Ep. 22: New Year's Resolutions to Make You a Better Hunter

far off. I feel like I should be doing some intergalactic space travel by now, but I'm still pretty happy with our current state of technology. It's crazy, though, that I could be talking from anywhere and giving hunting tips to a lot of people. So I'm pretty fortunate for the times that we live in and that there's still some extremely awesome wild places to hunt and explore now. The New year is for a lot of people kind of a time where you reset, you review last year

and go forward for this year. A lot of resolutions get made, a lot of fitness goals are made and broken oftentimes, but you know, now is the time that you start thinking about what you want your next year to look like. So on this episode of Cutting the Distance podcast. As promised, what I want to do is I want to go over some of your guys questions.

So people have written in they've got some questions. I want to do a Q and A today, but I also just want to talk a little bit about some resolutions as well as just something that was really inspiring to me that my dad did after a New Year's quite a few years ago. So I'll kind of give you the story of of his goal us to get

in shape. We'll do a top ten resolutions list to make you a better hunter, and then we'll go into the Q and A. My dad is probably one of the most inspiring people in my life for a lot of reasons. He's done a lot of things. He got me into hunting, but I think that it was later on in life when I really realized the dedication he had and he came to a realization. It was actually around two thousand and eight, so eleven years ago. I would guide a lot and was out hunting all the time,

in really good shape. All my brothers, we all stay in really good shape, and my dad would go out on these hunts with us. And he's the type of guy. He was always a little overweight, or in some stages quite a bit overweight. But there's a lot of guys out there that you would consider overweight that just don't quit. They'll get to the top of the mountain no matter what. And he never had problem really keeping up as growing up as kids. He was always the guy that he

just never gave up. So it didn't matter what kind of shape he was in. He was always what I would call mountain figures, able to throw a pack on and just trudge. He might not be as fast as everybody else, but he would always get there. And there's a lot of guys out there like that. Like you might look at some guys, you know what, you're a doll sheep hunter. I've seen some guys that are that are bigger guys that can just move in the mountains.

But a few years earlier, my dad had won a doll sheep hunt from the Wild Sheep Foundation and it was pretty awesome because they let me tag along on the hunt as well, and I actually got to shoot a sheep on that hunt. That was my first doll sheep hunt in Alaska. And on that hunt, my dad had kind of realized that he let his fitness level out of control. He felt very underprepared for the task at hand. We ended up both getting sheep, but it

was difficult for him to make it happen. The following year, You're l hunting and deer inn a lot in Montana. He drew a special tag and there was just times where we needed to get over the next ridge and he felt like he was getting left behind. He came to this realization that he's getting older, the weight was weighing him down literally, and that he really enjoyed hunting with his kids, but he wasn't going to be able

to do it like that forever. And he knew that looking forward into the future, he was going to miss out on a lot. He would slowly get left behind, and he didn't want that to happen. So in two thousand and eight, he made a New Year's resolution that he was gonna work out every day for thirty minutes.

We call it his thirty Minutes. Eleven years later, he has not missed a single day, and his life is drastically different now, all because he wanted to be in the best shape for hunting and enjoy his experience out there. I mean, it's really an incredible story to see where he is now and where he used to be. I mean my dad. He was always tough in the mountains. He was always able to go. But I think he lost eighty or ninety pounds. He wears the same pant

size as I do. And before he used to be to eighty or somewhere in there, to fifty to something like that. Now he's down to about a hundred and eighty pounds hundred nine pounds. He's lean, he's in shape, and the guy can go. Because of that, He's able to do hunts that he probably never thought that he could do with ease. He's the guy that's on a trip that we want to take with us. I know guys half his age that can't carry what he can carry go as long as he can go. He just

doesn't quit. He's the guy that's there with you no matter how hard it gets, he's lifting you up. He's always been my number one hunting partner, but because he dedicated to staying in shape just for hunting. Honestly, we can do any hunt in the world together, and I know that he will be physically able to do it. Sometimes he has more energy than I do. I go out there. Most my fitness is just because I'm out there all the time, hiking, staying in shape just by doing.

But he has that fitness regiment of every day getting some kind of workout in, and it wasn't immediate results. He started doing the thirty minutes, and then at some point he said, look, I've been working out for a year and really haven't lost any weight. He's like, I know, I'm in better shape, but the weight didn't really shed off like he was expecting. So then he added a little bit of a diet to it, counting his calories,

doing a meal plan, and he started dropping weight. Like that, the combination of the workout and then the diet, he started losing weight and getting him better and better shape. He's so dedicated to it. Like say he's doing a road trip that's gonna take all day, he will pull off the road and go run for thirty minutes, get back in the truck and drive. No matter where he is in the world, he does not miss thirty minutes. Now, if he's out on a hunt, obviously he's getting his

thirty minutes in by hiking. And they don't have to be crazy, easy, crazy workouts. Most of them are cardio based. A lot of it could be hiking with a pack. He does a lot of hiking uphill stuff that keeps him in shape for his goal to go hunting. It's his primary reason for doing it, and because he's committed to it now he's in the probably the best shape of his life. He's able to do hunts that ten

years ago he would ever have dreamed of doing. And he's able to stay out there longer, be persistent, hunt with his kids who are much younger, and remained successful. And I truly believe that physical fitness has a lot to do with translating to success in the mountains, especially on big Western or back country hunts. Now it is New Year's and there's probably a lot of you that are thinking, well, I'm going to start some kind of New Year's resolution. So what I've done is I did

at top ten resolutions to make you a better hunter? Countdown. That's kind of a mouthful. I want to list off ten things that I think you could do. It doesn't even have to be a big thing. Some of these are just small things, but they'll make you overall a better hunter. So I'm gonna run through this list and

if you hear one you like, write it down. Maybe you try a multiple ones of these, But I truly believe that if you pick one of these off this list, or a few of these off your list, next hunting season, you're gonna have a better season. So let's start this countdown number ten. Find a new spot. What that entails is do some e scouting, do some real scouting. And

this doesn't matter what you hunt. If you're a turkey hunter, you're a duck hunter, you're a elk hunter, a white tail hunter, find a new spot, whether it's public land, private land. The act of investigating and picking a place that could potentially be successful builds up skills and finding things places that are unfamiliar when you get out of your comfort zone. No matter where you go, the skills that you make learning those spots are going to translate

into success. There's a lot of hunters out there. They aren't find spot hunters there. Guys that go out with their friends who always have the spots, just pick a goal of finding one new spot. If you hunt new places all the time. Still every year I always try to find a new spot, a new honey hoole, even in places that I've hunted my entire life. Every year I dedicate to finding one new good spot, and because of it, I learned the area, I learned the animals,

and I become a better hunter. Number nine, Pick a new species. The hunt that goes for anything. If there's something you haven't hunted, whether it be small game, large game, elk, dear, white tails, it doesn't matter. Picking a new species allows you to once again get out of that comfort zone and do something new. What's gonna do is it's gonna call up the skill sets that you might already have and challenge you and push you a little bit to do a hunt that you haven't done before. By doing that,

you're just gonna get better at hunting other things. I really value the skills that I've learned by constantly trying to chase new species, because every time I hunt something new, I learned something new. I might go well. Actually, right now I'm hunting access dear in Hawaii, which is one of my favorite hunts a few years back, is something

that I've never done. But yet hunting those animals, I've learned a lot of a lot of techniques as far as still hunting that I take when I go hunt mule deer or white tails spot in stock because you get a little bit more practice, or I pick up new nuances with that new species. That translates to a lot of different hunts. Number eight, learn to hunt with a new weapon choice. Now, if you're a rifle hunter this year, I want you to consider picking up a

muzzleloader or a bow. If you're a bow hunter, consider maybe going on one rifle hunt or one muzzleloader hunt. Maybe it's a shotgun hunt, trying a new weapon, it's twofold one. It extends your season, because some seasons might end. If you're just a rifle hunter. Once that rifle season is over, well that's your season. If you extend your season into archery, into muzzleloader, it gives you more time

in the field, more excuse to get out. The other thing is you learn stuff from each different weapon choice. A lot of guys that are bow hunters thinking, oh, well, I'm already at the pinnacle of hunting. I've done the hardest way to hunt. Yes, that's true, but a lot of general area of public land hunts, some of those rifle hunts can be a lot more difficult than the bow hunt. So when you have struggle to just find animals.

What that's gonna do is gonna make you a better hunter when it comes down to going back to the next archery season when maybe the conditions aren't perfect. You're gonna pick up skills from hunting different weapon choices just by being in the field longer and having more opportunity to get out there and interact with the animals that you're hunting. Number seven, Take a new hunter out. It doesn't matter how long you've been hunting. If you've been

out and you've you've done it. Take somebody else that hasn't. When you take out a new hunter. And I get this from guiding all the time, or especially when I take out new friends or my wife, I start verbalizing the knowledge that I do have. Even if you've just been hunting for a season or half a season, somebody took you out. Just by showing somebody how to do something, it teaches you. At the same time, it also potentially gives you a new hunting partner to go out with.

It's one of the best things you can do to increase your skills is to take somebody that has less skills than you, because you're gonna have to kind of pay attention to what you do and then teach that to someone else. I always learned, whether it was like school or studying, to really know what you're doing means that you could take that and teach it to another person. I like to translate that to everything. How would I

explain what I'm doing to someone else? Because when I go through the process of thinking of how I would explain it, I'm truly understanding the fundamentals and the mechanics of what I'm doing. Number six, hike a hundred miles before the season. Now, this is kind of fitness based. You might think, whoa hundred mile hike. No, I'm not

even just saying a hundred mile hike. I'm saying between January and September one, or whenever your first fall season starts, make a goal of logging a hundred miles out hiking that's with a pack like you would in a hunting scenario. Really, if you break that down, that's twenty five mile hikes. That's a two and a half out two and a half back. It's very doable. But the reason I suggest that is it's really hard to train for something and be in the right shape for it. But by not

doing it. What that means is you can spend a lot of time in the gym, but when you go out hunting, you're gonna be carrying a pack and you're gonna be hiking, and the best way to build muscle memory for that is to do it. So if you just set a small goal a hundred miles, it seems

like a lot, but it's really not. It's a few weekends a year getting out, Maybe bring your family out, do some shed hikes, do some scouting, or just trail hikes in a local park or forest, whatever recorded on an app, and try to log a hundred miles before next season. It's just gonna train your body and just keep you doing it throughout the year, not just when hunting season comes around. Number five, Save up for a

better pair optics. If you're looking at your kit and you need one piece of year to improve this year, I would say budget for good pair optics. If you don't have a good spotting scope, grab a good spotting scipe. If you don't have good binoculars, maybe this is the year to upgrade what you have. Western hunting, even if you're a tree stand hunter, having a good pair of binoculars really just increases your success for all kinds of hunting. I use it white I'm bird hunting, when I'm white

tail hunting, it doesn't matter. Having a good pair of binoculars really ups your game and allows you to find animals that you may not pick up otherwise. You can go back and listen to a few of our glass NG episodes, but I highly suggest I think optics are a key piece of kit, especially for spot and stock hunting or Western hunting. So that's something that might be one of your goals. This is the year to upgrade your buyos number four. Pick one new out of state hunt.

It doesn't matter where you live. Just the idea of crossing a state line and going somewhere else. It causes you to really pull up the hunting skills that you have and creates, I would say, a system where you have to read a new set of regulations, you have to find a new spot, you have to go somewhere that's very unfamiliar and get out of your comfort zone.

What that does is it increases the skills that you can take home because you're doing all the things and taking extra steps for each hunt that you might not take when you keep hunting the same place over and over. Even for myself, I constantly tried to go somewhere new. I pick a new out of state hunt, and I'm going to do that very same thing this year. So it's just something that expands your skills as a hunter. Even if you're a new hunter, think about planning a

trip somewhere else. Maybe four something new back up in number nine, A new species. You could check two of those off the list at once. Pick a new species out of state. It's gonna allow you to try something different when you go out of state. Here's the other thing that I love about it. Sometimes when you hunt it home, you just you go out hunting. But when you go out of state, it's an adventure, it's a trip, and you're committed to hunting during that time that you're away.

You specifically set a longer period of time to get out and by hunting a longer period of time, say it's a three day trip, a five day trip, hunting multiple days in a row, it really allows you to understand an area, to see something new, and really dive into that hunt. You've got nothing else going on, you can't go run into work the next day. You aren't dealing with other things. You're just in the hunt, focusing on the hunt, and it's a great way to expand

your skills. Number Three, shoot more. If you are a bow hunter or want to get into bow hunting, make some goals on shooting. If you shoot a couple of times right before the season, bump it up, start shooting every week, Start shooting every day, Start shooting multiple times a week. The same goes for rifle hunters shotgun shooters. It doesn't matter what your weapon of choices, we can all be better. I constantly continue to practice with whatever

weapons that I'm using. This year, I shoot hundreds of rounds with shotguns, hundreds of rounds with a rifle, thousands of bow shots a year because when I get into the field, I know that I might have one chance at that animal, and I want to make sure that I'm ready, confident, and can make a clean kill, because that's our responsibility as hunters. I know so many guys

that get into bow hunting. They start out strong, they start practicing shooting, and they're like, oh, I know how to shoot my bow, and then they shoot it once or twice right before they go out, just to make sure it's sighted in. That's not the best way to do it. You want to remain proficient. You want muscle memory, so when something goes down, it's quick, it's easy, and you make an ethical shot. Number two, This one's super important. We've talked about it a little bit in the story.

But get in shape and really commit to it. Everybody can do better in this aspect. It doesn't matter what kind of shape you're in. Maybe getting better shape if you lift a lot or whatever, get in good hiking shape, to do some cardio, wear a pack, get in hunting shape, get in mountain shape, get in the shape that you want for the field. And that might just mean thirty minutes a day, maybe thirty minutes every other day, maybe fifteen minutes a day. I don't even care. Maybe it's

five minutes a day. Start somewhere that you know you can do it, and don't quit. When I'm working out or running, if I if I'm home for a little bit, I might go on a hike or whatever, just to keep my fitness levels up. What I like to do, and I've done this ever since I can remember, is that when I'm working out or doing something that I don't really like to do. I just picture chasing some animal up a mountain, like that last little push when

I see an animal a long ways away. If I'm on a backpack hunt, nothing slows me down or stops me from getting over there. And I use that same motivation off season as well. Just visualize it, Pretend like you're on the hunt, and you keep that hunting goal in mind. If you're a hardcore hunter, it's really easy to visualize your success and use that as a motivator to stay in shape. At least for me it is.

And now we're down to number one. The number one top thing you can do this season to increase your success is listen to the Cutting the Distance podcast once a week. Of course, I had to add that in, but I truly believe the reason I'm doing this podcast is to make you a better hunter. Now, I get so many messages from people that are white tail hunters or maybe maybe don't necessarily do the same kind of hunting that I do. It doesn't matter if you live

in Australia, New Zealand, North America. The tactics that I generally use. Maybe you've never hunted out before, but you can glean tips from that species and translate it to so many other things. I've hunted a lot of places around the world, a lot of different species, and it's funny how many things you take from one thing and move it on to the next. And I love getting messages from that as well. I got some from a guy he's a white tail hunter, but that glassing tactic

helped him be successful this year. Or the shoes off situation. Guys have been doing that creeping into their tree standard. It's like, use those tactics and modify it for what you do. And then as well, maybe you're gonna go out of state, maybe you're gonna hunt a new species. Just listening to these tips and logging them in your mental catalog, it's overall going to make you better. So

listening to this podcasts, that's an easy one. You can just tune in on your way to work and share that with your friends too, because it's great to bounce ideas off of each other. You got a buddy, make sure he listens to it every week and then talk about it like, Hey, what did what did we learn this week? How can we translate that to what we're doing? Talk with your friends maybe it'll inspire you to try

something new this year to plan a new hunt. It's always easier to get motivated when you've got somebody else that's pushing you along. Pushing each other is a great way to go further. So that sums up my top ten countdown for things to make you a better hunter. In my personal resolutions, I've always loved shooting my trad bow, my longbow, my recurve, but I know that I don't shoot them enough. So what I've been starting to do is just when I go out to shoot my compound bow,

I've got my recurve and my longbow there. I really want to just continue honing my skills with that shooting. So this year, that's one of my resolutions, my goals. And then of course I'm gonna pick a new out of state hunt and if I can a new species to chase this year, you know what, I'm just gonna go that same list I'm checking off one through ten, So that'll be my goal, checking off one through ten. If anybody else does that, I would love to hear about it. So let's jump into the Q and A.

We'll finish that up. Thank you guys so much, for sending in your questions. A lot of these questions come from emailing me Remy at the meat Eater dot com, as well as on my social media at Remy Warren generally on Instagram. That's where I'm the most active. Now, if you've sent in an email and you haven't got to reply, I apologize. There's quite a few of them that we just can't get to all of them, but

I do try reading. I pretty much read everything, um so a lot of it's in my mind and I when I go to plan these episodes, some of those questions will hopefully get hit, and then some of them I'm just gonna read right now. So I pulled out about five or so. The first question here comes from Austin O'Neil, fort Worth, Texas. He says, hey, there, Remy, love the podcast you have going right now. I've been

hunting my entire life in both Texas and Louisiana. I've hunted nearly all these states have to offer, mostly on private land except for public land water failing. My dream is to go west on a backcountry meal. Dear rail cut, I haven't even the slightest clue where to start. I think a lot of folks are in the same camp. Any ideas would be lately appreciated. That's a great question, and it kind of ties into some of the twenty nineteen resolutions and goals. Go out of state, hunt something new.

It can be daunting. Where to start. Now, there's a lot of things to consider. There's some general over the counter type tags, but there's also a draw system. So here's where I would start. I would pick a state. It really doesn't matter what state. Maybe it's based on the amount of tags, like Colorado has more ELK tags than everywhere Wyoming. It could be just based on that's an easy drive for me. Idaho could just be Yeah, it sounds like a fun trip, Montana, wherever. Pick one

or two states and then dive into that state. So here's how you dive in. Start first by ordering the regulations for the two states that you've picked. You can start by doing a little bit of research online where states so that I could get it over the counter tag Where states that have a good chance of drawing my first year. Okay, once you get that, read through those and identify areas that you could potentially get a tag or potentially start hunting. Once you've done that, now

you jump into the research aspect. Honestly, the ONYX Hunt app is one of the best ways that I do hunt planning because what I'll do is, after reading through the regulations, I figure out where I can hunt, I go on that app and I go to that unit and I look for public land. Once you found the public land, you go, Okay, there's access here. I've got public land. I've got an area I can get a tag.

This is where I'm going to start my research. Once you've narrowed down the area, it's way easier to pinpoint places to go or give yourself ideas on where to hunt. You can call local biologists, fish and game. You can do a lot of research online just even googling the area and maybe even get into a forum about people that have hunted that area. Create. What I do is I start a folder for every new area. I still

do a lot of handwriting whatever. When I learned something or find something interesting on it, I write it down and that's gonna start narrowing your approach to that specific unit. And through that research, a lot of times you might even encounter some people that have been there. Um, you might get some numbers from some guys to talk to or through a forum, maybe just kind of get somebody's

take on it. Then I'll go back to my maps. Now, go back to our one of our e scouting episodes we did early on, and maybe I gotta I'll probably do some more episodes in the future on tag draw systems as well as hunting new areas. There's all gonna be coming up, So that's where I would start, and I think that kind of answers it. And then just keep listening to the podcast because really you're going to glean a lot of tips on the how to hunt part. But I'm also I like that idea and maybe cover

some more getting started in future episodes. Alright, this one, I'm gonna paraphrase from Ben. He says, most of my hunts are rather stationary in a blind in central Texas where it's usually hot but can get into the twenties. So he's planning his first elk hunt late in September in Idaho. He's purchased a lot of outdoor gear. He's got some gortex wind stopper jacket for extra warmth rain protection.

He bought some Ridge Reaper pants. He bought gortex pants as well, so his his question is should he just throw on a base layer and go lighter pants or should he go heavier pants that are too hot for Texas, but he doesn't want to get too cold in Idaho. So late September in the mountains, it can be a little bit of everything. I would say if you're if you're going on your first hiking type hunt, you dress

completely different than you do when you're sitting. I actually did a sitting hunt in Oklahoma this year, and I froze. It's a completely different experienced sitting station. Or you need a lot of clothes is and you need a lot of warm stuff. When you're hunting the mountains, you're moving. You can never go to light. It could be thirty

degrees out or freezing out. And I generally start off the day if if I know I'm hiking in a light pant and my shirt, I'll leave my jacket in my pack because I know that as soon as I start moving, I'm gonna heat up and I'm gonna start sweating. I would say that if I was the choose between one or the other for late September, I would go the lightest pant I could find, and then throw in a like a mid season base layer, because Western hunting

and movement hunting is all based on layering. If you're stopped, you might cool down, So that's when you would throw on that rain jacket or a down puff or something like that to keep you warm, and then you can take it off and as soon as you start hiking again, go mobile, go lightweight, and let whatever you're wearing be breathing, because if you just bundle up and start hiking, you're just gonna overheat. Alright. This next one is from John

kin Or. He says, first of all, huge fan. Second of all, I've been watching you on Solo Hunters and listening to your podcast for a couple of months now, and I've seen you make some very impressive shots in the field. Uh. He's his question comes down to mountain rifles. He also said, asks what guns scope I've had the most success with, and then he sees that I generally use a muzzle brake. He has a question about the muzzle brakes and whether he should get one, and then

what type of caliber of rifle. That's a great question, and I get gun questions a lot. The number one gun question I get is what caliber and then what type of rifle. So if you want a mountain rifle, there's a ton of great lightweight mountain rifles out there. Uh. Currently I work with Soco. I'm actually sponsored by Sacco Firearms, the Finished Firearm Company. They do make some really good lightweight guns. The Carbon Light as well as the fin

Light to that's those are probably two my favorites. But they also make what I would consider the best mid range light rifle, which is the Tika T three Light. For the price and the weight like that, that gun can't be beaten. I've probably recommended that gun to more people than others um In a lot of the solo hunters that I've done, I've shot a lot of Christians in arms. Those are great rifles as well, also lightweight, they've got the carbon fiber. I do suggest muzzle breaks

on a rifle now. A lot of people go, oh, they damage your ears. Yes, here's my opinion. I wish that our suppressor laws in this country we're wide open, like you could just buy them. When I go to New Zealand, you can pretty much buy a suppressor anywhere. It's actually encouraged that you put a suppressor on your rifle. Because what it does is it acts as a muzzle break, taking a lot of the kick out of the rifle, but it doesn't blow your ear drums out and they

aren't silenced. It just takes the crack out of the rifle, reduces the decibel level a little bit. Now, I think most suppressors. You probably still when I'm shooting, like at the range with a suppressor, I throw on my ear protection. But when I'm out in the field and I shoot with the suppressor, it just doesn't blast my ears. You'll see that in a lot of videos that I do. I always have those ear plugs around my neck or put ear plugs in before I shoot, and it is

because I have a muzzle break. You might get one shot off, but damaging your ears. I just know too many guys and I've I've had it happened where my ears will ring for a week, and it's not worth your ears ringing for the rest of your life. I know if you guys that that's happened to. So the reason that I suggest a muzzle break, I believe that a lot of people overgunn themselves. It doesn't matter how tough you are, or how strong you are, or how

manly you are. If you're repeatedly getting a sharp kick in the shoulder, eventually you're gonna develop some bad shooting habits. And I see this happen a lot, especially with young hunters where they might be fifteen, sixteen whatever and there just overgunned. In America, we tend to overgun really bad. Like we'll give a hundred and twenty pound person a three wind bag and say here, shoot this box of shells and then go out and shooting milk. What's gonna

happen is you're gonna start flinching. And I see it happen nearly with everybody that shoots a large caliber rifle for prolonged period of time. And it might not happen right away, but eventually it will. It's just something that happens. It's super hard to get away from. So I suggest always airing on the side of less recoil. Recoil reduction muzzle break is the best way to do that. You're better off having a loud gun that you can shoot

and not develop bad habits with. Also, I love the muzzle break because when I'm on target, if I'm by myself, the lower recoil allows me to oftentimes still maintain that animal in my scope as well as reacquire the target extremely quick even if you aren't by yourself. That is a great to have. My personal favorite caliber is a three short MAAG. I love it because I can hunt everything from moose and elk down to I've even taken it to Africa and hunted small steam buck, which is

like a very tiny antelope. It's very versatile. It's also a short action, so that short action you can get built into a lighter rifle. If you're a mountain hunter, you're carrying your rifle all the time, shaving off some weight is huge. As far as scope, I think one of my favorite scopes is the Vortex. It's the Viper series and it's like an hsl R. There's a hunter version of it now brand new. I like having an adjustable turret on my scope, but you know, everybody's different.

I like to be able to just dial up to where I'm exactly where that bullets gonna hit. I would say, if you don't do that, if you want to just keep it simple, stupid. I know a lot of guys that just having a turret is just a little bit too much, So there's plenty of rifle scopes out there. I would say get one with BBC Radical Ballistic Stata LIGNS,

something that translates to wear your bullets hitting at different ranges. Now, a lot of those scopes aren't first vocal plane, meaning it's got to be at a certain magnification for those lines to represent. So you just have to get familiar with whatever scope you do. I like having a little bit more magnification on my scope, so I'll try to get something like a four to sixteen is a good range of scope that I like. I like that extra bit of zoom because I like to really be able

to pick out what I'm shooting at. You know, I'd say growing up, the standard was the three to nine. I like to jump it up to the sixteen. I think when you get into the twenty range magnification, if you've got more of a tactical type setup, that's great. I like higher magnification, but I also want to make sure that I have the low range on it as well. Because my scope is of the time set on a

low magnification. I only turn it up when I need it for those further shots because I want to make sure I take a more accurate shot now if I'm by myself, though I rarely ever go above nine power because I want to be able to retain the site picture and see what happens on that shot. I don't know if that answers the question that got deep, but I think some people will be able to pick some stuff out of that. All right, our next question, I might butcher your last name Maxim totally from Montana Um.

Him and a buddy are going on a CU's deer hunt December one opener any advice for first time CUS deer hunters, and then they're gonna spend a lot of time glassing. It sounds like he's got a pretty good plan here. He really just wants any advice for spotting stalking the CU's deer. Now. The CUS deer hunt in Arizona is awesome because there's an over the counter archery tag down there. It's pretty much through December through January.

I will say I've hunted almost I don't know. I don't know if I've punted every open unit, but I've over the years make it a point to just keep hunting new units down there, and I've got some of my favorites that I keep going back to. But I would say the best advice I could give you is get good glass and find glassing knobs, so you you'll find a good knob with the sun at your back and glass the mountain range, I would say most of the deer are gonna tend to be at the top

third of the hill. Cou'se deer I kind of refer them as a mountain white tail, whereas in Arizona the mule deer at the bottoms and the valleys, and the cou'se deer up on the mountains. It's the exact opposite where hut in Idaho or in Montana, where the white tails are in the bottom of the mule deer up on the mountains. I like hunting the mountains, so I go with what species live in the mountains Arizona, it's

CU's deer. Now, when you're hunting in December, it's going to be a little bit more pre rut, and then when you get into the January season, I think it's more main red. I personally prefer to hunt later in January, So if you're looking for an out of state hunt, you could jump on that one right now. The later in January hunt. You can still translate a lot of just standard white tail tactics or rut tactics, so you do little bit of glassing, but also think about these

deer running. They're gonna be moving more. Look toward areas where bucks will travel. I like to start out looking first thing on the ridges, finger ridges in the mornings or at the top third of the mountain. As that thermal changes, it's gonna be drifting the wind up. Well, the bucks are gonna be cruising looking for does. So what they're gonna be doing is they're gonna be moving in places where they can cover a lot of ground

and hopefully catch the scent of a dough. That tends to be ridges in the mornings as the thermals arising, because they'll catch the wind on either side as well as like the top part of the mountain. That's why I say it's glass the top third of the hill, because they're gonna be catching the scent of does down below. Now, when it comes to the stocking portion, that is the hardest part because as they're running, they might get up and run off. So if you've got two guys, two

guys is preferred, leave one guy on point. If you can hunt in pairs, you're gonna be a lot more successful, just because when you go on a stock, having somebody watch that animal and know whether they're gone or not is huge. But what I like to do is I like to watch the deer. I like to watch to where they bed down, and then I play in my

stock from there, leave one guy on point. If the animal moves or whatever, have hands signals worked out, like, hey, that deer just decided to get up and run off and chase a dough for no reason, or he's still in that position. A lot of the CU's deer hunts stocks that get blown. They get blown by sneaking in and just assuming that they're gone because you don't see them, and then they blow out right at your feet. They

will hold very tight. But I'd say most of the time when I'm stocking CU's Dear, the plan is to come in from the top. It's mountainous. Most mountain stocks are best performed sneaking down on top of the animal because they're bedded looking down. If you can get the wind right, you'll probably get into position for a shot. And then when you get into that position for a shot, be quiet, be patient, and make sure that you have good shooting lanes for when they happen to stand up.

I think that's the simplest way I could walk you through that at and I you know, I love cuse deer hunting. So maybe a little bit later that's a good topic for an actual podcast in the future. If that's something that you guys would like to hear about, let me know. I mean, also, you can always continually send me, you know, ideas on what what you want to hear about. This question comes from Luke. It's about shop placement. First, he says, I wanted to thank you

for the glass and tips and tricks. Your advice to glass even more in the trees led to my personal best white tail this season. He eyed a small bedded buck just the sliver hair gave him away, and then his much larger buddy, and he sent a picture actually a great buck, Max, congrats. So his question is I ran into a next shot predicament this season, A large five by five white tail buck twenty seven yards standing

a broadside looking at me. The only thing I could clearly see was the deer's head and neck through the brush. I opted for him to walk forward and hopefully I have a vital shot. But the deer bounded off. I wasn't rushed. He stood there for what felt like a minute. My third yard groups are good, but I've heard with a bow these neck shots are frowned upon. Would you have taken this deer? I think after reading this, you

did the right thing. If there's a deer standing broadside, I would never attempt that neck shot, especially at thirty yards with a bow. An animal at the sound of that string, even if they aren't super keyed in, has the tendency to jump. What that could do is there's very little vital in the neck for a bowshot. There's a lot more chance that you would wound that deer, hit that dear bad, or miss that deer than actually killing the deer. You made the right decision. That's the

whole part about bow hunting. That's the whole part about hunting. That's the frustrating part. You can have them so close yet so far away, thirty yards and no shot. That's just classic what happens when you start bow hunting or bow hunt long enough, you're going to have something that was almost an opportunity. But to be an ethical hunter, meaning patient and waiting for the opportunity when you can make a clean, ethical shot is key. It's what separates

us from the other animals out there. Chasing wolves don't have those same ethics, but as humans and as hunters, we value those ethics because we want to make sure that when we take an animal, it's clean, it's fast, and we did everything in our power to make sure that we secured them. So if I have a deer this broadside and I don't have a clean shot, I'm

gonna wait for that clean shot. If that clean shot doesn't present itself, that was just how that opportunity worked out, and you keep remaining persistent and hoping for a better opportunity next time. So good work, you did the right thing. I wouldn't beat myself up over that. I would actually pat yourself on the back because that's the move you should have made, all right. So our final question comes from Brett Cokes. He says, thanks for all your tips.

It just feel my mule der tag yesterday in my socks, So thanks for that stealthy tidbit. Shoes of situation man. Good work. I'm hunting elk for the first time over in Western Washington, pretty unfamiliar with the area besides online doing some on X scouting, and a lot of the forums are saying, you know, hunt the wet side and camera waiters. He's not really into that idea. It seems kind of crazy, so he wanted just a few tips on hunting wet areas, as well as maybe something for

rain gear options. He also goes on to say, really appreciate the tips of cutting the distance. I think this is what young hunters are, inexperienced centers have really needed for a long time. Someone who's willing to spread the knowledge of those of us who didn't grow up hunting or may just need some more confidence. Thanks again, I appreciate that, and I love hearing about that kind of stuff as well, because otherwise why do I take the time to do this. I love knowing that these podcasts

are actually helping people. So here's my philosophy on hunting really wet areas. And I'll just break down rain gear because a lot of people ask about it real wet stuff. I've tried a lot of different types of rain gear, and I think that for the really wet places that I hunt, say like um, the West coast of New Zealand, or even down south and New Zealand, Southeast Alaska, Kodiak Island, or pretty much anywhere in Alaska coastal areas as well. It can be just wet. The grass is wet, it's

always wet, it's raining, it's always wet. You're crossing a lot of streams and creeks that's always wet. So there's a lot of options for rain gear. The most expensive stuff is generally the best stuff. The gore pro I find is probably the best stuff to keep you actually dry, but it's also stiff and loud, so if you're hunting more thick cover where it's gonna be a lot of still hunting, it's not necessarily the best option for that. Now you have to weigh in the type of wet

that it is. Is it cold wet? Are you going to be cold and you could get hypothermia? In that case, you definitely want the rain gear. If it's just hey, I'm day hunting, it's I'm gonna be wet, but I've got placed to dry out every night. Sometimes you might just go find a water resistant pant. You know you're gonna get soaked, But at the end of the day, you can go dry out. It's a lot more quiet,

a lot more stealthy. I would say for real wet hunts where I want to make sure I remain dry, I actually just hunt in my rain here all day, and I start out that way. I see a lot of guys have their hunting pants on, then they throw their rain here over the top of your hunting pants. Look, you're just when you put rain gear on, you got

to know that you're still gonna get wet. You're either gonna get wet from the inside out sweating it's raining on the inside your ring gear, or you're gonna not wear rain gear and you're gonna get wet from the outside in. So what I do is I start light. I just wear my rain gear over a really light thermal so that kind of creates an extra layer that allows my sweat to evaporate and then go through my

gortex layer. Then when I'm hiking or moving a lot of times I will try to vent if I can, but also think about the places where water seeps in tear clothes. When I'm hunting really wet areas, I see people all the time just walking around with their hoods down, and then water is just pouring down your back and

soaking you either way. So if I'm using my rain gear a lot of times, I seal up the cuffs, I put gloves over the top, I use gators to prevent water from soaking down into my boots, and then I wear very little underneath that rain gear, maybe just a light shirt, light thermals, and just hunt in the rain gear for that day. That's the best way to do it. If you start hunting waiters or other stuff, it's just gonna be thick, bulky, you're gonna sweat even more.

But just doing rain gear with a light layer underneath, that's the best way to hunt super wet areas. I think we covered so much this week. I'm really excited about this new year. I'm excited about that top ten resolutions. Pick some of those, let me know how it goes. I love to hear those kind of success stories, even if you just do one of those things. Make some kind of goal, make a hunting goal. I'm big on goals my whole life. I've set goals and tried to

achieve those goals. And when you set a goal, write it down. Don't just pick one of these and make it a mental note, write it down, put it somewhere where you can see it every day. Put it on your mirror in your bathroom. Put it when your phone turns on as a screen saver. Put your goals there. Make it something that you see every day that hits you in the face and says, that's what I'm gonna do this year. That's what I'm gonna do for myself,

to make myself a better hunter. That's the whole goal here is to be better in the field, to optimize our time, so when we go out, we're more successful more often. And I think if you pick a few of those things and stick to them, you're gonna find some serious success. And if you don't find success, I think that you're going to find a better quality of life and maybe an adventure too along the way. So

until next week, stay thirsty and keep cutting the distance. Well, that's the first time I've used that as a sign off. The title. I like it, will change it