Ep. 31: Answering Your Questions, Part 4

on the same topic. Now, in all honesty, almost all the podcasts are about you guys, because a lot of the direction I choose to go each week depends on the type of questions that come in. But these will just be answering specific people's questions. So what I want to do is I'm going to talk a little bit about some testimonials that we've got. I'm gonna answer a few questions, and then we'll even uh maybe give some

life advice. So let's get it going. You know, if this is actually the first podcast you're listening to, it will really help you become a better hunter. Now I can say that because I personally maybe like the tips that we give, but I think that it's better coming from someone else. So let's read some testimonials. So the first one comes from Dan. He says He's an avid listener and he lives at the East Coast but tries

to make it out west annually to hunt somewhere. Dan writes, your New Year's Resolution episode made me think about what else I could do to make my experience even better, and I've started leaving my boots along with pack containing three ten pound done bells wrapped in towels at my front door and just put it on every day while walking the dog. Also, your episodes about still hunting made me realize how much I watched my feet while walking, so I've added keeping my head up walking the dog

to my daily routine as well. Turns out I can turn a dog walk into a daily exercise in being a better hunter. Keep up the great work, Dan, That's awesome. That is some inspiration right there. There's so many things that you can do in your daily life to make you a better hunter, and you can take some of these tips into everyday things, just like walking around, keeping your head up, paying attention to things when you go on a walk or an exercise, throwing that pack on,

wearing your boots outside of the hunting season. All those little things are just huge when it comes to now turning what you're doing in your daily life into its hunting season and how am I going to be more successful? So thanks for that, Dan. We've got one more testimonial and as always, feel free to email. I'll give you guys the email at the end of the podcast, but you know we'll be looking for some testimonials and some

other things. So these are great. There's a lot of them, and I love reading people have success from something in this podcast, so this one. I thought this one was really awesome, says Remy. Just harvested my first pig with a bow last night. While waiting on some does, a saunder of pigs ran by my stand at about a hundred and ten yards out. Usually I would have waited at waited out hope they came into range, but I had recently listened to the practice on Small Game podcast

and decided to expand my repertoire. I got down, slipped off my boots thanks to the shoes off situation episode, and crept into twenty yards, smoked a nice little forty pounds sow and was able to share it with a buddy who hadn't had much success this year. I never would have had the confidence to try and stalk without your show, and I'm so blessed to be in a situation where I can share the harvest with others. Thank you for putting together such helpful content. It's benefiting both

listeners and those around us. Please keep up what you're doing. It helps more than you know. Respectfully, Nate Mason. Thanks Nate. I am super stoked that that worked out for you. It's really cool to to hear people kind of doing something a little bit different, maybe getting out of their comfort zone and finding some success. I know a lot

of people that listen to this podcast. You know it's it's very Western based hunting, yet there are tips and tricks that everybody can pull no matter where you hunt, whether you're in North America, the South Pacific, Europe, it doesn't really matter where you hunt. A lot of the things that I talk about ring true to so many different places, species, other things. So I'm I'm super excited

to hear that. It's great when somebody finds success in a way that they didn't think and maybe try something a little bit different, things outside the box, and comes home with some meat. Let's jump into the first question. I always love questions about elk if I were to think about something that I would do. I mean, I honestly could probably do an elk podcast a week and just make this a full on podcast on elk hunting. I've done a lot of elk hunting. I have a

lot of experience with it. I've guided professionally for elk. I've spent thousands of days chasing elk throughout every season. So when it comes to talking about how to hunt elk, I'm super passionate about it. I love it, and I feel like there's a lot of things that I've picked up just doing it so much that I can share. So anytime elk question comes in, I I'm super excited

about that. And in the future, one thing you can look forward to is maybe a good another series on elk hunting because the calling last year that was probably one of my favorite ones to do. You could probably tell my passion about it while I was doing it and people, you know, a lot of great response. Now I understand not everybody elk hunts, but gosh, everybody should and this hopefully this podcast will inspire people to try

it if you haven't. So here's this question. My question is about elk sent I've come to learn from you and others. Elk rely heavily on their strong sense of smell to avoid predators. But I never hear you or others talk about any scent blockers, sprays, wafers, etcetera to use to prevent this, much like the ones we use in the Midwest for white tail hunting. Is there anything that is effective to use for scent blocking and do

you use anything? Thanks Dan, So that is a great question, And this is a question that has come up so many times. I just I can't even uh, there's just like between social media and this email, so many questions about scent. Now, when you're white tailing, you have to understand the type of hunting you're doing and how sent

control plays in. So I'm I'm not gonna discredit send control when it comes to stand hunting for white tails, because when you're stationary, you know, you do everything in your power to get the wind right for your stand, but you also aren't a hundred percent sure which direction the animals coming in from. So there's there's sprays, there's uh, what what are those um osonics type ozone blockers? There's scent wafers that now sent way for if you aren't

familiar with. It would be like a dough and estris scent on almost like a cotton type wafer. I don't know, like a piece of plastic. It just depends on what it's on. But um, it holds the scent, so it could be maybe a bucky urine scent. There's other things like cover sense people. A long time ago my dad used to use for antelope pumping out of a blind, used to use just skunk spray, um, So those would

be to mask the scent. And then things like dough estris or um buck urine or whatever maybe to kind of be a to mask the human scent as well as maybe us as an attracting So when you're sitting there, you know the wind's gonna do something. You're gonna base your stand on where you think the animals are gonna come in from, and then you're gonna pick a stand so that you're down wind from that. But deer might circle around, they might come in from a different direction.

The winds may swirl and you can do nothing about it because you're stationary. So using scent control in those scenarios may give you a slight advantage if the wind shifts or starts blowing towards an animal, and they don't

wind you because you're you're up in a tree. You're you're using some kind of scent control, and it gives you a little bit of an advantage over the animal sense of smell, because for almost all the animals we hunt, big game animals, their sense of smell is way tuned in, and it's their first instinct is to always run when they smell danger, whereas if they see something off, they might kind of look stare and you can get over it. You cannot trick the nose of an elk or a deer. Now,

why does that not translate to Western big game hunting. Well, it's the style of hunting. So when we're talking about spot and stock and moving around elk hunting, in order to kill an elk, you could sit a stand and that is possible. So I would say that if you are stand hunting for elk, sure use the scent blockers, use the sprays, use the ozones. If you're sitting in

a blind or whatever, you could even use scent wafers, whatever. Now, if you're hiking around, that stuff is immediately rendered useless as soon as you start hiking, because what happens is your body starts sweating. The sweat goes on the outside of your clothing you're moving around. So in order scent control for spot and stock hunting, still hunting. Hunting on the ground is just using the wind. There's no better scent control than getting the wind right. So that's gonna

be your number one focus. So it doesn't matter how much spray you spray down with. If that wind shifts after you've been hiking and running around the mountains, they're gonna smell you. I know because I've tried it. I used to bring a bottle of spray down stuff on hunts with me. Before i'd stock a mule here, I'd spray down. And it's not a bad idea. If you're if you've got some swirling winds, maybe it'll give you

a slight advantage. You will notice, like the first day that you hunt, animals are less likely to wind you. But on a backcountry hunt, you you aren't showering every day, your clothes aren't clean. You know, all where the same pair of clothes every day for five days, just because it's that's the feasible way to hunt. So sent control kind of just renders itself useless because when the wind shifts, no matter what you do on top of it, they're gonna smell you. Now, specifically with elk I have had

when I was guiding. One time I had a guy bring one of those elk scent wafers, so it was like a cow estra scent, and he had it pinned onto his hat. About the first day, he got back in the truck and I said, hey, let me see that sent wafer, and then I threw it out the window. The reason is is because the first thing is a lot of times when you're chasing elk or whatever, they can smell the other elk in the herd, and if they smell the cow next to them, but your scent

blows to them, they're still gonna smell you. Like the live elk won't mask your scent, So just adding it to yourself really isn't gonna help. The other crucial thing in elk hunting is I use my nose a lot

when hunting. I hunt into the wind, and there's so many times I would say, I don't even know what percentage say of the time when I'm hunting in somewhere that's especially archery season or in thicker cover, I'll smell the elk before I see them, and that cused me into knowing where the elk are, where they've been elk or very pungent animals. You can smell wallows, you can smell where they've been by urine on the ground. You

can actually smell the smell of an elk. Once you practice it, you can actually distinguish the smell between the smell of a bowl, the smell of a cow, and the smell of wear a bowls bent, and the smell of a live animal. And I've used that training of the sense of smell to turn that into success. So if you have, say a sent wafer that's blocking your

sense of smell, you're really actually just limiting yourself. So the key is, use the wind, use your nose, and you're gonna be a lot more success all so, you just will find more success without those things. Now, if you decide you're gonna hunt a blind or something like that, feel free, go for it. You know, if you hike into your blind, hike in in one set of clothes and change your clothes, spray down, sit in your tree. Stand send control works for tree stand hunting does not

work for hiking around spot and stock hunting. Here's another elk question, so let's just keep it in the in the elk family here, says Hi Remy, thanks for the cutting the Distance podcast. I'm learning so much, and as a beginner, I'm learning a ton from the info you share. I've listened every show you've put out, and there's no better resource for me. Would you be willing to do a show on how to go from basic archery skills and some hunting experience to archery hunting elk? It seems

like a huge leap for me. I've hunted for pigs with a guide and done waterfall and upland hunting with friends and mentors, but there seems to be a huge leap required to get into something like archery elk hunting. What kind of plan could I put myself on to be ready next season? And then he says, I'm already working on my New Year's resolutions to be a better hunter, although I have to admit I've done zero of the hundred miles with a pack. Thanks Evan. Alright, so what

I'm gonna do? I think I'll just break it down into five steps Okay, So these are gonna be the five steps. If you have not hunted elk before archery elk, here's how you're gonna get started. Step one, you're gonna pick the area to hunt. So what you gotta do is you gotta narrow it down to a state and a unit that right there once. Once you've decided that, then you can start to make your plan. So there's only a few states where this can be possible now because we gotta we gotta make a plan or doing

it for this year. So Utah is available. Montana is not do yet, so you could still obtain a tag in Montana. You could look to Idaho, and you could look to Colorado Wyoming, it's too late. You had to do that by January, so that one's out. And then there's other states that have a lot of draws, but you're gonna want to pick an area that's more of a general unit where you can kind of guarantee yourself a tag. So general area, Montana, General areas, and Utah.

Some of those you can actually get uh later too. They have leftover tags if you go back. There's actually a podcast on draws and units and tags. So definitely listen to that and then kind of make a plan and find somewhere to hunt. Once you have that, you can narrow it down to a unit you're gonna go to. Now Step two, plan a week in mid September, so you're gonna archery hunt. You want to find a hunt that hits the peak of the rut. It's just gonna

be better for you. I prefer either the mid September. So I'm actually gonna pull up my calendar right now. I'm gonna pick some good dates for you, and I don't have them off the top of my head, but normally around the nineteenth I always just find the nineteenth. That's kind of like peak rut. So, oh, this week, you've got a Saturday, the nineteen, and you can hunt. To the man, that should be a good day to hunt.

A little bit early would be that week before. But if you're gonna go weekend to weekend, if I was to pick one weekend, I would go the nineteenth to that's just you know, peak rut if you can, if you can swing it. So step to pick a date in September, and you want to try to get peak at because if the bulls are bugling, are going to

be easier to find. It's easy for elk hunting is cool for something during archery season for people that have never done it, because if you're in an area and you aren't finding elk, sometimes they'll just yell at you until you where they're out there, like whoa, I'm what we're here, dude? So that's great. Now. Step three, this is the research section. You've got your unit. You know, you've got your dates. Now talk to people that have maybe hunted the area. Go use social media for good.

Find people that have maybe hunted that certain area. Talk to them maybe uh talk. Read some stuff on phishing game websites about the unit. You'll be surprised how much information the Department of Wildlife for each state has. You can go to eat specific unit. They'll tell you where the highest concentrations of animals are in the unit, and it will just really help you narrow it down. Then you're gonna eat scout at home at night, maybe every night before bed. You can take your maps out. Get

the Onyx hunt app. That's honestly the bet I like. I literally, I don't think there's a day that goes by that I'm not on. That just completely scouting new areas, looking at new stuff, maybe trying to find something new because it's got the unit borders, it's got everything. Go back to one of my EA scouting podcasts, re listen to it with that in mind, like have it out, look at it, listen to it, and I'm gonna be

doing some more in depth stuff in the future. So just keep listening to the podcast, but that will help. Do some research on that, and just start figuring out where you're gonna hunt, make a plan, take some notes, and once you have a plan, figure out Okay, I'm

gonna check out this area. So up until that point, step four is gonna be practice, practice with your calls, your bow as well as just like get in shape, do that, do your training, follow through with your becoming a better hunter, get that hundred miles in this summer, shoot your bow as much as possible, and practice with your calls. The best time to practice with an ELK call is when you're driving by yourself. Have some If you don't know how to use a diaphragm call, get

a couple of diaphragm calls. Use those. God man, it's just it's so handy to have a call in your mouth that you don't have to use your hands. But then also get some read calls, practice, some bugling, practice, some cow calls, and I'll try to do a few more calling ELK calling episodes in the future too, so but there's plenty of resources out there, so that's a practice those calls. Now, Step five, execute your plan. You're gonna pack up your truck. You're gonna do whatever it takes.

You're gonna get out. You're gonna get into the unit. You're gonna have a plan based on a map. You're gonna follow that map and then start hunting, start looking for ELK. Once you're there, you're gonna have a lot better chance of being successful. Then if you just think about it and say, oh, that's something that I don't know how to do. The key is to just dive in to get out there. Whether you're successful or not, you're gonna learn something on that trip that's gonna help

you in the future either way. But odds are if you're out there, the chances of getting an ELK or a lot better than or infinitely better than if you stay home. Also, if it's your first time man, invite someone to go with you, find somebody that might be interested. It's a lot easier mentally and just splitting costs of travel and doing something new like that. If you've got a buddy with you, so go out with a buddy, find a buddy to go with you, and enjoy the experience.

And that's it. Just do it. And also one thing to think about when you start planning that trip, scroll through the list of the past podcasts. There's something that kind of covers every one of those steps. So once you have that in mind, really listen to those because you'll probably pick up things that you missed the first time if you already listen to it. And I suggest that for everyone. If you're if you're planning something, there's something in one of these podcasts that kind of lines

up with what you're planning on doing. It's something that you want to learn more about. Do that and then maybe even take some notes on things. Okay, I need to I need to know this a little bit, and then find out do a little more research on it, maybe find some books or some other online videos, whatever you can to help you with that. I like this question because it relates to a lot of things. I think I actually kind of wanted to do a whole podcast on this, but I want to talk about it

just for a little bit here. So it says early season scouting tips for deer and elk, as in what to look for when scouting for elk, as far as terrain, how early and when should I stop scouting for deer elk and what to do if you're seeing animals during this scouting season but they disappeared during the hunting season. So this is a great question. Uh. This from Jesse Adam, So I I really like that question because it is something that happens a lot. I think if you have

access to scouting, you're gonna hunting area. Starting in the summer is a great time to start now. I actually would consider consider scouting almost year round if you can. So. I like to go out in the springtime and look for for shed anilers. It's just an enjoyable time. You see a lot of animals out there. I like to go later once the winter is warn't off. Don't go too early, so late spring, early summer, I go kick

around look for sheds. While you're doing that, you're gonna see a lot of animals on what would have been the winter range and it's not necessarily going to be where they're at during the hunting season. So there's a lot of things like migration other things. But understand those animals in your unit, where are they wintering? Then you're gonna work backwards and say where are they coming from? So the odds are that they're they've moved from a high country area in the summer to a down low

winter range. Winter, they're spending their time on north slopes that burn off snow. They've got a lot of feed and feel safe, and then in the summer most of the bulls and bucks will go up higher into the mountains. Now at summertime, okay, we're gonna be up at the tops of the mountains. This is where we're gonna find the animals. So what I do then is I make notes of places that the animals are hanging out. So there's two type groups of animals. There are migratory and

then there's resident herds. So the resident stuff is going to be the stuff that's not necessarily up at the top. So if you go to the top of the mountain you're in the alpine, you're gonna see animals there because a lot of animals will summer there. Now, if you're planning on hunting to say an archery season in or an early season, you're probably better off scouting and looking for resident animals, animals that are in an area that they don't have to move. They probably won't change between

winter and summer range. Those animals will probably stick around longer. But if you do go into the alpine you start seeing animals, odds are that you will not find them when it comes time for your hunting season. So if you've if you've gone into the alpine, you see a bunch of mule deer, especially, they'll be velveted up, they'll be bachelored up. And then you've got say a September muzzleloader hunt, and you're like, man, I watched these deer all summer. I go up there at the beginning of

September and I cannot find a single animal. What's going on? Well, you have to factor in what happened. So for mule deer, they've shed their antlers. And I find that most animals, like if they're in the alpine or whatever, they'll drop from their summer range about a thousand feet in elevation and they'll find a spot where they can kind of

just bulk up and prepare for the rut that's coming on. Now, elk and deer are different, so let's just let's just pick mule deer and I'll just talk about mule deer and elk. You can kind of factor in a different way because what happens after the summer elk rut in September, So the bulls might be in the alpine now they're going to go to groups at cows. So if you're scouting for elk, there's no time too early to understand where is a resident group of cows living, and then

that group of cows will act as a magnet. And if you're hunting later in the season, you're gonna decipher where the elk summering and where they wintering, and then you kind of create on your map a line of like, okay,

this is probably where they're traveling from. Now. I'm not saying you have to find the same elk on the winter range and they'll find them on the summer range and cut them off, but you can kind of decipher, Okay, they're here, they're going to hear They're gonna be somewhere mid range living where it's secluded timber, they've got everything they need in between during that main hunting season, so

that might be something in like October November. You can kind of figure out their route along the way and then hunt those areas later in the year. So knowing where they are early, knowing where they are late can pay off. Now, something like mule deer, they shed their velvet, they're gonna drop down, say a thousand feet in elevation. The reason they do that they're they're bulking up. They can be in the timber more because they're they're antlers,

are no longer soft um. They might even break off their bachelor groups and then they'll start to prepare for the ruts. So they're just gonna bulk up because they're

gonna rut November. But what you'll find is if you were seeing deer in the summer, say in the Alpa, you're gonna now concentrate on areas of thicker cover lower on the mountains, so you'll know where they were, and now pick spots in that same general area, say down the canyon, in the thicker cover, and really spend a lot more time looking because they're gonna be harder to see Uh, they won't be out in the open as often, but they should still be in that same general area.

So I hope that helps. That's the way that I think about it, and it's it's proven a lot of success over the years. All right, let's move on to the next. One says, this actually just address is something that I talked about earlier. So it said, Remy, you noted that you will be speaking in Chantilly, Virginia on March, so I'll be speaking at the Pope and Young Club there. It says, I don't see on the schedule when I'll be, so if I happen to know, give some info, thanks Leland.

So yeah, I appreciate that. So Friday, I'll be at the Pope and Young Convention in Virginia and Shantilly, Virginia. They've got some like an archery shoot around the hotel there. It should be pretty sweet. They've actually acquired one twenty two archery world records, like the actual antlers, mounts, everything, and then the core. The archery course is going to be um like reproductions of a lot of the world records,

so it's kind of cool. You can shoot a foam three D target that represents the world record archery as far as like size and everything, so that's gonna be pretty sweet. So on in the morning, I'm gonna be doing a Western Big Game Q and A. I think that might be at nine am. I don't think that the actual schedules out yet, but this is just it should be by the time this goes. So in the morning, I'm doing a Q and A. Then there's a luncheon panel at eleven, and then there's a dinner at night.

I think it starts at six or whatever, and I'll be the keynote speech during that and they're gonna do some other cool stuff during that dinner. So if you're in the area you're traveling to that event, try to be there. And you want to catch up with me Fridays the day because I actually have to fly out in the next day. I'm going hunting for red deer in South America. So if you want to catch me on that awesome. I'll be around And I think even

Thursday I might be walking around shooting that course. So I really want to do that. That sounds really fun. So if you find me on the course, jump in. We'll shoot together. Let's let's jump into a little life advice. You know that's that's always fun, something a little bit out of the box. Uh, it says Remy, I've got a monster of a question for you. It's a rough one.

Looking to get into bow hunting. The hardest part is convincing the wife I need a bow when I've been rifle hunting for the past six years of our marriage. Now here's the thing. I smoked a rack of ribs and a pork shoulder on my homemade smoker last weekend. She confronted me after I was complaining about my smoker and told me she's on board with me buying a new pellet grill, but can't get on board with a bow. What say you do I keep fighting the uphill battle

or do I concede and get the smoker. I told you this was a rough one. That's from Chad in Ellisburg, Washington. Alright, Chad, that is a tough one. Here's the thing. I think maybe maybe you're just going about it all wrong. Now, you built a smoker, and the smoker works, and I understand wanting the pellet gril. So if you can get the pellet grill, Gosh, that's a tough one. You've already your rifle hunting. That's great. Hopefully you're bringing home some meat.

Here's my thought. If you want to get into archery hunting, but your spouse might not be on board, I think that you should make it a thing that the both of you can do together. Now. I don't know your wife, but I know that shooting a bow doesn't necessarily have to be about hunting. And there's plenty of people who I know whose wives really enjoy shooting. I've I've got friends that don't even hunt that they go. I'm like, I didn't even know you could shoot a bow and

not hunt. But what I would suggest is maybe before you do anything, make it a date. Go find a really good range that has rental equipment and a good instructor. Go out and make it a thing that the two of you can do together. Because I found that if there's anything you want to add to your life and you're taking time away from one thing and putting it into another, if you can make it about the both of you, if she starts to enjoy it, then you're gonna get a lot more support for it. Now, I

don't know how you and your wife work. Like if you're a good coach, or if you know new into bow hunting, maybe you both find somebody. There's a plenty of ranges all over the place where they get kids, women, new hunters, new shooters, just into shooting. Find something like that. Make it a make it a thing, make it fun. Go do that and see if she enjoys it, because the act of shooting a bow is really I I find it extremely enjoyable. Um, I just got my wife

into shooting a boat and she absolutely loves it. Now she enjoys hunting too, But it wasn't something she was always into. Actually, just was it. Yesterday we're out shooting in the backyard. She shot a perfect shot on the target and then actually, like Robin, hooded the arrow. And once that happened, I mean, I'm pretty sure she's hooked for life. So if you can get her on board, this might seem devious, but if you can get her on board, she's gonna be way more likely for you

to get on board. So I would go that route because if it's gonna be an uphill battle, just make it something that you guys can do together. And if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. Uh, You should definitely take the offer of the pellet grill though while it's on the table, because that doesn't mean that the bows out of the question forever. You know, small victories, man, small victories. So if you got that pellet grill, you can make her happy. You can keep on cooking some

good stuff. And maybe I don't know, or you just perfect that homemade smoker. Sell those on eBay, or trade a guy on eBay a homemade smoker for used bow. That's also a great idea by the smoke poker, trade the old smoker for a used bow. A little bit of life advice. I don't know. That was kind of fun. So I'm gonna really dig deep for next week and find some fun stuff to talk about going through some more of these questions because I couldn't really get to

all of them. But I'll tell you what in closing, If you have some questions, maybe you listen to this podcast other podcasts and you want your question answered, email me at Remy at the meat Eator dot com and then you guys can throw in some testimonials. You can throw in some questions and if you just want some general life advice that isn't about hunting throw those out there too. Those are kind of fun as well. I'm sure, just mix it up a little bit to help in

the organization of it. If you have a testimonial, put that in the first part of the subject line. If you have a question, put that in there. And if you just have some life advice, put that in there. Maybe we'll get some funny stuff. So I'll try to do these. I try to. It's fun to do them about once a month or whatever. But if you've got those questions, email them there. And then if you just got short questions you're like, ah, that might not be

a podcast question. At remy warrant it Instagram, you can reach me there. I try to get to as many as I can, so feel free to reach out there as well. Now, if you don't have a question, or you enjoy listening to this podcast, what have you? My next tip is to share this podcast with people you know that might also enjoy it and get them to subscribe.

And if you aren't a subscriber, subscribe why subscribe because then the podcast are there, it's easier to listen to and it'll just help you in the long run hopefully. So if you subscribe, already, get a friend to subscribe. If you don't subscribe, go ahead and subscribe. If you like the podcast, share it because hopefully we'll be able

to make everybody a better hunter. And you, guys, if you got friends that listen, you know, discuss some of the tips, plan a hunt together, do something new and then tell me about it, send me a testimonial, and if you've got questions on whatever you're doing, shoot me those questions. So until next week, keep the questions rolling