Ep. 65: Answering Your Questions, Part 12
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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, friends. It is that time of the month. We are heading to the mailbag.

I actually wish I had a real mailbag. That would be awesome. And then I can get like my, I've got this awesome made out of an elk shin bone letter opener. This friend of my grandpa's made it. He was a native guy and he crafted the handle out of a deer antler. And then he honed like the shin bone down. It looks really awesome. I got to find that thing. Maybe I'm just going to, from now on, do all my podcast mail, like snail mail, um,

That would be way more my style instead of trying to dig through and screenshot all these messages on here. But man, this podcast is almost working itself out of a job because I always ask for questions, questions, questions. And what I've been getting is success story, success story, success story, which is the exact purpose of me sitting down weekly and recording these podcasts anyways. So that's awesome. I'm pretty stoked on that.

I mean, I still got quite a few questions here, but we're going to go through some questions. I think first, let's shake it up and just share. Let's go to our, I guess, trophy board of just some of the stuff that I've received from guys that have been successful. First one comes from Chris Way. He says, Remy, listen to your podcast and watch you on solo all the time.

I'm an adult onset hunter and started hunting at 38. And today I got my first public land deer in California, an over-the-counter low success Southern California zone. And one of your tips was huge help. Look for where other hunters aren't going. We got a small three by four this morning and just wanted to say thank you for the advice. Really love all that you do to help new hunters learn. Congrats, Chris. I know...

that Southern California hunting can be some of the toughest hunting. A lot of our listeners are in there, that same boat, new guys that live in that area. I get a lot of messages from that region. Hopefully, uh, one of these days I do actually hunt California quite often and I'll make a SoCal trip here soon just to make some videos or something to be kind of fun. I like to try to go to places where a lot of people hunt, but I know that that's a, it's a, it's a difficult hunt.

It's low success. So to pull one out of there, three by four, congrats, man. That's a great accomplishment. And I'm glad that we could help you in any way.

Next little story comes from Jason Vincent. Says, Remy, can't thank you enough for your podcast. I listened to every episode at least twice this summer. I listened to you every day while I ran and trained for my Wyoming mule deer. Because of your tips and tricks, I was able to harvest a mature doe antelope and a nice eight point white tail deer last week. Plus I was able to glass up bucks for my buddies too. Can't thank you enough for your podcast. Please keep up the awesomeness. Good luck on the rest of your hunts.

Thanks, man. And congrats. That's, it's always awesome when people are stepping out of their wheelhouse, trying something new, preparing and, you know, listening to some of these, like trying to glean as many tips as possible, because when you get out there, things change. But if you've got that knowledge base, you're just going to be a lot better off and put yourself in that success category.

I'll just read a couple more because I just think these are so fun to go through. I try to read them all, at least personally, not obviously not on the podcast. But thank you, everybody that sent in something or a picture. It's always awesome to see some of these success photos. I really like it.

Hayden Fit wrote in, he says, use the elk party call to call this bull into bow range in no more than five minutes. This looks like a nice bull too. He says, love your podcast, but you do use a transition sound that always makes me think my truck is scraping against something. Any chance you could change that sound so I don't have a mini heart attack every time I listen to the podcast? I think what he's talking about is this whoosh.

Absolutely not. I'm keeping that in there to keep everybody on their toes, make sure nobody's falling asleep at the wheel. It's my form of public service and safety to you. I'm probably actually, Phil, add in some more truck scrape sounds. We're just going to make sure everybody's paying attention to the road while daydreaming about elk. Me? Me.

If you were to see me driving down the road between actually any time of the year, I pretty much don't look at the road. I'm always looking for animals as I'm driving around, gawking at the sights and the scenery. So a little something to get the attention back on the road never hurts. We got another one here from Canada from Gerard. He says, Hey, Remy, just wanted to share some of my success with you. I stocked in on this Alberta antelope using your advice on how far they can see and choosing a route to intercept.

And then for fun, he also got a badger and it's nice, nice antelope buck. Congrats, man. Just great to see this kind of stuff come in. Now the last one here, Travis Tomlinson says, use some of your tips and strategies to get this bull to respond to a cow call and proceeded to bugle him in.

He was able to hold his attention at 20 yards until he turned to present the shot. I gave one more mew as he turned, and while I drew back, he turned his head, I let it fly. Double lung, second year archery, and third year total of hunting. Thanks for the work you do and the info you share. Travis from Colorado.

And that's good work, man. Awesome bull. Like just to get a bull elk with a bow is a pretty good feat. And on your third year of hunting, second year of archery, congrats, man. I'm glad that some of these tactics have helped some people out. So let's help some more people out, hopefully help you out and jump into our Q&A portion of the Q&A. Okay.

There's a just kind of a mixed bag of questions here. So I'm just going to start picking some of the ones that I'm just going to randomize it. I got like a little list. The way I actually do it is I just kind of screenshot them and then cruise through my album here and answer these questions. So in no particular order.

The first question comes from Zach Messer. He says, Hey, Remy, I have a problem with the inside of my boots getting wet after a few days of hiking during elk season. I imagine it's from sweat and maybe some snow melting on the outside of the boots. How do you keep the inside of your boots dry on a backcountry hunt? My feet start freezing when I sit down to glass wearing wool socks too. Thanks. Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, keeping your feet dry, keeping your feet warm is it can always be a constant battle.

There's a couple things I'm going to suggest here. So it just depends on the type of boots. I always go with a boot that's got Gore-Tex for later season type stuff, early season boots.

I mean, maybe I don't necessarily care so much about if it's going to be hot weather or whatever, but as the season starts getting a little longer, I might start running into snow or other things. I go with a Gore-Tex boot. Now, what I do to all my boots, and this is something, you know, whether it's recommended by manufacturer or not, I use snow seal or like some form of boot wax.

And before and after every trip, I wax my boots up. I like if I, especially if I've got like a leather boot, I'll use some form of snow seal. It's like comes in a jar. What you do, I use a hairdryer most of the time, or just put my boots on the boot dryer near the fire.

warm my boots up and then just wax them down. I find that that works really well. I know some people think that it messes with the Gore-Tex or whatever. If you've got full leather boots, I suggest it like it's, it keeps the water from getting in.

Um, now on the flip side, you know, the whole sweat, your feet get hot sweat. You know, some people, I'm not that type of person. My feet are kind of always cold. So I could wear insulated boots pretty much year round. I think 90% of people that I know though, are the exact opposite. Most people want uninsulated boots. So you kind of want to try to decide, okay, the season that you're most hunting, should you go kind of uninsulated or more insulated? You know, when you stop your feet get cold, um,

That happens to me a lot. I walk a lot. That's just part of it, man. When I'm sitting there and I get cold, I'm going to start walking, but I do a pretty good job of keeping my feet dry. One thing I will do too in the backcountry,

If I got an extra change of socks awesome, I will like wear my socks in my sleeping bag I'll let my feet air out and then for a little while and then maybe like I'll keep my socks in my sleeping bag Then I might just slip them on I wake up a lot in the middle of the night anyway slip them on because sometimes your body heat will actually start drawing that moisture out but you don't want to leave them on all the time and Get like some kind of weird fungus growing but just kind of keeping your socks dry boots dry and then

the last bit of advice is like some trips, your feet are just going to be wet. And I just go in, I mean, I've been on many trips where I go, yeah, it's almost just like the first stream I come across, I'm just going to stand in and soak these things. Cause it's like, I'm going to be uncomfortable the whole time. And that's just how it's going to be. That sucks. But there are a few things you can do to really help out. And I think that the, um, the boot, what I call boot wax, I mean, maybe it's, I've used actual wax, um,

I I've heard recently that you shouldn't use wax because it messes with the Gore-Tex this that and the other thing but I don't know man I've used something like that for years and it's it's awesome um I just started using there's a there's another one I used it's more like Gore-Tex compatible I wish I remembered the product uh I think I got it like a sporting goods store or maybe like a mountain REI kind of thing um they also have other gear coatings so I don't know look into that

we got another gear question here this one comes from luke he says hey remy can you talk about gps units for backcountry hunts on the podcast what features to look for how to use them etc i've never had one and always used my phone or paper maps before that there seems to be a lot of choices and i don't know where to start thanks you're the best hunter alive and it's a privilege to hear your stories tips on the podcast thanks man i appreciate that

You know, I honestly don't use a GPS very often. I've kind of like the same. I've always used paper maps. And really now, I mean, my cell phone is my GPS. I use it constantly. I use the Onyx maps. I work with them. I've partnered with them, mostly because it's something that's just like super easy for hunting.

It's really expanded my opportunities. And I know I talk about it a lot on the podcast, but I really do think that it's probably some of the most advantageous technology that we have as hunters right now. Like it's something that anybody from anywhere can now hunt anywhere kind of thing. I love it and hate it simultaneously because it's almost like giving away too many secrets that took a lot of skills and things to build, but is right on your phone. The real key to using it properly is downloading offline maps, uh,

And then, you know, I always carry like an extra battery portable charger thing for my phone. I put it in airplane mode and, you know, I use it sporadically, whatever. But you have to have those maps downloaded ahead of time. And you really want to download. You got to know, like once you know where you're going, you want to download those more detailed maps. So you can kind of get everything from wide range to like more detailed areas. You want those detailed areas, switch it into offline mode.

and you've got your maps. You can do that with a lot of different mapping software, and then the GPS in your phone shows you where you're at. So I say I always use my phone, and that is primarily true. However, I recently, in this recent trip that I took to Alaska for Caribou, I used a Garmin GPS unit, which was the 66i GPS.

Because it has the satellite messenger through there, what used to be or what is in reach. So I could use it as the text messenger to the pilot, to my wife, to whatever. And it's also a handheld GPS unit.

After using that, I'm like, dang, there's still an advantage to having a GPS because the battery lasts so long. Like I could have it on all day. I could use the message thing. I think that was a sweet feature with it. So having something like that where, you know, I've used the Garmin inReach Mini before, which is really small and nice, but it's also kind of cool to have that GPS unit where you can mark things, whatever, and then message back. So if you're looking for a GPS unit,

I just tested that one out. This was, I was just like, I got, I got it sent as like here, test this out. I get to test like a lot of cool gear. And that was one of them. Um, another thing that I just tested as far as GPS units is like the Garmin tactics watch. And I I've been using that more than anything. It's got GPS in the watch, a little solar screen, a charger and like maps are already on it. And it also has my dope charts for my rifle that it's like, if I had to decide, I'd probably use that in my phone. Um,

But I don't know. There's a lot of options out there. So a great question. I hope that helps. Like I try to try a bunch of different gear as well. Just so when people ask questions about gear, I kind of have even stuff that's not in my, like I don't use a lot, but I was like, okay, I definitely see the benefit to this. I'm not having to use your phone for that, but just having a dedicated device or a backup device to that kind of messenger, everything in one was pretty, pretty slick.

Next question comes from Dan Mason. He says, love the podcast. Yours is the one I consistently listen to. It's just great hunting knowledge. Quick question. I've been hunting elk for several years now with a rifle, so calling elk hasn't been a top priority. Looking into archery now and want to learn how to call. Where would you recommend I go to first?

That's a great question. YouTube, honestly, I recommend a few things. There's a lot of good YouTube videos on there. Actually, I should make a few more like how to call videos, but I understand the tactics, but I don't understand. Like, I just have used these calls for long enough that it's hard to like teach someone how to do it, to be honest.

Once you start to get the sounds, it's better to just listen to elk. So find some videos of elk sounds. That's what I always did. That's how I started elk calling. I would just get like sounds of elk and listen to that call and then make that call. Listen, make, listen, make. Another really good thing that I do is even still today, maybe I want to know what a call sounds like because when you're calling through a bugle tube, you're calling whatever

you know, you don't really hear the sound that's coming out of the bell of the bugle tube. So I'll, I'll set my phone down. I'll hit record. I'll walk back. I'll do some calls and then I'll listen to that and go, Oh, okay. That sounded good. Because there's sometimes where you're calling in, um, maybe the, your, the pressure of your tongue doesn't get that right pitch and it cuts off, but you drop it real fast and you think to yourself, God, that sound like shit.

And then you go back and listen, you're like, that wasn't bad. That was pretty good. Okay, that's what the elk's going to hear. That was good. And I try to tweak it that way. Like still, I constantly, every time I get a new call, I mess with it. And I like to kind of listen to elk sounds, you know, constantly listen.

listening to elk sounds and other things when I'm out there, you know, I I'm fortunate that I get to be around elk a lot so I can hear them and then, you know, match those sounds. But a great way to learn to call is just to get those sounds and then try to make those same calls. I mean, with those calls, um, I think that, uh, if you do that, that's how you're going to be the best elk caller. I mean, we might as well learn from the masters. There's no better teacher than an elk itself. If you start to sound like that, congratulations, you win. Like

I always say if people are like, it's just a joke with my clients. I'm always like, I'm not the best elk caller in the world, but I am the second best to the elk. So it's just kind of a joke. Like the elk are always going to be better than you. And sometimes they're going to sound worse than you. But listening to those sounds is going to be the best teacher you can get.

Here's one from across the pond. It comes from Robbie. He says, Remy, any advice you can offer on the podcast about red and fallow deer behaviors? I hunt both in Ireland, and I'm just curious to hear what you have to say about them. Any tricks or hints? Great podcast. Ireland loves it too.

Thanks, man. It's always awesome to hear from people around the world. I personally, I love traveling and hunting other places. Last year, got my first chance to hunt in the UK. It was incredible hunting. It was really cool. We chased some muntjac and roe deer. And it was kind of like off season, you know, it was in the middle of summer. But I did see quite a few red deer. And I just thought, man, I would love, I was hoping to get back over there this year, to be honest. And I was like, I'm going to go hunt in the UK.

I just think there's some really awesome hunting and some awesome hunting tradition there. But I have had a lot of experience hunting red deer and fallow deer in the South Pacific, primarily Australia and New Zealand. And I assume that many of the behaviors are the same. Obviously during the rut, one thing that I think is really cool about fallow deer, I love to call and interact with animals. So anytime you can hunt during the rut, obviously a lot of the elk tactics that I talk about

I've used those same exact tactics to hunt red deer. It's, it's nearly similar the way you call the way you, you challenge the way you can use hind calls the way you can intercept through wallows and find areas where they're at. Also like a lot of the glassing techniques and other things for elk, uh,

directly translate to red deer for the most part. So anything I talk about elk wise, I think you can try those same tactics on red deer and you're going to be successful. Roaring in reds is just, it's a blast. Now, outside of the rut, one behavior that's very easy to key in on that a lot of people might not consider is, you know, the

the roar is a great time to hunt, but if maybe there's your season or you can't after the roar is a really good time as well, because what happens is those stags pull off from the hinds. They go into their like same thing bull elk do. They kind of go into this isolated solitary kind of place. They recuperate and they're on this feeding pattern. So they're getting up, they're feeding in mornings, feeding in the evenings, and they're very predictable. That can be the best time to find a big stag because he's pulled away from his hinds and

you know, the ruts over maybe some of the hunting pressure is done and he's just in this feeding cycle. It can be a glassing intensive game. But once you find what that pattern is and where that animal is, they can be very exploitable because they're on this kind of by themselves. You can stalk in close, maybe hitting a food source or a more grassed food source more regularly. And it might be more predictable than other times of the year. As far as fallow deer goes,

One thing that I found about fallow deer is they're, they can be very territorial and that is both what makes them very fun to hunt, but also it can be their probably greatest downfall. I think, you know, especially during the rut when they're croaking, they've got their pads. If you're hunting a more forested area, uh,

You don't necessarily, I mean, you'll see those pads, but essentially what a rut pad is, it's where a fallow stag or buck will kind of carve out his territory and he'll sit there and he'll croak. That was like my croak through the microphone thing. So he's sitting there croaking, establishing his dominance and everything. Now in an area where I've been fortunate to hunt that's more open country, I can glass and I can see these pads and I will see, you know, the same bucks taking over these pads and

if you're hunting more forested areas, finding those pads can be a great like way to key in on where deer will be during the rut. So if it's not open, but you're in the timber, you know, find that sign like pre-season because they'll keep going back to these same kind of rut pads. It seems like year after year. And I've found like some pretty good bucks that way. So that's just a couple of things to think about if you're chasing those two animals. Hope that helps.

All right, this next question, archery question from Matt Zimmerman. He says, Hey, Remy, I've got a question around applying release techniques for archery hunting. This past spring, I switched to using a back tension technique instead of pulling the release trigger with my finger. Arrow tuning and accuracy improved, but I really struggled to apply it to hunting.

I either couldn't get the right back tension due to awkward posture or it simply took too long to release the arrow. I lost out on many opportunities due to this. Any thoughts on using back tension technique for hunting situations? Does anyone do this? I also want to say thank you for sharing so much great sage advice over the last several years on your shows and podcasts. It's great to watch you give back to the community. Matt from Colorado."

That's a great question, Matt. You know, you can look at anybody that hunts or has hunted for a long time with a bow and you'll see different styles, different ways of shooting. For those of you maybe not familiar with it, so like back tension release, there's different ways

to shoot with back tension. So a back tension is essentially you're pulling through, but you're subconsciously letting the bow essentially set itself off. Now, some back tensions are used based on a pull through where the amount of weight pulling then sends the arrow off. It has to be pulled straight back. So you know you're getting the same form, everything you focus the pin on the target, the bow should go off by itself. The best shot is going to be a bow that goes off without you knowing. Now, why would you hunt with that? Why would you need to?

Most back tension type shooting is due to some form of target panic. So your finger itself is super sensitive. I mean, it's got more nerve endings than really most anywhere. So what happens is you can develop bad shooting form, bad habits because you're anticipating the shot. What happens when you do that? You jerk or move fast and then you send the arrow where it's not supposed to go.

That can happen to anyone. That has happened to me. It's something that the more you shoot almost, the more likely that is going to be to happen. There are options though, like you can shoot a wrist release using a back tension method where you aren't necessarily hitting the trigger, punching the trigger, but you're just pulling through and letting it go off itself. Or there's like thumb style back tension releases where

I have pretty much every kind of release ever made. This is just me personally. So I kind of have all these releases. I know a lot of people that start, almost everybody starts out hunting with a wrist strap release and I still continue to hunt with a wrist strap release. I think it's the best release for me for hunting, not for everybody.

Um, but you know, I think that the reason I always hunt with that is because yeah, it's, it's more foolproof. I want to be in control, but I'm able to, to make good shots with it. I, when I'm in a hunting scenario, I shoot really well with it. I shoot better with it than I do in any of the other releases. And that's just my style.

you know, if you're having trouble with a wrist release, then I think you should probably commit to a back tension style release. Um, but I would go with more of the thumb release route, you know, use like a pure back tension for practice and then a thumb style back tension release for hunting purposes. If you needed to make it go off, you can make it go off. Not that you should practice that, but I think that a little bit more practice with it will kind of help or just stick with the wrist release and

is if you're shooting it fine. I don't see why I would switch from the trigger if you're, as long as you're shooting it well. I hope that makes sense because there is, there is a lot of options. I did see one anytime like a new release comes out or whatever. I'm kind of like that guy. It's like, I just buy it and it doesn't mean that I'm going to hunt with it. The release that I hunt with and shoot is,

I've had for probably 15 years. I haven't sweet. Like, it's just, it's part of my, it's like literally part of my wrist is falling apart. I love the thing. It's got like a mule tape paracord kind of thing where I can tuck it back underneath it. So it's always either on my wrist or on my bow. I never have to think about where it is.

Um, there's so many benefits to it and I just like that one, but I do like to try everything. Just like I said earlier, try as much stuff as I can, just so I know and understand what's out there. Um, and I did see a new one. I'm going to try it's, uh, I can't even remember who makes it. I, and I don't want to talk about it until I've tried it, but

But there's one where it's kind of like more of like a pull through wrist release thing that I just saw come out. So I'm going to try that one and I'll report back and see if I think that that might be a better option for guys that are kind of in this don't like the whole back tension style shooting for hunting, but also maybe have some aversions to shooting a trigger release.

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This question comes from Kyle. He says, Remy, thanks for all the content and podcasts. What's the best way to hunt mule deer and over-the-counter elk in Colorado at the same time? Any specific tactics? Yes. I actually wrote an article about this in Western Hunter Magazine years ago. But most of my guiding career has been in general areas like that where you've got an elk and a deer tag and you're trying to fill both.

Here is my suggestion. I say, I've always said this, I say put first things first. If you are trying to go for everything at once, you're going to be so distracted that you probably will go home with nothing.

So what you need to do is you need, you need to arrive with the anticipation of what is it you want to hunt? I know last year I was like, I had a deer tag. I had an elk tag. I really wanted to get a deer with my bow, but I was also having fun chasing elk. And I was just ping ponging around between these two things. You're better to hunt the best spot for one thing than a spot that's marginal for both. So what I do is I go, okay, if I'm here, you

You try to say, all right, be honest with yourself. What would you rather go home with? Now you kind of, here's where your mind plays things on you. Like, oh, well, it might be easier to get a deer. I want to go home with meat, but I really want an elk. So pick one and go to the best spot for that. Hunt that, focus on that. If you happen to see something else, that's an incidental bonus. Sure as heck, take it, you know, cool. We got something.

But you're better off picking the best areas for one thing and focusing on that because then you can fill that tag and use your time more wisely to then go chase something else. I think you kind of spin yourself in circles trying to find a way to hunt both at the same time. You're better off just saying, this is what I'm going to hunt. Focus on looking for that in that type of habitat.

Odds are you might run into the other animal as well. That's great. That's an incidental bonus, but focus on one thing at a time and you'll be a lot more successful at filling both tags than you will the single tag by trying to focus at two things at once. Next question comes from Tyler. He says, Hey Remy, quick question for a rifle hunter. I recently had my best and worst day of elk hunting, missing not one, but two bull elk on the same day.

Both should have been slam dunk. What tips or resources have you to offer to improve composure or shot control in a freehand shooting situation? Great podcast, by the way. Also, as a side note, Tyler did end up getting an elk. So congratulations on the bull.

Okay. That's a great question because I've seen it happen many times. There's a lot of times where shots are rushed, things need to go fast. And when you're worked up, you kind of lose that composure, lose that, that slow and steady getting things done, right? Then you start to make a bad shot. Here's what I suggest. And it just comes from repetition out of the field.

I've talked about it before in a previous podcast about kind of getting steady rifle control, really understanding how to shoot, how to get steady and practice. When a bull elk's in front of you, you don't want that to be the time to figure out how am I going to make a good steady shot? You just want that to be so automatic that you can throw the gun up and you don't even have to think about it. You focus on the shot and you execute a perfect shot.

And I really think that that comes from repetition, repetition, repetition. I've said this before. I think one of the best ways to calm yourself and to build that repetition is through essentially just what I call like steadying and dry fire practice. So you're going to make sure that your gun is 100% completely unloaded. Nobody should have any ammo near anything at any time during this.

And while doing this, the gun should be pointed in a safe direction. All the basic safety stuff, 100% adhered to. There is nothing that will harm your rifle while dry firing. I still do it to this day. It is, you know, dry fire practice with a gun where you can essentially, wherever you are, take thousands of shots for free.

And I do it and I practice in every shooting position possible from offhand to against a tree to sitting to kneeling to figuring out how to quickly put the gun up, get my elbows on something, steady that rifle and squeeze nice, easy, squeezy trigger control. Click, lift the bolt, close the bolt again, again, again, again. So when it's crunch time,

It is so automatic. Yes, it's going to be exciting, but that pulling the trigger on a specific spot is just already part of what you do, what your muscle memory has done. Another thing I do a lot when I am out practicing, I'm practicing range positions and, you know, like, I don't know what kind of shots these, you know, says both should have been slam dunk freehand shooting. I don't know if freehand shooting means just like without a rest or a bench, or if it means like offhand shooting, but

I regularly practice shooting offhand and people might be like, oh, you should never shoot offhand. You can always get a rest. Yes. I want to be the guy that I can shoot. You know, I mean, I put out water bottles and I, you should be able to shoot a water bottle at 200 yards offhand every time.

You think like, oh, that's crazy, whatever. No, it's because it's something that you practice. I will practice those kind of same shots, dry firing, picking something in the distance. I'll do so many dry fire shots saying, okay, was that on it? Was it not? What that does is it allows you to understand your trigger control, the movement of the rifle. And when I go to take a shot, when I'm sitting on my pack, when I'm using shooting sticks, when I'm doing whatever, I'm

I have that same trigger control, that same muscle memory to make a good shot every time, no matter the scenario. So it just comes down to a lot of time behind the gun. I think so many people take for granted the fact that, oh, a rifle could be, you just put the crosshairs on it, shoot. They shoot it once the day before they're hunting and then they hunt and then they put it away. I'm not saying that you did this, but I'm saying that practicing those scenarios over and over, I do it with my bow. Like you archery guys get a shoot in their backyard all the time.

Going to range is expensive. So that dry fire practice, that getting steady practice is just making that muscle memory. So when the animal, when that opportunity presents itself, you're fast, you're smooth, your brain isn't thinking and freaking, it's just doing, and you're going to be a lot more successful. Okay. Daryl has a question. He says, what tips do you have for spot and stock hunting white tails and mule deer in extremely cold climates?

That is a great question because I just looked at the forecasts and this weekend looks like it's going to be negative 17 degrees in October. So, woo, some cold hunting is going to be happening for some people.

Here's a couple really good tips that I've learned over the years. You need to be warm. You need to be comfortable. I now pack on those cold days like puffer pants and a puffer jacket that like really warm. It's a little extra weight, but I'm throwing it over because it's going to keep me warm. Hand warmers are a must because you're holding cold optics all day.

You need to be able to glass comfortably. I'll put that face mask on and just being that like bundled up when I'm stopped. And then when I'm moving, I shed those layers so I don't overheat. And when I'm stopped, I bundle back up. I think hand warmers, boot warmers, you know, like the kind that use air and well, like hot hands do that. Those are just worth their weight in gold.

I mean, they can make or break a hunt because you want to be comfortable, but you also need to be able to glass and crawl slow sometimes and just like be able to withstand those elements without getting frostbite and freezing or being too uncomfortable. Another thing that I've used for years is just like a glassing pad. I can't even remember some old timer just showed me this trick back when I was like 18 years old. He's like, no, you

you know you got this like little thermarest pad air pad blew it up sit on it i use one of two kinds i've got like a something like that i don't even know where i got it just like blow up little pad to sit and glass on and then i use keep my pack on as a backrest so i'm up off the snow up off the ground like insulated and warm so i can sit there in glass and i'm not

already chilled or whatever outdoorsman makes a really great like glassing pad it's just like super durable that's probably the best for durability rocks and everything they kind of made them for arizona hunters where you're sitting on rock and all that kind of stuff so you can sit in glass for a while comfortably man it is awesome to have in cold weather so that's just like a kind of like a secret piece of kit that i probably haven't i don't even know if i've mentioned that but that's something that's always in my pack especially when it's cold

Uh, just to, just to glass more comfortably and essentially be in those moments of you can't stock if you can't spot. So you really have to make that spot comfortable. Cause I know when it's cold, it's easy to walk around and try to stay warm that way. And yeah, I do a lot of that moving, sitting, glassing, but when I'm sitting glassing, I want to make the most out of it and make sure that I spot something.

And then when it comes down to the stock, you know, like I said, you know, big gloves are hard to wear when it comes time to like stock or whatever. So I got a liner glove and I'll throw that hand warmer in there as well inside that liner glove. So if I need more dexterity for things like ranging, shooting, all that kind of stuff, my hands don't freeze and I'm staying warm because you don't want to be chilled shaking. I mean, I know with a bow when I'm cold, man, my groups go to crap. Yeah.

Same with a rifle. Like if you're cold, you're shaking, you aren't going to, you're already adding in a little bit of things that are going to mess you up. So just kind of staying comfortable and prepping for that.

Okay. This question comes from Josh. Lots of gear stuff this week, which is awesome. I mean, I could talk gear for days. I've tried a lot of stuff and I don't mind sharing my opinion on it. He says, Hey, Remy, love the podcast and the show. Appreciate all that you do. I have a question about bow sights. I'm in the market for a new site for next year. Yep. Looking way ahead. I currently have a five pin, but was looking at a single pin. Just curious your thoughts on the single pin options. Appreciate your time.

I never thought in a million years I would be a single pin guy. I mean, I remember when I used to shoot the seven...

was it seven deadly pins? I was like seven pin guy. I loved, I loved more pins than merrier. And I also think that that's still a great option because there are pros and cons to both. And I personally found Reese, like, I think I switched to single pin. I don't know, maybe three years ago, maybe longer. Um, and I've, it was just like,

wow, this is awesome because I had a better sight picture and I was just more accurate with it or became more accurate with it. I really enjoyed being able to just fine tune it

The plus side to a single pin is the fact that there's less going on. It's easier to focus. You can kind of just pick that spot and make that shot. You don't necessarily have to pin gap shoot or whatever. The downside is you don't have those other pins to show you, hey, something is in the way above it. So like you draw back the animals at 40 and you're 20 yards pinning.

pins settled on a branch at 20 yards, you're going to smack that branch. So I like the multi pins for that. My setup right now, I've got like a spot hog fast Eddie. I've got the XL, but I think just the regular fast that he's just as good at whether it's got a rail or not mine. I have two pins and they've got a pointer on them. So it's a single pin with two markers. Um,

I like that. The reason I like that is because I can set my pin when I'm walking around. I set my top, like my single pin at like 35 yards. I think that puts my other one at 45 and I know how to shoot low and high. So essentially without moving my pin, I can make a lethal shot out to 55, 60 without adjusting anything if I had to. But I generally always adjust if I can. One thing I did like about the single pin is I think one thing that I've noticed

You know, I don't know. I shoot, I shoot my trad bows every day. I probably shoot my trad bows more than I shoot my compound bow to be honest, because, you know, it's like, once you know how to shoot, you can kind of always shoot. One thing that I kind of think about that doesn't necessarily get talked, I don't feel like it kind of gets lost in today's like so much gizmos, gadgets, everything like,

Like I think even people with a single pin kind of forget this. Like you should know how to shoot your bow and just feel like understand that trajectory where you know it enough that it becomes subconscious. So when that single pin is like on something, maybe it's not correctly right. Like maybe you draw back and the animal moves 10 steps.

You should understand the flight path of that arrow before you get out in the field and have to take a shot. So you don't necessarily always have to adjust it, but you can make those adjustments on the fly, just knowing your trajectory and how it's set up.

And I think that that's one thing that probably doesn't get practiced enough. So that's one thing with a single pin where you kind of start to build out that trajectory almost a little bit better than with those multi pins and kind of shoot almost like it sounds weird, but to shoot a little more instinctively with your compound bow. So I think that that's, that's a good selling point on it as well, but there's,

I mean, there's so many good sites out there. I haven't tried them all. I just kind of like got one that I like and I don't really like changing stuff on my bow. So I'm sure like maybe there's, I should probably start trying a couple other sites and things out there. That's the only single pin that I really have any experience with. So that's the one that I'm talking about. But honestly, it's worth a try. There are some downsides though. Like there's a lot to think about. You might miss some stuff setting the pin wrong, you know, but just kind of one of those things like you got to practice with and get used to it.

Here's a good question. This one comes from Chris Cameron. He says, Hey, Remy, love the podcast slash show slash Instagram stuff. I've listened to every podcast the day it came out from the first. That's what I'm talking about. Thanks, man. I appreciate that. It always let me know it's Thursday. And, you know, Thursday is not a bad day. And so anyways, I added the Thursday is not a bad day. That's my own quip. Anyways, my question for the podcast is how to pack out an elk cape.

I got my first bull this season and the hardest trip out was with the cape. Partly my pack was not up to the task. Partly couldn't figure out how to bundle up the cape. Is it pretty fragile with the fur? Thanks. Keep doing what you're doing. And he says, can't wait for the book. Yeah. So, okay. I'm just going to go through some things that I see notice, and then I'll tell you how the proper way to do things.

One thing I have noticed a lot of people do one thing you should figure out. And I don't know if this is you or not. I'm just talking in generalizations because I see it a lot.

You know, so many people like get an elk somewhere like back in the back country and they've got the, they want the cape, they're going to mount it. So they've got a cape, but the, the, it's not caped out off the face. So they've got like the whole jaw, skull, elk, everything. And they're trying to pack it out. It's very awkward. It doesn't really work that well. You can make it work. And here's how you make that scenario work. If you, maybe you aren't going too far or you don't know how to keep something out. The way you would wrap it up is you

let's say we're just putting the head away from us you're going to fold the uh hide in so you're because you're cutting down the back you're going to dorsal cut it up to the skull whatever and

fold the hide in and now you're just going to start rolling it up. And then what I do is I bring the cape up to the antlers. Then I run it through the front tines and then kind of create this where instead of strapping it or lashing it to my pack, I find it where I put it over my shoulders with that sitting on the top of the pack.

And then you can handhold it and then I'll use some paracord to kind of tie that bundle up where it kind of sits naturally. That's probably the easiest way to take care of the cape and the skull if they're attached. Another way would be to drop the cape down into your backpack with the antlers going down. You know, you'll see a lot of pictures of me with the antlers up. It can be dangerous in some places. If I'm in an area where I know that's not going to make a difference, you know, yeah, you might catch branches or if I'm in the open and whatever.

it's easier that way, but find a stick because a stick will kind of pull the antlers away from the pack. And, you know, we do that when we're packing out on horses to keep the antlers from dropping down and hitting them in the sides or whatever. So that stick keeps the antlers out and then, you know, the packs full of the cape.

One thing I will suggest, everybody should figure out and learn how to cape out a deer and then just cut the bottom jaw off the skull. It is so easy. It takes 15 minutes extra. It saves you a lot of time. These are just things that I've noticed. I'm not necessarily saying it's from this question, but you need to know how to do that. I would say this is an essential of a skill as quartering out an animal. It's a skill that you need to understand how to do, and it's not hard to do.

I always keep the skull out from the, well, it just depends, I guess. You know, the best way to do it is probably from the lips first. You just cut, run it around the lips on the inside of the mouth. Cut that out, start skinning up to the eye. Go from the back of the head, cut a Y, go around the burrs. And then once you get to the eye, stick your finger in the eye socket and just start cutting around. Then you'll got the tear duct. You just make sure you kind of keep all the inner eyelid in there. You know, you just go stay close to the bone.

And then you pull it off the face. You're done. You cut the bottom jaw off at the joints and pop the jaw off. Good to go. Save weight, make it easier to pack. Now I'm kind of getting back to this question. So I've got a Stone Glacier load cell bag and I just keep that for capes because it's like real nice and tight and skinny. Or I've used like a Sea to Summit dry bags in the past and

And what it is just like keeps it more structured. I will turn the face inside out and I call it just like, put it in like a Python, like a snake in a bag. I don't try to roll it. I just put it in the bag. Like I would put a large bow constrictor into a, remember Jake, the snake wrestling, really like put the snake in a bag. That's how I treat the Cape. Um, they are not super fragile, but you have to treat the hive. Like you would meet it can, uh,

It can spoil and then the hair will slip when it comes to tanning. I've seen it happen guys kind of oh It's the cape they kind of you know scrunch it up keep it in a garbage bag, whatever You know and then it and then it goes off and then the hair starts to slip Probably more times than not as well what i'll do like if you've got the cape and you've got the room You know, I always have an extra trash bag black trash bag in my pack You know, maybe i'll just feed that thing right into my pack

And that's the way to go. Now, when you're freezing your cape or whatever, you can take it to the taxidermist. The best way to do it is you put it on something so it doesn't get all the sticks and everything on it. Fold it hair side in.

Then you roll it up and then I leave the face, you know, inside out. So it's like the skin portion out on the top, fold it over itself and then stuff that roll into the freezer or whatever until you can get it to a taxidermist or you don't do any of that. You flush it out, salt it, hit on a lot of topics there. But I think that cape prep, you know, like all these kind of like

After the fact things, you know, especially now, like you can't really travel across state lines with brain matter. So just understanding how to properly boil skulls and things is really knowledge you should have for traveling hunters. And there's easy ways to do it. There's hard ways to do it.

you know, even everything down to like clean skinning. So I'm going to actually going to be doing a bunch of how to videos on all that stuff. You're coming up soon over the course of the fall, winter, spring. When I say these things, keep me honest. Just be like, Hey, where are those videos you were talking about? Like say a bunch of stuff and then get too busy. But, um, I really want to do some of those. I actually just did a skull boiling, uh,

I could call it boiling, but you don't really want to actually boil it. So I'm just using the term boiling as like you're putting the skull in hot water. Tutorial on my Instagram. And I was amazed at how many people really liked that information and didn't really know...

all the ways. And there's so many different ways to do it. So I think that actually is just going to bring me into next week's podcast. Let's talk skull prep, like let's call it a Euro mount where it's boiling the skull, bleaching it out, cleaning out, bleaching, but not using bleach. See all these terms, these old school terms, that's why it's so confusing for everyone. And then everybody, when I did that was saying, oh, you should use this and that. And yeah, I use different products and different ways of doing it for different things that I want to get done. So

I think a podcast is a great way, even though it's a very visual process, I think it's something that I'll be able to explain and kind of tell you some like tips and things that I do. I mean, there are a lot of ways to skin a cat. That term should just be, there's a lot of ways to boil and bleach in your amount, your elk deer, whatever, because I've, I've done it 7,000 ways and had 7,000 good results. You know, there's a lot of ways you can do it, but I kind of got a way that seems to work for me. So I stick to it.

So I think let's cover that next week. And thank you guys so much for the questions. As always, you know, constantly shoot me questions because what I'm doing is I'm just going to be honest and here's my system that's been working for me because I'm out hunting and everything. I'll go on Instagram for somebody who's got a cool question that I like. I just screenshot it, put it in a file, and then I get back to a lot, try to get back to all those questions if I don't have time to answer it because...

hopefully I'm out in the field and it's like, I'll be on the top of a mountain. I get like in my pocket. I'm like, Oh, he got service here. Scroll through, find 10 questions, screenshot, screenshot, screenshot, save it, whatever. But you can also email me at Remy at the meat eater.com. If you don't have social media or whatever, you prefer that email method. That's a great method as well. So Instagram at Remy Warren or there also remember if you can, if you guys subscribe to the podcast, I appreciate that.

and leave a comment or I don't rate it, whatever suits you. I won't tell you what to do, but if you would like to do that, that would be awesome. I appreciate it a lot. So thank you guys so much for everything you do. Hopefully this stuff is helpful and keep sending me all that success pictures. That makes my day. I'm just like, yes, okay. I'm glad somebody liked that topic and that helped in some way. So keep them coming and catch you guys next week.

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