdoor shop I've ever been to. So thanks for that. That's a lot to chew in that question, pun intended, but yeah, I'll break down kind of what, let's just say this would be my list of how I, uh,

The cuts that I kind of really enjoy and get off of an animal. I'm just going to break it down. This is something that almost needs to be shown, but I can definitely explain it in a way and answer some of these questions. So the first thing, let's go with the backstrap. I cut the backstrap off and I like to keep my backstrap in what I would consider a roast. So I cut the backstrap into say four inch to six inch long pieces. The way I butcher a

really has to do with the way that I like to cook. So I like cooking it whole and then slicing it afterwards. And I do that with the majority of my cuts. So I don't stake out a lot of cuts. I like to cut them whole and then cut my steaks after I cook it. Or if I want something where I've got a steak, I can cut it during the prep process. That also, because I do butcher a lot of stuff, it really cuts down on my butcher time, leaving more whole pieces. So when I do...

All the loose meat, like most of the ribs, unless I do a lot of bone in loins with like tomahawk style cuts, but all my other cuts, you know, I'll do like the ribs, the neck meat, some other stuff that I want. If I want the burger, I'll do that in the grind and anything extra as I'm butchering and trimming, that'll all be grind for my burger.

I do like on smaller animals like deer, I like a bone in shoulder. So I just leave the shoulder blade actually in that for slow cooking. And then I'll leave bone in shanks front and back because that's one of my favorite cuts to cook. And it sounds crazy, but man, slow cook, there's something, they're just so good cooking a shank like that.

And then the shoulder, I think really does well slow cooking because that holds in the moisture. It's easy to do. And then you don't have to deal with cutting up the shoulder and everything and turning that into grind or you can, if you want. Then we move to the back quarter. I mean, essentially the easiest way to explain it would be take the hind quarter. I flip it with the bone, the hip socket up. And then you just kind of like follow all the guides in there where the meat, the muscles separate, you separate those out.

You're going to get some like muscles that I like to call it a turtle roast where all the hind leg muscles come together. That I leave as a roast that I can slow cook or I put that in grind. Everything else is separated out into big, nice muscle groups. And I actually kind of cut mine where I've got this cut. I call it the fake loin. And it's just, I take the leg muscles and I cut them where it looks like whole backstrap roast. You really cannot tell the difference between

most of like if it's a backstrap or if it's from the hind quarter and I do that because I could stake that out later or I can just cook it like that and slice it and whatever it's just so many different options and it's so fast to do and that's really how I I do a lot of my butchering

Now I'd say my specialty cuts, I'd like to do cube stakes with some of the hind quarter, like some of the sirloin cube that, or even some of the shoulder stakes on bigger animals like elk. I'll cube that. And the cubing is just essentially...

like pound it out flat where you can make schnitzel or elk parm or whatever, something like that. Now, as far as grinders, sausage, vac seal, other methods, I use the made with meat stuff. I actually just started working with them. So you can see a lot of that on my Instagram. Some of the stuff that I do with that, when I grind stuff, I,

I just, I do actually add fat to a lot of my game meat only because it's so lean and it helps hold it together better for burger and stuff. If I'm adding fat, I'll normally add pork fat to my sausage. I do about 30% pork fat and then, you know, mixed in with the game meat. The key to grinding, you just got to keep it cold, especially with sausage making. So I'll actually put ice in when I grind it to help keep it cold, add some moisture back for when I smoke it and other things. But yeah,

There's just too much to talk about here in one Q and a, but I do cover a lot of this cooking stuff on my social media. So, and then, Oh, vac seal versus other methods do vac seals the best. I mean, I it's, it looks nice. It looks pretty, it takes a little bit more time outside of vac seal. The only other method that I suggest would be double wrapping, which lasts as long as vac seal. But I think the vac seal is just a little bit better because you can throw it in the cooler and it doesn't leak blood everywhere. Um,

I use a chamber vac. They're a little more expensive, but man, it's like commercial grade. And when you're talking about grinders and meat processing stuff, I put it in the same category as binoculars or optics where honest to God, buy the best you can afford because the higher horsepower motors for grinders and like actually having the right tool for the right job makes it so much easier. If you're trying to butcher a whole elk on a KitchenAid, like

like set up, it sucks. I've done it. I've done it on the cheap grinders. I've done it on the low horsepower grinders and it's a toiling process. And then I started getting better stuff and

And it like cuts the time in half, makes it so much easier. It's like trying to build a house and not using hammer, but using a wrench to hammer in nails. Or you can have like the sausage stuffer, the mixer and the grinder. And if you're really going to get into it and you're going to do all your own processing and just factor out how much time it's going to take you, how much you're going to do.

And then how much you're saving over versus maybe even taping it to the butcher and maybe get a couple guys in or whatever and invest in good processing stuff. Like it is so much better product at the end and so much easier and more enjoyable when you have the right tools to do it.

I can't stress that enough, man. I feel like every hunter has gone through the process of having bad processing equipment. Like that should be the thing that you invest the most in because that's the best part about hunting is having all this great meat. And when that process sucks or is a pain, you don't want to do it or it's takes so long. Like it's just, man, having good stuff is so much better. So that I can attest to.

JD asks, he says, have you ever cut tomahawk steaks out of deer or elk? Wondering how difficult it would be in the field. The answer is yes. I would say 90% of the time I do that. Now a tomahawk steak would be the back strap with part of the rib in it. Super easy to do in the field. Now this might surprise you, but you can actually even do it with the gutless method in a way. So I'll do everything how I normally do.

skin up the back, remove the hindquarters. And then instead of taking the back strap out the way you normally would, I cut down the back of the back strap. So the part that's against the spine, cut that, but not the lower part that's against the rib. You leave that attached. Then you take your knife and you can go from the sternum. If you don't have a saw, you can go from the sternum

And use your knife to split up the sternum and then cut, you know, around the rib there. And it's so you're now getting into the cavity, but you don't actually have to like gut the full deer because everything else is removed. You're just removing the ribs.

You do that and then you push it up and you take your knife and you run it along between the ribs and the spine on the top side and remove the ribs from the spine. And your back strap is now still attached to that. That's the easiest way to do it. Do it all the time in the back country. Now I start carrying this little tiny Gerber saw. And what I'll do is I'll go halfway down the ribs. I'll rip down the ribs with the saw.

and then I'll fold it up and then I use my knife to remove the rib from the spine because it's a little bit cleaner than cutting it and you don't you know get the like it's just easier I think but like a stout knife works really well but I've done the same process like with wild pigs and everything even just with a replaceable blade vital knife so it can be done with anything but awesome cut to do

All right. Now here is the last question. It comes from Todd. He says he really enjoys the podcast and loves the info in every episode. Plus it's entertaining. Thank you very much. Appreciate that.

So he says, question is, can you give advice on finding a guided Western hunt? He's from Virginia. And most of my hunting experience has been our local whitetails. I would love to take my son who just finished college on a Western hunting adventure. We have never been West or applied for tags. I was thinking for our first experience, maybe we should opt for an outfitter guided hunt, but don't have a clue on what states or species to get our first taste. Any advice would be appreciated.

That's a great question because as an outfitter and guide,

I know that the value of going with an outfitter and guide, and a lot of the stuff that I talk about is, you know, how to do it on your own or whatever, but that does not mean that even guys that hunt a lot, there are many hunts that they should go guided for or with. If you have the ability to do it, it's a great way to get on a great hunt and, you know, hunt with somebody that has more experience and knowledge and can really help you in the process of getting to the point of success.

I will also say that having guided my entire life, I have worked for some outfits that if I booked a hunt with, aside from them hunting with me, it was just a shit show. And I would say that most of my clients that come hunt with my outfit have been on a bad trip at some point until they land on our outfit. I'm not like just trying to disparage anyone, but I'm just saying that yes, there are good ones and bad ones, like anything out there. And it can be very hard to distinguish.

Honestly, and unfortunately, the really good ones are near impossible to get in on because they're booked up with repeat clients.

So I would say here are some things that you should think about anybody going on a guided hunt. And honestly, there are a lot of good guys, you know, you got to understand, well, what kind of unit is it? Is it private land? Is it public land? Is it hard to get tags? Is it easy to get tags? So there's a lot of factors into it, but word of mouth talking to people is probably the best way to find somebody that you're going to have a good experience with, or at least matches your expectations. Also, you can get a good feel for people just by talking to them.

There are a lot of outfitters out there and I would say the vast majority of them are really, really good at what they do. And they're probably the few bad ones are the ones that give the rest of us a bad name. But, you know, I think one thing that's important is if possible, talking to references of people that you, you know, you can search online, you know, look for photos and things, and maybe just try to talk to some references of people that have hunted with them, both successful and unsuccessful, right?

Now, I will say, you know, they may not give you reference of people that had a terrible experience, but also there are some people that may have gone and just will never be satisfied and could have had the best experience of their life and may not be satisfied either. So,

talking to people that have done it. And then just looking at possibly just a track record. I think one of the best things is if you get somebody that went on a hunt and they said, I wasn't successful, but the guy worked really hard. It was very enjoyable, very knowledgeable. Those are the people you want to go with. The people that really embody the entire experience

where you should be careful as the people that were successful, but say, yeah, but it just wasn't that great of a trip or maybe not that great of a trip. But the only reason they were happy was because they were successful. I think a hunt should be based on so much more than just that. So finding people that align with that and are about the entire experience, not just success or unsuccess, because there are many hunts out there that you could go and you'll be successful, but it's just a shitty experience.

So those are the ones you want to avoid. The ones you want to go on are the ones that are about everything. You know, success probably will be high with those type of people, but they also focus on the experience as a whole.

That concludes our Q&A. I hope that that really helped some of you. I really appreciate all the questions that I got. And I know I picked some very specific stuff as far as like the moose hunting and things like that. But it was one thing, like I say in every podcast, the questions that come in really try to dictate what I talk about. And when I start getting a pile of moose hunting questions, that tells me that there's a lack of information out there on that. So maybe I will...

do in the future some shiris moose hunting episodes or whatever but i also try to make things that are very applicable to many people

I think that talking about butchering and cooking that thing also should be talked about a lot more because, I mean, as hunters, that's something that needs to be integral to what we do. And I don't think that it really gets talked about as much either. The fact that most hunters out there probably that do their own butchering have terrible equipment and hate the process. And so just having some of those key pieces, that's good stuff to talk about. So I really appreciate all the questions from everyone.

It's that time. It's planning. The season is coming. We're gearing up. We're talking about gear and other things. And I just really appreciate all the interaction. Going through these questions that I got, I try to skim through as many of them as possible. One thing that kept coming up was like, man, love the podcast. Can't believe we get this information for free. Such good information. And it made me think, yeah, I don't know why I do it. I do it because it does make

I honestly believe in what I'm saying. And I have noticed that even just being out recently in some place, talking to some people that have just found success. I'm like, man, am I giving away too many of my secrets? But if you enjoy the things that we're talking about,

please, honestly, feel free to subscribe. I've said it before, but that helps us out. You know, that keeps all the things going. Subscribe, drop us a great comment wherever you listen or a good rating and tell your friends to jump on in and subscribe and listen too. I appreciate that. I hope that you guys appreciate this. And I honestly appreciate everything you guys do as well in the interaction that I get. So like always, if you got more questions or want to reach out,

shoot me a message via Instagram at Remy Warren or Remy at the meat eater.com. Keep the questions coming and until next week.

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