Ep. 109: Answering Your Questions, Part 21
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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 to the podcast, everyone. It is now one of the best months of the year. September, the elk rut will be kicking off. If you've got an archery elk tag, this is a great time. If you're just dreaming about having an archery elk tag, well, it's also a great time because there's going to be a lot of elk hunting content. They'll prepare you for whenever you hit the mountains, hit the trail and get out and chase them. And a lot of these tactics are

that I talk about for archery season can kind of relate into other tactics as well throughout the season, some rifle stuff and things, maybe not necessarily calling, but a lot of elk behavior things that you can pick up. So really excited about that. To kick off September, I say we're going to go to the mail sack. I got a lot of great questions about archery elk hunting, elk hunting in general, some of the previous podcasts. So we're going to jump right in and head to your questions.

This first question comes from Chris. He says, "You mentioned still hunting when it's slow for archery elk. Just wondering if you are in the zone.

I mean, as in it stinks, not just like pee, but you can smell the actual elk itself. Are you knocking an arrow and release on the string, basically ready to shoot as you painstakingly creep a hundred yards every 10 to 20 minutes kind of stuff. Or are you prepping for the shot? Once the shot is present, it seems like I never have more than 0.5 seconds to shoot, regardless of how slow I'm moving, never have gotten a good shot, still hunting elk in the timber. Uh,

Uh, he says I could have taken cows like that before, I guess, but never a bull. Also, if the bull has cows, the cows always see me first. Um,

So just curious on your tactic. Thanks, Chris from Idaho. That's a good question, Chris. Yeah, when I'm in the zone, like if I get that feeling, even sometimes when I'm in an area, I'm like, okay, this is good. I'm slowing down. I'm going to kind of creep through here. I do a couple things to prepare. I always have my call in my mouth, step one. And I do that, you know, if it's an area where I'm like, okay, I'm just kind of cruising through, it could be a good spot, but I'm not quarantining.

quite certain that it's the right spot, I have that call in my mouth. The reason that is, is because that could give me that extra second or the extra time that I need to get ready. So I've got the call ready. That way, if I see an elk that maybe sees me, I could get down, make the call sound and that elk might think, oh, it's just another cow walking around. I'll make a mew or a cow sound. Or even sometimes...

If you go in and you happen to blow something out, I'll hit that cow call and it'll often stop the elk that spooked. Now, if it's a big herd and one elk sees you, the other elk might not know why that elk

spooked off and it might calm her down to be like, Oh, something scared me, but it was just another elk. We're okay. And it might calm things down enough to, to change the situation. Now, when I'm in an area that I'm like, Oh, this feels Elkie. I'm probably going to see a bull in here or moving in. I'm ready. I have an arrow on the string and I'm

And I'm creeping through now, obviously, you know, people might be like, oh, it's not safe, whatever. Just be careful, you know, especially when you're by yourself. It's not that big of a deal for me, especially when I'm like self-filming. I've got my camera in one hand and I have that arrow on the string because the amount of time that it takes to do all the stuff.

is generally the exact amount of time it takes to miss an opportunity. So I wouldn't say that I have my release on the string or anything like that, but I'm ready with an arrow knocked. And then when I get out of an area or if I've got a bunch of crazy stuff to climb over, then I'm like, okay, it's probably not safe to climb over with a arrow, whatever. I'll take it off the string.

go through it, put it back on. Um, but I just play it by ear really. Like if you feel like I'm going to have an opportunity in the next 20 minutes, hour, whatever. Yeah. I want to be as ready as possible. And it always includes, uh, first having that call because that even if you're ready, having that call ready and just like the second that that, like, let's say you mess something up and elk sees you as like standing and staring. Yeah.

just giving it a little bit of call and not moving can often be the difference between calming them down. And sometimes you'll do that and it might get that bull to fire off where he's bedded. Maybe that elk got up, that elk staring at you, you make a cow sound, the bull gets up and he might come investigate, or he might even let out a bugle, give you kind of a better indication of where the bull's at. So that's what I do when I'm still hunting through some of that timber.

Next question says, Hey Remy, love the podcast. Keep it going. Early season elk hunting. Will you stay out all day and look for bedding areas or head back to camp midday? Andrew. Oh, that's a good question. I know everybody's kind of got their own method and style of hunting. Mine is you can't kill them from camp. So I'm out there all day. Um, especially, I mean, that's just how I hunt.

And I personally can't really nap that well. So if I am going to maybe take a nap or whatever, it'd be on the mountain in the field. But I do find a lot of elk early season in those midday lulls.

What I'll do is I'll, like I say, I'll, I'll try still hunting through some potential bedding areas or even just kind of checking out different water sources, looking for tracks and sign and things like that. And another really good thing is if it's more open country, glassing midday can actually be pretty successful.

Because what you're doing is it's limiting the places that the elk could be. That's if it's more open country, like open country, middle of the day can be pretty effective because you can go, okay, well, here's the potential bedding areas. And you can kind of glass in there and maybe pick up some animals that you might not find otherwise. It might be a good way to, to,

you know, target in and, and get the hunt going. Now there's other times where it's like, Hey, you know, you've, you're hunting a smaller area, you know, where the elk are and you're just waiting for them to make their move in the mornings and evenings. Let's say it's you're hunting near home or something like that. And you've got time, you've got a whole season then. Yeah. Maybe it, maybe it's not worth burning out your time during the middle of the day. It's like, Hey, you've got, you can go out after work, you can go in the morning and

it's a great idea to just kind of like attack those elk that you're chasing in the prime times for doing it and not get super impatient and bump them around. So it really depends on whether you're like, if I'm, if I'm in on elk and it's like, Hey, they're being super active in the morning and they're being super active in the evening. And I know where they're at and I've got them kind of pegged. I,

I actually will just pull out of that area because otherwise I'll be sitting there getting way too impatient. Like, Ooh, I should go try something stupid. So it just depends on the scenario. But for the most part, like if I don't know where the elk are hunting stuff, I use every available minute to try to find elk and find success.

This question comes from Ryan. He says, Hey, Remy, Ryan from Torin, Wyoming. I was listening to your podcast yesterday about hunting in the smoke and had a question for you. The area we have elk hunted in the past, we were planning on hunting this year and had a big wildfire last year. Would it still hold elk or should we give up on that spot for a year or two and try to let it recover?

Do you have any tips for hunting the burn? Yeah, that's a really good question. I mean, hunting burns and elk can go hand in hand and they can be really successful. A couple of things that I like to think about are,

you know, what, what time of year that fire burned? Was it like really late in the season? Is it winter range? Is it summer range? Um, but outside of that, I would say even if a fire burned last year, yes, you'll definitely still find elk in there. I have found elk, uh, the year after fire many, many places. Um, now what you'll, what you want is like, if you've got some good rains, even like some September rains, some later summer rains, um,

what you're going to look for is that green up, that really high nutrient dense forage, because they'll go in there and might not look like a lot of forage, but there's going to be that green up that comes up in some of those areas. And that's going to be super attractive to those elk. Now, one thing you want to think about

is finding kind of fringes of the fire. So I would maybe, I don't know if I would avoid it, but what I'm, what you're looking for is you're looking for places where it burned patchy. So like there's a burn and then there's a patch of live trees and then there's a burn and something like that, where they've got the cover in that burn, especially when it's fresh and

It's going to be a lot more effective. Elk are highly fringe animals. So they're, they're living on the fringes of cover and open, and that opens where they're going to feed. And that covers where they're going to bed and feel safe. So if you find a spot in that burn that has all those things, throw in some water, you've got a really good recipe for finding elk. And it makes it really effective to some areas that maybe you hunted before that you're like, wow, that was really thick in here. You can now glass some of that stuff and it kind of opens up a whole new, a whole new

a whole new spot to check out. One of the places that I'm hunting, it's a tag that I haven't actually hunted before, but there's a recent burn in there, very similar to this. And that's something on my list where I'm going to check out, just checking out the fringes of that burn map and trying to kind of cover those areas and maybe potentially areas that were a little thicker to hunt where you couldn't glass, but now you're able to glass. So you might, you might find that you turn up quite a few elk in some of the same places that you used to find elk before the fire. So definitely worth checking out.

As the years progress, it will get better and better in my opinion.

a couple of years later, it'll start kind of peaking. And then, you know, and then you'll see even after later on five plus years down the road, you're going to see a lot of benefits of increased populations from that burn. So, uh, fires are not always a bad thing when it comes to elk hunting. So check it out. Let me know how you guys do. And it's really fun to find elk in the burn because their antlers are so dark. They're all, they roll in that like burn mud that, um, they wallow in. They just like look really dark colored and really cool.

So that's something also when they're rubbing on burned antler, like their antlers on burned trees too, they get like really dark racks, which is pretty awesome. Okay. This question comes from Brandon. He says, Hey Remy, first I wanted to say thank you for what you do and all the content you produce. I've been a fan since I discovered solo hunter about five years ago and have listened to all your podcasts multiple times.

I just recently moved to Washington state and was curious if you've noticed any differences in behavior between Rocky mountain elk versus Roosevelt elk, or if there are any different hunting slash scouting tactics you use when going after Rosie's versus Rocky mountains, any advice would info greatly appreciated. Um,

P.S. Awesome. Keep doing what you do. Thanks, Brandon. I really appreciate that. Yeah. You know, when it comes to hunting different species of elk, I don't have a ton of experience hunting Roosevelt elk, but I do, you know, I have hunted them and I have noticed a few major differences. Mostly the difference is in

you know, their habitat and the way that they kind of interact with each other. So if you kind of think about, well, I mean, and this actually kind of pertains to really any animal in cover animals versus open country animals. So most Roosevelt elk country is pretty thick. It's more of that temperate rainforest. You know, you've got a lot of water, you've got a lot of cover.

Maybe not as many openings. Generally, when you have that kind of terrain, the populations are a little bit smaller than maybe you'd see in like Rocky Mountain elk that get these giant massive hundred elk like groups gathered up.

And that's probably more of a factor of feed and habitat and other things, but also just the way that these elk act. Now, one thing that I found with elk or any animals that live in highly forested areas, they generally have a tighter home range. So things like if you kind of find their bedroom

They're going to be closer and tighter in that area, but it's a lot harder to kind of find that needle and haystack in the cover. So whereas like Rocky mountain elk, they might be in this one base in this one drainage. And then they've got a circuit that takes them five, 10 miles away, whatever. They're more migratory. They move more. Whereas those coastal animals, they kind of have their patterns and they're definitely more patternable. They're more like hunting, even like

even hunting a black tail where it's like they they've got a smaller area than compared to

open country black tails or whatever. So something to think about. So if you, one thing that's really nice about that is you can kind of do your homework and you can kind of figure out, okay, this is where these animals are living. And then you can really focus in. Now your hunting tactics are going to be a little bit different because, um, you know, you, you might not want to, like, it might take you a little bit longer to hunt that

particular amount of country. Like it takes longer to hunt a small section of thick country. One thing that's really nice though, is if they're making noise, that's kind of a dead giveaway. So hunting thick country can be awesome. And it's actually easier to call elk in, in my opinion, in thicker country than

When you get them fired up because they have, they can't really use their eyes from distance to see you. So one hunting tactic is going to be using a lot of calling. Now, if you can use trail cameras, I actually, I'm not sure the, you know, things are changing so fast and I haven't, I'm not hunting in, um,

Washington this year. So I don't really know about the rules on trail cameras, but if you can use them or whatever, you know, finding those wallows, those other places, maybe even trails or, or areas where they're frequenting and kind of trying to figure out some of these patterns that they might be using. That's always, that's always a good call. And then, um, you know, just maybe even doing some stuff like think about the stuff that's

kind of missing in their habitat. So in most Roosevelt elk country, that's really thick.

there's not a lot of openings, not a lot of feeding areas. They do find food where they can. But if you're like, hey, this is a really thick area. And then there's one opening, like maybe it's a clear cut, maybe it's something that might be a place to kind of focus your attention. So you can kind of narrow down the habitat by saying like, okay, here's a really good area. Here's a steep area where they might live. And here's a clear cut nearby where they might go out and feed and kind of figuring it out that way is a good way and something to look for.

This question comes from Tyler. He says, Hey, Remy, Tyler from Spokane. Thanks for your insight on hunting in the smoke. This will be my first archery elk hunt ever. My neck of the woods has been quite smoky, but additionally, it's been unbearably hot. My question is,

is it a good strategy to hunt for elk in canyons that bottom out to a Creek when it's hot? Do the elk like to bed near a water source? And if so, what's the best way to hunt those areas? Thanks again for lending us your knowledge and make an entertaining podcast. Yeah, that's a great question, Tyler. So yes, the, uh, I have found elk, um, generally where I find them is like

in those, like you're talking like a Creek bottom thing. So the best ones are where that Creek kind of flattens out and creates like little mud puddles. So like wallow areas, grassy areas, maybe a little bit of an opening, not super open. And then maybe like some steep Canyon where they've got that ability to be kind of near that water source. And then maybe some Ridge up that comes down to it to bed. Generally, what I find is like, there'll be

in and around that. They'll be watering, wallowing, whatever. And then oftentimes they'll go up and kind of bed up off of it where they've got the wind coming down at their backs and they can kind of see down below. I've had a lot of early hunts where I've kind of run into elk in those scenarios in those places.

It can be difficult to hunt. I remember this one time I found a group of elk. It was a good bull in there. And it was just like, I said, like, kind of like you think, like it's just got, it's a steep, steep draw all the way around in the bottom. There's this one tight area where it's got a lot of timber and then like three or four benches that feed down into the spot.

And it was just like kind of like a little bit of a creek and then mud. And I got the wind right and it was hot. And so I get down in there and I'm just like, I see the bull from a ways away. There's like a little bit of a burn scar and he's up on the ridge and there's all these cows around.

like sweet dude so i'm like i'm gonna sneak in because he's just not responding to calls i get down in the bottom and i just like i get that mud and i just covered my face and body with this like black shiny mud and i'm just like literally crawling through the water with the wind in my face and i was crawling past multiple cows like 20 30 yards just bow on my back army crawling through this sludge pretty much and like trying to stay in the brush and covered up

And, uh, got to pretty much like 80 yards from the bull. And I'm thinking, okay, I'm just going to wait for him to move down to me. Got set up just like waiting. And I crawled past probably 15, 20 cows, uh,

And, uh, of course he gets up a bowl of bugles above him and then he just walks away. And that was, that was the extent of that stock. But I just, I always remember that stock is just being pretty crazy how I was like able to crawl past some cows. I don't think it had anything to do with the water, but maybe just like covering myself in mud. And then I was just freezing and soaking wet for the rest of the day. That was before I had any good gear. It was just like all caught stuff too. So, um, luckily it was, it was still pretty hot out.

Um, but I say that to say, like, I think in those scenarios, you know, stocking in is a good option, but also I think if I was more patient, um, I probably would have gone back in that area a little bit different and said like, okay, they're using this in the mornings and evenings. They're probably hitting that water and then just kind of setting up, whether it's with a tree stand, whether it's with a ground blind, maybe it's just on the ground in a good ambush spot.

And then if you get that opportunity, they're using that cool. If not, like maybe it's too long of a water source and they're changing where they're going, then I would use it as maybe some light cow calling to potentially draw a bull in and...

or spot and stalk. So I definitely think that those are good places to check out. If you aren't seeing any sign, you know, then you can kind of move to the next one. It's going to be one of those things where it's like, there's probably a lot of creek bottoms that don't have elk, just like anything else, but there are going to be the few that do. And those ones that do are places that you're going to want to focus in on. And then that might change too as the temperature changes, you know, it's only going to be hot for so long. So you might have three or four days where it's like, man, they're patternable, they're doing this. And

And then kind of the weather shifts a little bit and they aren't really doing that anymore. And I found that a lot as well, but I have gotten into a lot of elk in those, those kinds of scenarios. It seems though that they do end up kind of hitting them in the morning or the evening or whatever, and then moving up and bedding up on benches above it.

All right. This next question comes from Justin. He says, Hey, Remy, just finished your most recent podcast and thought I'd ask a question regarding elk hunting. He says, I live in Utah and currently have an archery spike or cow tag. He says, I found two spikes and watched them feed for about an hour, but could never get closer than 80 yards. I eventually spooked them and was curious about

What the best steps are to proceed when trying to hunt elk that have been spooked? Any advice would be appreciated. Yeah, that's a good question. First off, it depends how they were spooked. If they winded you, your best just to probably kind of like hang back, chill out and re-find them.

Now, if it was like they might have seen you, they might have heard something. I always like I've mentioned it before. I always have that call ready and I hit that cow call. One thing I've noticed with spikes, like if you get in with spikes, they're pretty easy to call in using cow calls. So if I have a spike tag or something like that, I find a spike. I'll get into that 80, 90, whatever yards. And then I'll just I'll open up some soft cow calling. Oftentimes, those spikes will just kind of come in quiet to investigate like,

oh hey let's join up with this group let's see what's going on like just kind of more out of curiosity um now of course like spot and stalks a great way to get in on animals so if you you know if you're like oh i can definitely sneak in on these it's worth it but if you maybe think okay i ran out of cover i maybe don't know where they are i lost them in the bedding getting back being patient and just throwing out a few cow call sequences just oh oh oh

you know, and then waiting a while and just a couple of little bit of cow calls, like, Oh, maybe there's some cows over here bedded. Oftentimes they'll get up and come check it out. Um, so that's what I do now. If they're, um, now if it's like, Hey, they, they ran over the Ridge, you know, oftentimes I will pursue in some way, as long as the wind's good or get my wind right to make kind of a re-approach. But I think a lot of people think elk run away and then they're just gone forever. And that's not always the case. I, um,

have spooked many elk and ended up killing them um you know you hate to spook elk but you can often find them again they don't go as far as a lot of people think in my opinion o'reilly auto parts are in the business of keeping your car on the road i love o'reilly in fact the other day i'm not kidding you the other day i went into an o'reilly auto parts looking for a part i needed a different thing that wasn't really in there you know only like tangentially related to what they carry

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This question comes from Brandon. He says, Hey man, love the podcast. You do a great job. I've got a question for you. This is my second year bow hunting elk by myself in Southern Colorado. Last year was a very cool experience being the first time I could get bulls to answer on the cow call and bugle, but feel like a rushed bullfighter.

walked into both opportunities that I had and busted it both times I had groups of cows with them. I guess my question is, is it better to try to advance on the elk talking back or sit and wait for him to come to you? Thanks in advance. A hundred percent of the time I would say it's better to advance. Now I think that the failure wasn't in advancing. It was just in the way that you advanced. So you kind of have to assume that when an elk is calling, he's got other cows with him.

Um, and that's what I generally do, unless I see that it's a lone bull, I'm always assuming that that cow has multiple sets of eyes. Now, when you're moving in, it's one thing, like you, it's the way that you move in. Um, obviously you're, you know, you're getting in the wind, right. But you're having your head up on a swivel looking around. Like I kind of take it as like, I'm still hunting and stalking in on this animal that's making noise.

And over time, you'll learn that you can do that pretty quick and what you can get away with and what you can't. Now, let's say you get in and you've got that call ready, a cow spots you, you hit that call and you kind of freeze, you know, and you wait for that cow to calm down and then you can back out or move around. But you always want to kind of have your head on a swivel and be expecting that there's going to be a lot of things looking out for you.

But if you always sit back and wait and you don't know what the scenario is, whether that bull has cows or not, then you're probably going to be sitting and waiting for a long time. Something like a different elk might come in or whatever, but if you're a long ways away and that bull's calling and you're calling,

it's very unlikely that that bull is just going to walk to you. It does happen. I've had it happen, but it's not the norm. If you want to be consistent in calling in and killing elk, you have to get within their kind of comfort zone and you have to incite them and give them a reason to come to you. And so that means you got to go to them. And that's the way that I play it. All right. This question comes from Elan.

says any tips for altitude sickness prevention while elk hunting coming from near sea level in california yeah i've said this multiple times in different q and a's but i think it's always worth mentioning i mean what i do i i'm fortunate i live at fairly high elevation but i even do this when i'm like i know it's going to be a tough hunt i use wilderness athlete altitude advantage it's um i mean i swear by it i mean it's like i've had friends that come from sea level and they're like

hunting in 10,000 foot mountains. I'm like, here, use this. And what I do is so I pregame with it. I take like two pills the first five days before I go. It's just, it's a natural vitamin. There's natural stuff in there. What it does is it just increases your body's ability. It's almost like a

I don't know. I guess it's like legal blood doping. I feel like, like, it's just like my secret weapon. Um, but it, it seems to be more of like a vasodilator where it's like, it just allows your blood to process that oxygen a little bit better. Um, and one thing like altitude sickness is serious, um,

And it can happen. It doesn't have to happen at super high elevations, especially if you're like, you get out there and then you start hunting hard. You do want to try to like, if you got to, the acclimation process is really hard because it takes a lot longer than people think.

but you'll notice like generally if you come from sea level and you're hunting maybe six, 7,000 foot mountains, you're, you're going to be fine. Uh, after a few days, your body just kind of gets used to it, but I use that altitude advantage. So I, I kind of pregame with it. And then when I go into high mountains, then I, uh, I take it on the hunt with me. So I put some in a baggie and then just take two to four per day. Uh, when I'm hunting last backpack hunt, I did that on, I mean, I've gone even like

mountains, you know, 14 plus, you know, 14, 15,000 foot mountains in central Asia and used it and had no problems. And I didn't personally see any like major lag in performance.

So that's one of the reasons that I swear by it. Like I've had like prescription for Diamox, which is, you know, if you get pulmonary edema and things like that, like something you would take and, or you can even take just for effects of altitude sickness, but it's not, it's more of a medicine, not like a prevention.

And everybody that's been on the trips with me, I've recommended it and seen like nothing but really good performance out of it. So since I've started using that and recommending it to people that have used it, like we've seen the amount of altitude sickness that hunters, like whether we're guiding or whatever encounter go way down, just my personal case study, you know, I don't

I don't know. That's just the only thing that I've tried that seems to actually work. So I think it's pretty awesome. And that's why I kind of like promote it all the time because it's something that I actually believe in. And I've seen work with guys that I've taken out, go from sea level to 10,000 plus feet. And like, we used to see a lot altitude sickness and now it's kind of cut down a lot just by following that regimen. So that's, that's my recommendation. Then of course you can do any kind of like back. I don't know. I mean,

Now everybody's wearing masks. You probably, everybody's ready for like altitude now, just doing stuff with masks on. But, um, I have used those, uh, training masks before in the past. I don't, I don't know if it helps. I mean, in some ways it probably does, but you know, just being in shape. And then the other thing is like altitude sickness isn't just about the air, but it is also about just like, you got to keep your body in that

in good condition. And that means being well hydrated, like using, um, water supplements. So you've got enough electrolytes. Like you don't want your body to start failing because you don't have enough food. You don't have enough water. Um, that's generally what happens is like, it seems like the bigger, older guys, like generally get altitude sickness less than the guys that are really in shape because the guys are really in shape. Like, yeah, I'm just going to charge up the mountain. It's like, I'm charging up the mountain. I'm doing my things like I normally do. I'm not drinking any water. I hardly had any snacks. I'm

Day two, I feel like crap. And it's because your body's just overworked and underfed. So that's something you want to think about as well.

Question says, Hey Remy, been enjoying the podcast for a couple of years now. Always loads of info. For my first time venturing into the elk woods, we're heading into Southwest Colorado. My question is how do you handle pressure from other hunters? How much does this change how you hunt a certain area? Do you try and anticipate where the hunters will push the elk or stick to the staples?

example, a nice North facing benches, but seems like they're easily accessible and can be the first place hunters try to target or go to the South facing benches is thicker timber, but could be a good hiding place for elk to get away from the pressure. Ryan from St. Pete, Florida. That's a good, uh, that's a good question. A lot of places that I've hunted elk have a lot of hunters and that's just kind of part of the game. Um, I kind of do a few different things. So,

The first thing that I consider is, well, one thing is, I mean, me personally, when I see other hunters, I generally don't get worried because I know that a large majority of those hunters don't know what they're doing. And so I can kind of play to that. Like there's been times where I've walked down a trail, guys come or like walking up a trail, guys coming down, like I haven't seen anything. I get up to the knob and I spot a dozen elk.

You know, and so it's like one of those things where you see hunters, but that you can't always assume that those hunters know what, you know, or have even like looked for elk. Like maybe they're just walking around with their head down. Maybe I don't know what people do out there, but, um, I have encountered that more often than not where you run into a hunter and it's like, it didn't actually make a difference.

It's a big country. Their animals are constantly moving. And so sometimes it doesn't make a difference. Now, there are times where it definitely does, like people bumping into the same, like you say, their

they're going to those easy south bases or whatever. So I'd say in something like that, yeah, if you aren't the first person up on that bench, then you're probably not going to be the first person to run into those elk. They're going to get bumped and they're going to get moved and they're probably going to go into the timber. In which case after that, then I would probably start focusing on a little bit thicker timber. And then in the mornings and evenings, I'd be set up glassing. And that's just how I would play it. And I think that you'll find success that way. But also one thing is

you know, hunting seasons, there are other hunters out there. It's part of the game, but I wouldn't necessarily let it discourage you from thinking that you aren't going to find any elk because people find elk and animals do get moved around a lot. Like it's actually, sometimes there's been days, the busier days, sometimes you actually see more elk because they are getting moved. They are getting pushed. They're getting kind of shuffled around. I hate hunting elk that are just moving elk. Like they're just in that

I don't even know, like a panic pattern where it's like, they're just in survival mode and they're making their rounds. It's a much better to hunt elk that are acting as elk unpressured, but that's not always the case. So I know if you go back, I did, uh, uh, an older podcast. I can't remember the, I could scroll through here, but, um,

called it like the pumpkin patch, something like that, just hunting high pressure areas. And that's a good one to kind of think about. And there's a few good tactics in there. So I've done a little bit, everything. Sometimes hunters work for your advantage, especially if it's like, Hey, you know, there's going to be a bunch of guys that are whatever, and maybe they're coming up later and you get up real early, you get to the top. Maybe there's a good saddle where the elk are kind of funneling, potentially funneling through using people to push animals to you. Definitely works as well. So there's a lot of different tactics, but also I'd say, keep in your mind that

That just because you see someone doesn't mean anything, especially if it's on a road or right at the first part of a trail or something like that. Like you just have to keep going because there's, I can't even count the amount of times that I've run into hunters and then seen animals that I'm looking for. Things get missed, things get move around. So it's not necessarily that big of a deal.

Question comes from Chris. He says, Hey, Remy, love the podcast. I've learned a ton. Really appreciate your hard work. I'll be taking my son out for the first time on an elk hunt this year. And I wonder if you have any tips for making it fun experience. So he wants to come back in the future. I don't mind grinding it out for nine or 10 days, but don't think he's going to be ready to stick it out that long. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Keep up the great work and don't stick to one sign off. A new one every week is always fun to hear. Hope you take my question because

Because I'm sure there's lots of other dads out there that want to get their kids out in the field. That's a good question, Chris. You know, like, I mean, I've encountered this not only as a guide, but I take a lot of kids and new hunters out, even just whether it's a kid or a new hunter or whatever. I always kind of like think back to the way that my dad got me into it. Now, I was a special case. Like, I think I was ready to grind it out for nine or 10 days when I was a kid. My dad was probably like, geez, this kid.

They're just as relentless. But I think one of the things that's really important is involving the people that are with you. Like if it's somebody that you want to get into hunting and you want them to enjoy the experience, then they kind of have to have a little bit of skin in the game. Like let them make some decisions.

You know, you can go over some spots and say, hey, okay, so here's a couple things I'm thinking. We could go to the top of the mountain here and look in glass this spot, or we could maybe go to this other place. Like, let them be a part of the experience, not just following along. I know success and whatever is awesome and it's great and you will find that.

And, you know, being successful is fun for everyone, you know, and that's the whole point of going out. But also there's those other things of like, you know, just involving them in the process of making it fun, but also giving them like some responsibility. Because I think when you're kind of invested, you're like, hey, I picked the spot. Hey, I spotted something. I've got my binoculars and I get to look and maybe he's got a little

hoochie mama type call, like a push button call that gets to use. And it's like, you know, involving them in the hunt where it's not just them following you around, but kind of them getting a good portion of experience, just making some decisions and, and kind of helping you and then explaining the things that you're doing and why you're doing them and, and just like being positive and really just enjoying that experience because

when it comes down to it, we're out there for a lot of reasons and having a good time, bringing someone else into it. Like I think some of those experiences of just being out with your kid out with, you know, him out with you, that's going to be, that's going to be something that you remember forever. And what, one of the reasons that we go out and we do this, and it's really cool to be able to bring family and friends into it. So I think that that's a good way or a good thing to think about is involving them in the process and,

And then, um,

And then, you know, like, and then also just kind of going at their pace, you know, it doesn't have to be the most grueling, brutal hunt you've ever been on. Maybe it's, maybe sometimes it's just, you know, it's like, okay, we hiked in, we're tired. Maybe you drive to a glassing knob and take out the glass and glass for an hour and have some really good snacks and just enjoy your time together because there's so much to hunting. And I think you just gotta, you really gotta pay attention to those little moments and those little things that you can do to make it fun.

Yeah. And have good snacks. That's also, that's also top of the list. New hunters love great snacks. So I actually got quite a few questions on this similar topic. Quite a few people from Canada, maybe hunting more prairie lands or some private areas. And then, you know, just quite a few people just asking some similar things about elk tactics, maybe in some smaller plots of land. So this question comes from

Fedra, it says, Hey, Remy, first time, long time. I drew a small plot private property elk hunt in prime of the rut, September 16th to 18th. They're managing a high elk population, but I'm only allowed on 350 acres. Do you have any tips for small acreage elk hunting? Thanks. So that's a great question. You know, there, I have had some opportunities to hunt some more

smaller areas. And also sometimes I'll hunt even public land areas that are right on the fringe of private property. So maybe you're hunting near private and you've got two, 300 acres where the elk come off and they, they use this particular area and then they get blasted right into private property. Same as if you've got a small track of private land, some of the tactics that you're going to use are going to be a little bit different because what you're trying not to do is pressure those animals somewhere else.

Now it also depends on the type of area that you're hunting. Maybe there's something on that property that it's like, it's a magnet to the elk. Like if it's the only, if that 350 acres is the only alfalfa pivot in the entire area, there's going to be elk on their day and night, no matter what. Um, it's just like, they like the feed there. They're going to keep moving in, but you also aren't going to want to just run them around and kind of push them so much. So in those particular instances, what you're going to want to do is try to

kind of take a more less aggressive approach. I would say my hunting style for elk is quite aggressive.

in most places, but when it's an area like that, then I kind of, I'd be a little more patient. I find those opportunities where it's like a high success opportunity. So maybe, and it doesn't even mean that you have to sit and wait, like 350 acres doesn't seem like a lot when you could travel around a lot of elk country, other places, but it also is plenty of country to kind of hold elk and, and have a hunt. Um,

So a couple of things that I think about, like, let's say you're calling and you want to hunt a bull that's fired up, you know, I would kind of wait, like, so I would call bugle and I wouldn't go like in a normal hunt. I maybe would chase, chase certain bugles, but.

In that particular instance, I would wait until the bull's super fired up and I'd be ready kind of in the position and try to pattern the animals of like, okay, here's the meadow or the area that they like, or maybe they're just passing through kind of like figure out the ebb and flow of the area that you're hunting. I've done this many times where it's like, okay, there's a spot that I'm hunting near private.

And I could go in there and chase every bugle, or I could wait until I've got three days and I can wait until that bull is really fired up and I can probably call him in. So that's one thing that I think about is, is using the tactic that's most likely to gain success. Now, another thought is like find the wallows, find the feeding areas, even potentially use decoy or set up an ambush in travel areas. Like maybe there's a good trail that they're using. They're coming onto the property, they're feeding, they're moving around like, you know,

You can kind of still hunt that or be set up in the mornings and the evenings and places that they frequent. So it's like the elk are kind of moving towards you and you can kind of stalk in toward them. So using those kind of tactics where you're using a little bit of patience and kind of playing that chess game of, okay, here's a really high percentage opportunity. Now is when I'm going to go.

And then those really low percentage opportunities, maybe when the animals are right on the corner and they're moving away, not necessarily like, or the wind's bad, like taking your time and picking those really high percentage opportunities is a great way to kind of hunt smaller parcels or pieces of property. All right. This next question comes from Dan Dotson.

He says, do you put any emphasis on moon phase? Example, if I only had one week to hunt elk, would that factor into your planning on when to go to give yourself the best opportunity? That's a really good question. I actually was doing the Vortex podcast. They did like an elk Q&A this week. And that was one of the questions that I definitely put a lot of time into. And I'll kind of paraphrase some of the things that I said. But one of those was,

the moon absolutely plays a factor in elk hunting and the amount of elk activity during the day. Now there's people that go, Oh, well the moon that like, you got to understand what that moon means. I don't think it's, it's not a factor of it being a full moon. Like the fact of the moon and its shape and size and whatever, it doesn't necessarily play into it. What it is is the amount of light that that moon can emit at night. So you

So you got to think about like elk and the way that they're rutting. And if it's hot out, like a lot of it has to do with weather and temperature. So if you've got a cold snap in the, in the middle of the rut, right, they're going to be in like say no moon, they're going to be rutting and making noise and doing all their business during the day because it's safer. They can't really see too much at night and it's cool. Now, if you think about a week where it's a full moon, right?

And maybe you've got warmer weather. So they're going to be like, nah, it's warm out. But what happens at nighttime? Temperatures drop. Like when you're in the mountains, nighttime, even if it's 100 degrees in the middle of the day, it's going to be pretty cool at night.

So it's like, oh yeah, we're going to be running around chasing cows. Let's do it when it's cool. Oh, and hey, the moon's out so we can see. Perfect. That's a great time to run around and do all our running. And then what's going to happen is during the mornings and evenings, they're going to be pretty quiet. They're going to be kind of wore out. They're going to have kind of done their thing.

Now I say that to say, if it's a full moon and it's cloudy out, you don't have that light. You don't have the same amount of light. So it's not going to be the same as a full moon clear night. So the moon does play a factor, but it also kind of plays into temperature and other things. So as a guide, I hunt every day of the elk season, 10 weeks, archery through rifle,

It doesn't matter the moon phase, the whatever we hunt every week. And I would say over the years, we have kind of generally the same success, but I will say that during full moons, when it's clear out, it's way harder to find elk it's, or at least just get encounters and interaction. It's like those times where, I mean, you might even see it. You might pack into an area and

You don't hear any bugles in the daytime. And then at night, you're just hearing screams all over the place. So I think that the moon does play a factor. Now, here's the caveat to that is like, you know, sometimes that full moon just lands in a crappy time, peak rut, like right in the middle of September. So guys are like, well, I'll go hunt the moon phase. I'll go hunt the first week of September. Well, if it's smoky and hot, you are way better off hunting a full moon during a better week when you might get better weather than hunting earlier with nightfall.

no moon. Now on the flip side of that, you might get no moon early and have cool weather. Then that's a great time to hunt because some of the bulls will be split off on their own. They might be more receptive to coming into calls. So yes, moon plays a huge factor in my planning, but I also look at other things as well, if that makes sense.

Maybe we'd just have to do like a full podcast on all 50,000 scenarios and give you like a good matrix of how to break it out. But I think that's an incredible question and definitely something you want to think about.

I appreciate all the questions this month. I'm going to focus a lot of our podcast topics on elk and elk hunting. And if you've got more questions or whatever, feel free to always shoot those over the next couple of weeks. You know, we'll talk about some calling stuff, some focusing on maybe some spot and stock. That's one of the, probably one of the best tactics for big bulls would be sneaking in whether it's rut or not. I'll kind of break down some spot and stock elk tactics and then some other tactics that should help

Put you in the tag not ching category. Did I say that right? Tag notching is notching even a word. We don't know, but cutting a tag category. There we go. That's your winning doubt on cutting the distance podcast. I just throw the word cutting in and it just makes things like, yeah, like real, real awesome.

But I'm excited to hear from you guys. I love hearing all the success stories. Make sure to shoot me some pictures and whatever. I'm going to continually be putting up older videos and new videos on my YouTube channel. So you can kind of check those out.

Instagram and whatever, I'll have some hunts. You can kind of follow along on my hunts. And then that's where I do a lot of the Q&A answers. So if you're listening to the podcast, you're like, how do I ask a question? Send a direct message to me at Remy Warren. And then as I'm throughout the season, I just screenshot those and read them off on the podcast. So that's the way that's done. I really appreciate everybody. Thank you guys so much for the ratings and listening and sharing it with your friends. I really appreciate that. And actually looked through and see some awesome stuff

awesome comments here. Uh, we got some, I'll read a couple of these comments, five-star comment, great podcast. Keep up the great work. Great podcast. Thanks for all the info. Some of these names are so long. Here's one. Um,

Joe Hunter Fisher says, top-notch information, content. The info, tactics, and advice in these podcasts are largely responsible for helping me take my first whitetail last fall. Not only was it my first, but it was on a small, pressured public land. Really can't thank you enough. Keep up the great work. Those are the kind of comments I love to see. Guys that are getting out, finding some success, using some of the tactics.

Um, here's one from McDuffie boy. He says practical, practical, practical, not just dudes hanging out and talking about hunting. Uh, here's a podcast that teaches you how to be a better hunter. Great podcast, Remy. Uh, you're filling. Oh,

You filled a gaping hole in the hunting podcast world. You're a great host, humble, and friendly. I like listening to you. Keep it up. Thank you very much. I really appreciate all these kinds of comments. It means a lot to me. So thank you guys so much. And until next week, bust those bugles out and make sure to stay in touch. I can't wait to hear your guys' season. I'll share my season. You share your season. We'll all do this hunting thing together. Catch you guys later.

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