Ep. 101: Answering Your Questions, Part 20
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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, everyone. I'm excited for another episode of Cutting the Distance. And once again, we head to the mail sack. This is where I answer your guys' questions, Q&A style, a little bit of rapid fire going through and kind of taking a bunch of the top questions that I see throughout the show.

between the last podcast or the last Q&As and trying to answer those. And these Q&As are always kind of what build out some of the future episodes as well, things that get asked a lot. We kind of build out specific episodes on that. So I appreciate everybody sending those in. This Q&A is a little different because this is the first cutting the distance Q&A that I have been doing as a father. Yay!

I just had a baby this last weekend, our first child, my wife and I, a baby girl. Everybody's healthy. Everybody's stoked. It's a pretty awesome time. And I'm used to not getting very much sleep because I'm a hunter. I get up early, go to bed late, have long days. So it's not too bad. Adjustment's pretty sweet. But we'll jump here into the first question and get this thing rolling.

All right, this first question comes from Tyson. He says, thanks, Remy. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get time off to attend to the Pope and Young live Q&A this year, but wanted to ask if you believe in using CoverSense in Western Big Game. I live in Washington and hunt mostly on the northwestern side of the state. I haven't heard much about using them. In your professional opinion, are they worth the try for deer, bear, or even elk? If so, do you have any brands you trust, or is it just better to go without? Thanks for your time.

That's a really good question. Here's my thought on CoverSense. I kind of have this, I wouldn't even say a love-hate relationship with them. I just essentially don't use them. But I say that with a little bit of a caveat because I do rub down or like use natural things just to kind of mask my odor a little bit. If I know that I'm like hiking up a hill, I'm going to be getting into the go zone. I'll grab something.

rub down with it maybe like pine boughs sage whatever i don't think that it necessarily maybe is more of a mental thing like wow i smell really bad maybe i can kind of mask that smell

But there's all different kinds of cover scents. There's elk, deer. I've hunted with people that they'll be elk hunting and they'll put on an elk cover scent, which is it smells like an elk. Well, here's my thoughts on that. The first thought is, and here's why, just take it or leave it. Some people use them. They love them. They swear by them. Great. And I'll tell you where the situations would work for a cover scent or probably be a little bit better.

hiking around um let's say you're elk hunting you got an elk cover scent maybe it's like an elk estrus smell right so which is good it can be an attractant and maybe the thought is like oh it's going to mask my scent if the wind swirls or whatever here's my thought on it i wouldn't walk around with it because i use my nose hunting as much as anything else i am constantly breathing through my nose i'm sensing the world around me with my nose when i'm elk hunting

Uh, there's been probably, I don't even know a very, very large portion of elk that get killed. I smell before I see, before I hear before anything else, it causes me to slow down. It causes me to make the right moves. And because of scenting that elk first, uh,

I find success. So to add in a scent where it's going to inhibit me from doing that because I'm smelling it all the time. One, you become desensitized to it. And two, like you just keep getting these like false positives and your brain just slowly shuts it out. So for that reason, I'm definitely against it for elk hunting. Also, my other thought is this, like if you're thinking about a cover scent, well, you're just using elk scent to cover or some kind of scent to cover up your scent. But

If a herd of elk comes in, wouldn't the same theory happen? Like the elk that's two feet away from the other elk block the scent of your scent. And that's just not how it works. So I haven't really found a lot of success with it.

I will say that there are some scent masking techniques, things that just like neutralize or kill the human odor that I think would be better. But as soon as you start walking around, those essentially become ineffective. So the only time that cover scents, other scents maybe I would say would be effective is if you're sitting in a stand or

stationary in a blind something like that I know for sure like I've seen at work hunting antelope pronghorns from from a ground blind over a waterhole guys back in the day used to just use like skunk scent and

for pronghorns definitely like mask the scent but the downside is like when a skunk sprays it indicates danger and therefore the animals the pronghorn will already be alerted like oh there might be some danger so i prefer to just forego it this last year i was actually um last was it yeah last season

hunting pronghorn and in the, I was kind of like stalking into this water hole and there was this skunk and this badger fighting and the skunk kept spraying. And I was like, oh, a natural cover scent. And the wind wasn't great. Like it was blowing kind of

in a bad direction. And I think it did mask my scent for the antelope, but I will also say that the antelope were super heightened all over because of that skunk spray. Like even a long ways away, they were, they were definitely more keyed in and more cautious when coming in. And it may have even affected, uh,

a closer opportunity. So it's kind of a catch 22, but I would say if you did use a cover scent, the time to use it would be when you're stationary, maybe like more of an earth center, a pine or something like that would probably be better if I were to use something. But honestly, I couldn't recommend anything. And I did talk about this before on a Q and a, but just like covering up using, um, putting like, uh, we used to do this mule deer hunting, but like putting sage and other stuff in a bag with our hunting clothes before we went out just to kind of

get that whatever sense might be on it and kind of cover us up with natural scent. Oh, also for those of you interested, he mentioned the Pope and Young Club live Q&A. So in Reno, Nevada on July, let's see, it's Friday. I got to pull up my calendar. Actually, I should have memorized it.

Sorry, Friday, July 16th, 2 p.m., 2 to 3. I'll be doing a live Q&A at the Pope and Young Club Convention in Reno, Nevada. So if you're around, you can make it. Swing out there. I'd love to see you guys. Love to answer your questions, say hey. I also, for our Solo Hunter bow shop we opened in Reno, we're going to be having a little booth there. I don't know with the new baby how much I'll be

in and out of the booth but um you might be able to catch me actually at the show as well so check that out sweet all right let's move on to the next question this question comes from carter he lives in minnesota

He says, Hey, Remy, just finished up listening to your hundredth podcast. I'm proud to say I've been listening since episode one. I appreciate that. Thank you. He says, I can say it has helped me immensely in the woods. You spoke briefly about not wanting to over call the elk. What system or strategy do you use to not over call for elk besides taking your nap in the woods once every century? Thanks for making a great podcast, Carter.

That's a good question. You know, when it comes to over-calling, you know, I think that that term gets thrown around a lot. Like you read an all-coming magazine, they're like, don't over-call, don't over-call. And I think that for me personally, I do call a lot, but it is very situational. So it depends on the situation. In that particular situation, what I didn't want to do, I didn't want to quote-unquote over-call. And what that would have been is,

I like to match the tempo and the temperament of the calling to what's going on around me in that particular scenario, in that particular week. And this happens a lot. You'll encounter this all the time when you're elk hunting. You might be out there and you're like, dude, the woods are quiet. The mountains are not really on fire. So what I don't want to do is I don't want to

do a lot of bugling, a lot of like estrous whining, a lot of like this fired up stuff when the rut hasn't actually escalated to that point yet. When the animals in that area just aren't to that particular stage. So when I do any calling sequences, I like to match the rut. Now this particular week, it was like, it was, it was fairly dead. I knew there was elk around, but it was mostly lone bulls kind of checking things out. Not a lot of crazy activity. But what I did want to do is I wanted to say, Hey,

to the bulls that are out there, there's some elk here. It's something you want to check out. And so

I wanted to kind of match the tempo of this is just a normal herd of elk, uh, maybe doing their thing, maybe feeding in the morning. So kind of like recreating what the elk there that are just out there doing their thing or doing, and maybe it's a group of cows, let's say a group of cows with five or six cows, some calves and whatever. And what they're, what are they going to do? They, they get up in the morning, they go out into a meadow or a grassy area. They start feeding. Then they kind of, as they feed their heads are down, they're moving, they're spacing out. Uh,

you know, there, they might be, there's probably a lead cow that's kind of like giving them direction. They're really kind of followed one elk out there and then they're going to follow that one elk back to bed. And what are they going to do in the meantime? Well, they might be talking back and forth to each other. It might a few muse, a few soft cow calls, a few calf calls, and just kind of something that's like, yeah, they're just communicating in that like easygoing elk talk. And it's matching what the other elk are doing in that area at that time. But

But with the hopes in that scenario of drawing a bull into checking out those cows, especially right around those, like that was like an early morning, kind of mid-morning timeframe. When it's like they went out feeding, now they might be moving to the bedding. So, hey, here's a bull that's cruising and he hears that, keys in on it and moves in. But what I don't want to do is do it too often. I don't want to blow the illusion. So,

One thing that I have done in the past because I get a little antsy as I will just like use my watch call me, I'm you, you hit a little timer just to kind of get that like actual grasp of how long it's been. Cause I've, I've, there's been so many times where I've, I've let out a cow call like, well, okay, time to call again, you know? And I realized that I'm doing it every like minute, two minutes, you know, maybe something where it's like, Hey, this is, you know, I might call every three, four or five minutes, but

And time just, you know, it's one of those things like when you're sitting waiting for something to happen, it seems like, wow, it's been 30 minutes since I called last and you look at your watch, it's been like two minutes and 30 seconds. So in those scenarios, like I'll just, you know, use my watch to kind of actually gauge how far apart I'm calling and I don't have a set time.

specific time. I just kind of whatever feels right in the moment and how active the elk are. Also, I try to think about, okay, you know, if there's an elk with an earshot, how often do I need to call for him to potentially hear it? So it depends on the type of area that I'm in. If I'm in an area where that sounds traveling really well, I'll call more spaced out.

If I'm in an area where it's like that sound I know is not going very far, maybe two, 300 yards, you can increase the frequency in which you're calling because the elk has to be within a certain radius to hear it. And that's something to think about as well. This question comes from Eric. He says, jumping the string. How do you accommodate for the deer jumping the string? My bow seems loud compared to others I've shot, but it's also the lightest and best shooting one.

It seems that I can only quiet it down so much. At 50 yards, the deer has, I'm going to say,

0.37 seconds to react. They could be long gone by that time. I talked to a few guys last year that had the deer duck under the arrow. Is there a way to predict this? Do you ever anticipate this and shoot under the deer a certain amount? Thanks again for all the help you provide to the hunting community. Congrats on your growing family, by the way. That's a great question because when it comes to getting into bow range, you know, maybe everything's right. You snuck in, you

You did everything right. You draw back, you release that arrow and that deer is not where it was when that arrow released. The animal jumps, it reacts to the sound of the bow going off, reacts to the sound of the arrow, reacts to seeing you, reacts to something and is long gone or jumps and creates a bad hit. I would say

95% of the time that a stock or something doesn't work out where I release an arrow, I would say the excuse would be the animal moved. Like it ducked the string and I was anticipating it wrong or wasn't anticipating it and it didn't do something or did do something. So it's a serious problem, but I will say that it can be in many ways anticipated. So the first thing is the type of animal. There's certain animals that are just super jumpy.

I know for like axis deer, one thing is like they tend to jump the string because they're just, they're kind of, they're really fast and they seem to be more reactive to that close range sound. So there's other animals like pronghorn antelope, which when they're kind of standing spot and stalk style, they tend to not jump as much, but when they are drinking, they're more on edge and they do tend to jump more.

I used to hear when I first started hunting, I heard people say, oh, mule deer don't jump the string. And that I just have to call bullshit on because I think mule deer jumped the string more than anything. Elk don't necessarily jump the string as often, but they will. But I will say like, you know, white tails, they definitely jump the string.

So, you know, it's like definitely something that you can expect. Every animal has the capacity to do. Now, the first things I look for are like the alertness and the body position of the animal. Is that animal keyed into me or does it know that I'm there in any way?

So that's, that's the first thing. If it's like, if let's say you stocked in, maybe you roll the rock, maybe you drew back and that animal whipped its head up, you know, that animal knows your presence is there. And if you shoot, it's probably going to react in that case. I would either aim low or even like forward and low, um, potentially anticipating like a duck and a jump, depending on how far I am. I've said this in other podcasts, but one way to combat bad string jumping is to try to get closer. You're like, okay, I'm

I think this animal is going to jump the string. I'm at 50 yards. I need to get to 30 because there's a less time for reaction. I have, I have shot at a deer, a mule deer. It was like 30 something yards. Yeah, probably it was 33 yards or no, is it 23 yards? I can't remember. Anyways, uh, stocked in on this deer. It was like, it was moved. I was stocking in this buck was like working toward me. Like I was trying to cut it off doing like a moving ambush thing.

He walks out. I see his antler tips. I draw back. I stand up. I don't know if it like, it must've caught me, like looked over at me and I'm like too late. Let the arrow go. And the deer runs off. And I missed, I see my like arrow fly through the sagebrush, like behind it. And I'm thinking, damn it, dude, how the hell did I miss that? And I was, I was self filming. And so I watched the video and I'm like, I missed, I missed, I missed, I went over his back.

And then I'm like, okay, well, I want to see where my arrow hit, you know, just like how far I missed. So I put it in slow motion and I'm doing the slow motion, uh,

And I'm watching like that frame by frame by frame, just clicking through. I see the arrow. It's like exactly where I was aiming and the deer is no longer there at 20 something yards. It completely ducked to the arrow and it was so fast. My naked eye could not perceive the animal had jumped that much. So it, it, it does happen. One thing that I do is I generally aim a little bit lower. I kind of always aim for that heart shot.

anticipating some kind of little bit of movement. And if I don't, then it's like, it's a clean kill either way. Um, I know a lot of people will aim center mass or whatever, but, um, like center of the lungs, which is gives you a little more margin of error, but I almost tend to aim a little bit lower. So it's like, if it doesn't jump, I hit the heart. If it does, then I probably catch the top of the lungs and we're good to go.

Another thought on the reaction is one thing I've also noticed is in many ways, I kind of find you would think like, okay, an animal feeding. So you're like, oh, I'll wait for them to feed. They're distracted.

But deer, I feel like, well, many animals, and this is, I don't, I haven't actually heard anybody else talking about this, but this is just like, from my experience, I find that animals that are, let's say, let's say it's like a deer that's feeding and his head's down. You think, okay, that's the perfect time. I found that more animals when their heads are down end up jumping. And it makes a lot, a lot of sense because if you think about it,

When their head's down, right, their kind of defenses are down, but their only good defense is their ears. So if they hear that slightest movement, they aren't going to be able to react. They're just going to, they're going to be kind of like caught off guard in an, in a bad position and they're going to jump.

So generally what I'll do is like, I'll do my, I love to, you know, you want to do all your movement and all that when their heads down. And then I kind of wait for them to just like in the natural position where their head lifts up and they look a different direction or something like that. Because I found that instead of jumping often they'll swing their head to look.

if their head's obstructed, their head's down, they don't have that option to look. It's not like just picking their head up. They do it all at once where they duck down, they probably pick their head up, they jump, and then they would look. But by that point, the arrow's on its way. You've made the commotion, you've spooked him out. So that's something to think about. You want to shoot an animal that's super relaxed, but just kind of a little food for thought that sometimes when their head's down, I find that they tend to jump more often.

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All right. This question comes from Freeman. He says, Remy, what's going on, man? Love the podcast. Thanks for all the incredible info. He also says, if this message makes it onto your Q and a, you got to give a shout out to my hunting partner, Ryan. He loses Marvel. So Ryan, thanks for listening.

He says,

if they aren't bedded, but unaware of your presence? How close can we expect them to be to the last place we spotted them through the glass? Thanks for an info, man. Would love to grab you a beer if you come to through Denver. Next time I'm in Denver, I might take you up on that. That's a really good question because when I do talk about, it's like you want to go the right way, not the easy way. And one thing that I've found through guiding, through my own personal hunts, through other things is

Success can be so much a game of timing. For me, when I see something somewhere, you immediately have this thought like, if I were there right now, it would be successful. But I have to factor in the time that it takes to get there and kind of what those animals are doing. So let's say it's morning time, right?

you're, you're glassing, you're on a glassing knob and you see this elk out in this, it's like full timber and you see this elk out in the meadow. It's the sun hasn't even cracked over the skyline yet. Right.

You got that elk in your glass and you're like, sweet, that elk's there. But it's like three miles away and you go, well, it's going to take me, let's say it's going to take you an hour. Just make it easy. You kind of have to play this chess game of what's the next move because that's going to anticipate like predicting how long that animal is going to be there, if that makes sense. So in the morning when I see it,

You might think, well, okay, it's going to take me an hour, maybe longer to get to this particular elk, but it's a big bull and I can get there. So you start hiking and then you get there and you don't see anything. You're like, well, where did he go? You start tromping through the timber and then you blow it out, right? But let's say now it's evening time. It's an hour before sunset. You're watching that same meadow and on the edge out pops an elk. And you're like, well, I've got two hours till shooting time ends.

It's going to take me an hour and a half to get there. Absolutely go. Go right now because you will make it there in time to shoot that bull. But in the morning, you probably won't. And why is that? Because in the morning, that animal's feeding and then going to bed. In the evening, that animal's leaving from cover and coming out to feed and will probably feed till dark. So you kind of have to anticipate what that animal is doing and that's going to tell you how long you have or how long you can expect that animal to hang around.

Now, another thing is forethought, thinking, okay, what do they need next and where are they going? And also saying, okay,

okay, if I see now it's the morning time and I see an elk out in the meadow and I go, okay, I can, I can hump it. I can sprint there. I can run. I can get there in 15 minutes. Then it's like, yeah, you're going to do it. You're going to take that chance because you're going to use the, the hard way might be also, you got to go fast. Sometimes it's not necessarily the further or a long way around, but you just go, I see an animal here now.

I got to make my move now and I got to beat it to that spot. There's been many times where I've mule deer hunting, glassing across the ridge, the wind's good, whatever. I see this deer pop up and I see this band of rocks. And I say, if I can get to that rock where that animal's going before it gets there, I'm going to be successful. And that might mean,

damn near sprinting up the mountain. And I've done that more times than not when I'm guiding, when I'm hunting, there's a lot of these times where it's like, I see the animals, we got to make a move. And the hard way is not the easy way is going fast in some, in many instances, but there's also that time of going like, Hey, sometimes the hard way is just being patient saying like, why am I going to go right now? When I know that I get over there, it's going to be gone when I could anticipate, um,

And make a better play for another time. So I see the elk out there. It's feeding. It's morning and I'm too far away to get there within that amount of time that I think you're going to stay there. So what should I do? Well, I can keep hunting around, looking around. And then tonight I'm just going to go be in a closer position where I can still glass that. But when it comes out, I'm going to be able to make a move.

And that's something to think about. Or say it's a mule deer and you go, hey, I'm going to just instead try to watch and wait until he beds or gets into a good place where I think he's going to hang out long enough for me to get there and make my stock. This next question comes from Nick. He says, Remy, during a fire ban, what's your favorite way to cook trout out in the backcountry? That's a really good question. When you can't have an open fire, whether you've got like a stove or a jet boil or whatever,

I like to bring a little packet of... It's like coconut oil. It's like in a little single-serve coconut oil pack. So I'll throw that in there. I used to... This little recipe has grown over the years because they used to not have single-serve packs like that. What I used to do is I used to go to KFC and ask for a bunch of those butter packs. Those mayonnaise-style butter packs. And then I would use that...

little butter pack that they gave with their biscuits for my back country trout. So I'd like to save those up over the years. Every time I go somewhere where there's like a KFC, I'd be like, Hey, can I get a handful of the butter packs? And that's just like, I'd save those for back country trout cooking, but, um, use my stove. I'll often bring a little fry pan. Now, even if you, let's say you're backpacking with a setup, that's got, um,

You got like a jet boil, right? And you go like, well, you've got the pot. I'll bring a little fry pan. Now you can't set the fry pan on top of that jet boil or your, your little stove thing if it's not designed for that. So I'll build like a little rock shelf to hold the pan high enough above that. So it doesn't sit right on it and melt my backcountry cooker.

I figured that out because I've actually caught a jet boil on fire and that was the last time I used a jet boil. And then I really understood why it happened. That was kind of when they first came out, but just something to think about. So you use your stove, a little bit of oil in there, get it hot. I then use just a little bit of lemon pepper, garlic salt, season the fish and then quick fry it in that oil. And that's an incredible way to have some, a back country treat, some back country trout.

All right. This next question comes from Mitch. It says, Hey, Remy, I was hoping you could take some time to answer a couple of questions I had about meat care and hide care or point me in the direction of some content you might have discussing the topic. To set the scene, my brother and I are doing a two week float hunt for caribou in inland Alaska next year during August.

We will each have pack rafts and dry bags, but no coolers or anything like that for meat. How do you recommend preserving the meat and the cape if we kill one early in the trip? Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks for your time. That's a really good question. When it comes to meat care and a long amount of time, you're going to be playing this very delicate balancing game. And when you add in water and rafts,

it kind of multiplies or makes the problem more complex. So I would say there's a few things you have to worry about and consider when you're doing a float type hunt like this.

even now especially in august so august it's going to be a little bit warmer you might get those lower temperatures but um you know you kind of are going to have to play it by ear it might be a thing where if you shoot a caribou and early in the trip you might kind of have to you're going to be up against the clock is what i'm saying and that's just the the realistic expectation of it i

I don't think you can expect the, to get shoot it on the first day of a two week trip and everything be kosher by the end. The meat will probably taste a little rank. It may not spoil, but it depends on the temperatures out there. So if it's cool temperatures, everything's going to be fine. You know, you, you could definitely go those, you could go 10 days or whatever, but,

But I will say, you know, you might have to play things by ear. There's going to be a point where you go, hey, it's getting hot. We got to get this meat back. We might just have to speed up the trip and get out sooner. That's just the reality of it. But I will say there's also a few considerations when it comes to a float hunt. So remember, same with all, you know, I've said this multiple times, but with meat carrots, you got to keep it cool. You got to keep it dry. You got to keep it clean. That can compound when you're

in a raft because you're, there's water everywhere. So what you want, you got to do, even if it's cool out, you have to constantly get air around that meat to cool down. So let's say you're, you know, the temperatures are great. It's, it's refrigerated temperatures out. You don't have to worry about the meat getting too warm over a long period of time.

But while you're floating, you're going to have to put the meat in a dry bag to kind of keep the water from soaking the meat because in those pack rafts or whatever, there's the potential for water to get in there. Now, when you stop or whatever, you're then going to have to take the meat out of those dry bags and hang to get air around it, circulate, move the meat around in the game bags. So it doesn't, even if it's cold out, like even in the wintertime,

This happens on trips where guys are floating the river with a moose. They just put the meat in the raft. They're like, oh, it's cold out. And then things go bad because it's getting wet and the meat is not being moved around and getting air circulation on it. So I'll say it's just you've got to go through the work and the work is going to be

You have to continually keep that meat clean. So I use dry bags. Once you stop every day or whatever, you'll hang that meat up in a tree. You're going to want to keep it out of reach of bears and you're going to want to make sure that it can cool down. Now, if you don't have that,

Maybe you got to make a meat pole if it's just completely flat, tender, no trees or anything like that. You might have to make some form of meat pole to hang the meat where it gets off the ground. One way to do that, if you're using a paddle, a kayak paddle, if it's carbon fiber, you want to make sure that it can hold all the weight.

Cut some sticks along the way, some bows, make a tripod with some like a paracord or whatever, and then just make a meat rack where you can hang that meat so it gets off the ground. You're going to hang it every night and during the day while you're not floating. Then the only time the meat should be in the bags and in the raft is when you're moving.

So that's something to think about. And then, you know, you just got to kind of keep an eye on it. There are some areas where you can't actually debone the quarters. And I actually would, I personally like floating like this, I would probably keep the meat bone in because it's just going to be easier to kind of manage and move because you're going to be moving it a lot and it's not going to be stuffed down into a bag. It'll kind of keep it easier for the air to get around everything.

now if it's starting, if it's like really warm, maybe you could think about deboning it, but I think that probably keeping it, the quarters whole will be the easiest way to handle everything, keep it clean and move it easily, hang it and keep the meat kind of spaced out and dried out. Now, something else to think about the back straps or any loose meat, neck meat, ribs, whatever, bring a lot of game bags where you can kind of, um, separate everything out because even the meat in the bags is going to be hard to kind of keep, uh,

uh, that air circulation around it. So that's something else to think about. And then, you know, you just have to play it by ear. If it's, if it's warm temperatures and you go, man, um, it's warm temperatures, we've got X amount of days to float out. You really got to just kind of take the responsibility of, okay, well, when we get something, um, we've got this many days, we've, we set a time clock and this is how long that meat's going to last for us to get out and get everything, um,

without a spoiling. And that's just something else to think about. But there's always a few extra considerations when you're doing a float hunt. It's a great way to hunt. It's an incredible experience. And you guys are going to have a lot of fun. So think about that. Think about when you stop, you know, building those meat rack. And this is whether you're floating in, flying in,

hiking in, horsing in, doesn't really matter. Getting that meat up off the ground, getting it cool and dry. And then also, you know, over the course of time, there's a lot of things that can affect how well that meat stays. So one thing you're definitely going to want to pack is a big tarp. So I build like, so you get your caribou down, I build some kind of meat rack to hang it and then I tarp over it. The tarp works for two things. One, it keeps the rain off the meat and

because in two weeks of Alaska hunting, it's going to rain. And two, it keeps the sun off the meat because in August, it's sunny a lot. So even if it's cool out, that sun will kind of keep the meat shaded and that'll help you too. So by doing all those little things, you're going to extend the time that you have to be able to get that meat back safely.

Next question comes from Travis. He says, Hey man, I've been listening to your podcast. I think it's great. You're kicking ass. My wife has been wanting to get into hunting with me and I was just listening to how your wife got started. Would it be a good idea to take her on small game hunt before she jumps into the September elk hunt with me? Any of your suggestions would be great. Thank you and have a great rest of your day. Yeah, that's a great question, Travis. And I, and I always say this, getting anybody into hunting, I think it's always good to start small.

There's nothing wrong with starting with something that's easier to manage. It's a day trip. It's getting out. It's the process of it. It's getting into hunting. A lot of us that are avid, hardcore hunters today started with small game.

And I think it's a really good way to kind of build that foundation for hunting, take care of some of the things like safe gun handling, take care of some of the things of like working on a few of the things that help make you a more successful hunter when it comes to big game, walking quietly, being observant, looking around. And also that like,

just getting into that excitement, maybe a little bit quicker without these, a big expedition, a giant hiking up the mountain, not seeing anything for a week kind of deal. So with small game, it's a really good way to get people into hunting. And I definitely suggest kind of getting started and taking around on a few small game hunts before you go on that September hunt, if possible.

This question comes from Brandon. He says, Hey, Remy, my brother and I live in New York state and planning our first elk hunt in Colorado this fall. We drew a muzzleloader tag on one point from our scouting. It looks like it could be a pretty busy unit. One question I have is how do you tell a real elk bugle from another hunter? Or is that possible?

It is possible. There's a few ways that I kind of can tell. The first is, I mean, to be honest, a lot of hunters don't sound that great blowing a bugle. So a really, really bad bugle, one that sounds like a flute's going off, generally a hunter won't.

I say generally because in my time hunting, there have been a lot of elk that I'm like, God, that sounds like a hunter. And it's actually an elk. Another thing I would say is the immediate responsiveness to... If everything's super quiet, right? And all of a sudden, it's like...

this elk bugles at every cow call I make and every bugle I make. And it's just like constantly. And then you kind of hear that mix of cow calls and bugles. Generally, it's like a call sequence that a hunter is doing, but you don't want to blow your chance at an elk by saying like, oh, that's a hunter. So what I do is I always simultaneously, like if I'm in question, I always simultaneously assume it's a elk and assume it's a hunter. So meaning I proceed with caution. I

I, I, I think, okay, if this is a hunter, um, you know, am I, is there a way that I can look into there and maybe see the elk? Can I get downwind and smell the elk? But I also assume that it is an elk, so I don't blow it in case it is an elk. Um, if, and that's in those times where you might be questioning it, there'll be a lot of times where you're like, was that an elk? Was that a hunter? Uh, you just kind of have to go situationally, go off what you feel and worst case scenario, chase down every lead because it's,

If you aren't hearing a lot of action or maybe there's, um, now maybe you're in an area and it's like bugles all over the place and you chase the wrong one that happens many times you'll hear a hunter and a real elk. Um, I've had that where it's like, okay, you're calling an elk's calling and what you didn't know was a hunter is calling and you all kind of converge at the same spot. Um,

But if you kind of take that approach of simultaneously assuming, like if you're in question, okay, is that an elk or is that not an elk? Assume that it is and it isn't simultaneously where you're like taking the necessary precaution that this might be a hunter. You kind of, you try to glass in there and try to eliminate some possibilities. Like if you,

Just like, let's say you're at a trailhead and there's four other trucks parked there and whatever, you know, you can say, well, again, kind of determine the size of the area and say, well, okay, this is one basin and I'm hearing these calls. Yeah, it's probably a hunter. It sounds like it might be a guy calling. There's kind of like this, these cow calls that go with it.

you know, and the elk haven't been super active lately, then yeah, the odds are that it might be a hunter. So you kind of got to play the game and figure it out. But once you're out there, you know, you're going to be fooled a few times, especially if you run into a guy that's a really good caller. And then you're also going to have some where you're like, oh, that's definitely a person. And then you're going to have some where you're like, that's definitely a person. And it turns out to be an elk. That's just how elk hunting is when they're bugling.

All right. This next question comes from Dan. He says, Hey, Remy, I'm still a learning hunter and your podcast is the single most useful tool I've found. Keep up the great work.

He says,

B or C for a hole like this if your cover is blown? Would you go elsewhere to relieve pressure if your target elk or other animal spots me, or would you stick it out? So that's a great question. You know, hunting a waterhole can be super effective, especially for many places right now that might be in drought or whatever. But if you've got a productive place where animals are watering, I'm assuming that you're getting like

from a trail camera set up over this waterhole. You know, if you've got a productive place, then that's great. That's a great place to hunt, a great place to hone in on either a target animal or, you know, never know what might stroll in there. I will say this. So when you're hunting, when you're doing an ambush style hunt where you're waiting for the animals to come to you, whether it's a trail, whether it's a waterhole, whether it's over a food source, whatever, you

The number one goal is to not be detected. So you want those animals should be coming into your setup, unaware of your presence and whether it's the animal you're chasing or another animal, because if they're spooking away, then you've set up wrong. So the key is no matter what comes in, it should come in water, do its thing, and then leave unaware whether you're going to shoot at it or not. Because if it's, if it's alert and you're in a position where you might spook it, then

And then you're going to run into some problems. So the things that I would do is first, you know, kind of figure out a couple strategies for not going, not getting detected. That could be a ground blind and setting that ground blind up early enough where, you know, you can sit in there, you're set up, you know, when an animal, like say a moose or a non-target animal comes in, you're just going to be still, you're going to be quiet. You're going to let them do their thing and move on. When another animal comes in, you know, maybe it's one that you want to shoot, you're going

you know, you should hopefully let it get comfortable enough and have, and then get your opportunity and take your shot. So you shouldn't really be spooking anything. Another option would be a tree stand. Um, and when you, when you set these up, obviously the thing you're going to want to think about most is the wind direction for that day and where you're at. So you could even think about maybe the winds, if figure out the predominant wind direction in your area, and you could go a ground, like, so you want to sit on the ground, you could put a ground blind at one end and then maybe a tree stand on the other end, um,

If the winds are different. So you could kind of choose two different locations depending on the wind and maybe the direction that the animals come in from. Now, that being said, yes, things might wind you, you might spook something. But if it's that productive of a waterhole, I would just stick it out. Especially it sounds like maybe it's something if they're consistent, if it's in a waterhole that they're going to consistently and they don't have a lot of other options, absolutely stick it out. Now, if it's something where you sit it and...

the animals kind of like spooked off and changed their pattern, you don't see them again, then it's something where you can start finding maybe where else are they going or kind of go to plan B, which might be maybe a more spot and stalk technique or tactic or checking out other areas or other waterholes.

I will say like patterning things on water. It seems super easy at first. We're like, Oh, these animals are coming in at water, but you also have to factor out, okay, I have to cut out everything that's coming in at night. I need these animals to come in during the daylight, during hunting hours. And then as the seasons change, you're,

their water uses, the amount of water in other places changes as well. So you have to be aware of those factors just because they're coming in and hitting water during the summer. It doesn't mean that when the season starts, it's going to be that regular. So a water hole that might be really productive in the summer comes September and

maybe you'll get an early snow, maybe you'll get something that will change the patterns and the habits of those animals. So you want to kind of continually monitor the patterns and the habits and also maybe find some water in other areas. So you might have one or two productive waters where these animals are using, like say you've got a target elk and it's like, okay, he's watering here every three to five days, but you might have some other waters that they're hitting and going, okay, well, this is why he's creating a circuit.

And then you can kind of plan on hunting that animal based on that circuit that you're trying to decipher this pattern. So if something happens on the one spot, you can then go or check out another spot as well. Well, that concludes our Q&A. Don't forget that I'm going to be doing that live question and answer in Reno, Nevada at the Pope and Young Club convention on the Friday.

2 p.m. I think I might even add a second session in there right after so to get a few more questions and then it'll be great to meet you guys anybody that shows up it'd be awesome to just say hey yeah I'm looking forward to it also that last question talking about the water kind of got me thinking about some of the first seasons that start off pronghorn antelope

an incredibly fun hunt. Uh, it can be a very challenging spot and stock archery hunt, but also just probably one of the more enjoyable hunts out West. I think it's a very underrated animal and I've been getting a lot of questions about pronghorn hunting. So I would like to add in a little bit of a series on some pronghorn antelope techniques and tactics. So we'll, we'll look for that in the future. We'll have some of those live Q and A's running, uh,

in some future podcasts. And yeah, if there's things that you guys want to know about, as always, feel free to reach out to me via social media at Remy Warren on Instagram. Generally, I go through the messages. When I see a good question, I screenshot it and I keep it in a file. And when it's mail sack time, I open those up and scroll through and start answering some of those questions. But I also try to keep track of the

the things that people are asking a lot of to build out some of our other episodes. I say that a lot, but I really appreciate all the feedback, all the ratings, all that kind of stuff. Also, as a reminder, I'm starting to do a lot more videos on my YouTube channel. So I just put up some good stuff, about three or four videos on prospecting,

processing big game that I think will be really helpful for you guys. And then also like a full length caribou hunt with some that I did last season. We've got some other awesome hunts. Some, I mean, I've actually got like,

probably a hundred or more filmed hunts that I've never used, never shown anyone. So I just start going through and editing some of those, some really cool stuff, some record book, desert sheep, some, some awesome antelope footage, just some really cool hunts that have never, I've never really used for anything that I just get, got so busy. Uh, well, I'm, yeah, still really busy, but, uh,

I was like, man, I've got hundreds and hundreds of hunts that I've never shown anyone, never seen fully filmed. And I'm like, man, we should do something with some of this old stuff. So a few like awesome flashback hunts as well coming up. So make sure to go over there, check it out, subscribe if you can. And yeah, thank you guys so much for all the support, all the messages, and we will catch you later until next time.

you know, you guys all thought I was going to have that sign off dialed. And that's not true because until next time, keep those questions coming in. See you guys.

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