Ep. 80: Answering Your Questions, Part 15
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As a guide and hunter, I've spent thousands of days in the field. This show is about translating my hard-won experiences into tips and tactics that'll get you closer to your ultimate goal, success in the field. I'm Remy Warren. This is Cutting the Distance. Welcome back, everyone. We are, it's that time of the podcast. We are jumping to the fabled mail sack and answering your burning questions.

I really appreciate all the responses we got this week. We just finished up, if you missed it, kind of a little series on becoming a bow hunter. A lot of great stuff in there. It's four parts. Everything you need to know from getting set up to being out in the field and being consistently successful. And I will say I got a ton of response of people that are getting into archery.

The next step would be, obviously, go back. If you haven't listened to all the podcasts, start finding some of these podcast tips that really relate to what you're getting into. Get a little bit more advanced information. And then, obviously, there's going to be a lot more info to come. This podcast is focused on all sorts of hunting, primarily Western big game hunting. But archery is a trending topic that seems to pop up a lot. So...

Keep tuning in. And a lot of the questions this week were archery based, a lot of new people getting into it and a lot of people that listened to this that maybe started last year and had some questions about things that they'd encountered that maybe wasn't covered. So I appreciate all these questions. Let's get into it right here. We'll start it off.

with Aiden Shuren from Bayfield, Wisconsin. He says, I love your podcast and your YouTube. A couple of questions. First, I need some help on bow hunting. I have three chances on some whitetails, but they always spook at half draw. What should I do? And then the second question is when I'm shooting in the backyard, I could not get a good group. I went through all the steps of draw, anchor, breathe, squeeze, slash release. What should I do? Those are great questions. So

One thing with archery, and I think in the last series, I really just tried to cover the fundamentals of the things you can do with your bow. Maybe not necessarily the hunting tactics per se, and we do cover a lot of hunting tactics, but one that needs to be noted is drawing at the right time. Now, if you're getting busted on whitetails when you're at half draw, you need to think about, okay, what is it that's catching them? If you're in a tree stand,

you start to draw and they look up at you, it might be extensive amount of movement. So you're doing that draw that I talk about where you're struggling sky drawing, making a lot of movement, and then that's catching their eye and then they're running. Or there's a point in your draw cycle that's making some noise. It might be the arrow bouncing off the shelf. It might be maybe you've got a drop-away rest and as it picks up the arrow, it clinks or something like that. So it's not a smooth draw and it's making noise.

pay attention to those things before you go out hunting and see, is there something in this setup that's alerting the animals to my presence? Another thing is it's super imperative that you draw when the animals are not looking. So when its head is behind, let's say a deer is coming in and its head passes behind a tree, that's when I draw.

you know, hopefully it doesn't make a noise where then they stop behind an obstruction, but you want to make sure that they're drawing when they're unaware. Sometimes you might have to let the animal come in, calm down, just let yourself sit and kind of almost think of it like acclimating to the environment. You want to make sure like the longer, sometimes you can sit there

the more unnoticed you go. So that calms you down, let the deer get settled. It depends like where they're at, why they're there. You know, maybe if they're moving into drink or something, they're always on edge at first. So letting them get acclimated, maybe start feeding around, looking in a different direction, then make your draw.

Those would be the things that I would suggest because if they start to spook half draw, that's no good. So something's obviously going wrong. Now to the second question, when you're shooting in your backyard, you're having trouble getting a good group. You have to eliminate the factors. I think of it like this. If I have a problem with my computer, right?

Isn't working. Well, the first thing I would do is I would plug in a new screen to see if it's the screen itself It's not working or the computer itself. It's not working. Okay, and then maybe that computer works and I would try the cord Okay, is it can and you can start taking away the things that it might not be to figure out what the problem is and I think the same thing would happen in Archery or shooting so we need to decide whether it's you or the bow and

It's generally always you, but sometimes it is the bow. So we need to decide, okay, is the bow set up? So we got to remember, is our bow in tune? Are we shooting level or maybe we canting the bow left or right? In the last podcast, we talked about that lean and how it affects your left and right movement. So decide how are these groups? Is it like what I would call a spray and pray where they're just all over the place, like no precision and no accuracy?

Um, if that's the case and your bow, everything's in tune, everything's right with the bow, let's start eliminating the first thing, which should be the shooter. So what I want you to do, I want you to go out and maybe have someone that lives with you, your friend or whatever kind of help you. So what you're going to do, you're going to draw back safely. You're going to anchor and you're going to just focus on the target. Now, if you have a trigger release, all I want you to do is continue to

to keep it on the target. And you're going to communicate with the person. Once you're on target, okay, you just keep holding it there. And then I want the person behind you to just reach up and tap the trigger, set the bow off. This really only works with a wrist release. It could work with a thumb button release where they could push the thing on the thumb. So you're going to be focused on there. You know, you obviously be in a safe direction, do this safely. But what we're, what we're trying to get there is you're just going to focus on the trigger. And I don't want you to be able to know when that bow is going to go off. So

You're there and then they're just going to kind of hit a surprise release for you.

Okay, did that arrow go where you were aiming? If you do that three to five times, right? And you're like, wow, okay, I'm shooting pretty good when I don't know the bow's going off. Then we can pretty much figure out that you have some form of target panic. And that's highly likely. It happens to a lot of people. It's essentially what's happening is your brain is telling yourself to jerk your arm in a certain direction right before that shot goes off.

So if that's the case, then you're going to have to start considering this really hard to break. So you're going to have to start to think about ways that you can fix that. That might be changing the type of release, changing the type of site,

Um, and maybe just kind of calming yourself down and going through that shot process a little better, the pulling through and, and not moving. Now, let's say you do that and it doesn't help, then maybe it might be the bow and, you know, or maybe you aren't holding in the right spot as well. So another thing to think about is kind of changing your, your distance as well. So start shooting really close and just see like, all right, when you're really, really close, um,

Are those groups where they should be? Are you like, I mean, go five feet from the target and just shoot at the bullseye, bullseye, bullseye, bullseye, bullseye. You should be able to get them all really close together. I mean, so close that you probably don't even want to shoot multiples at the same spot for fear of breaking an arrow. If you're really close to the target and it's not hitting where you want it to,

then it's probably not the bow because even bows that are not tuned properly or whatever, at very close ranges, they're going to pretty much stack arrows and they're fairly similar. So you'll know that that's another way to eliminate whether it's the bow or you. Now let's say that it's the bow. Then you can kind of go through and make sure everything's right with the bow. Start with paper tuning. See if that tunes right on the bow. Double check your level. Make sure your sight's level. Re-go through everything that we talked about. And

Maybe you could even, you know, I don't know if you know somebody that's got a bow of a similar size, try shooting that. Replace the bow with you shooting. If you can find one that's set up similar to the, I know that's really hard to do, but you know, it might be possible. So those are some options. And I say, once you get that figured out, you'll be well on your way to shooting better groups.

All right. This next question comes from Paul, Swan Valley, Montana. He says, Remy, love the podcast, especially when you include a personal story to illustrate your point. On a recent podcast, you said you shoot your bow with both eyes open. His question is, do you shoot your rifle this way? And if so, could you give pointers for both?

Yeah, so that's a great question, and I actually had quite a few questions referring to the both eyes open and left or right hand. Yes, I do shoot my rifle with both eyes open, a scoped rifle as well as open sights or anything. Everything I shoot, I try to shoot both eyes open, shotgun, rifle, pistol, rifle.

bows, doesn't really matter. It might take a little bit of practice, but you're going to be a better shot that way. I think now some people think, well, why with a rifle scope would it matter? I've found that when I shoot with both eyes open through the rifle scope, I actually kind of take a more calm approach than the squinting and the focusing in so hard. It allows me to kind of focus on the crosshair and the target. It's a way of me just calming down and focusing on

putting the crosshair where I want without so much strain. So I definitely think it's good. Now, if you're especially like muzzleloader, open sights, anything open sights, you absolutely want to shoot with both eyes open because you're going to be able to see the target and your sights at the same time.

So it is good to get in the habit of doing for everything. Obviously, you have to be using your dominant eye. So if it doesn't work for you, you need to use your other eye. If you're already ingrained in shooting a scoped rifle with your non-dominant eye, it's not worth switching at this point. It's not worth getting a left-handed and trying to figure that out because I think that that muscle memory is just going to be too hard to overcome. And you can shoot a rifle with your non-dominant eye because of the looking through the scope.

So I think that you'll be fine with that. But I would say if you're just, if you're shooting with your dominant eye, you want to start learning to shoot both eyes open. Do an approach where you kind of get steady. You look through with one eye closed, then you kind of open that eye and kind of start to squint your other eye. And over time, you're going to train your dominant eye to take over and look at that sight picture. And I think by training yourself to do that in the long run, you're going to be better off and take better shots.

And also, I do believe that shooting rifle with both eyes open helps control target panic in many ways. So flinching, and that's a problem that happens. And I think it happens when you're so focused in, you're so hyper-focused on everything that's going on that your brain reacts in a negative way to the anticipated kick. When you have both eyes open, what I like to do, and when I'm shooting a rifle, I think of this all the time. And I think of the thought of

don't blink. So I, you know, you think about it, but you instinctively blink. And that's the first step in making a flinch is your eyes closing. So what I've done in the past, I try to film myself taking a shot and see if I can shoot through the entire shot without blinking, where I'm focused on the target and I'm watching the shot as it happens. By doing that, you'll actually be surprised that, you know, if you aren't fully zoomed in, you can see

the impact. You can see everything because you aren't missing that. And it takes a lot of training, but it's a way that I've found to kind of calm myself down, make a better shot and not necessarily lose site acquisition or target picture while I'm shooting. So keeping both eyes open helps with that for sure for me personally. So the next question says,

Hey Remy, I'd like to hear your thoughts on arrow weight and for FOC, so front of center. I used to be big into bow hunting as a teenager and I'm currently trying to get back into it at 42 years old. Things have changed since then. I mostly whitetail hunt, but also about once a year go on an elk hunt out west. So I'm looking to build a do-it-all arrow. Thank you for all the great info. Tommy Vance, Radford, Virginia.

That's a good question, Tommy. A lot of people will talk arrows to death, in my opinion. So if you don't even understand what front of center is, what that is, is just if you take an arrow and you balance it, where is the weight of that arrow? So if you, for just ease of math, you've got a 20 inch arrow, which most people don't have, but a 20 inch arrow, half of that would be at 10 inches.

If you were to put that on a point, is that arrow going to balance at the center? Is that arrow going to balance a little more forward of center or back of center? So you have to think of it in many different ways. I think that there's a certain percentage, and I would say it would be 10% to 15% weight forward, where it flies really good but has a little bit more energy at the tip. Now, if you put too much weight forward –

Think of it like this. You've got like a noodle, a spaghetti noodle pushing like a brick and you don't want that because what's going to happen is you'll actually, you know, you're going to start diving off with your trajectory. So you want kind of a good balance where you've got a flat trajectory, but a very stable arrow in the air. And the stability just refers to the fact of like how it's spinning and where that arrow is going. Is it going straight where it should? And that's what you want.

But also, you know, you want that kinetic energy and that hard hitting when you've got a little bit more weight in the whole arrow itself. You're going to have more energy, so you're going to have probably deeper penetration. Actually, one thought to think about is a heavier arrow actually quiets down your bow setup. So if you've got a real loud bow, maybe think about using a heavier arrow because it will quiet down that bow better.

little bit. I definitely notice it on like extremes when I've got an arrow for my bow I shoot. I primarily shoot the same arrow all the time. So I've got a day six arrow. I shoot three veins, but I'm kind of thinking about maybe trying the four veins out here this year. I like to play around. I've got a little bit more weight forward, so I definitely shoot a front of center arrow. And I think that that's pretty standard. But I also think like if you're really

freaking out about exactly how much weight in your arrows or whatever. You're just kind of missing the point. You don't necessarily have to get too specific with it. You know, one thing I would do is it's pretty easy to figure out if you're shooting front of center, you can just kind of put the arrow on your finger, balance it, and then you can try different tips and different weights to get that balance where you want.

It's pretty easy to do. I would say definitely you want something a little bit front of center. I found that it flies more accurately, but it also, if you get too much weight out there, you start to get a lot more drop in

in your trajectory. And you don't necessarily want that either because, you know, you might be a yard or two off on the range or something like that. And you don't want to make a bad shot or miss because of it. So I think that there's a good balance. I think that the best is be like that 10 to 15% front of center for what I've found, uh, for hunting purposes.

Next question says, "Remy, I've listened to a bunch of podcasts you've been on and just recently started listening to Cutting the Distance and your bow hunting series. I'm gearing up for my first archery elk hunt this fall, most likely solo. I've been shooting the same bow for 16 years.

I've had it since I was 15. It was my first Hoyt and thinking I'll stick with a Hoyt. In your opinion, what should I be looking for in a new bow? Really hoping to get another 15 plus years out of a new one. Zach, Western New York. That's a good question, Zach. I mean, there's a lot of people out there that I mean, I probably myself, if I didn't, if I didn't work with bow companies, I'd probably just shoot the same bow forever.

because you get used to it. There's a lot of things that you like about it, but there's also so many great advances in technology of bows. So it doesn't really matter. I mean, if you're going to stick with the same company or whatever, that's great. There's bows that you like. They've probably changed a lot since that bow that you have. So I would say one thing that I like to do is I kind of like to, if possible, and I know this might be hard now in the state of everything, but

If you can shoot a few different bows, feel what feels good to you. And if you have the same bow for a very long time, a bow that is the same axle to axle length is probably going to feel the best. That's just because you're used to that string angle. You're used to that bow so much so that something else might be uncomfortable. I know when I started shooting a smaller axle to axle bow, it felt really terrible and I didn't shoot it well.

You also want a bow that kind of feels similar or something that feels comfortable. Now there's a couple considerations, something like, you know, whether you have a deep or shallow valley. So when you get to full draw, whether that thing kind of wants to jump forward or whether it's got a lot of play in there where you can be a little bit more loosey goosey with it. And that might just depend on what you're used to shooting and the new bow out there. Maybe look forward the latest and greatest model. I think that that's a great way to go. Like the newest bows are generally the most advanced bow.

There are always, every company's got good years, like boom and bust years of like where they just figured out and then they make some tweaks the next year and it's not as good, but the next year they kind of go a different direction and you're always chasing that. So I think that you just find a bow that feels comfortable for you. And then obviously one that fits you, you may want to even just

Remeasure your draw length again, you know in 15 years you might have grown a little bit Maybe you're shooting a bow that's a little short for you at this point as far as draw length goes so make sure everything's right and Gonna be really good because probably the next 15 years you'll you'll grow less and have less changes in everything than than your previous bow so Definitely think about getting a bow that kind of feels good to you and go from there. I hope that helps. I

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Next question says, Hey, Remy, huge fan. Been with Cutting the Distance from the start. Thanks for all the free knowledge that I know has really increased my odds of success. It says, I have a New Mexico Barbary sheep tag, and I'm really considering giving it a shot with my bow. Any advice for putting a stock on these particular animals to get within bow range? Thanks. Keep up the great work on the podcast. Lorenzo from New Mexico.

Yeah, that's a good question. Barbary sheep are one of those animals that I think is really cool that you can actually hunt those on free range over the counter or even just draw units in New Mexico. Any kind of sheep hunt, any kind of goat hunt, I think one of the things and one of the secrets to getting close is getting above them.

They are alpine-type animals, and one thing you'll notice about mountain goats, about bighorn sheep, about other goats, is that they generally are looking down for danger because they're used to being at the top of the mountain. So their main vulnerability is going to be from above them.

It's really handy to have a spotter because, you know, if you have somebody help directing you into where you're going, that's always good. It's very difficult sometimes if the animals move to get into position from above because you're approaching at a place that they, you can't really see what's below you and they can't see what's above them.

Another good tactic is kind of waiting until they get below a cliff band. That's the easiest way to get close. Now, oftentimes they go below bands where the wind is not in your favor, so it's going downhill. They kind of pick the side. But the rougher terrain and then getting in from above is going to be your best chance at getting a close shot. And I think that by doing that, you're going to really trick many of their senses.

and you should be able to get within bow range. It's obviously going to be a little bit tougher, but sometimes a rifle hunt where you're planning on shooting across the canyon, you stop your hunt when you get to that point. If you only have the option of taking your bow along, it's going to be a little bit more challenging, but you probably will be able to do it because you're doing it. I will say on a hunt like that where you could take a rifle or a bow, you always think, oh, I'll take both. I've

I've found in the past, I've taken both and I always end up using the rifle if that opportunity presents itself. So on that tag, because you can hunt so long in the season, I would say, try it with a bow for a few weekends or however, you know, take it, just go with the bow. And as long as you're okay with going home without something, you're going to have a really, really good time. Enjoy yourself. So good luck on that and keep me posted. Love to hear how it goes.

Question says, Hey, Remy, love the podcast and many shows and videos you've done. Also, as just this is me saying this, you know, a lot of people talk about the podcast and the videos. If you guys want more videos, please find me on YouTube.

I'd love for you guys to follow me there on my own channel as well as a solo channel, but search Remy Warren YouTube channel. I should come up. You should find me. I'm going to be putting a lot more videos there in the future. So some of the stuff that I talk about here, you might see some cool stuff and tactics and just some entertaining stuff on there. So make sure to subscribe. Little plug for myself. Okay, back to the question.

Your podcast has taught me more in a year and a half than my 20 years of hunting previously. I've got a question for the mail sack. He says, I've got an out-of-state spring bear hunt this year and plan on backpacking with a couple buddies. If one of us is successful on the first day, that could mean we have meat on the mountain for about six days.

temps are supposed to be between 30 and 50 degrees with elk deer etc i wouldn't worry about it but i know that you aren't typically supposed to cure bear do you think it would be okay to hang that long obviously well shaded etc with all the other tips you've given in the past uh thanks a ton and keep up the great work brandon from nevada

That's a good question, Brandon. You know, it really depends on how the temperatures are out there. I will say bear meat tends to spoil faster than other meat, particularly in the fall because of the fat. Now, if you're hunting early in the spring, you probably will encounter those cooler temperatures. And I think that it would be okay, you know, and probably spring bears, you got to realize are not going to be very fatty.

I think that that fat traps the heat in and that's what makes it. So I would say one thing you do if you get a bear that's real fatty, I would take the fat off of the meat so it allows it to cool better. I'd make sure that it's hanging, obviously, in game bags separated out. And at night, you've got it clearly hanging. And then in the daytime, the sun's not hitting it and

it and baking it. You want to make sure that it's got good air circulation, all those things with everything else, and you'll be fine. I put a spring bear that I shot last year in, I've got an upright fridge thing. I actually let it dry age for about seven days and it was great. It was still all good, nothing wrong, but that was in a controlled refrigerated environment. Six days is about

the max that you want. I really wouldn't want to go further than that. You know, you might want to think about the possibility, you know, if it's, if it's warm, you know, maybe send a guy out where he can get in and kind of have somewhere that you can get it to refrigeration.

But outside of that, I think that you guys will be fine. Those 50 degree temperatures I'd start to worry about, but, you know, might not be, that might be the ambient temperature in the sun and you've got more shade and whatever, then it's going to stay cool. Something to think about, you know, make sure that you've got something, some form of actually checking the temperature. And you could even take a meat thermometer, uh,

with you because if you're going to eat, I do this on spring bear hunts when I backpack in, I just bring a little meat thermometer because I actually temperature gauge the meat that I'm cooking over the fire. Like if I'm going to cook up some bear steak for dinner or whatever, especially over a fire, I actually will thermometer it and make sure that I hit that hundred and over that 160 degrees. So I know that I'm not going to get trichinosis, but I've used it before to probe meat as well and just say, okay, is that meat staying under that fire?

40 degree threshold. Like, is it staying cool? Is it, is it cool enough? And that's something to think about as well. But honestly, I think that you'll be fine with the kind of what you've laid out here, but the six days is kind of getting close to it, but that would also mean that you got successful on your first day. So, you know, I think, I think you'll be fine.

This next one's just more of a testimonial. It says Kevin from British Columbia. He says, I love the podcast. I just started watching Solo Hunter. Just listening to the first 38 podcasts has inspired me to be a better outdoorsman. Stay well, Kev. Appreciate that. I really enjoy all the feedback that I get from everybody like that. So thank you guys all, everybody that sent in something.

This next question comes from Jimmy. He says, been following your archery startup series. Often, not just you, refer to finding your shot with a rifle at 50, to heaven forbid, 500 yards. I know where I can shoot and not hit the gut or just wound an animal. If a deer is facing me at 75 yards head on, and I'm about level with him, I'm not scared to take the next shot

and snap the spine. And so his question is, with archery, can I do the same? If the deer's milling around under me in a tree stand, is there a safe shot straight down? And then he asks, can I get a broadhead to penetrate or even clip a shoulder blade and still take both lungs? So he says he's been into archery for years, never hunted though, just started putting together his bow and tackle and training for the next bow season. Those are good questions. If you're primarily a rifle hunter, can you make shots that are...

you know, maybe not the vital area and be successful at taking down that animal? The answer is yes and no. So here's the truth of the matter. There's a lot of areas on a deer or other animal that an arrow will stick into and not penetrate and not kill. It will wound, it will do whatever. Now, whether it'll be lethal or not,

I mean, that remains to be seen. I have shot deer under right circumstances in the neck with a bow and spying them and killed them immediately, but it's very difficult to do because it's something that moves. It often happens sometimes accidentally where you clip the spine or something else, but I would not recommend it as a shot on a deer. A better shot would be like if you're on level ground in the chest or

That shot gets taken a lot by archers on both mule deer, but primarily elk. Just understanding where that kill zone is, it's a little higher than most people think. And that's not a bad shot to take. I take quartering two shots often in waterhole or especially in an antelope. They tend to come into the waterhole kind of facing the blind.

But I definitely try to shy on the inside if it's like facing me on the inside of the shoulder blade. The shoulder blade is tricky because if you've got a really powerful setup, you'll probably get through it enough to get one lung. But most bow setups, a lot of guys hit that shoulder blade and that arrow stops and that's the end of it. And there's a big blood trail and they think that they should be getting something and they don't. So if you can be more patient and wait for a better shot, 100% do it.

Now, shooting straight down, you know, you can aim for right. I mean, like it'd have to be straight, straight down, like something where it's right below your tree stand. At that point, it's so close. I mean, you would be like 10 yards. Yeah, you could definitely shoot between the shoulder blades straight down. And that's not a bad shot. You're going to be hitting the vitals and probably spying the animal.

But, you know, if you clip the shoulder, you just want to make sure that you're at close range or you've got enough penetration. I actually, I mean, I know my setup will hammer through the shoulder of most game animals out to a decent distance. So I actually kind of put it on the shoulder in some instances, like in that pocket of the shoulder, but I'm not afraid of the shoulder blade itself with my personal bow setup.

If you know that you've got a lot of penetrating power, a lot of energy going through there, and it's going to break through the shoulder, yeah, you'll be fine. But I definitely would err on the side of staying away from the shoulder if possible and making that vital shot. So I hope that helps.

This question says, Hey Remy, this is Mike from Texas. I'm loving your podcast brother and have been keeping up with you for a few years now. I do have question for you about bow hunting. He says he hunts in East Texas with a traditional bow from a tree stand and wanted to know if there was some things that I could go over for that style of hunting since almost everything I do is by stock only, you know, honestly, and this is good for everyone like getting into it to hear. I think one of the best ways to start out bow hunting is

is from a stand or a blind. And because you have a little bit closer shots and a little bit more controlled environment, the animal's coming in unaware of you. And so you don't have to worry about so many other things. You can really focus on taking your shot. I know with traditional gear, I don't hunt from tree stands often, but I have. And I found that it's a great way to be successful and get close and get that shot.

And, uh, one thing that I will say with any bow for me, maybe especially with traditional gear is to practice shooting from that elevated position. If you, wherever you practice, if you have the room to practice shooting from a tree stand or whatever, I think that that is going to really help you make a good shot.

And another thing to think about is just kind of like being at that angle where you're bending at the waist first and then drawing to your anchor point and releasing. Some things that, you know, you might not think about shooting at that angle or when you're just getting started into bow hunting, you're practicing a lot on flat ground.

but that should translate to the same as shooting from a tree. And the nice thing about shooting at a tree, you know, you're shooting at the animal at an angle, so you want to kind of practice that on a 3D target or whatever you have, but it's a great way to get close and get some good ethical shots and some good action, especially starting out.

This question is kind of in that same vein, but I think it's worth reading here. It says,

that has long seasons and over the counter tags. It's actually a place that I know well. He says, there's a lot of country in that zone and I'm finding it difficult to narrow down what type of train to hunt in. I prefer spot and stock with a rifle, but I feel like the best place to start with the bow is ambush style hunting in a standard blind, specifically in the river bottoms. Do you agree that this is sensible way to start bow hunting or is there something else I should be thinking about? Thanks.

Thanks. Yeah, that's a great question. I absolutely think that starting out stand or blind is a great way to go.

I get those, these same over the counter archery doe tags that this person gets. I often try to do a little bit of spot and stock on them because I just think it's, it's fun for me. But if I was just starting out, definitely doing a ground blind or a stand has its advantages. One thing that I look for is, well, two things that I look for. I like to focus in on bedding areas and

as well as travel routes. So you got to figure out, okay, where are they feeding? Where are they bedding? Often they're going to be bedded in really thick stuff.

And I found a lot of success doing this where I kind of go in on a, almost like a scouting mission where I, I move and I, okay, I bump deer in the middle of the day. You know, this is like big country type stuff. If you've got a small plot of land, you probably don't want to do this, but you got to figure out where they're bedding. And they often will bed in the same kind of thick areas. So the middle of the day when they should be bedded kind of start still hunting through these areas. And you might blow a few deer out and you're going to go,

Okay, here's where they're bedding. So what you're going to do is you're going to either figure out where they're getting to that area from or just setting up in that area where you've got good shooting lanes. You know, they will filter back through their incoming days. So if it's somewhere that you can get into quiet without blowing them out or get into in the morning while they're out feeding and then wait for them as they move into these bedding areas, that's a great tactic. It also works really well with ground blinds. I think tree stands are better in some ways because you're

you have a little bit better view. You aren't just so narrowed in. You kind of see around you if possible. I know on late season hunts, you know, something to think about is maybe just more feeding areas. So where they come out and where they feed, it could be on the edge of agriculture, but it also could be

River bottom stuff, they tend to feed out in those open areas of the river bottom, especially late. So you'll see them even just traveling the river bottoms as well. So little creeks, little funnels, things that funnel and move the deer, kind of focus on those. Find trails, find areas that they're moving, sit and wait. And I think that's a great strategy for bow hunting, especially when you're just getting started because bowhunting,

You want something, I mean, hunting does is a great way, like where you can have multiple tags and a lot of opportunity, anything where you get a lot of opportunity to take those skills that you've learned and be successful with it. That is a great starting point. So I think kudos to you for, for giving that a try. And I think anybody that has that opportunity, it's a great way to go.

This question says, Hey, Remy, I appreciate the archery series. I just listened to the 201 and another podcast with Tom Klum. For those of you that don't know, he's a really good archer.

resource for traditional archery. So he says, it's been good to be reminded these tips. I've been successful this season with my bow by taking some grouse in Colorado and a few hogs in Florida. Today, I decided to put the rifle down and take my bow out for a late Alabama deer hunt and try to get a doe. Last night, three does came out at 30 yards. Easy. I thought I missed over her back. Can you talk about shooting in low light situations? Thanks.

Alex from Alabama. Yeah, that's a good question. Now, I think often I would say more animals, especially from an angle, get shot or missed over the back. There's two things that went wrong there. One, you know, you could have been aiming in the wrong spot, shooting down, you know, it's easy, but also the animal could have jumped a little bit. So,

Hit that range, even though it's close, it's far enough that an animal can completely move out of the target. I like to aim for the heart when I'm shooting, especially down or in those evening situations. Maybe they're coming out to feed. It's low light. They're more going to be apt to jump towards sound because their sight's going to be slightly impaired. So they're going to hear that bow go off.

And then they're going to get out of the way of that arrow. So one thing you want to think about is like we talked about in our 202, make sure that bow's quiet and then picking an aim point that's a little bit lower. That'll help kind of from that over the back miss, which is probably the most common place that an arrow goes. Very rarely are things shot under, but it does happen. Now, as far as low light, you know, I guess there's,

a couple of things you could think about. I actually tend to shoot better in low light because the brightness of my site is not, you know, it just depends on, on your site because you,

sometimes the brightness, like if you've got a light on your site or other things, it makes that pin too big and it makes it too hard to see the target, but you also need to be able to see your pin. So it depends on how low the light is, what are legal shooting hours in your area, whatever. But one thing you want to think about is not getting that pin too bright and not getting that pin too dark, being able to focus on the target. So you need to be able to shoot at something that you can see very clearly. Now, if it's too dark to do that, it might just be bad timing and you might want to have to wait

for a different shot opportunity or a closer shot opportunity or just have to pass that opportunity up

in general. Like if it's too dark to shoot, it's too dark to shoot, whether it's legal or not. There's been many times where I've been hunting or especially in a ground blind where it's, it's not legal shooting lights still out. And I draw back and go, nah, it's too dark. I can't see my pins. The animal's too dark. I just got to wait and try to find a better opportunity next time. But I think if you kind of take those other things into consideration next time, maybe, uh, you know, make sure everything's quiet, aim a little bit lower, anticipate a little bit of a jump

you might find success on that same shot in the future. I appreciate all the questions that came in. As always, feel free to reach out to me via social media. You can find me at Remy Warren on Instagram. You can check out some YouTube videos by just searching my username, Remy Warren.

You should be able to find some cool stuff there. Thank you guys all for tuning into the podcast week after week. I really appreciate that. Next week, I think we're going to start talking about some of the –

And that way we can kind of get everybody ready and in the mindset of if you're thinking about applying for tags, kind of the type of things you need to consider, some prime dates, all that good stuff. So you're ready for your hunt this fall, whether it be with a bow, whether it be with a rifle, whether it be something new, something old, elk, mule deer, antelope, white tails, whatever you got, spring bears, whatever.

We want to make sure that you get all the information you need to be successful and get that starting point of, okay, how do I get started? How do I get in the field? And that first step is getting those tags. So until next week, keep those questions coming and we will catch you all later.

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