Ep. 109: Answering Your Questions, Part 21

an archery elk tag, this is a great time. If you're just dreaming about having an archeryalk tag, well, it's also a great time because there's gonna be a lot of elk hunting content. Don't prepare you for whenever you hit the mountains, hit the trail and get out and chase them. And a lot of these tactics that I talked about for archery season can kind of relate into other tactics as well throughout the season. Some rifles, stuf often things maybe not necessarily a calling, but a lot

of elk behavior things that you can pick up. So I'm really excited about that. To kick off September, I say we're gonna go to the mail sack. I got a lot of great questions about archery, l hunting, elk hunting in general, some of the previous podcasts. So we're gonna jump right in and head to your questions. This first question comes from Chris. He says you mentioned still

hunting when it's slow for archery elk. Just wondering if you are in the zone, I mean as in it stinks not just like p but you can smell the actual elk itself. Are you knocking an arrow and release on the string basically ready to shoot as you painstakingly creep a hundred yards every ten to twenty minutes kind of stuff, or are you prepping for the shot once the shot is present. It seems like I never have more than point five seconds to shoot, regardless of how

slow I'm moving, never have gotten a good shot. Still hunting elk in the timber uh, He says, I could have taken cows like that before, I guess, but never a bowl. Also, if the bull has cows the house, always see me first. Um, So just curious on your tactic. Thanks Christom Bido. That's a good question, Chris. Yeah, when I'm when I'm in the zone, like if I get that feeling even sometimes when I'm in an area, I'm like, okay, this is good. I'm slowing down. I'm going to kind

of creep through here. I do a couple of things to prepare. I always have my call in my mouth uh step one um, and I do that. You know, if I if it's an area where I'm like, okay, I'm just kind of cruising through, it could be a good spot, but I'm not quite certain that it's it's the right spot. I have that call in my mouth. The reason that is is because that could give me that extra second or the extra time that I need

to get ready. So I've got the call ready. That way, if I see an elk that maybe sees me, I could get down make the call sound and that elk might think, oh, it's just another cow walking around. I'll make a mirror cow sound. Or even sometimes if you go in and and you happen to blow something out, hit that cow call and it will often stop the

elk that's spooped. Now, if it's a big herd and one elk sees you, the other elk might not know why that elk uh spooked off, and it might calm or down to be like, oh something scared me, but it was just another elk. We're okay, and it might calm things down enough to to change the situation. Now, when I'm in an area that I'm like, oh this feels elky, I'm probably gonna see a bull in here and moving in, I'm ready. I have an arrow on

the string and um, and I'm creeping through now. Obviously, you know people would be like, oh, that's not safe whatever, just be careful, you know, um, especially when you're by yourself, It's not um a big of a deal for me, especially when I'm like self filming, I've got my camera in one hand and I have that arrow on the string. Because the amount of time that it takes to do all the stuff is generally the exact amount of time

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

go through it, put it back on. But I just played by your really like if you feel like I'm gonna have an opportunity in the next twenty minutes hour whatever, Yeah, I want to be as ready as possible, and it always includes first having that call because that even if you're ready, having that call ready, and just like the second that that like, let's say you mess something up

and Elk sees you. It's like standing and staring. Just giving it a little bit of a call and not moving can often be the difference between calming them down. And sometimes you'll do that and it might get that bull to fire off where he's bedded. Maybe that helk got up, that elks staring at you, you make a cow sound, the bull gets up and he might come investigate, or he might even let out a bugle give you kind of a better indication of where the bulls at.

So that's what I do when I'm still hunting through some of that timber. Next question, Hey, Remy love the podcast. Keep it going early season Elk Hunting. Will you stay out all day and look for betting areas or head back to camp midday? Andrew, that's a good question. I know everybody's kind of got their own method and style hunting. Mine is you can't kill them from camp, so I'm out there all day um especially, I mean that's just how I hunt. Uh, And I'm and I personally can't

really nap that well. So if I am gonna maybe take a nap or whatever, um, it would be on the mountain in the field. But I do find a lot of elk early season in those midday lolls. Um. What I'll do is I'll, like I say, I'll try still hunting through some potential betting areas or even just kind of checking out different water sources looking for tracks

and sign and things like that. And another really good thing is if it's more open country, glassing mid day can actually be pretty successful because what you're doing is it's limiting the places that the elk could be. That's it. If it's more open country, like open country, middle of the day can be pretty effective because you can go, okay, well here's the potential betting areas and you can kind of glass in there and maybe pick up um some

animals that you might not find otherwise. It might be a good way to to you know, target in and and get the hunt going. Now, there's other times where it's like, hey, you know, you you're hunting a smaller area, you know where the elk are, and you're just waiting for them to make their move in the mornings and evenings. Let's say it's you're hunting near home or something like that, and you've got time, You've got a whole season, then yeah, maybe it maybe it's not worth burning out your time

during the middle of the day. It's like, hey, you've got you can go out after work, you can go in the morning. It's a great idea to just kind of like attack those elk that you're chasing in the prime times for doing it and not get super impatient

and bump them around. So it really depends on whether you're like if I'm if I'm in on elk and it's like, hey, they're being super active in the morning, and they're being super active in the evening, and I know where they're at and I've got them kind of pegged. I actually you will just pull out of that area because otherwise I'll be sitting there getting way too impatient, like who I should go try something stupid. So it

just depends on the scenario. But for the most part, like if I don't know where the elk are hunting stuff. I used every available minute to try to find elk and and find success. This question comes from Ryan. He says, Hey, Remy uh Ryan from tor in Wyoming. I was listening to your podcast yesterday about hunting in the smoke and had a question for you. The area we have elk hunted in the past, we were planning on hunting this

year and had a big wildfire last year. Would it still hold elk or should we give up on that spot for a year or two and try to let it recover. Do you have any tips for hunting the burn. Yeah, that's a really good question. I mean, hunting burns and elk can go hand in hand and it can be really successful. Um. A couple of things that I like to think about, are you know what what time of year that fire burned. Was it like really late in

the season, is it winter range, summer range? Um? But outside of that, I would say even if fire burned last year, yes, you'll definitely still find elk in there. I have found elk uh the year after fire many many places. UM. Now, what you'll what you want is like if you've got some good rains, even like some September rains some later summer rains. Uh, what you're gonna look for is that green up that really high nutrient

dense forage, because they'll go in there. It might not look like a lot of forage, but there's gonna be that green up that comes up in some of those areas, and that's gonna be super attractive to those elk. Now, one thing you want to think about is finding kind

of fringes of the fire. So I would maybe I don't know if I would avoid it, but what I'm what you're looking for is you're looking for places where it burned patchy, so like there's a burn and then there's a patch alive trees and then there's a burn and something like that where they've got the cover in that burn, especially when it's fresh, it's going to be a lot more effective elk or or highly fringe animals.

So they're they're living on the fringes of cover and open and that opens where they're gonna feed, and that covers where they're gonna bed and feel safe. So if you find a spot in that burn that has all those things, throw in some water. You've got a really good recipe. For finding elk, and it makes it really effective to some areas that maybe you hunted before. You're like, wow,

that was really thick in here. You can now glass some of that stuff, and it kind of opens up a whole new a whole new spot to check out.

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

and some of the same places that you used to find elk before the fire. So definitely worth checking out. As the years progress, it will get better and better. In my opinion, Um, a couple of years later, it'll start kind of peeking and then you know, and then you'll see even after later on five plus years down the road, you're gonna see a lot of benefits of increased populations from that burn. So fires are not always a bad thing when it comes to elk hunting. Check

it out. Let me know how you guys do. And it's really fun to find elk in the burn because they're antlers are so dark. They're all they roll in that like burn mud that they wallow in. They just like look really dark colored and really cool. So that's something. Also when they're rubbing on burned antlers, like they're antlers on burned trees too, they get like really dark racks, which is pretty awesome. Okay, this question comes from Brandon.

He says, Hey, Rammy, First, I wanted to say thank you for what you do and all the content you produce. I've been a fan since I discovered Solo Hunter about five years ago, and I've listened to all your podcasts

multiple times. I just recently moved to Washington State and was curious if you've noticed any differences in behavior between Rocky Mountain elk versus Roosevelt elk, or if there are any different hunting slash scouting tactics you use when going after Rosie's first Rocky Mountains Any vice info greatly appreciated. PS awesome, keep doing what you do. Thanks Brandon, I

really appreciate that. Yeah, you know, when it comes to hunting different species of elk, I don't have a ton of experience hunting Roosevelt elk, but I do you know, I have hunted them, and I have noticed a few major differences, mostly the differences in you know, their their habitat and the way that they kind of interact with each other. So if you kind of think about well, I mean, and this actually kind of pertains to really any animal in cover animals verse um open country animals.

So most Roosevelt elk country is pretty thick. It's more of that temperate rainforest. Uh. You know, you've got a lot of water, you've got a lot of cover, maybe not as many openings. Generally, when you have that kind of terrain, the populations are a little bit smaller than maybe you'd see in like Rocky Mountain elk. They get these giant, massive, hundred elk like groups gathered up. And that's probably more of a factor of feed and habitat and other things, but also just the way that these

elk acts. Now, um, one thing that I found with elk or any animals that live in highly forested areas, they generally have a tighter home range, so things like, um, if you kind of find their bedroom, they're gonna be closer and tighter in that area. But it's a lot harder to kind of find that needle and haystack in the cover. So whereas like Rocky Mountain elk, they might be in this one based in this one drainage and then they've got a circuit that takes them five ten

miles away whatever. Um, they're more migratory, they move more. Whereas those coastal animals they kind of have their patterns and they're definitely more patternable. They're more like hunting even like even hunting a black tail where it's like they they've got a smaller area than compared to um, open country black tails or whatever. So something to think about.

So if you one thing that's really nice about that is you can kind of do your homework and you can kind of figure out, Okay, this is where these animals are living, and then you can really focus in. Now you're hunting tactics are going to be a little bit different because, um, you know, you you might not want to, like it might take you a little bit longer to hunt that particular amount of country, like it takes longer to hunt a small section of thick country.

One thing that's really nice, though, is if they're making noise, that's kind of a dead giveaway. So hunting thick country can be awesome, and it's actually easier to call elk and in my opinion, in thicker country when you get them fired up because they have they can't really use their eyes from distance to see you. So one hunting

tactic is going to be using a lot of of calling. Now, if you can use trail cameras, I actually, um, I'm not sure that you know, things are changing so fast and I haven't I'm not hunting in um Washington this year, so I don't really know about the rules on trail cameras. But if you can use them or whatever, you know, finding those wallows, those other places, maybe even trade ails or or areas where they're frequenting and kind of trying to figure out some of these patterns that they might

be using, that's always that's always a good call. And then um, you know, just maybe even doing some stuff like think about the stuff that's kind of missing in their habitat. So in most Roosevelt Elk country, that's really thick. There's not a lot of openings, not a lot of

feeding areas. They do find food where they can, But if you're like, hey, this is a really thick area, and then there's one opening, like maybe it's a clear cut, Maybe it's something that might be a place to kind of focus your attention, so you can kind of narrow down the habitat by saying like, Okay, here's a really

good area. Here's a steep area where they might live, and here's a clear cut nearby where they might go out and feed, and kind of figuring it out that way is a good way and something to look for. This question comes from Tyler says, Hey, Remmy Tyler from Spokane. Thanks for your insight on hunting in the smoke. This will be my first archery elk hunt ever. My neck of the woods has been quite smoky, but additionally it's

been unbearably hot. My question, Shin, is is it a good strategy to hunt for elk and canyons that bottom out to a creek when it's hot. Do the elk like to bed near a water source? And if so, what's the best way to hunt those areas? Thanks again for lending us your knowledge and making an entertaining podcast. Yeah, that's a great question, Tyler. So yes, the I have found elk um Generally, where I find them is like in those like you're talking like a creek bottom thing.

So the best ones are where that creek kind of flattens out and creates like little mud puddles, so like wallow areas, grassy areas, maybe a little bit of an opening, not super open, and then maybe like some steep canyon where they've got that ability to be kind of near that water source and then maybe some ridge up that

comes down to it to bed. Generally, what I find is like they'll be in and around that, they'll be watering, wallowing, whatever, and then oftentimes they'll go up and kind of bed up off of it where it's they've got the wind coming down at their backs and they can kind of see down below. I've had a lot of early hunts where i've I've I've kind of run into elk in those scenarios. In those places it can be difficult to

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

And I got the wind right and it was hot, and so I get down in there and I'm just like, I see the bull from ways away. There's like a little bit of a burned scar, and he's up on the ridge and there's all these cows around, and I'm like, sweet dude, So I'm like, I'm gonna sneak in because

he's just not responding to calls. I get down in the bottom and I just like I get that mud and I just covered my face and body with this like black shiny ud and I'm just like literally crawling through the water with the wind in my face, and I was crawling past multiple cows like yards just bow on my back, army, crawling through this sludge pretty much and like trying to stay in the brush and cover it up. And UH got to pretty much like eight yards from the bowl, and I'm thinking Okay, I'm just

gonna wait for him to move down to me. Um, got set up just like waiting, and I crawled past probably twenty cows and uh, of course he gets up, a bull bugles above him and then he just walks away. And that was that was the extent of that stock. But I just I always remember that stock is just being pretty crazy. How I was able to crawl past some cows. Um. I don't think it had anything to do with the water, but maybe just like covering myself in mud and then I was just freezing and soaking

wet for the rest of the day. That was before I had any good gear. It was just like all caught and stuff too. So um, luckily it was it was still pretty hot out. Um. But I say that to say, like, I think in those scenarios, you know, stalking in is a good option. But also I think if I was more patient, UM, I probably would have gone back in that area a little bit different and said like, Okay, they're using this in the mornings and evenings.

They're probably hitting that water and then just kind of setting up, whether it's with a tree stand, whether it's with a ground blind. Maybe it's just on the ground in a good ambush spot. And then if you if you get that opportunity, they're using that cool If not, like maybe it's too long of a water source and they're changing where they're going, then I would use it as maybe some cow calling, like cow calling to potentially

draw a bull in and or spot in stock. So I definitely think that those are good places to check out if you if you aren't seeing any sign, you know, then you can kind of move to the next one. It's gonna be one of those things where it's like there's probably a lot of creek bottoms that don't have elk, just like anything else, but there are going to be the few that do, and those ones that do are places that you're gonna want to focus in on. And

then that might change to as the temperature changes. You know, it's only gonna be hot for so long, so you might have three or four days where there it's like, man, they're patternable, they're doing this, and then kind of the weather shifts a little bit and they aren't really doing that anymore. And I found that a lot as well. But I have gotten into a lot of elk in

those those kind of scenarios. It seems though that they do end up kind of hitting him in the morning or the evening or whatever, and then moving up and bedding up on benches above it. All Right's next question comes from Justin. He says, Hey, Remy, just finish your most recent podcast and thought i'd ask a question regarding elk hunting because I live in Utah and currently have an archery spike or cow tag. He says, I found two spikes and watched them feed for about an hour,

but could never get closer than eighty yards. I eventually spooked them. It was curious what the best steps are to proceed when trying to hunt elk that have been spooked. Any advice would be appreciated. Yeah, that's a good question. First off, it depends how they were spooked. If they win, did you, um your best just to probably kind of like hang back, chill out and rEFInd them. Um. Now, if it was like they might have seen you, they

might have heard something. I always like, I've mentioned it before, I always have that call ready and I hit that cow call. One thing I've noticed with spikes, like if you get in with spikes, they're pretty easy to call in using cow calls. So if I have a spike tag or something like that, I find a spike, I'll get into that whatever yards and then I'll just I'll

open up some soft cow calling. Oftentimes those spikes will just kind of come in quiet to investigate, like, oh, hey, let's join up with this group, let's see what's going on. The just kind of more out of curiosity. Um. Now. Of course, like spot and stalks a great way to get in on animals. So if if you you know, if you're like, oh, I can definitely sneak in on these, it's worth it. But if you maybe think, okay, I ran out of cover, maybe don't know where they are.

I lost them in the bedding, getting back being patient and just throwing out a few cow call sequences just you know, and then waiting a while and just a couple of little bit of cow calls like oh, maybe there's some cows over here bedded. Oftentimes they'll get up and come check it out. UM. So that's what I do.

Now if they're um, now, if it's like, hey, they ran over the ridge, you know, oftentimes I will pursue in some way as long as the winds good or get my wind right to make kind of a reapproach. But I think a lot of people think elk run away and then they're just gone forever, and that's not always the case. I have spooked many elk and ended up killing them. Um, you know you hate to spook elk, but you can often find them again. They don't go as far as a lot of people think in my opinion. Okay,

this question comes from Brandon. He says, hey, man, love the podcast. You do a great job. I've got a question for you. This is my second year bow hunting elk by myself in southern Colorado. Last year was a very cool experience, being the first time I could get bulls to answer on the cow call and bugle, but feel like a rushed uh walked into both opportunities that I had and busted it both times I had groups

of cows with them. I guess my question is is it better to try to advance on the elk talking back or sit and wait for him to come to you. Thanks in advanced percent of the time, I would say is better to advance. Now, I think the failure wasn't in advancing, it was just in the way that you advanced. So you kind of have to assume that when an elk is calling, he's got other cows with him. Um. And that's you know, what I generally do, unless I see that it's alanable, I'm always assuming that that cow

has multiple sets of eyes. Now, when you're moving in, it's one thing like you, it's the way that you move in. Um. Obviously you're you know, you're getting in the wind right, but you're having your head up on a swivel looking around like I kind of take it as like I'm still hunting and stalking in on this animal that's making noise. And over time you'll learn that you can do that pretty quick and what you can

get away with and what you can't. Now, let's say you get in and you've got that call ready, a cow spots you. You hit that call and you kind of freeze, you know, and you wait for that cow to calm down, and then you can back out or move around. But you always want to kind of have your head on a swivel and be expecting that there's

gonna be a lot of things looking out for you. UM. But you know, if you if you always sit back and wait and you don't know what the scenario is whether that bull has cows or not, then you're probably going to be sitting and waiting for a long time. You might add, you know, something like a different elk might come in or whatever. But if you're a long ways away and that bowls calling and you're calling, um, it's very unlikely that bowl is just gonna walk to you.

It does happen. I've had it happen, but it's not not the norm. If you want to be consistent in calling in and killing elk, you have to get within their kind of comfort zone, and you have to incite them and give them a reason to come to you. And so that means you got to go to them. And that's that's the way that I play it, all right. This question comes from Ellen says, any tips for altitude sickness prevention? Well, elk hunting coming from near sea level

in California. Yeah, I've said this multiple times in different q and a s. But I think it's always worth mentioning. I mean what I do. I I'm fortunate I live a fairly high elevation, but I even do this when I'm like, I know it's going to be a tough hunt. I use wilderness athlete altitude advantage. It's um, I mean I swear by it. I mean it's like I've had friends that come from sea level hunting in ten thousand foot mountains. I'm like, here, you use this. And what

I do is so I pregame with it. I take like two pills the first five days before I go. Um, it's just it's a natural vitamin. There's natural stuff in there. What it does is it just increases your body's a bill. It's almost like a I don't know, I guess it's like legal blood doping. I feel like like it's just like my secret weapon. UM. But it seems to be more of like a vasodilator where it's like it just

allows your blood to process that oxygen a little bit better. UM. And one thing like altitude sickness is serious and it can happen. It doesn't have to happen. It's super high elevations. Especially if you're like you get out there and then you start hunting hard, you do want to try to like if you got to the acclamation, this is really

hard because it takes a lot longer than people think. UM, but you'll notice, like generally if you come from sea level and you're hunting maybe six seven thousand foot mountains, You're you're gonna be fine after a few days. Your body just kind of gets used to it. But I use that altitude advantage, so I kind of pre game with it, and then when I go into high mountains, then I, uh, I take it on the hunt with me, So I put them in a baggy and then just take two to four per day when I'm hunting glast

backpack hunt. I did that on I mean I've gone even like um mountains, you know, fourteen plus you know, fourteen fifteen thousand foot mountains in Central Asia and used it and had no problems and I didn't personally see any like major lag and performance um. So that's one

of the reasons that I swear by it. Like I've had like prescription for diamox, which is you know, if you get pulmonary a demon and things like that, like something you'd take and or you can even take just for effects of altitude sickness, but it's not it's more of a medicine, not like a prevention. And everybody that's been on the trips with me, I've recommended it and

seen like nothing but really good performance out of it. So, um, since I've started using that and recommending it to people that have used it, like we've seen the amount of altitude sickness that hunters, like whether we're guiding or whatever encounter go way down. Just my personal case study, you know, I don't know, that's just the only thing that I've tried that seems to actually work. So I think it's

pretty awesome. And that's why I kind of like promoted all the time because it's something that I actually believe in and I've seen work with guys that I've taken out go from sea level to ten thousand plus feet, and like we used to see a lot altitude sickness and now it's kind of cut down a lot just by following that regiment. So that's that's my recommendation. Then of course you can do any kind of like back.

I don't know. I mean, now everybody's wearing masks, who probably everybody's ready for like altitude now I just doing stuff with masks on. But um, I have used those train eating masks before in the past. I don't I don't know if it helps. I mean, in some ways it probably does, but you know, just being in shape.

And then the other thing is like altitude sickness isn't just about the air, but it's also about just like you've got to keep your body in that in good condition, and that means being well hydrated, like using um water supplements, so you've got enough electrolytes, Like you don't want your body to start failing because you don't have enough food, you don't have enough water. UM that's generally what happens.

Is like it seems like the bigger, older guys like generally get altitude sickness less than the guys that are really in shape, because the guys are really in shape, Like, Yeah, I'm just gonna charge up the mountain. It's like I'm charging up the mountain. I'm doing my things like I normally do. I'm not drinking any water. I hardly had any snacks. Day two, I feel like crap. And it's because your body is just overworked and and under um an underfed. So that's something you want to think about

as well. The question says, I've been enjoying the podcast for helpfull of years now, always loads of info for my first time venturing into the Elk Woods. We're heading into southwest Colorado. My question is how do you handle pressure from other hunters? How much does this change how you hunt a certain area. Do you try and anticipate where the hunters will push the elk or stick to the staples? Example, a nice north facing benches, but seems

like they're easily accessible. It could be the first place hunters try to target or go to. The south facing benches is thicker timber, but could be a good hiding place for elk to get away from the pressure. Ryan from St. Pete, Florida. That's a good Uh, that's a good question. A lot of places that I've hunted, I'll have a lot of hunters and that's just kind of part of the game. Um, I kind of do a

few different things. So the first thing that I consider is, well, one thing is I mean me personally, when I see other hunters, I generally don't get worried because I know that of large majority of those hunters don't know what they're doing, and so I can kind of play to that.

Like there's been times where I've walked down a trail, guys kept like walking up a trail, guys coming down like, man, I haven't seen anything I get up to the knob and I spot a dozen elk, you know, And so it's like one of those things where you see hunters, but that you can't always assume that those hunters know what you know or have even like looked for elk, Like maybe they're just walking around with their head down.

Maybe I don't know what people do out there, but um, I have encountered that more often than not, where you run into a hunter and it's like it didn't actually make a difference. It's big country, their animals are constantly moving, and so sometimes it doesn't make a difference. Now there are times where it definitely does, like people bumping into the same Like you say, they're going to those easy

south bases or whatever. So I'd say and something like that, Yeah, if you aren't the first person up on that bench, then you're probably not gonna be the first person to run into those elk. They're gonna get bumped and they're gonna get moved, and they're probably gonna go into the timber, in which case, after that then I would probably start focusing on a little bit thicker timber, and then in the mornings and evenings i'd be set up glassing, and that just how I would play it, um, and I

think that you'll find success that way. But also one thing is, you know, hunting seasons, there are other hunters out there. It's part of the game. But I wouldn't necessarily let it discourage you from thinking that you aren't going to find any elk because people find elk and and animals do get moved around a lot like it's actually sometimes there's been days the busier days sometimes you actually see more elk because they are getting moved, they

are getting pushed, they're getting kind of shuffled around. I hate hunting elk that are just moving elk like they're just in that um I don't even know, like a panic pattern where it's like they're just in survival mode and they're making their rounds. It's a much better to hunt elk they're acting as elk unpressured. But that's not always the case. So I know, if you go back,

I did uh an older podcast. I can't remember that I can scroll through here, but UM called it like the pumpkin patch something like that, just hunting high pressured areas, and that's a good one to kind of think about. And there's a few good tactics in there, so I've

done a little bit everything. Sometimes hunters work for your advantage, especially it's like, hey, you know, there's gonna be a bunch of guys that are whatever, and maybe they're coming up later and you get up real early, you get to the top, maybe there's a good saddle where the elk are kind of funneling, potentially funneling through. Using people to push animals to you definitely works as well. So

there's a lot of different tactics. But also I would say keep in your mind that just because you see someone doesn't mean anything, especially if it's on a road or right at the first part of a trail or something like that. Like you just have to keep going because there's I can't even count the amount of times that I've run into hunters and then seeing animals that I'm looking for. Things get missed, things get moved around. So it's not necessarily um that big of a deal.

Question comes from Chris. He says Aeromy Love the podcast. I've learned a ton of really appreciate your hard work. I'll be taking my son out for the first time on an elk hunt this year, and I wonder if you have any tips for making it fun experience so he wants to come back in the future. I don't mind grinding it out for nine or ten days, but don't think he's going to be ready to stick it

out that long. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Keep up the great work, and don't stick to one sign off a new one every week is always fun to hear. Hope you take my question because I'm sure there's lots of other dads out there that want to get their kids out in the field. That's a good crisp. That's a good question, Chris. Uh. You know, like I mean, I've I've encountered this not only as a guide, but I take a lot of kids and new hunters out even just whether it's a kid or a new hunter

or whatever. Um. I always kind of like think back to the way that my dad got me into it. Now, I was a special case, Like I think I was ready to grind it out for nine or ten days when I was a kid. My dad was probably like Jesus kid, you know, just is relentless. Um. But I think one of the things that's really important is involving

the people that are with you. Like, if you's somebody that you want to get into hunting and you want them to enjoy the experience, then they kind of have to have a little bit of skin in the game, like let them make some decisions. Um, you you can go over some spots and say, hey, okay, so here's a couple of things. I'm thinking. We could go to the top of the mountain here and look in glass this spot, or we could maybe go to this other place. Like let them be a part of the experience, not

just following along. I know, success and whatever is awesome and it's great and you will find that, um and you know, being successful is fun for everyone, you know, and that's the whole point of going out. But also there's those other things of like you know, just involving them in the process of making it fun, but also giving them like some responsibility, because I think when you're kind of invested, you're like, hey, I picked the spot,

Hey I spotted something. I've got my binoculars and I get to look and maybe he's got a little hoochie mama type called like a push button call that gets to use and it's like, you know, involving them in the hunt where it's not just them following you around, but kind of them getting a good portion of experience just making some decisions and and kind of helping you and then explaining the things that you're doing and why you're doing them, and and just like being positive and

really just enjoying that experience, because when it comes down to it, we're out there for a lot of reasons and having a good time bringing someone else into it. Like, I think some of those experiences of just being out with your kid, out with you know, him out with you, that's gonna be that's gonna be something that you remember forever and what one of the reasons that we go out and we do this, And it's really cool to

be able to bring family and friends into it. So I think that that's a good way or a good thing to think about, is involving them in the process and then um and then you know, like and then also just kind of going at their pace. You know, it doesn't have to be the most grueling, brutal hunt you've ever been on. Maybe it's maybe sometimes it's just

you know, it's like, Okay, we hiked in retired. Maybe you drive to a glassing knob and take out the glass and glass for an hour and have some really good snacks and and just enjoy your time together because there's so much to hunting, and I think you just gotta you really gotta pay attention to those little moments and those little things that you can do to make it fun. Yeah, and have good snacks. That's also that's also the top of the list. New hunters love great snacks.

So I actually got quite a few questions on this similar topic, quite a few people from Canada maybe hunting more prairie lands or some private areas, and then um, you know, just quite a few people just asking some similar things about elk tactics, maybe in some smaller plots of land. So this this question comes from fedra. It says, Hey, remmy first time, long time I drew a small plot

private property elk hunt in prime of the September. They're managing a high elk population, but I'm only allowed on acres. Do you have any tips for small acreage elk hunting things? So that's a great question, you know, there I have had some opportunities to hunt some more smaller areas and also sometimes all even public land areas that are right

on the fringe of private property. So maybe you're hunting near private and you've got to three acres where the elk come off and they use this particular area and then they get blasted right into private property. Same as if you've got a small track of private land, some of the tactics that you're gonna use are going to be a little bit different because what you're trying not to do is pressure those animals somewhere else. Now, it also depends on the type of area that you're hunting.

Maybe there's something on that property that it's like it's a magnet to the elk, Like if it's the only if that fifty acres is the only alph alpha pivot in the entire area, there's gonna be elk on their day and night no matter what. Um. It's just like they like the feed there, they're gonna keep moving in. But you also aren't gonna want to just run them

around and kind of push them so much. So in those particular instances, what you're gonna want to do is is try to kind of take a more less aggressive approach. I would say my hunting style for elk is quite aggressive in most places, but when it's an area like that, then I kind of i'd be a little more patient. I find those opportunities where it's like a high success opportunity.

So maybe, And it doesn't even mean that you have to sit and wait, Like acres doesn't seem like a lot when you could travel around a lot of elk country other places, but it also has plenty of country to kind of hold elk and and have a hunt. Um. So a couple of things that I think about, Like let's say you're calling and you want to hunt a bull that's fired up. You know, I would kind of wait, like so I would call bugle and I wouldn't go like in a normal hunt, I maybe would chase chase

certain bugles. In that particular instance, I would wait until the bulls super fired up, and I'd be ready kind of in the position and try to pattern the animals of like, Okay, here's the meadow or the area that they like, or maybe they're just passing through, kind of like figure out the ebb and flow of the area

that you're hunting. I've done this many times where it's like, Okay, there's a spot that I'm hunting near private and and I could go in there and chase every bugle, or I could wait until I've got three days and I can wait until that bull is really fired up and I can probably call them in um. So that's one thing that I think about, is is using the tactic

that's most likely to gain success. Now. Another thought is like find the wallows, find the feeding areas, even potentially use decoy or set up an ambush in travel areas, like maybe there's a good trail that they're using. They're coming onto the property, they're feeding, they're moving around, like you can you can kind of still hunt that or be set up in the mornings and the evenings and places that they frequent. So it's like the elk are kind of moving towards you, and you can kind of

stalk in towards them. So using those kind of tactics where you're you're using a little bit of patients and kind of playing that chess game of Okay, here's a really high percentage opportunity now is when I'm gonna go.

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

He says, do you put any emphasis on moon phase? Example, if I only had one week to hunt elk, would that factor into your planning on when to go to give yourself the best opportunity. That's a really good question. I actually was doing the Vortex podcast they did like at elk Q and A this week and um, and that was one of the questions that I, uh, I

definitely put a lot of time into. And I'll kind of paraphrase some of the things that I said, but one of those was, um, the moon absolutely plays a factor in elk hunting and the amount of elk activity during the day. Now, there's people that go, oh, well the moon that like, you gotta understand what that moon means. I don't think it's It's not a factor of it being a full moon. Like the fact of the moon and it's shape and size and whatever doesn't necessarily play

into it. What it is is the amount of light that that moon can admit at night. So you got to think about elk and the way that they're running and if it's hot out, Like a lot of it has to do with weather and temperature. So if you've got a cold snap in the and the middle of the rut, right, they're gonna be in like, say, no moon, They're gonna be running and making noise and doing all their business during the day because it's safer. They can't

really see too much at night and it's cool. Now, if you think about a week where it's a full moon, right, and maybe you've got warmer weather, so they're gonna be like, it's warm out, But what happens at nighttime? Temperatures drop, like when you're in the mountains nighttime, even if it's a hundred degrees in the middle of the day, it's going to be pretty cool at night. So it's like, oh, yeah, we're gonna be running around chasing cows. Let's do it when it's cool. Oh and hey, the moon's out so

we can see perfect. That's a great time to run around and do all our running. And then what's going to happen is during the mornings and evenings, they're gonna be pretty quiet. They're gonna be kind of war out they're gonna have have kind of done their thing. Now, I say that to say, if it's a full moon and it's cloudy out, you don't have that light, you don't have the same amount of light, so it's not going to be the same as a full moon, clear night. So the moon does play a factor, but it also

kind of plays into temperature and other things. So as a guide, I hunt every day of the elk season ten weeks archery through rifle. It doesn't matter the moon phase, the whatever. We hunt every week, and I would say over the years we have kind of generally the same success. But I will say that during full moon's, when it's clear out, it's way harder to find elk. It's or

at least just get encounters an interaction. It's like those times where I mean you might even see it, you might pack into an area, you don't hear any bugles in the daytime, and then at night you're just hearing screams all over the place. So I think that the moon does play a factor. Now here's the caveat to that is, like, you know, sometimes that full moon just lands in a crappy time peak up like right in the middle of September. So guys are like, well, I'll

go hunt the moon phase. I'll go hunt the first week of September. Well, if it's smoky and hot, you are way better off hunting a full moon during a better week when you might get better weather than hunting earlier with no moon. Now, on the flip side of that, you might get no moon early and have cool weather. Then that's a great time to hunt because some of the bowls will be split off on their own, they

might be more receptive to coming into calls. So, yes, moon plays a huge factor in my planning, but I also look at other things as well. If that makes sense, um, I maybe it would just have to do like a full podcast on all fifty thousand scenarios and give you like a good matrix of of how to break it out. But I think that's an incredible question and definitely something you want to think about. I appreciate all the questions.

This month, I'm going to focus a lot of our podcast topics on elk and elk hunting, and if you've got more questions or whatever, feel free to always shoot those. Over the next couple of weeks, you know, we'll talk about some calling stuff, some focusing on maybe some spot in stock. That's one of the probably one of the best tactics for Big Bowls would be sneaking in whether

it's rut or not. I'll kind of break down some spot in stock ELK tactics and then some other tactics that should help put you in the tag not ching category. Did I say that right? Tag notchng it's notching even a word we don't know, but cutting a tag category. There we go. That's you win in doubt on Cutting the Distance podcast, I just throw the word cutting in and it just makes things like yeah, like real, real awesome. But um, I'm excited to hear from you guys. I

love hearing all the success stories. Make sure just shoot me some pictures and whatever. I'm gonna continually be putting up older videos and new videos on my YouTube channel, so you can kind of check those out Instagram and whatever. I'll have some some hunts. You can kind of follow along on my hunts, and then that's where I do a lot of the Q and A answers. So if you're listening to the podcast, you're like, how do I

ask a question? Send it your message to me at Remy Warren and then as I'm throughout the season, I just screenshot those and read them off on the podcast. So that's that's the way that's done. I really appreciate everybody. Thank you guys so much for the ratings and listening and sharing it with your friends that I really appreciate that. And actually looked through and see some awesome, awesome comments here we got some read a couple of these comments

five star comments. Great podcast, keep up the great work, great podcast. Thanks for all the info. Some of these names are so long. Here's one. Um. Joe Hunter Fisher says, top notch information content. The info, tactics and advice in these podcasts are large really responsible for helping me take my first white tail last fall. Not only was it my first, but it was on a small pressured public land. Really can't think you enough. Keep up the great work.

Those are the kind of comments I love to see guys that are getting out finding some success using some of the tactics. Um. Here's the one from McDuffie boy. He says, practical, practical, practical, not just dudes hanging how talking about hunting? Uh, here's a podcast that teaches you how to be a better hunter. Great podcast, remy Ah, you're filling You filled a gaping hole in the hunting podcast world. You're a great host, humble and friendly. I

like listening to you. Keep it up. Thank you very much. I really appreciate all these kind of comments. UM it means a lot to me, So thank you guys so much. And until next week, bust those bugles out and make sure to stay in touch. I can't wait to hear your guys this season. I'll share my season, you share your season. We'll all do this hunting thing together. Catch you guys later.