Ep. 83: Answering Your Questions, Part 16
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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. It's that time in the podcast where I'm introducing your questions, those burning questions that you've had. I might be talking about something. You're like, wait, but what about this? How does this relate to where I hunt? All those great questions will soon be answered as we dip into the mail sack.

I know the last couple of podcasts, if you missed them, you should go back and listen because we covered how to get a tag. We covered a lot of stuff about the draw process and where to apply, how to apply, and then did kind of a state-by-state breakdown. And I think that that was very helpful for a lot of people. I know here at the Cutting the Distance mailroom, I just made that up. We don't have a mailroom. But I got a lot of questions regarding that topic.

And that's great. That's awesome because a lot of people are interested. They're starting to plan things out and they want a little more knowledge. So we'll cover a lot of that today. I also got a lot of questions on archery stuff from the archery series we did prior to that. And then, as always, a lot of general hunt knowledge stuff. So let's dive into it and we'll head to the mail sack and start firing through a lot of these questions.

The first question comes from Nelson. He says, "Hey, Remy. Thank you for the wealth of information you provide each week. Been a fan of the show since episode one.

As hunters, we put hours and miles when scouting and hunting year-round. Recently, I had a spot on public land completely advertised by an outdoors media page. Not only did they throw the name and location of the area, like the trailhead, but went as far as putting the GPS coordinates. I understand it's public land, but surely this has to be too much info to just give out, no?

I'd love to hear your opinion on this. I don't believe I've heard the topic of spot burning discussed on this level of detail in your podcast. Thanks again. Keep up the great work. That is a great question, Nelson. I think it's a good one to start with too, especially after we did a little tag draw episode. And I think that I'm with you. I'm not a big fan of...

Not on necessarily giving people spots, but large. I mean, so much information's out there. I think some information needs, but I think there's too much information given out. Nothing worse than having your spot burned. I've had my spot burned by magazines many times. And I've kind of always been the type that

As a hunter, I feel like I put in a lot of effort to figure out where I want to hunt or not even necessarily for me, but just for other people that might hunt the areas that I like to hunt. I'd hate to blow it up. I know many years back, one spot in particular,

I had, it was just a place that I deer hunted and it was incredible deer hunting. I mean, I think some of the best mule deer hunting you could ever encounter. And a friend of mine was like, wow, this spot's really good. There's lots of 200 inch bucks. There's lots of bucks. Why is this spot not in this certain, at the time it was the Hunting Fool Magazine, as like one of their spots. So he called them, talked to them about the area. And then of course the next year, that area was the number one pick in,

in Hunting Fool. And since that point, we used to be able to draw that tag every year. And since that point, it's become a 0.0% chance of drawing. Now, is that particularly the sole reason that it was that? Absolutely not. More people started figuring out about the area.

And over time, it just becomes more popular. That happens. But also you kind of feel like, oh man, something that I really enjoyed or an area that was kind of under the radar got put on blast. And those things happen all the time. I know actually when I put last week's podcast out, I promised giving away a great elk hunting spot.

And somebody said, oh, you're going to piss a lot of people off that you didn't actually give a spot. And my thought was, I'm actually going to get props from a lot of people saying, oh, he didn't blow up a spot because –

you know, that's the thing about hunting. One place in particular isn't necessarily better than others. It's just, it's a place that maybe people overlook. Maybe it doesn't have all the focus on it. So it ends up being a place that you enjoy hunting or whatever. When you start to really pinpoint one place, I think it just misguides people into saying, oh, here's a good place to hunt. More people show up there and it actually decreases the hunting experience and becomes not a very good place to hunt. So

It's kind of a catch-22. You put something out there like that, and then you see a wrap

a rapid decline in the quality and the type of hunt that that can be. So I absolutely don't like when somebody burns a spot, I don't like when somebody burns my own spots. I try to never burn spots. I know there's, there's States that I hunt or places that I hunt. Many times I won't even share the state of the hunt place that I'm hunting or you know, I tried to keep out like exact locations on things that I think are kind of sensitive and, and could really blow up real fast. But yeah,

That's part of it too. I think that there's got to be a balance between sharing, but not giving super specific things. So it's too bad they did that. It's very unfortunate. I don't know where it is and I don't really probably wouldn't want to draw attention to it anyways. Also, when people send in their questions, I try to keep places that people say like, oh, I live here or I hunt this particular area. I actually keep that out of the questions intentionally, even though people put them in the questions because I

I don't want somebody else to get their spot burned or just have a lot of traffic just because it seems to get a lot of attention. And honestly, you know, doing what I do, the podcast and helping people get out there, I feel in some ways responsible for additional hunters in places where people hunt. And that weighs on me in many ways though. You know, it's one of those things where I kind of think like drawing attention to certain types of hunts, over-the-counter elk hunting, mule deer hunting, even just like

Hunting certain seasons and other things that I show on my videos a lot or on social media, I see those become more and more popular. Things like hunting axis deer I've seen become more popular. DIY New Zealand hunts until things got shut down with COVID becoming more popular. All those things becoming more popular, you know, in some ways is a good thing. In some ways, it's a bad thing. So I think that that's my stance on it. You know, I think that it's nice to be able to share things

things for people to be able to get out and feel like they can, they can do it. And I think that there's, you know, a balance between sharing enough information, but not necessarily giving away an exact location. That's in my opinion, not good, not cool, man. Not cool. That was a long answer for something, but I care. I care about that a lot. So I thought that was a good question because yeah. All right, let's go to the next question.

The question says, hey, Remy, I'm looking at getting a South Dakota archery deer tag. With the season not starting until October 1st, what would be your tactics for spot and stalk mule deer in that October timeframe on the Great Plains? Thanks, Ryan. Okay, that's a great question. And I would say that that is...

A good question, not just for wherever, South Dakota or whatever, but it's a good question for a lot of deer seasons because those October deer seasons are going to be the hardest time to find mule deer. There's a reason that there's a lot of different over-the-counter tags that time of year, and it's because deer are hard to find.

So what I like to do is I like to focus on, well, where are the deer? They were out earlier. Now they've kind of disappeared. They're gearing up before the rut. Oh, where are they? What are they doing? Let's just start in the mountains. And for the most part in the mountains, those deer, I feel like they move about 1500 feet in elevation lower than where they were before. Now, this is not necessarily particular to this question, but

the reason they do that is most of the time if they're in living in the alpine in the summer they're bachelored up they've kind of got their scraped their velvet and now they're going to start dropping down into more timbered country thicker country it doesn't necessarily matter if they're in the mountains or in the plains what those deer are doing is they're

They're being more nocturnal. They're saving up a lot of energy and they're kind of holding to the brush. They're in thick areas and they're going to kind of concentrate in those areas to save up that energy for the rut. Then the rut hits and you see just bucks everywhere. So what I like to do is I like to focus on those safety zones, those sanctuaries. Like I say, in the mountains, oftentimes where you see them in the summer, it's about 1500 feet in elevation lower if they're in the alpine area.

If they're already in that thicker cover, they might just be picking those draws or those slopes where they've got food, water, and cover all in a small micro area. They don't necessarily have to travel a lot, but they can also stay fairly well hidden. You kind of think of mule deer as this animal that enjoys being out in the open, and they do. But that October timeframe, they get brushed up, they get timbered up.

And they can be very difficult to find. So I would focus first on, you know, draws, thicker draws, areas, especially, you know, if you're in eastern Colorado, eastern Montana, anywhere where any type of plains area, a lot of places in Wyoming, Dakotas, whatever.

You're going to kind of focus on those like draws that will have that cover in those kind of micro habitats in there. And that's where they're going to be hanging out. That's when they're going to be hiding out. You might start seeing some younger deer around.

around does. So if you find pockets of does, and you aren't really specific on like, I don't really care what size buck I get, I just looking for a buck, then you can focus on those doe groups because you will get younger deer kind of bumping into them early. But for the bigger, more mature bucks, you're going to want to find those spots where they're going to be off on their own, probably rolling solo right now, those bucks will be by themselves. And

in areas where they might be moving real early in the morning and right before dark at night, and then kind of timbered up or brushed up and just secluded during the daytime. So they aren't going to be very visible. So you're going to want to hunt those areas. I do a lot of still hunting, glassing into pockets, and then just finding anywhere where it has that, where you can kind of focus on those good areas, look for sign, and you'll start picking out more bucks, more deer.

This question says, hey, Remy, Mike from Long Island, New York here. Thanks for the great archery shows. I'm wondering how I could determine my effective range. At 30 yards, I can shoot 10 arrows and all will be within the size of a salad plate.

Six or seven will be closer to the center, but there's usually a couple on the outer circle. At 40 yards, I only get a bit better than 50% into the dinner plate size circle. I hunt turkeys and whitetails. I feel like 40 yards is out of my range. Would you agree? Thanks, Mike. Yeah, Mike, I definitely think, you know, when you're talking about your effective range, I like to think of it as at what range am I 100% confident that that arrow will hit where I'm aiming? And I like to say,

I don't know, like within rifle shooting, you know, you've got kind of like this minute of angle idea where it's one inch at a hundred yards and that's like a sufficient group. I think with archery, I kind of keep that like three inch circle as my primary, like this is what I'm aiming for within that three inch circle. It's most of those block targets, Reinhardt targets, whatever those circles are, what I try to keep my arrow in.

But, you know, you got to understand, well, what am I hunting and what's the size of the vitals? And how am I going to know that when I release that arrow, I'm going to make an ethical clean shot? I would definitely agree with you. I think at 40 yards, if you're only getting 50% in what would be that vital zone, that's too far. So what you want to do is you want to start practicing. If you want to get out to that 40 yards, you know, start tightening that group up at 30.

Now where you can get, you know, I think I'm assuming like a salad plates, like six inches, that's still within the kill zone of a deer, you know, if you're shooting traditional gear, then like, that's a great group. If you're shooting like a modern compound, you could definitely tighten that up a bit. And that might just be with some tweaks in, in your form, some tweaks in your grip, maybe just some tweaks and just practicing a little bit more. But I think that, uh, yeah, the 40 yards I would say is a little far out of your range just based on,

the type of groupings that you're getting. So that's just something to keep in mind. And I think that's, that's a great question for anybody getting into it. They go like, Hey, how far can I shoot? And a lot of it has to depend too on all the, how comfortable is the animal you're shooting at? How comfortable are you when you're drawn back? I mean, there might be that instance where a deer walks out,

At 30 yards and you're shaking like crazy, it's freezing out. And now you go, okay, there's no way I can make this shot. Practice all throughout the year in different times, different temperatures, and just really understand, okay, what are my groups looking like? And can I effectively hit exactly what I'm aiming at? Will it be an ethical, lethal kill and go from there? And that's all on you when you're out in the field. So that was a great question. I like that.

It was a little bit longer question, but I like the content of it here. So it says, hello, Remy. I recently listened to your application season part one podcast, and I enjoyed the state breakdowns as well as what your thoughts were on how one could look at each state depending on what they are looking for in a hunt.

My question is about how someone who is coming from back east and only having 10 days to hunt, but also would like to hunt two species if possible, how should one go about applying for such a hunt and then executing a plan for said hunt? For example, I have been wanting to do a Wyoming mule deer and pronghorn combo rifle hunt for a couple years now.

By the time that I will apply, I would have three points for each species. I'm aware that deer is by region and pronghorn is by unit. Should I get a region tag as close to my pronghorn unit as possible? And two, and the second question would be, would it be best to hunt pronghorn first and get camp meat or hunt hard for deer then use the last couple days to hunt for pronghorn just to make sure I have meat to take home? Three is most units that he would draw and three,

He says, at my point level, I have less than 30% public land or checkerboard with BLM private. How would I e-scout that as well as access it when I get there? Thanks. Always enjoy your podcasts and glean so much useful information and tactics from them. Happy hunting. That question came from Andrew. That's a great question, Andrew. So I'm just going to break it down from the start here. So

He's wondering about adding a combo hunt. You're coming a long ways. You've got 10 days to hunt. It makes sense to hunt two animals, and I highly suggest it. A lot of trips that I take, it's awesome to be able to do a couple different species or maybe a couple different tags all in one. Before I get into the logistics of it, I will say this. I've noticed that if you...

focus on hunting two different things, then you're sometimes strapping yourself and you kind of end up with nothing. I kind of, I wrote an article quite a few years back about the art of the combo hunt. One of my lines in there was,

put first things first. So whatever you are more interested in hunting, I would spend the majority of the time hunting that. What I like to do on any kind of combo hunt is sometimes people go, okay, well, I'm going to go, I've got an elk and a deer tag. So I'm going to go hunt where I can find elk and deer. I think you're going to be a lot more successful finding a spot where you can find elk and then going like hunt the best spot for elk and then hunt the best spot for deer. So the same is going to go for here.

You're going a long ways. I would say pick a good spot for deer and pick a good spot for antelope. If they are right next to each other, that's going to make it a little easier, especially pronghorn and deer because pronghorn are kind of out all the time in the middle of the day. So you can kind of hunt them in the middle of the day, but you might be cutting your deer hunt, like not doing your deer hunt enough justice by doing that. So I would definitely separate them out if it were up to me because

because pronghorn can be an easier hunt. I'd pick an area where it's like, hey, good numbers of public land, good numbers of access, good numbers of antelope. And then I would just dedicate, like you say, a few days to that. I would probably do that maybe at the beginning of the trip or at the end of the trip. It doesn't really matter. One thing you got to think of is if you get an antelope, you're probably going to get an antelope. So if you get it early, you know, you've got to deal with the meat.

throughout that time, but you will have some camp meat to eat while you're there. If it was me, I think I would probably...

Go after the antelope first and then hunt the deer. Only because I know that I would kind of be in that mindset that I'm going to be successful. And then that way you can spend the rest of the time looking for a good deer or taking that harder hunt and then putting it till the very end. I think that I would probably get into that position where I was hunting deer, hunting deer, hunting deer, and then thinking about the antelope like, oh, maybe I should go hunt antelope.

and kind of be distracted or maybe go cruise over and look for antelope and then go back and hunt deer or get down to the wire. Maybe need some more days hunting deer. You feel like you just got it figured out and then have this conundrum of like, well, should I go antelope hunting and start over from zero? So yeah,

personally, I would just go find a good area for antelope, find a good area for deer. I mean, even if it's a four or five hour drive apart, it doesn't really matter if you've got more public land, more access and going to have more opportunity. If you can find a unit where they're together or very close together, bonus to you, but I would probably hunt the antelope first and then spend the rest of my time on deer, you know, have a couple of days, know that you're going to go home successful, have a great hunt. And honestly, I'm

pronghorn hunting is extremely fun and a very fun hunt. So you might get out there and be like, oh, this is, I want to do more of this and look for a bigger buck or whatever. But that's what I would do. So the second part to that question, how would I e-scout the access? What I do is I go on my Onyx maps and I turn on the layer. There's a layer for if it's national forest,

It sounds like this is checkerboarded with a bunch of private and other things, but you can check the road access, especially on the National Forest Trail.

Some things you might have to do is change the layers to like a forest map or there's like different layers for roads. There's also different layers for maps. You can see some of the accesses on those roads. Other ways would be like contacting the Bureau of Land Management in the area saying like, hey, do you have a map or a recommended map that'll show me legal road accesses? Because not all roads that go through private are public accesses, public easements to that public land, unfortunately. Okay.

So, you know, one way to do it, obviously look on your, you know, I use Onyx a lot, shows you which roads you can use in most instances. It shows it really well with Forest Service.

but it doesn't necessarily show it really well with BLM. It'll have like a highlighted layer where you can see, okay, this road goes all the way from a public road and this is clearly a public road. But if it shows it where it's private and then starts beyond it, maybe you don't have access. So the best way would be to contact like the land agency in that area, the field office, and ask them about certain accesses or just like which maps show the accesses. And a lot of that you can also find online through like,

the BLM website or the Forest Service website. So that's a great question. And it can be, some of that's just, you know, knowledge of boots on the ground, where the accesses are, where it's gated off, where it's not. But that's one way to kind of figure out where can I access and get access when I'm so far away looking at it on a map. You may not be able to tell right away. So you might have to just kind of find those areas and then dig a little bit deeper.

This question comes from Brandon. He says, Hey man, big fan of your podcast. I have a question on elevation for elk. I live in Montana and was wondering what elevations do you find most your elk in each season? If you got time, be sweet to see what your experience is. Thanks.

That's a good question. It just really depends. It depends on the time of year, depends on the type of herd, depends on the temperature, the weather, what the previous winter did. Honestly, at any time of year, elk can be from the top of the mountain to the valley floor.

Generally, you find them in those two spots too, the top or the bottom. But, you know, as the season progresses, I mean, the top third for any animal, really, the top third of the mountain, if you broke a mountain into thirds, the top third is generally where

most animals live. Um, I think it's because they have like good access to water cover. There's good habitat and it's also generally harder to get to for hunters. You know, you've got to do some uphill climbing. There might not be roads and other things. So if I was just to give a blanket statement of what elevation I generally cut the mountain into thirds and that, like if I, so yeah, like looking at a mountain, make it into thirds that,

Third below the top is generally where I find most big game animals. And that's kind of like where I start, but it also depends on the time of year. Earlier in the year, I start up higher. Later in the year, I start lower.

If the snows are really high, you know, they're getting pushed out of that higher country. They're going to be a lot lower. Now, big bulls will stay the longest. So if you want a tough hunt, but a good option to hunt big bulls, you will go find them in chest deep snow for an elk. Sometimes still up high until they're just forced out of that stuff. They just plow through and finally come down. Last winter on a late season deer hunt, I found a lot of big deer there.

just up in snow that you're like, how are they even surviving there? And they're just there by themselves hanging out and then plowing down and going down with the larger groups, kind of like the last ones in. But I would say generally early look high, late look lower. And, you know, like if you're a late season hunt, you're probably looking at the bottom third of the mountain.

That's where the best winter range is. And then just like anything, find where that good habitat, that prime habitat is going to be and focus in on that.

Hey, I'm listening to your latest podcast and something that I've tried to search for. He recently sent a Montana fishing game for information on is where can a Canadian resident put in the draw for sheep? And is there any States that this is a thing being a Saskatchewan resident? My chances of hunting sheep are based on me winning the lottery, which is slim to none. Nathan,

Well, I've got good news and bad news, Nathan. So the good news is as a Canadian resident, we are very nice to Canadians when Canadians are not very nice to us. I know Canadians like to think that they're very nice, but they don't allow non-resident, non-alien hunters. If you're from the U.S., hunting in Canada alone without a guide generally is not – you're unable to do that.

Fortunately for you guys, we let almost every state allows Canadians to hunt on their own without the use of a guide, as far as I know, outside of Alaska. The fee is a little bit higher, but yes, you can apply for sheep in pretty much every state. You just do the same thing as a non-resident would do that lives in the States. Now, you know, getting a firearm and all that stuff, that's all. I know none of that because I've never traveled from Canada to the U.S. being a

non-resident alien. So I don't know the rules and specifics on that. I know with a bow, you wouldn't have any problems, but I'm not sure about a firearm. In the U.S., I don't think it's too hard. You just kind of fill out some forms from what I've had other people do from other parts of the world. Coming into the U.S., it's fairly easy for them to bring in a firearm. Just like any other travel, you just got to fill out some forms and find those kinds of things. But

The application process to draw sheep tag, unfortunately, you're in the same boat as the rest of us, which is it's going to be like winning the lottery, maybe even more so here than up there, unfortunately.

And that's – you're in the same pool as me applying in Montana as a non-resident as if you live in Canada or anywhere. Same with like if you apply for sheep in Nevada, you would be just considered a non-resident and you can apply and draw a tag and whatever, but the odds are very slim. So you just –

Got to do the same thing the rest of us do, play that point game and hope that you get lucky. Now I will say other options for drawing sheep tags would be raffle type tags. There's those available. It's just, it is at some point kind of feels like a lottery, but you know, if you aren't, if you don't enter, you can't win. I've drawn multiple sheep tags. It seems like long odds. And I think, well, the chances of me drawing a sheep tag in my lifetime are very slim, but

hey, I'm in multiple states in multiple draws. They've got steep odds, but I keep applying and keep trying to increase the odds in my favor over time. And sooner or later, I'm going to hit the jackpot and get the tag that I want. So it might be something to think about just applying like the rest of us in more places where it's not just where you live. You know, you can kind of spread that out over other states in the U.S. and hopefully give you a good opportunity to one day hunt sheep.

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This is Brent Reeves from This Country Life. What makes South Dakota the greatest for pheasant hunting? With over 1.2 million pheasants harvested last year, South Dakota boasts the highest population of pheasants in the nation. In fact, you'd have to add up the total harvest from neighboring states just to get that many birds.

There's also millions of wide open acres chock full of different landscapes, meaning the hunt in one county is often completely different from just a few counties over. But what really makes South Dakota the greatest goes way beyond just hunting a colorful bird. It's the pursuit of something more like the camaraderie that awaits all kinds of hunters from all walks of life and partaking in South Dakota tradition over 100 years in the making.

It's about taking the greatest shots and watching your dog work the greatest fields in the greatest lands, carrying on the greatest heritage and making the greatest memories. So what are you waiting for? From the rush of the flush to the stories at the end of the day, experience a thrill like no other. Learn how at huntthegreatest.com. This next question says, I just got into archery and I really enjoy your podcast and your archery 101 to 202.

I really appreciate all your help and knowledge. So anyway, I've seemed to be really shaky when shooting a gun or bow. I'm not great at offhand shooting and I'd really try hard to not shoot an animal offhand unless I'm bird hunting. So anyways, when I'm shooting my bow, I draw back, level the bow and slowly drop to the target and release when I get on target. Is there anything I can do to help this? I'm practicing every day, rain or shine till archery deer starts here in Washington state. Thanks for everything, Mike.

That's a good question, Mike. I mean, I guess the question we first have to say, like, why are you shaky? And I mean, I think that, you know, some people naturally, it might be nerves, it might be another reason. But one thing you got to think about is you can't focus on the movement. I think too many people get wrapped up on that, like, I'm so unsteady, it's moving, it's moving, it's moving. And then that kind of creates a form of target panic in a lot of ways.

one thing that I think you should try to do based on just this brief description of the shot, I think what you should try to do is just focus on putting that pin and holding that pin on the bullseye for a certain amount of time. I mean, maybe it's five seconds, maybe it's 10 seconds, hold back, stare down that pin and just stare down that target and just like look at it, put the thing on it,

And shoot. And don't focus so much on the wobble. Focus on the target. You will be surprised how many of those arrows go in the bullseye. You know, your brain is a supercomputer. And what you're doing is you're focusing on the input that doesn't really necessarily make any sense to performing that operation. When you're at full draw, focus in on that target. Let your pin hover over that target and just let it be on that target for as long as you can.

Let your shot go off and you're probably going to find that that arrow is very close to where you want it. I would just say focus less on the shaking and more on the target. Everybody moves. Shooting with movement is great, but I think based on the way you're describing your shooting, you're drawing back your anchor, you're pulling it down and then you're letting it go off.

And what that's doing is you're anticipating and trying to shoot faster than holding it on the target because you're afraid that the shake is going to affect the shot. Where what's actually going to happen is you're going to develop a bad habit and you're probably going to –

you know, that anticipatory shot is going to in the long run, probably play against you in many ways. So what I would do is not worry about being shaky, but just like focus in on the target, practice building up that strength to hold back on target and practice holding on target and not worry about the movement, but just focus in and let that shot go off. And you're going to find that you're probably extremely accurate. It's kind of like if you hunt birds,

you know, shooting birds flying. I know for me, when I think about shooting a bird and I'm aiming and I'm trying to do all this stuff, I generally miss the target. But when I throw the gun up and shoot and let my brain just do the rest of it, I'm not thinking about the lead and calculating all the things that essentially slow me down. I'm just letting that shot process go through, the gun go off and the bird always falls. And so to make it more natural, I would just say kind of focus on that and not the shake.

And you'll be solid. And that's great info for pretty much anybody, any, any facet of hunting, uh, being a better shot. Next question says, good morning, Remy. First, I appreciate all info and insight you take from being out on all your hunts. It helps a lot as a U S coast guard member. I'm going to be stationed in Anchorage starting in July. And I'm only going to have the next three years to make any dream hunt happen.

I should be able to fly into remote, inaccessible locations. Is there anything you would recommend as I research for future hunts? Caribou and sheep are high on the list, but definitely not too educated on what game are the best for eating and open to hear what you prefer. Any info you can provide will be greatly appreciated. I'll keep using you as a character in Hunter Call of the Wild while hunting in Yukon.

Uh, that's from Brandon. That's a great question, Brandon. You know, I think anything like that, Alaska is an awesome place for hunting. There's a lot of opportunity. Um, there's a lot of different species to hunt. You know, I would say between caribou and sheep, both are, are good tasting caribou a lot better early once they get kind of on the rut.

I don't necessarily like the meat as much. I think caribou is... Caribou kind of has its own taste. It's like... I think of it as like the lamb of the north. It's got like this lamb-esque quality to it. Whereas sheep is actually more... I think actually between the two, probably sheep is better tasting. Sheep hunting obviously is a lot about...

A lot about the journey. It's very difficult. You have to get a legal ram, which can be difficult to find. It's got to be full curl in Alaska, almost all areas. I would say if you're just looking for a really good tasting animal, blacktails are good in the southeast. You can hunt them from Prince of Wales on the southeast coast all the way up through Kodiak, Sitka, Alderweireld.

All over. So that's a really good hunt. That's a, that's a fun hunt. Um, if you're just kind of like want to get your feet wet a little bit without having a lot of that cost involved with flying in and other things, that's something to look into. Um, you know, outside of that moose hunting is also awesome. Uh, moose meets great. Um,

So it's a lot to carry, but finding maybe some areas where you could hunt a cow or even a bull if you're just looking for some great meat. But if it was up to me, if I live in Alaska, I'm going to go for the sheep hunt and go for broke because it's not a hunt that you can do everywhere just on an over-the-counter tag. So take advantage of that as a resident, and I think that'll be pretty cool. Good luck, and let me know how you do. Oh, and thanks for playing my character. For those that don't know, I've got a character on the Hunter Call of the Wild video game, so...

If you want to play as Remy Warren, you can go there and do that. That's pretty cool. Thank you guys. This question says, Hey Remy, David from Michigan here. The last two podcasts have been super helpful. Thanks for all that you've shared. I'm 18 and looking to build up some points for some Western hunts in the future. And I feel like I'm about 20 years late. I'm hoping to do a sheep or goat hunt down the road with point creep, hunter demand and limited tag availability. Am I wasting my money applying for those types of hunts? Thanks and love the podcast.

That's a good question. Um, you know, I think anybody looking at it, you go, I've got a lot of points in a lot of States and still the odds are very low for those very limited tags for sheep and goats, moose, things like that. Um, or even top end elk and deer hunts. Um,

just getting started in it, there are strategies that I would take to apply. And I would say that you wouldn't be wasting your money because you'd be kind of on the same plane as everyone else. States that don't have points like New Mexico or Idaho would be great places to look into. Also, I would stay away from preference point states, but any state that has bonus points,

you know, you actually have an opportunity to draw. While the odds may say that you would never draw it in your lifetime, if you apply, there's a chance. Another thought to think about is like raffles for those type of hunts. I know Wild Sheep Foundation always has a few, the Less Than One Club, the Wild Sheep Foundation,

It's probably got better odds than almost every state draw. And it's only available for people that are members of the wild sheep foundation have never shot a wild sheep and go to some of those. You have to be present to win some, you don't, but like actually just doing that, you probably have the better odds than some of these other things. Um,

Also, there's just, you know, you see some other raffles through organizations. I mean, it's a crapshoot, but you actually have a chance. And it's a lot cheaper than some states where you have to put up a lot of money. Now, Montana, on the other hand, applying for sheep and goat, it's a lot cheaper than other places, but the odds are so slim that it's statistically improbable that anyone will draw, but people do. Somebody has to draw the tags. I say that to also say,

It really depends on how much you're willing to spend, how much you want to wait. I have friends that have taken the approach and I've kind of done a combo of this approach. And I started this about when I was your age, 18. I've always been a person that's really good at saving money, especially for things that I want or whatever. I like to save up. I like to plan. Anytime I'd get a paycheck, I'd pull a lot of it out.

some of it out and immediately put it into a savings account that I just never see. Um, I mean, this is just good life advice. I started saving for retirement when I was 18, but I also simultaneously started saving for awesome hunts and kind of like a hunt budget, um, those dream hunts. And it's, you know, you put a little bit away every month, every year, whatever, and oh,

Over time, you're going to have enough to buy a doll sheep hunt or possibly a mountain goat hunt in places like Alaska or Canada.

The price of those is definitely going up and it might take 20 or 30 years, but you're like, hey, at least that route you're guaranteed. And it might be the same price as applying in some of these states. I've got friends that are like, hey, this application thing is getting expensive. I'm just going to take the money that I would apply, put it in an account. And after X amount of years, go buy a hunt somewhere where I know I'll be guaranteed a deer tag or maybe save up for a landowner tag or some kind of tag where,

yeah, the price tag is going to be big on it, but I've saved up over 20 or 30 years and I know that I'll be able to go on it. You know, that's another option as well. Or you could do that simultaneously to applying. I like, I like the luck route as well. I mean, I've personally drawn four sheep tags, two in a raffle and two through state draws. It is possible. It seems impossible. The more you do it, you're like, wow, that's pretty crazy. But

I've been on the lucky end of a lot of those things, but I also know that in order to win, you have to play. And so I think that you really can't go wrong in some of those where everybody's playing that game and that's pretty much the only way to get it.

So I hope that that helps and maybe gives a little insight into that. So I don't think it's too late, but I think that if it's something you want to do, you know, you got to think about it and think about other options as well. Or join the Coast Guard, move to Alaska and get a sheep tag. Like our last question. That's another option as well.

Okay, this question says, Remy, just getting interested in archery and have a passed down 40-pound longbow from the 1950s. It's a York wooden bow. The question is knocking the arrow. I see recommendations to have the white vein vertical when you knock. This makes one of the colored veins hit the bow and causes the arrow to wobble a bit before it straightens out. Do you knock a longbow differently than a compound? If so, why?

Um, that's a good question. Yeah. I mean, yes, you do knock a trad bow arrow a little bit different. Um, there's a lot of reasons why people might knock them. I always put the, let's call it the cock vein, the, the off vein out. So what would be the bottom vein would touch the shelf, but there's none touching the riser. Now, a lot of the positioning of that arrow might just be a tuning factor of having the wrong kind of flex in your arrow. So you're

your bow, that bow may not be in tune. Some people I've actually got one bow where the arrows I'm currently shooting. If I put the cock vein out and I shoot that, it hits a little left, even with I'm canted. So I turned it and put it like in more. And for some reason with that spine of arrow, I think it's so like, I think it's actually a little over spined that arrow is

now like hits right so it might be something about tuning it or some people have problems with the veins hitting their hands or whatever because of their grip but for the most part I think it's pretty standard to put that that vein out and then you know with a compound bow you don't want it touching anything because you have a rest on there so you know if you've got a stationary rest not a drop away rest then you're you want those veins to go through the rest and not hit the rest and

Um, so that would be, yes. I mean, most of the time your vein would either be up or down on a compound bow. So your off colored one would be either up or down on the compound bow just for the use of the rest, but a lot of dropaway rests, like you got clearance up or down. So it doesn't necessarily make a difference on that. Um, but for the most part, yeah, you would knock the arrow a little bit different.

This next one comes from Drake. He sent in a picture of a giant bull elk and he said, killed my first elk this season. That's a big six by six. Thanks for the great show. It's the best part of my week. That is a great testimonial. Thanks for sending that in. I love getting those. That's always, that always keeps me pumped up.

Now the last question comes from Ian. He says, Hey, Remy, I have a question for you, your podcast. We're going on our first DIY public land elk hunt this fall and are not sure what camp style is right for us. Should we make a base camp and hike in five plus miles every day? Or should we camp in the back country every night or a mixture of both? We will either be going to Montana or Colorado depending on the Montana draw. Thank you. Ian from Tomah, Wisconsin says,

That's a good question, Ian. You know, it just depends on the type of unit and, you know, where you're at. I mean, if I was to just like make a generalization, I would probably say a combination of both. And it depends how many days you have. But I think the nice thing about the base camp and then going in multiple distances is if you go back there and you don't see what you're looking for,

You're like, man, there's no elk back here. I haven't seen any elk. I went back here two days in a row and didn't really see anything. Now you can easily move without being super invested. Another option is

You know, you could go back for a few days. If you aren't seeing anything, say, okay, I'm going to go find a new spot. I like the idea of being mobile, but I also like the idea, especially in a lot of those places, of getting away from people. So, you know, it is kind of a toss-up, a combination of, you know, making a plan to hike in, but then saying, hey, if it doesn't work out, we can go check out another spot is a good idea as well.

You know, it's really fun. A back country hunt is the way that I love to hunt. Getting in past people is great, but I also know that kind of day hunting or back country day hunting, you can cover, you actually cover probably a lot more ground than just purely hiking in and setting up camp because you're light, you're mobile, you can cover more country, um,

in and out and whatever. But if you find those areas back there where, hey, this is a good spot, then you're going to want to pack in, set up your camp, and then hunt it from there because you're going to be more effective hunting that kind of area once you've honed in on where the animals are at. So I think a combination of both is great, but it also just depends on the type of unit you're in, how much, you

you know, pressure might receive where if there's like good wilderness and trails, if there's good places to get away from people, or if it's an area where, Hey, those elk might be a little more migratory, it might be more seasonal seasonality of the unit where the elk are going to be. You might need a few days to figure out where the heck are these things, try a couple different spots and then kind of hone in and then target in on those animals, pack in and make your hunt.

I just want to thank everybody again for all the questions that came in. There's a lot that I didn't get to. I, I try to kind of pick and I've probably got 20 of them here that I, I didn't hit, but you know, feel free to keep writing in. The best way is always at Remy Warren on Instagram, send me a direct message on there. I mean, I get a lot of messages. So when I see good ones, I kind of like screenshot and put them in a special folder and,

Unfortunately, we don't have a real mailbag or a real mailroom, but I like to visualize like a fake mailroom similar to the scene from Elf. I think that that would be like an awesome mailroom situation.

But other than that, keep sending those in. So the next couple of episodes, I'm going to be going on kind of this theme of train. So I want to talk about two of the best things that you can prepare. And that'd be getting your body ready for any kind of grueling mountain hunt or Western hunt. And then another thing you can train is your eyes and concentration.

So I'm going to cover those. And then I want to do kind of like this countdown of some of my favorite spring hunts as we start to get into that spring season. So maybe some stuff you thought about, maybe some stuff you didn't. I'll sprinkle in a few little hunting tips and tactics as well. So you won't want to miss those. Make sure you keep circling back each Thursday. And until then, hunt hard and keep the questions coming. Catch you guys later.

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