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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. On this week's podcast, I left last week's Q&A kind of a cliffhanger. The question was,
asking and talking about how and where do you set up a camp when you're elk hunting. It's a question that I get asked probably more than most. Things like, where do I camp? Or say you spot some elk in the night before in the basin, where should I set up my tent? Or where's the most strategic place to stay? How will I know that I'm not going to be blowing elk out when I'm camping? I constantly receive these kinds of questions. So on this week's podcast, I'm going to break down everything you'll need to know about hunting camp locations, the types of camps,
location options, and how to assess a camp spot based on some key factors. But before we do that, I want to share the story of a deer hunt and what I called a punishment hike back to camp. On this particular hunt, it was an early season archery mule deer hunt. My buddy Mike and I had applied as a party. I think my brother Jason also was in a party with us.
Now, when it comes to mule deer, I get fairly picky on the type of deer I want to shoot. I like to go out. I like, if I've got a lot of time, I like to hunt for a really big buck. And this particular year, I had quite a bit of time before guiding to go out and hunt for myself. So Mike's work schedule didn't really allow him to go out at the beginning of the season. So I went out to the area and just started hunting solo. And then he was going to join me
when he got some time off work. So I was about the first, I don't know, maybe seven or 10 days. I was hunting by myself and hunting really hard, but I just did not see a buck that I wanted to stock. I had hunted like the entire week and not really put on a stock on anything because I
I was seeing a lot of deer, but just nothing of the caliber that I'd seen in that area before. Now, this area was kind of like had varying terrain, but fairly high altitude. You could go up to over 12,000 feet and the valley floor is probably around five to 7,000 feet and kind of hunting in this mid range of that seven to 8,000 feet.
But there was a back country area that I wanted to explore, but I figured I'd wait till I wasn't sure exactly what day Mike was going to come in because if he could get off work early, he would come in early. So I figured I'd hunt stuff that I liked to hunt. And then when he came in, we could then both pack into the wilderness and check out some other spots. So Mike gets into camp and we hunt around. I show him a few of the deer that I'd seen and
And just, you know, was like, I haven't really found anything that I want to stock. So he's like, well, let's go into the wilderness. I was like, yeah, sweet. Sounds good. So we packed up our bags and started hiking in early the next morning. It was a pretty good, it's a pretty good climb in there. I think we started probably around 7,000 feet elevation. That was where we parked and we hiked up to over 12,000 feet. So we hike up over, go through the saddle, get on this pass and we start glassing for the evening.
And I'm glassing kind of back down. We've got, our plan is just kind of like bivy sack. So we've got all of our food, our camp, everything with us, and we're just going to camp as we go. The first night we were planning on camping in the saddle because there's a pretty good haul up there. And then we could start hunting our way into some of the back basins that are really far back there and you can't really access.
So as we get up, we're hiking up and before we set up camp, we were like, I'm like, okay, let's go glass off into the, these couple areas. We go back and I'm glassing kind of back down where we came from and halfway up the mountain, there's a group of five deer. And I'm like, there's a pretty good buck in there. There's definitely one that I would stock. I've hunted,
over a week and not seen a deer I would sneak on. There's a pretty solid big four by four in there, like 175 plus. I was like, that's the best deer I've seen so far. I'll definitely stock that deer. Mark's like, yeah, let's go get him. So I'm like, okay, sweet. So we dropped down off the ridge and we had to lose a lot of elevation. We hiked up over 5,000 feet gain. And now we're dropping back down like another, I don't know, 2000 feet, maybe a little more.
So we dropped down and what I noticed is the deer are kind of on this ridge and I'm looking at the way they're going to feed. I'm like, oh, they're definitely going to feed into the wind. And there's this kind of like cliffy, not really a cliff, but like this little, um,
You could see a pretty good trail that they were near and like a finger ridge going down and a pretty good like rock pile brush kind of thing in between that trail and the deer. So we're moving down, we're moving down and kind of keep, we can keep them in sight. We drop back over the other side of the ridge, move in. We stop at about 150 yards and like, all right, drop my pack here and sneak in. It's like, sweet. I was like, okay, Mike.
stay right here. Don't move. I, I'm going to go down. I'm just going to set up. Cause like, like they're feeding up. Perfect. I bet you they just feed right along that trail and I'll have a sweet shot. He's like, okay. I was like, all right, just stay here. Stay with the gear. I'll come back. He's like, okay.
So I start sneaking down, take off my shoes, like creeping in on the backside of the ridge. They're completely obscured from where I'm at. The wind's really good. And I'm a little bit worried that the wind might shift as the evening goes on, but I think I'll be fine. So the wind's actually really strong. So I don't think thermals are going to mess with me. I'm like, sweet, this is perfect. I creep down and as I'm creeping, I'm like ranging this part where I think they're going to cross.
I get like 50 yards, creep a little bit closer. I kind of peek over the ridge and see the deer on the other side, maybe like 90 yards down. And they're still feeding my way. And I noticed there's like, I think there was like six of them. And, uh, and like, I can only, I can see the big buck and like two of the other bucks and the big buck was in the back. And then the other deer disappeared behind this little ledge. And I'm like, oh, this is perfect.
So I sneak in a little bit more, like being super quiet, super careful. It's steep. It's rocky. It's loud. And I'm just placing every foot so carefully. And I get down and range where they're going to cross. It's like 34 yards. Sweet. Set up, knock an arrow, and I'm just waiting. And sure enough, I start to see velvet tips coming through. I'm like, okay. Buck walks out, one of the small bucks. Range him. Boom. Perfect. Perfect.
He walks out and just keeps feeding. Next buck walks out. And now those deer are feeding at like 40, 50 yards as they like move through. And each one of these bucks stopped at this little grass patch, 34 yards. Munches a little bit, a little bit of like mountain, like a little bit of brush there. Munches on it and then cruises out a little bit and starts feeding at like 40 something, 50, whatever. Next set of antler tips.
All right. Range it. Sweet. Okay. Now I'm just like, I know the range of everything and all these deer are taking the exact same path. And I'm just sitting frozen, waiting for the big buck to come out. Another deer comes out, another deer comes out. And I'm like, every single one of these deer has taken the same path. This is game time. As soon as I see his antler tips, I'm just going to draw back and wait. So all those deer come out.
And I'm like, all right, this is it. I see the antler tips of the big buck. I'm just about getting ready to draw back. I'm like, there's like one spot where I could see the antler tips, then they disappear. I'm like, then I could see them again. So I'm like, I've got it all planned out. All the deer did the same thing. I'm getting ready to draw and I hear something behind me.
just a rock rolling. And I'm like, it was loud. And I'm like, what? And all those other deer spooked out the big bucks spooks out. I draw back and they all stop it in unknown range, probably 80, a 70, a hundred. I just don't even know.
And that's it. My stock's blown. I'm like, what the heck happened? I turn around and about 50 yards behind me is Mike, just like ghost white with this look on his face. Like, oh man, I really screwed that up. And having like hunted really hard for about 10 or 12 days,
I was just like, you've got to be kidding me. This is the one deer that I saw that would have shot. And he was seconds away from getting an arrow run right through him. And Mike just blew him out because he didn't stay put. So I walk out. I'm like fairly ticked off. But I'm like, dude, what the hell are you doing, man?
And in his defense, he's the nicest guy. I mean, that's why we're really, he's just the nicest guy on the planet. But he's like, oh, I didn't know what was going on. So I thought I would come down and help you range just in case they were coming out and you needed somebody to range. In which case, that's a very nice offer. But I mean, it was just like, dude, I told you to stay there. And he's like, I know. He's like, I know. I'm so sorry. And I was just like, fairly pissed. I'm like, well, okay.
So we walk up to the packs and I'm just like, you know what?
screw it. The deer blown out of here. And they were, they, they blew out hard. It's like the deer blown out of here. I was like, I'm not, it's a crappy spot to camp. It's like super steep. I'm just like, screw it. We're, we're camping at the top. I grabbed my pack and I just start trudging up to the top of the mountain. So we're, we're hiking another like 2000 vertical feet up one of the steepest parts of the mountain just to find a flat spot to camp. Not that we couldn't have found a spot down there, but I was like, no, you know what?
You blow the stock, you make the walk. So we just like, I just like start hammering up the mountain as fast as I can go. And Mike's got his pack on and I can see he's just falling behind, falling behind. And I'm sure that it's just eating him up. And I'm like, no, he's going to wallow in it when he walks. So I get up to the top and I sit down and have a break and I think about it. I'm like, no, you know what?
Mike's like your best friend. And that's just a terrible punishment, but he probably feels bad enough blowing it. So I looked down and he's still a long ways down the mountain. And so I think to myself, well, I got to make it right. So I hiked back down the mountain, maybe another thousand feet. I don't know. And he's dying. He's like, he's struggling. He's on the struggle bus. Like he just came in from lower elevation. And this is like,
charging up the mountain and I've been living there for like a while. And so the elevation didn't really bother me at all.
So I'm like, all right. I was like, Mike, give me your pack. He's like, no, I can't let you do that. I was like, Mike, give me your pack. I chose the camp spot. I dropped the pack. I made us trudge up here. I'll carry your pack the rest of the way. And begrudgingly he did it, but the hike was still pretty bad. We got up and we just rolled out our bivy sacks and made a nice dinner and just laughed. He's just laughing. He's like, oh man, that was punishment. He's like, I get it. I get it. I won't do that again. And I'm
And to this day, we still laugh about that story when Mike decided to sneak in on the bucks, blew them out, and went on a punishment hike back to camp. I honestly think if I had a dollar for every time someone asked me where to camp, I'd have a very sizable collection of dollars. I'm not saying I'd have a million dollars, but I'd have a lot of dollars. I think for the most part, I really didn't think too hard about that question because for myself, it just seemed like,
It was so situational and really, I don't really think about it too much. And then when I really did start to think about it, the answer kind of became extremely complicated because there's no set answer and it depends on a ton of factors. So I figured I'd cover most of the things that
that involve camp selection. And then that way you can be your own expert. And when you encounter a scenario or something, then you kind of know, okay, this is the right move to make. And I really think that this is primarily a question from people who this is their first time, this type of trip. And it makes sense. You go like, okay, I get out there. Like I see some elk. Where do I, do I, do I hike back three miles and set up a camp? Do I, how close is too close? How far is too far? So I just want to cover kind of, uh,
an intro to setting up camp, but also kind of some of my thoughts and things that I do when I am setting up a camp or a base camp. But before we do that, I say that there, I mean, there's so many hunts myself that I've gone on and I've had a pretty subpar camp. And then there's others where I'd just go back to that spot to hang out, camp for the weekend. And
But before I really get too deep into the types of camps, I think we kind of need to go over camp definitions. So let's first talk about the places that you might camp.
I broke, I would break that out into two sections. So either front country. So I like to call that like, this is anything you can access by a road or vehicle. So it could be a four wheeler, it could be a truck, whatever. That's the front country. And then the second would be the back country. So anything that you'd have to non-motorized to walk, ride, bike, it could be off of a gated logging road. It could be whatever, but it's just a type of camp where you can't bring your vehicle.
Aside from that, a few other camping terms you should know are like the types of camps. So the first one would be a base camp. And this kind of the definition of that would be your main camp. This could be a large camp.
but it doesn't have to be. A base camp is really, the way I define it, is just a camp that really doesn't rove very often. It's kind of in one place. You set it up at the beginning of the hunt and you take it down at the end. It's kind of where you base your hunts out of or from. Now, this might mean that you hunt out of it every day, or it might mean that you leave and kind of keep it set up and camp somewhere else.
With the next type of camp, which I would call a spike camp, this is often a smaller type camp and can be out of a base camp, but it's lighter. You're often going deeper and probably more into that backcountry. You can definitely have a base camp in the backcountry. You can definitely make a lighter setup a base camp, but that spike camp would be kind of any kind of camping out from that base camp where you may stay a few days in one spot and then pack up and move somewhere else later.
So it's a little bit more mobile. And then the third type of camp would be like a bivy camp. This is what I'd consider like a lightweight camp. It's carried around every day and then repitched every night where you stop. So if you're bivy hunting, you're kind of like camps always on your back and wherever you are at the end of the day or wherever you find or wherever you end up, that's kind of where you're setting up camp. I would say I do a mixture of all these types of camps.
I think the size also varies depending on the type of camp. So like a large base camp could be extremely sizable. You might have a trailer, a wall tent, a truck bed, or even like a small pop-up tent. I mean, it doesn't necessarily have to be a large camp, but it's somewhere it's like, Hey, this is a good spot. Maybe you found like a sweet camping area, a campsite,
Maybe something near a river or whatever. Maybe it's just like, hey, there's some fishing here near a lake. So you set up a good base camp and it's generally going to be for a good duration, but also gives you access to a lot of areas to hunt.
And then that spike camp is often smaller, lighter, and used to get into an area that I would say like set up and hunt maybe a little bit deeper. So it's like I would do that. And this is probably the most common type of backcountry camp. It's fairly light. You might hike in one to five miles, whatever, set up a camp and then hunt out of that camp. So it's like a spike camp and a base camp all in one.
And then that bivvy camp, that real light one. I mean, there's been times where I've essentially started out in a base camp, camping out of my truck, spiked in with a lightweight setup. And then from that lightweight setup, bivvied out with just like my sleeping bag and a tarp and gone out and explored some new areas. And this is going to be your lightest setup. It's super mobile and always backcountry.
I would say that every hunt where you camp and how you camp depends on the type of hunt in the area. So we need to kind of break down what makes a good camping spot in general. And here's what I look for when I'm camping or things that I think are kind of at the top of the list. Water.
shelter, access to the hunt area, super important. And then flat spot, if possible. That's always like the cherry on the top. If you can camp somewhere flat, sweet, because it just makes for an easier night of sleep.
Backcountry, I like to camp where I can easily get water, but there's always this balance of that and then access to the hunt area. So one nice thing about camping near water is these are things that you need in, I mean, not only to survive, but to be successful, to hunt hard, you're going to have to have water and water is super heavy to carry. If you can have it in your camp, it makes it easier for cooking. It makes it easier for filling your water bottles for the day. It makes it easier to drink at the end of the day.
Now I say that that's a balance between access to the hunt area because many times, like let's say that early season deer hunt that I was talking about before, most of the deer were living up at the high elevation, but the water was 2000 feet below the top and the basins where the deer were living. So in that case, okay, do I hike down every day to get water or do I just fill up a lot of water, hike up to the top, camp for a couple of days, and then when I need water or maybe find a new water source up at the top somewhere that I didn't know about,
And if not, hike down and then hike back up with the water. And that's kind of one of those things where you can balance that, where you aren't carrying so much water if you camp near water. So you're saving a lot of energy. But then there's other times where it's like, hey, I need to get to this, like,
it's better for me to be up glassing in the morning. I get to this glassing knob every day. Maybe I can camp there and then have better access to the ridge behind and maybe find some water somewhere else. But for the most part, camping near water helps in a lot of ways for weight carrying, weight savings, and just it's something that you need. You need it for cooking. You need it for drinking. So I like to plan my camp spots based on that where I can get water.
And if I'm doing that ahead of time, I try to find, okay, here's a stream, here's a Creek. Maybe here's a, a spring. I don't, I won't camp like on a spring, especially if it's something that animals are using. I definitely stay away from that, but camping where there's a little bit of water or water nearby is definitely a plus or a bonus. Another option too, in the back country is a lot of times I like if it's, um, earlier in the season, maybe camping towards snow line or snow melt, I can use that snow to make water. So that's, that's another option.
Now shelter, one thing I think of shelter in a couple ways. One is kind of try to get out of the wind. It does a lot of good to be able to get your camp out of the wind. It makes it easier to sleep when that tent's flapping and just ripping and kind of terrible. It makes for a hard night's sleep. And if you don't get a lot of sleep, then you kind of lose that energy. You get tired in the middle of the day. And some of those midday glassing, the times that you could be hunting,
you end up dozing off. There's like, I mean, I don't know how many times I've been on a hunt. It's like you wake up, you get ready. And by the best glassing times, you're like nodding off in your binoculars and your arm is sharp. So having a good night's sleep is awesome. But getting out of the wind makes that a lot more possible.
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Now, another factor of shelter is not just getting out of the wind, if possible, but kind of concealing yourself, concealing yourself from the animals that might be around and sheltering yourself from the elements, but also from an area where the deer, elk, whatever might
be. So tucking in and getting a good spot. One thing that I think about too, when I'm picking a camp spot, I like to think of it like, okay, shelter, but I also want to watch out for danger. So I don't like to camp where there might be things like trees that could fall. I'm sheltering and protecting myself from stuff like that. So many times if it's like a burn area, I will camp as far away from trees as possible or an area where trees can't fall over.
Actually, last year, I was setting up a camp. And as I'm setting it up, I'm like, okay, I got to find a spot where there are no dead trees, which was nearly impossible. And as I'm setting up camp, trees are just falling all over the place because the wind was blowing. So I ended up cutting down a couple of the trees that could have potentially fallen in my direction and slept a lot, lot better.
but it's always good to find, um, you know, figure out where the prevailing wind is, pick a spot that's out of the wind in a little sheltered spot. And it's going to be a lot better camp spot. And then of course the bonus of all bonuses flat, it's very hard to set a tent and camp for a prolonged period of time on a steep hillside. I've done it. I don't like to do it. There's been times like mountain goat hunt last two years ago, we were just bivy sack hunting, but
We were like at the dark, we're going to stop and find a camp. And then we couldn't find a spot that was protected, sheltered out of the wind or flat. And it made for a rough night of sleeping with just the wind ripping and sliding all over the place. So if you can find those things, that's, those are things that make a good camp spot. Now we also have the considerations of the type of hunt you're doing. So one thing I would think is like, okay, am I doing a back country hunt? Am I doing a front country hunt? What is the optimal location?
camping scenario or where how close to where I'm going to hunt do I want to be camping if I'm hunting the front country I want to be camping more in an area where I can easily get to the places that I'm going to want to hunt or places that I'm going to want to check out but far enough away where you know I might have access to a few different areas I'm picking my spot more based on access and a nice camp spot than somewhere that's just like convenient so
Now, if I'm like the back country, I kind of pick a spot that's more convenient, closer to where maybe I'm going to be hunting and a little bit more based on like the area that I get into because I've got everything on my back. I'm hiking around and I might find kind of a good spot and where the animals are simultaneously. And I kind of pick my camp spot based on that.
that. Now, there's going to be some hunting considerations. So those hunting considerations are kind of the question that a lot of people get into is, well, how far from the animals? How close is too close?
So let's just call it a backcountry scenario. How close is too close? Well, first you have to use your judgment. But I've honestly camped as close as a few hundred yards from places where I've seen elk and deer, and then as far as a mile. It just really doesn't depend on one factor, but I would say the first thing you want to think about is what type of camping are you doing? And that's going to kind of tell you how close you
a camp that you're going to have. Now, if you're going to have a big base camp, maybe you've got like a bunch of friends, you're going to, you want to have a fire. You want to be, you know, hang out at night, cooking dinners, talking, all that kind of stuff, making noise, enjoying yourself. I'm not saying you can't enjoy yourself with no noise, but,
In those scenarios, I just pick an area that's a ways away from where I'm going to hunt and travel to the hunting area. When I do that, I just pick a spot that's a nice camp, a nice flat spot near water, has the things that I like, make it a comfortable camp.
And then go out from there every day because that noise and that, that activity, and maybe, maybe people going back to camp to cook up lunch or whatever, that kind of stuff will cause pressure in the area if you're too close. So for the most part, that kind of camping, I just do where it's convenient to get to multiple areas. And if I'm going to hike in a long ways, well, maybe it's somewhere a mile down the road. It doesn't really matter. I can drive.
I can plan my hunt accordingly. I can leave with enough time to get into where I wanted to go. And then I have a nice comfortable camp with friends and hang out, have a fire, have whatever. And it's not necessarily in the hunting area. I've seen people set up that kind of camp though. Like,
wall tent right near the meadow where elk are coming out. And for the first day, the elk still might come out. But after that, it kind of puts a damper on the hunting area. So I would say it depends on the type of camp you want to do. Now, if you're doing like a bivy sack kind of camp, you've got
You're going to run a quiet camp, which is what I like to do. No talkie, no talkie, mostly solo. That's the easiest. But you've got maybe just a MSR stove, a jet boil, whatever you're doing, a dehydrated meal and water.
You're just going to be quiet. You're just setting up your tent in the quiet. You aren't making a lot of noise. You are not having a fire. I mean, not that a fire necessarily would spook things, but it's just like that disturbance, that gathering the wood, the doing all this stuff. You're just setting up a camp. You're finding a place to sleep. You're going to eat a meal. You're going to get up and you're going to hunt.
If that's the case, essentially you can pick a spot that would be no different than where you would be glassing from and not disturb the animals. I wouldn't go within sneaking zone. I wouldn't set my tent up hoping to open it up and shoot something from it. But it was like, hey, there's many times where I've ducked on the backside of a little glassing knob or I've stopped and been glassing and said, okay –
I'm going to camp from here. One thing that I will say is, you know, that distance doesn't necessarily like, there's no hard and fast distance. Let's say I've seen elk coming out in this one meadow feeding every night.
I get up and I've got a glassing vantage, say 400 yards away, whatever. I wouldn't just camp right on that glassing vantage because I wouldn't stand on that glassing vantage while I'm standing. But I would tuck back in the trees right there, set up a camp, be quiet and not think twice about it. Or even set up a camp that maybe isn't a bivvy camp, just like a spike type camp that I'm going to leave and know that it'll be fine, but I'm not really like
putting a lot of, I'm really not doing a lot around there. I'm just sleeping, making a simple meal and waking up and starting to hunt. I'd say how close to camp to the animals also really depends on hunting pressure and the animal's location and movement. And then the wind as well. So I obviously don't want to camp somewhere where the wind is going to be blowing into where I think the elk are. I want to pick a spot that's downwind, just like, I mean, common hunting sense being like
If I wouldn't go there during a stalk, if I wouldn't go there during glassing, if it's something that I wouldn't do throughout the day, I won't do it throughout the night. I'll move out to a spot where I would be comfortable standing up, where I would be comfortable, you know, staying for a prolonged period of time where I'm not going to get winded. So I generally like to find those places that are out of the way downwind and not necessarily going to impede the patterns of the animals I'm hunting. But that doesn't necessarily mean it needs to be miles away.
And like I said, how close I camp might depend on the hunting pressure. Sometimes if there's a lot of hunting pressure, I actually prefer to kind of camp close to where I'm hunting because then people go, Oh, somebody's camping here maybe. And then they move on. Um, there is also that thought of though, if there's a lot of hunting pressure, there's animals might get pressure and running into that camp or having that camp there as their patterns start to shift and change might cause them to no longer use that area. Um,
So that's just one of those things. It's very situational and you kind of got to decide, okay, if I'm camping a mile away and every day, uh, guys like pass my camp and are up kind of in my area before I get there, maybe just move your camp a little bit closer. So they think, okay, well, he's hunting this base and not that next base. And that was back there, that other base into the left.
It might just be an easier way to kind of claim a spot, but I definitely wouldn't get too aggressive with that in areas that are, there's more hunting pressure. I'd be more cautious of where I camp and not spooking something in areas that get a lot of pressure than areas that don't. If you're in a backcountry setting and it's like, hey, there's no one else back there, there's not going to be, those animals are very unpressured, you can oftentimes get away with kind of camping closer.
One thing that I have found generally, I like to hike up to hunt and down to pack. So I find it easier, but it's not always the best, but...
When you camp in the bottoms, like let's say I'm hunting this basin. Instead of camping up on the ridge on the top, unless I've got a good glassing vantage and the wind is good for that, I'd probably just camp down in the bottom near the creek where I've got shelter away from whatever animals might be popping out where I'm hidden kind of in the trees. I'm probably closer to find water, more cover options as well, less wind disturbance. And generally that scent isn't going to make it to the top of the mountain. So being down in those canyons can be good.
One thing I mentioned, you know, you want to camp near water if you can, but you definitely don't want to camp on springs or isolated water holes. You want to be at least a quarter or half a mile from something that deer want to be using.
I just like to give them a night. So a quarter mile isn't that far. It just depends on topography and other things in areas that it's like very few water holes, very few water sources in places where there's a running stream. It's not necessarily a big deal whether you camp fairly close to it or not because they have plenty of places to water.
I would say like, if you're asking yourself, am I too close? Is this a good camping spot? I'd say just a good rule of thumb, like worst case scenario, say 700 yards at the minimum would be as close as you want to camp to a good hunting area. But you know, if you're in a spot, you're going to be a quiet camp. You can bring that a lot closer. When I'm bivy sack hunting, I generally, uh,
just camp where I stop. Like I pull off into like, if I'm last year, for example, I was hunting a new area, just threw everything in my backpack, hunting deer in a back country area. I hiked in, I had to drop down in this long, big ravine. The first night I just camped in the bottom. The next day I start hiking up. I kind of run out of water. I'm a very long way from the valley floor. I'm going to the top.
And I just sleep mid mountain. There was some deer out, uh, in this basin. I just tucked back into the timber, set up a small camp, tried to get out of the wind, slept, woke up. And those deer were probably three, 400 yards above me in the morning. They had no clue I was there. I had no clue they were there. There's actually some bigger bucks in there. I did a stock, almost got a shot, got into like, I think 50 yards, um,
It was bad wind and just not a great cover option. And there's a couple of deer looking my direction when I drew back, but, and I'm not getting a deer there, but it was like where I was camping had no bearing on them.
spooked off or any of that. They were just being deer. And I just so happened to kind of camp tucked back in the trees, just on the backside of the basin that they're hanging out. And it didn't really affect any of the hunting. Now, had I set up like a big camp and me and my buddies were hanging out there every night for a week, it definitely would, I would say, probably disturb their patterns. But you
You just really have to use your judgment and err on the side of not spooking stuff. But I honestly, when it comes to picking a camp spot, I don't get too paranoid about it. I just, I don't think about it that much. Most of the time, I just like tuck into the trees and treat it like if I were glassing or, um,
sometimes we're like, it's like, Hey, this would not be convenient for a spot and stock hunt. I wouldn't, I wouldn't approach from this way. I wouldn't hang out here. Then I won't camp there. And I might even hike a long ways to find a spot where I would camp. And that's, that's the way that I think about picking a spot to sleep, picking a spot to camp. And when I'm setting up a camp, I like it to be in a spot where it's convenient, where I can access the animals. I prefer to hike, start hiking uphill. It's nothing to start hiking up. It's
You know, you hike up every morning, you start hunting, you hunt up, and then it's a lot easier to get back to camp and the evening is a lot faster and a lot better packing to just start hiking down. So when I'm thinking about setting up a camp, those are a lot of the factors that I consider. And there are things that I think...
As you get out there, I think it's one of the things that I think people ask it because they're nervous about doing the wrong thing. It's one of those things. Once you start getting out there, you realize it doesn't necessarily matter so much. The only way it would matter is if you camped. Like if there's elk using a meadow, don't camp in the middle of the meadow. If there's elk using a waterhole or a wallow, don't camp near that.
find a spot that's tucked out of the way, but close enough to access the area. I mean, there's been many times where I've glassed from where I'm sleeping. And there's been a few hunts where I've actually, a goat hunt a couple of years ago when we actually slept on that steep spot. We're making oatmeal and I look up, there's a good band of goats walking across the hill, 90 yards above us. I've actually shot a moose while packing up our camp one time.
And there's been many times where I've picked spots that I camp, just a quiet camp is tucked away where I just essentially can glass from my sleeping bag in the morning. That's the nice thing about a backcountry style hunt is you actually get a lot more sleep because you're kind of camping and hunting right in the same area. Whereas if you're kind of front country hunting, there's a lot more hiking involved. Some people think they're like, oh, backcountry hunting is the hardest. And honestly, I think you cover more miles when you're, you
you've got like a big base camp out of the back country. Cause for the most part, once you get into your area, you're there, you aren't moving a lot. There might be some tough country, but for the most part, you're kind of like glass and camping and right in the zone where you want to be when you want to be there at the best times. And you just make a meal, go to sleep, wake up and repeat where you don't have to start glassing and hiking so far every day. So there's some pluses and minuses to that. But I think when it comes to setting up a camp, don't,
don't let it deteriorate. Don't get afraid of it. Don't worry that you're doing the wrong thing. Just kind of treat it like, Hey, I'm hunting these animals. Where's going to be a spot that I'm not going to spook them. And if along the way, you find an awesome place that looks nice, it's got a flat spot with some water, some shade, some cover, feel free to set up a camp and then start hunting from there.
I hope that helps a few of you. I know that sometimes if you're doing something new or maybe you got a tag and it's just a new thing for you, you've never done a backcountry hunt. You've never actually gone somewhere else to hunt where you didn't need the camp. Maybe most of your hunts are based out of your house or a cabin where you, you know, family has a cabin where you hunt or whatever.
This might be all new concepts. So I appreciate these kinds of questions because it's the things that these kinds of questions that come in that I know, okay, people are interested in, in understanding my thought process on this. And I just want to help kind of check that off the list. So anytime you guys have questions, feel free to keep them coming my way at Remy Warren on social media or Remy at the meat eater.com. Social media is probably the best way I can check that a little bit more often. It's a little bit easier for me, but whatever floats your boat, uh,
I thank you guys again for all the support, all the questions. And until next week, don't pitch your tent on a red anthill. That's just a story for another time. Catch you guys later.
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