Ep. 70: Answering Your Questions, Part 13
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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. Today's the day I reach deep into the mailbag here, the old mail sack, and answer your questions. So we got a lot of great questions coming in. I hope that over the season, some of these things have been helpful to you. Maybe, you know, I like to open up every, almost every podcast. I'm saying, send me your questions, send me your questions, because I really enjoy being able to answer specific questions. And I know that I get a lot of the same questions as well. So I think that

The Q&A is a really good way to kind of just make sure that I'm on topic and answering things that you guys want to know. Also, I've got a ton of good messages about just some success. So I'll just read a few here. This one comes from Kyle. He said, just wanted to pass along thanks for the glassing podcast, which was a recent podcast that we just did. He said, I listened to it last Friday on my way to set up camp for the week.

Later that day, I glassed up a group of mealies that I probably wouldn't have without some of your advice on body lines that stand out. Long story short, I got the buck in that bunch opening morning on a very heavily populated public spot.

Was practically sitting on them when the sun came up. Thanks, man. Crazy how it helped. Have a great winter, Kyle. And Kyle sent me a picture of the buck in his backpack, and it is a great buck. Good work, man. Love seeing that stuff. Another one came in from, it says, Hey, Remy. Been an avid listener to the podcast for the last few months, keeping my spirits high and learning all that I can for this fall. Was fortunate enough to connect on this beautiful coos buck using some techniques I learned from your podcast.

I'm off on a late season cow hunt next week and hope to put more of your tips to use. Thanks, Zef. He sent in a picture of a really nice coos deer buck. So it's awesome to me that, you know, you can take these tactics. I love hearing some of these successes where people have taken the tactics and just kind of adapted them to what they're hunting, whether it's a mule deer story and whatever. But a lot of the tips that I'm giving, you know, can be used across different

species lines, we'll say, where you can take some of these tactics that I talk about for elk or deer, antelope or whatever, and apply it to where you're hunting for the situation you are. And that always is awesome. I love hearing that kind of stuff. So let's go, let's start diving into some questions here. I'm just kind of, I've got a bunch of them and I just kind of scroll through and pick a few and we'll go from there. And then the ones that I think that there was a lot of similar questions on, you know, I try to answer those as well, but

This one I thought was pretty interesting because I actually had a similar experience. So this one comes from James. He says, Remy, love the content and the podcast. You really know your animal behaviors and sounds, which I'm also fascinated with. I was recently on stand and had a very large mature mule deer work through the edge of regen and timber mostly covered. He was raking very hard and went to town on a six to eight inch pine, uh,

only about 45 yards away. No shot, obviously. However, he went on to make several very loud vocalizations that I'd never heard before that sounded like a kazoo. It was way louder than grunts and high pitched and long, like blowing on a kazoo. If it is the buck, I think it is. It may have been that he's eight to nine year old category, probably near 400 pounds. Any thoughts on this or ideas what this guy was trying to tell me? That's a really great question because

Actually, this year I heard some very similar sounds coming from mule deer as well. Now, I think a lot of people don't, I think deer vocalization maybe is underplayed because they really only make those noises primarily during the rut. And it's not sounds that you hear all the time, but I have heard some very, very strange sounds coming out of deer.

I was standing there glassing across the hill and it sounded like, I don't even know how to describe the sound. It sounded like a sound that you would hear in the movie Jurassic Park for a weird dinosaur noise. And it was just this. And I'm like, okay, it's like a weird elk, strange, very similar to this kazoo sound.

And then some more roars. And I've heard those buck roars before. You know, my thoughts on this sound, it could have been one of a few things, not really knowing the full setup. If it was really thick, that really loud kazoo kind of sound could have been the buck, but it also possibly could have been

a doe in estrus because I did hear some more estrus sounds coming from does down below me as well. So what I was hearing in this particular scenario that I encountered this year was a two mule deer bucks grunting. And then the bucks would do these long grunts. I'm just doing these with my voice. I wish I had like a something to do it, but it's, I don't even think there's calls that make some of these sounds. So then they were making these more longer, like drawn out roar type grunts, like, Oh,

and then circling each other. And then off in the, in the side, I spotted this, I was like this weird sound and it was a doe making an estrous bleat. And it was more, I'm going to try it right now. We'll see if I can even mimic it. I'll tell you if it was good or not, but it's more like a, well, that's more like a moose, but it was, uh, it was like this,

And then I could see those bucks now like very interested in this one doe. I don't know if that sound quite like it, but it's a sound that you don't really hear very often. So I wonder if it was that or if it was one of the bucks. Now,

I also was hearing some more roaring sounds from these particular deer, which isn't just a sound that you hear very often, but they were being very aggressive. They were hissing at each other, doing more of like a snort wheeze. You could see as I was watching them, the hair on their back of their neck stand up, they were stomping. And then that doe was doing her estrus call. And then these bucks were more like roaring at that doe. Now in your particular instance, if you knew for sure that this buck was making those noises,

deer do make a lot of different strange vocalizations. Maybe it was more of like a roar sound or more of like a kind of like that particular buck's hiss at a doe or at another deer. Whatever it was, he was very, very fired up. Now I have even seen where certain deer just make really weird sounds because their vocal cords in some way have been damaged. The same thing happens with elk. This year we had a bull that could not for the life of... I called him the chuckler because he

All he could do is chuckle because when he would bugle, it would break really weird and sounded like one of the worst bugles you've ever heard. And I've seen, I've actually been fortunate enough to have taken bulls that make these weird bugles. And we've seen like scars in their neck where they've taken a tine in the neck and you go, okay, that makes sense. Somehow it had taken something in the neck where they're tying an arrow, who knows what, some form of damage to its throat. And it makes this really horrible bugle noise and,

Um, but then it's scarred back over. So I've seen that as well. So there's a lot of different possibilities for that, but deer do make some pretty strange sounds out there. And what I like to do is when I hear those sounds, try to try to remember what they were, maybe what that deer was doing. If it was raking a tree, it was fired up. It's probably a mature deer and they do make some very aggressive sounds at each other that are outside of the typical, typical, uh, uh, uh,

sound. So when you're calling, sometimes I all, one of the things that I've used on mule deer a lot when calling is, um, the roaring sound. And then that snort wheeze that, and then the hissing it's

And it's just like one of those additional sounds that you can make that might fire them up to come in that little bit. If I had heard that weird kazoo type sound, I probably would have tried that snort wheeze and seen if I could have brought him in a little bit more distance, just more of a direct challenge to that buck. Like, Hey, you're in my bedroom too. Um, to me, it sounds like maybe he was making a sound that was telling another deer that, Hey, he's in

You're in my zone. Get out like in trying to be as aggressive as possible. And that snort wheeze might have been enough of a sound to draw him from that 45 yards into your location. And it might be worth a try next time. This question comes from Daniel. He says, good day, mate. Love the podcast. Can you discuss the moon and your thoughts and experiences using moon phase, please? Cheers.

That is a great question. And I probably should do a full podcast on this, but I think it's worth noting. Now, I think there's people that have their theories on moon phase, and then there's people that have done studies on moon phase. And some say that it's a big factor. Some say it's not a factor. I absolutely believe it's a factor in certain ways. And I think that

I think that the moon phase is kind of misunderstood by hunters and people, even people that study it. Now, I would say there's probably very few people that have been out year round watching and observing animals. And I am one of those people, you know, through guiding, through hunting all over the place. I really don't have an option whether I'm going to hunt a certain week or not. I hunt every week when I'm guiding. It's every week during the season. And over the years, I've

I've got to experience hunting during different moon phases, different things. Here's my thought on the moon phase. And it, I think it really lends itself to the style of hunting you're doing as well. I primarily do spot and stock hunting. Now I've noticed for certain species, especially it makes even more of a difference. One, one that I can definitely say it makes a bigger difference with happens to be like bears in the spring.

um, depending on the moon and the week is really going to depend on how many animals you see, because you got to think about when you're spotting stock hunting, you're wanting the animals to be somewhere where you can spot them. Um, I've seen studies where people say, oh, well, the moon phase doesn't, uh,

affect animal movements. I don't personally think that the moon itself is what's affecting animals moving. Now they might be moving and cover more. They might be whatever. What I want is I want deer to be out in the open or elk or bears or whatever I'm hunting to be out in the open during legal shooting times when I can see them. And I think that the moon plays a big factor in that. Not for the fact that it's a full moon.

I think it's more of an issue of light and those animals being able to feed and do their things that they do in the open during nighttime in more safety. So if you think about it, when the moon is out and it is bright, it's easier to see.

deer and elk and other animals have a certain capability of what we would call nocturnal vision, but it is not as good as the nocturnal vision of many predators. So what they're going to do on the nights that are dark, they aren't going to be walking around as much. They're going to be bedded. They're going to be using their nose and ears for safety.

When the moon comes out, you're going to see more animals feeding, more animals moving around at night because under the cover of more light, they can actually see well. It's for them, it's they're under the cover of maybe some darkness, especially during hunting seasons where there's pressure during the day. So they can get their, let's just say their chores, their activities, the things that they need to do done. Here's where the moon won't play a factor because

because it's a factor of light and not necessarily the moon itself. I believe that on really cloudy or stormy times during a full moon, it's not going to affect it like it would if it were clear. So clear nights on a full moon, the next day, you're definitely going to see some differences in movements in the day. One thing I've noticed actually during full moon is you're going to get some more erratic movements

You might see them out longer in the morning, but not see them in the evening because what happens is it depends on the time that the moon rises as well is if the moon's up and they can kind of will come up a few hours after dark, they'll probably start feeding then. So in the evening, generally deer elk, whatever move out of cover.

and then feed until it gets dark or whatever. So they feed as the sun starts to go down. They're very crepuscular moving mornings and evenings. And so they're going to be out in the morning, out in the evening, most days. You just tend to see them out more often when there's no moon at night. And that is some of the ways that I plan my hunts. But I have also noticed that over the years,

we generally tend to find that our hunting success, like when I'm guiding or whatever, my hunting success is kind of generally the same, no matter what the moon's doing, whatever. I have found that

temperature also plays a very, very big factor in that. So those times where it's a full moon and it's hot out, the deer are definitely going to be more active at night. So it's not necessarily just the moon, but it's also a factor of temperature and many, many other things that can go into it. If I can plan around

hunting where there's a smaller moon, I will absolutely do it because I just think it gives me a little bit more time to spot animals during the daylight hours while I'm glassing because they're going to be out doing those chores and things that they need to do outside of nighttime more often. And that's my philosophy on that. That was a great question though. I actually don't have a name for this one, but it says question for the podcast, which is great.

How do you identify places to glass from, from a map? I never seem to be able to identify good spots to glass from when doing map recon of a new area. So the first thing I look for is the areas that I'm going to want to glass into. So if you go back to some older podcasts, I talk a lot about head basins, you know, draws, cross canyons. So what you want to do is you want to look at the map and say, okay, here's some potential areas that I want to hunt. And then I go back and say, where can I see this from?

Um, one thing that I always like to think of is, is this idea of a glassing knob. Well, a knob is just kind of like the top point of a hill where you can look across into something else. Those knobs work so long as there's no vegetation. So what I'm doing is I'm, I'm looking for areas, um, two ways. One, I'm using the topography lines to find areas maybe across a certain distance from where I am planning on hunting. And then I switch to the satellite.

mode. And that satellite mode is going to show me vegetation. And hopefully I'm going to be able to find a spot where it has little vegetation, where I'm going to be able to theoretically see whatever I'm looking at. Now, if I'm planning on hunting this one particular canyon, maybe it's a draw and I'm going to walk up this draw. What I'm going to do is I'm going to look at my map and I'm going to say, okay, the wind's probably going to be, let's say the draw goes east-west and

Okay. And then, so you're going to be walking up the draw to the east. And then the wind is coming from the south. So I'm going to be want to, I'm going to want to walk on.

the south side of the, let's say there's a creek in the bottom. I'm going to be walking on the south side of the creek going up the canyon. So I'm going to pull up my map. I'm going to look at that draw. I'm going to say, okay, that way, if anything I spot, I'll be moving downwind too. And okay, okay, out here in the flat, here's a kind of another range or whatever. It's maybe half a mile away. And it looks like there's an open

spot in the satellite imagery where I can kind of sit down and look into that canyon first. And then if I got to walk up that canyon, maybe there's nothing else, then I'm going to look up the side that I'm planning on going and seeing if there's any good spots along the way where the vegetation breaks, where I can see across or up into that basin. And if there is, then I kind of note those and try to work my way to those spots.

One thing I like to do as well is just kind of get a wide view of things. So if there's certain places I go, okay, this is a good place to hunt. Then I just scan around mainly in that satellite mode or I mean on Onyx, what I use the feature or the layer that I use the most would be satellite topo, like the combination. So I can see the topography lines and see the vegetation at the same time.

Another great tool is using 3D mapping. If I can go into that 3D map, I can kind of figure out, get a better perspective of like where I might be theoretically, and then just kind of swivel that map around and look into the places that I want to look and get a good idea if I can get a view of that. And then I just go and verify that there's no vegetation that's going to block that. And those are the ways that I really use my maps to find those glassing areas.

This is an interesting question. It comes from Christopher. He says, hi, Remy, love the podcast and thank you for all your advice. I'm planning my first backcountry elk hunt next year and I keep wrestling with a strange gear issue, glasses or contacts. I wear both. I usually wear my contact lenses when I hunt because they don't fog up and make glassing and shooting a little easier, but I'm also typically near home or a camp.

should there be a problem like getting one stuck in my eye glasses are lower maintenance but well they fog up and make glassing a pain in the ass i know this isn't a problem you likely have to deal with but have you had any experiences with something like this it seems like just the kind of trivial detail that can screw up a good hunt thanks again

That's a great question, Chris. I personally don't have correct division, but my dad at one point did. Now he and my wife as well.

Both of them ended up getting LASIK surgery. And my wife now, it's like funny because I always thought I was just really good at spotting things. And then now I realize it's just, I am really good at spotting things, but she started spotting way more animals after having really good vision. She's like, wow, I can actually see the mountain now. You know, that obviously isn't, doesn't work for everyone, but it is like, it's crazy how good everybody I know that's gotten LASIK, my brother, my dad, and my wife are.

all have better than 20 or at least 20 20 vision now and their spotting of things has gone drastically up even more than just having their contacts or their glasses which i mean i would just promote it i know that that's not possible for everyone some people you know their eyes haven't settled or whatever the case is or don't uh opt for the lasik but it is crazy how well that works

Before that, my dad would always run contacts, bring a spare set. It's just extra crap you have to carry, but it's something you have to do. He'd bring contacts and then in a case, he would keep his glasses as backup.

For the most part, outside of getting dirt in his eye or whatever, he would get the week-long type contacts. He would have a spare set and then a set of glasses because I've hunted with a lot of people, guided a lot of people with glasses. It's terrible. There's so many times where I've had people lined up on the rifle, their glasses are fogged because what happens is you're in the moment. You're hiking up. You've got to move fast. You're moving up. You're moving fast. Your glasses are fogged.

Then you go to shoot. You can't see you take your glasses off and you can't see the reticle It is a major major pain in the ass So my suggestion would be contacts number one number two have backups and then number three have a backup of a backup which would be your glasses because it's better to be able to see than not to see so I think that that would be the option but I

If I could suggest anything, get some LASIK. And if I'm going to suggest LASIK, don't get the cheapest LASIK there is. The guy that does them for $20 an eye, maybe spend $50 an eye because it's that important. However, I think that if you don't have that option, then I would say contacts 100% and then glasses as a backup.

This question comes from Asa. He says, Hey, Remy, love the show. My question is about hunting late season with a bow. How do you make a stock after leaves have fallen, but there isn't any snow to quiet things down? I've had a few opportunities, but haven't been able to make the stock in those situations. Thanks.

Yeah, that can be very difficult. And where you live, you know, definitely depends on the type of leaf fall and the type of noise. If you're in a very, like, that kind of place where there's a lot of leaves, it can be very difficult. One thing that I do think about is sometimes hunting where...

I can minimize those things that are very hard to control. So the amount of noise on the ground, leaves and other things, you know, maybe picking those spots where I can move without really intercepting that. So like creek bottoms where there's a lot of leaves, a lot of times what I do is I follow the creek. I try to stay in the rocks and other places. I pick my routes and the places that I hunt based on places where I can be quiet and still have a good opportunity of running into deer. Now, if you're in an area, you can only hunt a small area, a certain area,

very, very early on in the podcast, one thing I talked about was a shoes off situation. If you watched my videos or followed some of my stuff, you notice that I take my shoes off an unordinary amount of times, uh, late season, early season doesn't matter because I know how much more quiet it is. The stiff sole of the boot is really what cracks everything underneath your feet. Think about a deer walking through, they've kind of got a lot less surface area than our feet.

And so they, they can walk semi-quiet, but you know, there are things moving around in the forest that are making noise in those leaves, squirrels, other rodents, birds, other things. But those don't tend to, they might alert the deer, but they don't spook the deer. So as you're stalking, think about the way that you're walking, the cadence that you're walking and how you're walking.

tiptoeing through the forest. Yeah. It makes sense because you're, you're letting your toes feel the ground. You're slowly rolling your foot down and you're going to be more quiet. Another thing that I'll do when I'm stocking, like I actually just recently stocked some white tails and something similar. And it was, I ended up, I have like, uh, some stocking socks that I throw on. It was luckily not super cold or not wet, but, uh,

one thing that I will do is I'll take my foot and I'll just push the leaves aside, then place my foot, push the leaves aside, place my foot and even crawling, like crawling, stopping that noise sounds like something, but it also might be a way that you can distribute your weight and maybe not make so much noise going through the leaves. Just something to think about. There are ways that you can still make those stocks. It's worth trying if you've got no other options. And then if you're in a place where it's like, Hey, it's

absolutely way too loud to stalk, then you need to change your tactics. Your tactic might be more of an ambush setup where you figure out the trails and things that the deer are moving and then set up a blind to tree stand, an ambush of some kind. And those are some ways to kind of combat that.

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This question comes from, I'm not sure the first name. Actually, I don't have a first name here, but last name Gonzalez. He says, hey, Remy, what bullets do you use in your 300 short mag? Do you use different grains for pronghorn, deer, and elk? Actually, I got this question a lot. So recently I've been using federal terminal ascent bullets for quite a few reasons. So, I mean, if I were to go into my entire like...

exploration of the perfect hunting bullet. What I'm looking for is so many different things. And I think this bullet is probably the best that's matched to what I'm looking for.

What I like is I like a bullet with a good BC. So something that has a good ballistic coefficient. What that means is a little bit less drag. So it has less drop. It flies. I mean, they fly well. And I want something that groups really good from 100 yards out to whatever distance I might be shooting. So the first step in picking a bullet is something your gun likes and something that shoots well.

right out of the gate. Um, my first sight in with these particular ones, like I went to 200 yards. Um, my previous bullet was that, uh, currently I'm using 200 grains. So my, the bullet before out of a 300 short mag, 300 short mags generally used to tend to liking the like 155 to 160 grain bullets and they would shoot the best. So when I'm picking a bullet, first off is accuracy. I need something that is going to hit where I'm going.

Um, these ones, you know, so just as like a, a personal story, I recently was shooting 150 grains out of this same rifle. I switched to the 200 grain. Now you think 200 grain is going to be heavier. It's going to, um, so it's going to drop more than the 150 grain and relatively same velocities. These ones are maybe a little faster. The terminal ascents are a little bit faster. Um,

So, um, you know, I, I, I adjusted my scope high cause I'm going to expecting it to, to drop. I shoot hits high. I set it back to the zero at 200 yards. Those bullets, the 200 grain bullets were shooting, uh, an under one inch group on target on bullseye.

where those 150 grain bullets were cited in. So it's just because they've got a better, better drag curve. They drop less and they weigh more. So that means that downrange, I'm going to have more energy hitting and it's a really good bullet. Also, it performs really well out at distance, but also at close range. So I really settled on that bullet. Um, I don't, I don't

dance around with grains for different species. I get one that shoots well and I hunt everything with that. So I kind of pick something for my top end and go from there. I have jumped back and forth a little bit, but I think that it's just easier to, to get a bullet that works well, shoots accurately. You're, you know, the drop compensation and everything and hunt with it. Um, like anything though, shot placement is key. Um,

Um, so I kind of pick something, I mean, anything in that 300 short mag from elk, you know, you could go with a one 50 and up. You'll be good. Um, I never really thought I would be shooting the 200 grain, but it's, Hey, for elk at longer distances, that gives me a little bit more knockdown power. Some people might say, well, it's overkill for deer pronghorn or whatever. Well, I don't know. I

you know, a good shot's a good shot. And so I don't know if the difference between using a bigger bullet and a little bit smaller bullet is going to be, it's going to be negligible when it comes to like,

meat damage and impact. You know, if you hit something in the shoulder with any of those bullets, it's going to have some, some damage. So I don't like to grain hop. I like to get something that works for that rifle. And I just stick with it because I'm not the type of person that wants to go and, and mess with a bunch of different grains. Now, if you've got some that work well, and you already know, Hey, this works good for it. Then it's fine. If you've got it and you can switch back and forth easily, that's great. But I just like to have my rifle set up and know where it shoots and then, and then stick with it and hunt with it.

Um, especially because a lot of these trips will be like pretty back to back. So you might be like hunting elk and then, and a deer tag. I don't, I wouldn't try to just switch, especially during like mid season or anything like that. So that's what I shoot. Um, I got a lot of questions on bullets and firearms this week. Uh, actually we'll jump into another question here because, um,

Um, some other people were thinking, asking questions like what's a good all around caliber. I I've said it before. I think the 300 short mag is a great all around caliber kind of for everything. Cause it's got a short action, a lighter rifle for mountains, but also has some pretty good performance, very similar to a wind mag, but you know, a shorter bolt throw, which is, is nice when you're, you're proned out in the, you want to make sure you don't lose, especially if you're by yourself, you know, you want to be able to stay on target and

And just a little bit lighter action as well for like carrying around. So that's kind of my thing on that. And then I also got a lot of questions on the use of suppressors in hunting. You know, some people asking, are they legal? Some people asking why I use a suppressor. I've guided a long time. I've hunted a lot of different places. I am a big proponent of having a firearm that is

is both accurate and that you shoot really well. And I think to shoot a firearm really well, you need some form of recoil management. Now, it doesn't matter how tough of a guy you are. However, if you shoot a lot and that gun keeps hammering you over and over and over, you're going to develop some form of bad anticipation. What I mean is a flinch. And so there's a couple devices that take that flinch out. A muzzle brake is one.

Um, a suppressor is essentially a muzzle brake that doesn't. So what happens when you put a muzzle brake on your rifle, it throws the energy out to the sides, taking some of that felt recoil out. But what that also does is it's super loud.

Um, we used to call them guide killers because it's like the guys next to you hear it even more. It's very damaging to your hearing. I have had muzzle brakes go off near me and like, no joke. My vision go black. Like it's just the concussion from that gun. If you're at the, a little bit weird angle or something like that, your ear plugs aren't in is very, very, very damaging. I know very, quite a few people that have had a muzzle brake go off by them or have thrown up their gun shot and,

and no ear protection in, and they got ringing ears for the rest of their life because of that one shot. I don't want to be that guy. So you'll see me always have the ear protection ear pro around my neck, and I always make sure that I put it in ahead of time. Because I'm so cautious about ear protection and other things,

Using a suppressor makes sense because if you don't have time to put your protection in, it's not going to be of those same damaging levels as an unsuppressed firearm or a muzzle brake.

And now you hear people say, Oh, well, it's still in damaging range. I, you know, whatever you take certain things. I mean, I shot a shotgun for a very long time without ear protection. That was a big mistake. I always suggest now, if you can wear your protection when you can. Yeah. Even when I fire my suppressor at the range, um,

It just takes that crack out of the rifle and brings the decibel levels to a safer balance than it does with the muzzle brake. So it's like a muzzle brake that isn't going to blow your eardrums out and destroy your hearing in one shot. So when I'm at the range, I still throw my ear pro in, but when I'm hunting, I just, I don't necessarily think about it. And it's really nice because you can, if you're hunting with someone else, they're spotting, you can communicate back and forth. The person it's especially nice for the person that's watching or near you because it's at

actually, you know, you don't have that negative effect like you do with the muzzle brake. I know that kind of is a tangent from the bullet thing, but I have like three dozen questions on that topic. So I figured I just instead of pulling one question out, just touch on it because that was going to be the next kind of thing that we talked about.

Oh, I got a lot of questions about guiding stuff, questions about choosing guides. I thought this was kind of a good question because, you know, a lot of people, maybe you're getting into hunting, you're new to hunting, or even you've been hunting your whole life. I think choosing to go guide is a great way to learn an area or not learn an area, but like

to go with somebody that is an expert at what you're looking to do. It's going to be a lot more successful. Yes, it costs money, but sometimes you can glean tips and things from those people. One thing I will say is you don't want to be that person that's like goes on a guided hunt to try to figure out spots. That's a dick move. Don't be that guy. If you're that guy, shame on you. But, um,

One thing that I will say is, you know, there are a lot of questions and there's some great guys, some great outfitters out there, and there's some bad ones. It's really hard to sift through and figure out who's who, but, you know, you kind of know just –

talking to other people. Maybe you get a hot tip from someone that's been, and that's really the best way to figure it out. But this question, it comes from Derek. He says, although I've listened to Cutting the Distance for a relatively short period, I binge listened to every episode over the shutdown. Some of your best ones twice. I'm what you guys call an adult onset hunter, but I prefer to call it late bloomer hunter. Mid-December, me and some friends are using an outfitter in

using an outfitter for a combo hunt for ducks and geese i like it because the cost of entry is so high for ducks it's overwhelming my first question is in your wheelhouse how much should i tip our guide for if he's phenomenal down to average that's a great question you know being a professional hunting guide myself i have tips are what get me through the season i mean honestly like it's it's

I hate, I hate to say it, but you know, like the wages are pretty low. The margins are pretty tight. Uh, tips are like the, the kind of thing that puts you into like feeding yourself. So, um, you know, I, I would always say like, oh yeah, bigger tips better. But, uh, the

The average, I think just like cost of hunt, generally you kind of start around 10%. That's an average tip for hunting or outdoor type services. Now you're like, well, 10%, you know, and then it just kind of depends if the guide's really good and the hunt was fairly cheap. It's just kind of like, think about it kind of like a restaurant as well, where if you got really good service and you really appreciate the guy and it's like, maybe the guy doesn't have a lot of spots available and you got in and you want to come back,

it's better to be a good tipper. And those are the type of people that they want to come back because they know that they're helping out their guides there, whatever they're,

you know, so that's a factor of the cost you should include. Um, you know, on a one day type on a two day type hunt kind of thing, you know, you could always do a little bit more or you can kind of take that 10% say, Oh, this was a really shitty hunt. Um, the guys were, you know, I really base it off of not necessarily like, even if myself, if I go with a guy that's a guide or a friend or whatever, not a friend, but like if I'm on a trip where there's a guide, um, I

I like to be the guy that tips on the higher end of the scale. But I also would say, like, if you're thinking about when you go on a guided hunt, you know, what your tips should be reflective of is the work that the guide provided. So was he organized? Did he work his butt off? Was he...

no matter the success that you had doing everything in his ability to help you be successful? Was he knowledgeable? Was he an expert? Was he a professional? Was he going above and beyond the call of duty, no matter the circumstances? And I think sometimes, you know, people think, well, if I get a big elk, then I'll tip more if I get whatever. And I like to think of it as like, how

How well did that person give me a good experience, a good service or whatever? And then your tip can reflect that. But that 10% is kind of like an average starting point and you go up or down from there.

This question comes from Kyle. He says, Remy, love the podcast and I decided to be a hunter by listening to it. I have no mentor, so this has been a great resource. I'm starting a small game this fall in Nebraska and hoping to get a turkey for the holiday table. What can you recommend for a new hunter mixing with old hunters that are also hunting deer on public land? So I don't become that guy again.

So he doesn't become that guy. He's familiar with local laws, but more concerned about being courteous to others. That's a great question. And I think it's something that, you know, really needs to be discussed because as more people are hunting more public land, things are changing. The landscape's changing. Some of these changes are very, very sad to me.

But it's because I think a lot of people kind of lost this sense of common courtesy. Yes, it's public, but also we're all hunters. We're all trying to have a good time. And I don't mean to paint like a bad picture because there are many, many people that are the opposite of this or do things right. And I think the most important thing is like,

If you roll up, you know, you don't want to disturb someone else's hunt. You don't want to ruin someone else's hunt and you don't want someone else to ruin your hunt. So being courteous in that way, but there's also limited amount of spaces. You pull up to a trailhead. There's another vehicle parked there. Um, what do you do? Do you walk in behind them? Do you go somewhere else? Well, maybe everywhere you go, there's someone in that ruined your experience.

You really got to understand like how big the area is you're going into. Um, you don't want to walk in on anyone. You want to just kind of think of, I don't want to ruin someone's hunt. The best thing you can do if you're somewhere and you run into someone in the woods, talk to each other. This has happened so many times with me. I've been in a trailhead. Okay. It's the one trailhead. It goes and accesses 500 different areas. You know, I don't own that trailhead cause I got there first and I don't own that trailhead cause I got there 15th. Um, well,

What I do is we're all here. We're all hunting. We're all trying to enjoy ourselves and have a good time. And I don't want to upset anyone else's hunt, but I also want to have an enjoyable trip myself. So you think about those things. You think about the area you're going into. Is there enough room for two people? If there is,

cool. Are you going to be able to figure out where that other person went? Yes or no. You know, that person that's ahead of you might have an advantage, but you know, there's been so many times where I walked into a guy coming down a trail. I walk up 300 yards past them. I spotted an elk, you know, just because someone else is up there doesn't mean that they see what you see. Doesn't mean that they're going to things happen, things move, things change. So

Um, I wouldn't necessarily say that, you know, you can't go to where other people are at, but you also want to be very courteous of each other, everybody, the people that came in behind you and the people that are whatever. So this is my kind of gentleman's rule that I have. If somebody is somewhere where they're ahead of me or got there first, and I run into them, I asked them, Hey, what's your plan? What are you guys thinking of doing? We want to stay out of your way. Uh,

which is a courteous thing to do. And they'll say, Hey, well, we're thinking about going up here and into this basin. I'll say, okay, cool. Here's what now I will do. If it's the same plan I was going to have, I'm going to readjust and say, Oh, that'll be a really good hunt for you. We were thinking of doing that same thing, but you know what we're going to do? We're going to go this way. And will that stay out of your way? Yes, no, whatever. Now, if the other person's being a jerk about it, you know, sometimes you just go and do and have your hunt and leave and say, have a good day.

There's other times where I have run into people and, you know, where are you guys going? I'm going to go up here. Okay. We'll give you, leave you to that spot. And I go, Hey, you know what? I saw elk here the other night. Why don't we both try to go get an elk out of here? You know, if you guys want, you know, generally like the person that's kind of leading the thing. Okay. I'll get first shot and you know, you guys can whatever. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. I mean, I have, I have helped people that I've run into pack out animals. I've helped people hunt. There's times where I've seen something and

It wasn't something that I wanted to take, but kind of pointed them in a direction. So just talking to each other, being civil and understanding their fellow hunters, they're out there. It's not a real, you know, just be common courtesy and you should be fine. And I think if everybody kind of keeps that in mind, the woods will be a much more harmonious place and we'll all get along. And then we won't have to make all these rules to block certain people out. Idaho, just kidding.

This question comes from Renee. It says, Hi, Remy, new fan of the podcast here. I think you give great advice. My question is, what would you say is the most important to work towards your first when you're starting to plan toward an elk hunting trip? My brother and I want to plan a trip and I'm starting from ground zero. I'm having a hard time trying to figure out where to start as far as gathering gear, tweaking my bow, practicing shooting, et cetera. With the amount of knowledge that's needed for elk hunting,

it starts to get a bit overwhelming. Thanks in advance if you have time for my question. Big fan.

That's a great question. I think the first place you start is just narrowing in where do you want, find a place to hunt, get a tag. And honestly, you know, everybody's what's the best state for a first elk hunt where wherever's fairly close to you and you can get a tag. I mean, it doesn't really matter. If you have a tag in your hand, it's going to be your hunt. And then you can start worrying about all the other stuff.

I really think too many people are just stressed out about where do I go? Where do I go? Where do I go? Instead of just get, just go somewhere, get, get that portion of the trip plan because that's going to be the first step. Now you can start investing time into whatever area it is.

I think a lot of people go, oh, I want to hunt where you're hunting because you're very successful there. It means absolutely. If I spent the same amount of time some other place, that would be the good hunt for me. There are areas that are better than others, but I don't necessarily get wrapped up in that. I find a place I want to hunt and I hunt it and I invest that time into that. Everything else will then fall into place. So the first step, step one, always

get the tag, get the spot that you're going to go to, whether or decide how you're going to do it. You know, you got to, there's only certain amount of over the counter tags available. So get one of those and, and pick a spot and then start researching that spot. Start figuring out where you're going to go, start looking over those maps. And then you start, as it gets closer, building out the gear and all the meanwhile, you're

building up your fitness and practicing with whatever you're going to shoot. And I think if you do those things in that order, you're going to have a successful trip. And if you're unsuccessful, you're going to learn a lot of cool stuff along the way, and you're going to probably readjust for the next time you do it. But just plunging in right now, figure out where you can get a tag, buy that tag, and then invest into it. The other stuff that you're going to need will all kind of fall into place.

The hardest steps, the first one, and that's just once you've got that tag, now you've got somewhere to go and you can get it all figured out. All right. Last question here comes from Trey. He says, Remy, my wife and I just did three night pack in deer hunt in Texas and had a great time. We went seven miles in and had to carry all our water since there is none available to where we were.

I feel like we packed light and we still had 100 pounds between us. 42 pounds of it were water, mind you. I saw a really good buck but wasn't as aggressive because I couldn't imagine us getting it back out. Even on the hike back after we had dumped the extra water weight, I kept thinking there's no way I could have had an entire deer on my back. Did we just go too far in? I'd love to hear your tips and suggestions on planning and executing packouts. Thanks. Love the show."

That's a great question. So, I mean, my philosophy on this is probably different than a lot of people's because when I go in, I kind of have this mindset that like nothing's too far. So if I see a deer that I'm like, okay, that's a really long ways away, I'm absolutely going to get after it and I'm going to try to be successful because that's my opportunity.

The way I think about it is like, let's say I got an elk down way back in there, whatever. It's like, okay, yeah, it might be days getting it out or what have you. But there's also not like you got to, you're going to have to

You're going to keep hunting. You're going to keep expending energy. Once you get something down, you, you, now your energy is just getting that out. So it's kind of like a trade-off, like you can keep hunting, but, um, do you know, you're using that energy now to, to get something out. I think of it like this. Maybe you went in, if it's, if you're new to it and you're like, Oh, this is so far. One thing you'll figure out is like, it's difficult, but you'll probably get it done or you will get it done. Sometimes it might take multiple trips. Um,

you know, I, I, a lot of the places I hunt carrying water sucks. Um, what I would have done on that particular thing is said like, okay, this is very difficult. I think what I would have done is done. Uh, I would have stashed a lot of my water, like say at the end where the deer is or whatever, and just done a couple stages. Um, you're clearly far enough where you were camping. So I would have, you know, one day packed my deer, uh, like back

to camp and then maybe a mile past camp, then set the deer back, then kind of leapfrogged it with the water in different stations. So I'd have my water to get out. And by the last trip, I've got my gear and the deer, and it's probably maybe like one last push to the vehicle, the last two or three miles, uh, with all my stuff. So I would have probably figured out a plan like that, uh,

Um, if you, if you, if you see something like that and you're like, okay, that's too far. I don't know how I'd get it out. Then I probably wouldn't have spent my time hunting in that area. If I had that, you know, if that makes sense, like where you're like, okay, it's going to be, if we see one back here, we aren't going to be able to get it out. I was just wouldn't hunt back there. Then I would instead spend my time hunting where it's like, I know I can get one out because you're kind of

wasting your time, almost looking for animals that you aren't going to go after when maybe there's not as many animals somewhere where you can get them out easily, but you're probably better off looking in those areas and not seeing anything than seeing something that you're like, I'm not going to take that out. Um, so that's why I, over the years, I've just developed this mindset that nothing's too far. Um, I've really, really, really had some like

I've had some horrible packouts. I mean, I've had packouts. I mean, I could probably hundreds of packouts that I think that really, really sucked. It taxed me to my physical limits, but I also put myself in that situation. And because of it, I was successful and pretty stoked to then doing it. But I understand too, like if you're just getting into it, maybe next time, like start out not going so far.

go to a place where it's like, okay, maybe a mile or two or three and then hunting in that area because you can find those places that are closer within your limits. And then, you know, working into it that way. I think that that's a better option than just going like balls out and then being back there and being like, no, this isn't going to work because I've, I there's been hunts where I've been on and I've like get back to the trailhead. I'm like, wow, man, I would have sucked if I had to carry something from back there. But I think me personally, I would have done it. Um,

Um, so I don't think that, uh, I just think it's one of those things like planning your hunt a little bit better next time where you kind of know, like, okay, this is a lot harder than you think. And now I also have to ahead of time factor in getting something out and then hunting those areas where you can get those things out. So you don't have to pass up something because it's in a place that's going to be difficult to pack out from. And that's my suggestion.

I hope that some of those questions help you guys out. Next week, we're going to jump into a few more stories, hopefully some tips that help you for some more later season hunting. I'm looking forward to this coming next year, maybe some of the stuff, the questions and suggestions I got, some more late season stuff, a lot of small game questions, a lot of people requesting

more tips on duck hunting and other things. I know I've talked about some duck hunting and only done one duck hunting episode. Uh, I'm actually on my way to go do some duck hunting up off of Kodiak Island. My dad drew an emperor goose tag. So I'm really looking forward to that. That's going to be later this season. Some of the hunts that I I've still got some, some of my best hunts, I think for the year coming up. So Kodiak deer and ducks, and then, uh,

uh, archery mule deer tag. I still got a late season archery mule deer tag. And then I've got that, um, Texas tag might even throw in some koozie deer, uh, in the Arizona area. Uh,

a lot of cool late season hunts still coming up for me. So I'm really looking forward to some of this stuff. I know the holidays are coming up and it's just going to be kind of weird this year with like COVID and everything like that, but hopefully I, you know, maybe some people can get out. And if you, if you're a big game hunter and haven't done a lot of small game hunting, maybe this is a good year to, to take that time where you can get out and do some outdoor activities with some people, uh,

and try something new or if you're new to hunting, I think there's a lot of awesome small game opportunities. A lot of great, I would say call it late season hunting, but there's a lot of great hunts still available from December through January, even maybe into February, depending on where you live. So,

A lot of cool things to look forward to. As always, please feel free to send me your suggestions. You can reach out remy at themediator.com or probably the easiest way because I've got all these hunts and traveling and moving around and outside and whatever via Instagram. You can always follow some of my stuff on there. And yes, I appreciate you guys. Thank you for checking it out and we'll catch you shortly.

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