Ep. 48: Answering Your Questions, Part 8

It's got a tin roof and it's been pretty rainy, so this is the rainy day Q and A. If you hear a little pitter pattern noise, that's it's because you can't avoid the rain. It seems like the last few days, whether it's just been really wet. So I decided to give it a go. Do the podcast with the rain. And whether you hear it or not, I don't. I won't really know until afterwards. But it's always nice here a little bit of rain in the in the background.

Maybe we'll just have to sub that in with sound effects. We've been doing that summer prep series and that kind of sort of came to a close because I just had the things that you could focus on to get you better this summer. If you missed that, seriously, go back and listen to some of that, a ton of great response on the archery stuff. I gave a lot of great practical practice tips. A lot of people, um really enjoyed some of the fitness stuff and even the

rifle stuff. So I think that those are a huge value add to your repertoire of skills to to practice and learn. If you get a chance to go back to those or haven't listened to them, encourage you to

do it. Now. This week, what we want to do is we're gonna jump into our Q and A and and as I say every Q and A every week, I really enjoy the questions that come in because it helps me focus on the things that people are getting, the types of topics that people want to talk about, and allows me to clarify on few things that maybe I've said or or maybe more questions and go a little bit deeper into things. So I always enjoy getting these.

And a lot of questions came in about archery stuff, especially after last week's podcast, So we'll go through some of that, and then we're going to touch on a little uh kind of topics ranging from everything antelope, mountain goat, some archery, and some rifle tips. So a little bit of everything for everyone. We'll just dive in here right now. This first question comes from Mike. He says, Hi, Remmy, I'm really enjoying the podcast, A great way for an

adult onset hunter like myself to catch up. Wondering if you can help with picking a broadhead that's economical enough to practice within the off season, but good enough quality to get the job done on the hunt. I'd be willing to buy an extra pack just for practice, but one to minimize the heartache and losing one practicing tricky shots. Also, do you think the practice heads like the G five

brand include are helpful? Thanks Mike. That's a great question because last week I talked about practicing with your broadheads before the season, and one thing that broadhead practice and something that I didn't mention, is it can be expensive, especially if you lose an arrow hit another arrow. Whatever what I suggest, um the broadheads I use. I I've for a long time have actually worked with G five, So it's good that you mentioned those ones because I

use the mom text. I'm I'm a big proponent of fixed blade broadheads. There are a lot of the places that I hunt you can't hunt with mechanical broadheads, so I'm a big fan of fixed blade broadheads. I personally one of my favorite broadheads is the G five mom text, which are just solid steel broadhead. And now they've got them, I guess I think it's the M two or M three. Um, it's a newer version that's just actually all solid three blade. That's a great broadhead, and that's one of the reasons

that I started shooting that. Originally as a tough broadhead, it was hard to kind of damage that broadhead. But the other really great thing about it is I could practice with it and then I could just sharpen it up and use it for hunting as well. I've got like a diamond stone that I sharpened my broadheads with, so you can practice with those off season and then sharpen them up, throw them in your quiver, and hunt

with them. You know, as you if you practice with them a lot and need to sharpen them a lot, it is going to lose some weight of metal just from that sharpening and what have you. So I always put those further back in my quiver and then mark them as my practice one. So when I want to practice or take a few shots I've got that same broadhead. Some other really great options for practice broadheads would just

be replaceable blade broadheads as well. And so what that is is that's a broadhead where the blade itself is replaceable, almost like um, like a pre cut surgical steel type slide in blade, and you can practice with those and then you can just swap the blades out and hunt with that same broadhead you've been practicing with. That's a great way to do it. It's a little more economic

on they fly the same. But you know, if you happen to have that miss or whatever, it's not going to be is damaging to the broadhead or the arrow because you can fix the blades or they're just durable enough. Now, mechanical broadheads, if you practice with those, man like you miss, you break them, they're done. Even just shooting them into

the target a lot kind of wears them down. Um. I think what you mentioned here was the practice heads, and G five happens to have like a practice head that flies ballistically the same as the mechanical broadhead that it comes with. Those are great. I've used those. Um, that's also a great way to do it. So I think that you know, use those practice heads. Me personally, I like those solid broadheads for practicing because if something happens,

you know they're gonna be durable enough. That's not gonna matter. Now is next question comes from Greg and it's actually essentially on the same lines, but a little bit different. So I wanted to answer this as well. So this question, I've been shooting archery for a couple of years and all my practice at homes with broadheads, I've been breaking arrows if and when I missed the target because the tip of the arrow blows out or gets bent to the side. What are some ways to strengthen the tip

between half outs, BH, adapter rings, and callers. It's hard to determine without trying them all. And then his last question is how do you get broadheads out of trees? That's a really good question. Um, okay, So I think this is something that it's worth mentioning when I'm talking about practicing with broadheads. You know, if you miss the target and break a broadhead and narrow, there goes twenty

bucks and that gets super expensive. So the way that I practice with broadheads is I'll have my one broadhead arrow that I shoot at the target and I always shoot that one first. I never try to shoot a group at any kind of range with a broadhead. If I'm gonna shoot two broadheads at the same target, I'm gonna be shooting at different dots because I don't want that broadhead to cut the veins on my arrow, damage

my arrow. You know, the cutting die, amateur of that broadhead is bigger than just say a field tips, so you can't really stack a group in there. I figured I just take the time to answer this question, but also talk about how to minimize the loss of broadheads, because you know, if you do miss and you hit something, you just risk damage. So I think a lot of the strength of the arrow and how it's going to break or whatever depends on the carbon that's used, and

not necessarily the outsert or insert or whatever. So I think it's just a lot comes down to the type of arrow and the speed and what you hit, whether it's going to break or not. But the key is to just minimize those chances of breaking an arrow or cutting your own arrow, or damaging your own arrow. So what I'll do is I'll shoot the broadhead. Is that like like that first shot, that one shot, and then

maybe my other shots will be with field tips. I get my bows tuned where my broadhead and my field tips fly the same, so it's not really a big difference. But I have had those ones where I just couldn't get it tuned quite right, so my field tip flies a little bit different. What I do there is I shoot my broad head for my accuracy verification. Then I

just shoot my field tip for more repetition. So if the if it's off where I'm aiming slightly, it doesn't really matter as long as I'm getting like a consistent group with it. And after time you can actually just hold an adjust for those field tips, but always shoot that broadhead first. And then the question, oh, how do you get broadheads out of trees? I mean that happens or you're shooting, you you miss your target or whatever,

and it sticks into a tree. I know a lot of people try to pull it and wiggle it and then that just snaps the arrow right where your tip is buried in the tree. I use a knife or a saw, and you just got to cut into the tree and kind of cut it out and don't wiggle it up and down, but more straight pulling and not a lot of pressure, because what's going to happen is you'll you'll rip the insert out, the broadhead will be stuck. So I use a knife to cut in there, cut

around and dig it out. You really just have to dig it out. It's a major pain. So I try to avoid that. One other thing on this. You know, if you're if you're shooting your targets, shooting your broadheads, whatever,

doesn't matter field tips, anything. If you ever miss the target, or you hit two arrows really close together, or even just randomly, through practice, when you pull the arrow out of the target, when you pull the ear out of whatever, when you pick it up, always take that arrow, grab it with two hands, and flex it in multiple places.

When you just bend that arrow back and forth, what that's doing is that you're checking the arrow because if you even with your like you shoot a close group and the two arrows, if one of those carbon arrows gets nicked, what it does is it could weaken the arrow and on your next shot, with the force that that arrow is getting thrown by the bow, the arrow

does flex. Now, if there's something wrong with the arrow because of a miss or a nick or something like that, the arrow could potentially break and that could send that through your hand, through your arm like It's a very dangerous situation, and I think that's something that needs to be said, especially people getting into archery may not know that.

Pretty much every time I grab my arrows, I at least flex them, and as I'm walking back to the target checking those arrows, there's been times where I wasn't even expecting it and oh there the arrow snaps in half. You don't want to continue pushing and trying to use that arrow. If it's good enough to flex by yourself,

it's not going to break under pressure. But you know, if you do that and maybe you see a little nick and it flex around that nick, because if you give it enough pressure and it snaps, obviously you just saved yourself a possible world of hurt. So that's something to think about. A couple more archery questions and then we'll jump into some other stuff here. This question comes

from Alexander. He says, archery question for the podcast, what are your tips for keeping your boat in good shape while in the field on a multi day hunt, storage at night if it gets wet, keeping the sites from shifting, etcetera. This is a great question because you know, having your gear work, how it is designed is really important. And when you're out in the mountains or packing in whatever man you're it's you're beaten brush, you're it's strapped to

your pack. You know, it might be strapped to a horse at some point. Rain, weather, all that kind of stuff can affect the bow. So one thing that I use pretty much on every hunt, whether I use the sling or not, is the solo hunter bow cover. It's like a near prene bow cover that covers the strings and then has a sling on it. Sometimes I'll use the slings, sometimes I'll just use the string cover. Strings

are so important. One opening day, I was like driving before we went up to my glassing vantage where ID park and then hike in from there. Drive up there, I'm so excited. I've been scouting all summer. I get up there and my bow is in pieces, and it was because something rubbed on the string cut the strings, and now my bow is inoperable. I actually ended up borrowing my dad's bow, a left handed bow, and hunting

with that because there's just no way. I was in the middle and nowhere, like there's no way to get strings. Even when I got back to town. It took weeks to get strings, so that was just something that I learned. Protecting those strings is number one, So that that bow

cover that protects the strings is key. Like I use that all the time now as i'm getting like if I'm doing going on a stock or like in an area where I think I might see something, obviously I walk with the bow in my hand and have those off where I can protect it. But any other time I've got that solo hunter cover on there to protect the strings. And then as far as like it, when it gets wet, you know, at night, I always keep my bow in my vestibule so it doesn't get hammered

with that whether when I'm not in use. If you're hiking around though, you know your bow is gonna get wet. It's gonna be in the elements. I think that cover does protect the strings from getting soaked though, because when your strings get wet, it actually changes the speed of your bow weighing down the strings and then can affect your accuracy a litt bit. And that's why I think it's really important to go out and practice in the

rain or whatever. And even the driving rain does push your arrow down, so knowing that is key as well. And then the last important thing keeping your sites from shifting. What I do after I get my bow set up where it's sighted in for what I want, I do two things. I mark every single thing that could move on the bow. So I mark where I have my sight set. I either use like a nail or like a I've used a Dremmel engraver and just put a

dot on each side. I also take a photo with my phone of where the site's set up, and then where everything attaches to the bow, so not just the moving parts of the site and the rest. They do this the site and the rest, sorry, where the rest is on the bow. Like I could use a sharpie or whatever outline that or it's it's a little bit more accurate to use like a nail tip or an engraver. You know, not enough to where you're really damaging the boat.

You know, some of these things may move over time, but just enough to where you'll see it and and recognize it. And then I also take pictures of it too, kind of like a double check. And that is really important because that way you know when you get into the field, everything's right, everything's where it should be, and if something shooting off or whatever, then you know, okay, well something moved and you can you can visually see it and fix it without having to shoot a bunch

of arrows. The other one other thing that I do is I always carry a it's like a rubber tip for your bow. Now. I bring that into the field because I can shoot pine cones or something with it. So while I'm on a hunt, if I'm in the back country, I have that thing. In the middle of the day, I'm gonna shoot a pine cone, I'm gonna shoot something. Maybe I've got a stock that I'm gonna

get a stock here today, and I'm always away. I can take one shot and just just get that motion, work out the kinks, make sure everything's right, and then it won't Generally doesn't break your air unless you hit a rock or something, but you shoot it into something soft over long distances, it drops a lot more. But for that like close twenty yards, that's pretty good to just get a good verification of whether your bows on

are just completely off. So those are the things that I do, and I highly suggest that it's just so you don't run into any problems. I'm gonna try to rapid fire some of these here as comes from chance, he says. A buddy and me, just listen to your podcast on bow hunting techniques. Great podcast. My question for your Q and it relates to taking side hill bow shots where an animal is more or less on the same elevation. Do you bubble into the hill or have

any techniques for those type of shots? So what Chance is asking is like, you know you're on a steep slope and that maybe you're just shooting straight on that slope, but the deer is on the same slope you are. What happens on those type of shots is when you draw back, gravity kind of pulls your bow downhill and it's very hard or to muscle that bow back to level.

So what I do is I is I leaned the top limb into the hill, and it feels really weird to do it first, But as you draw back and come up, then gravity kind of levels your bow back the other way. Um, it's a lot harder to hold it level or hold it towards the downhill side and draw back. So one thing on a on a steep hill is I always kind of look at my level before I draw back and really think, Okay, which way

is the bow being pulled. I didn't really realize this until on one hunt, and I talked about this hunt in the past podcast. But I'm drawing back and my arrow kept falling off the string, And what was happening was gravity was pulling my bow and canting it so much that where I was standing it looked level, But as I drew back, it was actually canted so much that the broadhead was catching on the riser of the

bow and pulling the arrow off. And I didn't realize that until I had to kind of torque my body the opposite way. So on a steep hill shot, yeah, I check the level of my boat also kind of like leaning into the hill a little bit and then that way it feels unnatural, but um, as you come to full draw, it helps you balance out a little bit. And it's also super key before you draw back on

a slope like that to really set your feet. You want to be where you have like good balance and your feet are set in a way that it's going to help you balance that bow and level that bow out correctly. One thing with an unleveled bow, and the reason that we have those levels on the site is because if your bows canted one way or another, what that's doing is that's pitching your pin left or right.

And one thing I suggest everybody do and I kind of mentioned it in the last podcast, but when you're practicing, shoot a few shots with that boat extremely canted left and canted right, and you can tell by you know, sending your bubble one way or the other on your level and measure the distance of left and right that it goes at varying you already is the further back

you go, the more it kicks it out. So if you're taking a forty yard shot fifty yard shot and that bow isn't straight up and down, it's gonna throw that arrow pretty far left and right, and so you should know how far. And just having that picture really helps you focus in on one thing to check. I know, in the moment it's hard to think, you know, you

don't want to have to think about your level. So that's why before you draw back, kind of anticipating your bow getting pulled by gravity on those sidehillshots and practicing those side hill shots is a great way to understand that before you actually get in the field. This question comes from Eric. He says, Remy, really enjoy your podcast

on summer archery tips today. Your segment on shooting between the pins really hit home for me because I recently started thinking how often is a deer standing at exactly twenty forty yards and started practicing at those intermittent yardages. I have a few questions that I would love to get your opinion on. First, what draw weight do you shoot? Second do you use a stabilizer? And third how big of a difference do you expensive arrows make and are

they worth the extra cost? Thanks and keep the great podcast coming. All right, those are those are some great questions. I think the first one it depends I have. I'm I'm fortunate that I have a couple of different bows in different draw weights for different applications. But I don't know. This is kind of a hard question for me to answer personally, because I actually shoot a really heavy draw but I don't necessarily recommend that for a couple of reasons.

I think it can develop some bad habits and be hard to hold back and shoot. But I started shooting an eighty pound bow many years ago because I needed it to hunt water buffalo in Australia. And a real heavy arrow set up and just a big animal. And then I liked that bow, so I started shooting a lighter arrow for other stuff, and I like that I could shoot kind of a heavy arrow but still have some good speed in a little bit less draw up right now my bows and that eighty to eighty five

pound range. But honestly, like sixty five or seventy pounds is plenty of bow to kill anything you need to. So I don't necessarily think that what I shoot is what everybody should shoot. I mean, I would never like say that, and I actually just I'm thinking of going back down to a seventy pound bow for most things. You know, the drawway you should shoot is something that you can effectively draw with. If you're sitting in a chair with your feet up, you can hold your both

straight out and draw straight back. And I think that if you can do that, that's good. You want to be able to draw smooth draw in kind of any type of scenario, not have to sky draw a really power through it. So the drawway you should shoot is something that you could do that with, and that might be less than it might be sixty pounds, it might be seventy pounds whatever I think standard. If I say a standard drawway, if you can shoot seventy pounds, that

that's great. And also if you're just getting into it, you can get a heavier bow and lighten it up by adjusting the tension on the limbs. But I see, just when you get into hunting season, you know your boat, whatever bow you get is going to be optimally shot at its peak weight. So if you get a sixty pound bow and shoot its peak weight, it's gonna perform better than a seventy pound bow tuned down to sixty pounds. UM.

That's something to think about. So if you know you're like, hey, I can't shoot a seventy pound bow, you're probably just better off getting the bow that actually fits you in your draw weight. Question number two, do you use a stabilizer? Yes, I use a stabilizer. Every type of stabilizers that I've used have changed for every bow, and over the years, the bow I have now has a more center drip.

It's pretty dang stable without a stabilizer, but I just put a short one on there to actually just counterbalance the back weight, so it's more for after the shot than holding during the shot. I've used back bars, I've used everything. I think a long super long stabilize there is great in some instances, but kind of heavy and hard to use in others. So for mountain hunting, I like I prefer just a short, small stabilizer. That's the

setup that I run with. I think it lends itself to hunting scenarios and being stealthy and moving and and giving me still enough stabilization that I can make an effective good shot. Number three, how big of a difference do expensive arrows make? And are they worth the extra costs? I over the years have thought, okay, you know, get the little bit cheaper arrows and go with that. And

I've realized that yes, the more expensive arrows. I wouldn't say the more expensive arrows make a difference, but higher quality arrows make a huge difference. Your output is going to be the consistency of your input. So if you have an arrow or a set of arrows that is not the same like no, no, two things are really technically ever the same, but you're just trying to get that margin of sameness small enough to where you don't really notice the difference. So if you've got two arrows

that are not the same. So when you release that arrow, like even if you're doing everything right, that arrow is gonna fly different. And what I like to do is just have a setup that my margin of error decreases, and so that means making everything similar. I recently just started shooting day six eras and I noticed, like with those arrows over the ones that I was shooting before, Like immediately right out of the box, before I even recited it, my groups were almost half as tight as

they were with the arrows as previously shooting. And so I'm like, okay, that just right there, without even changing the tune, without anything, just the difference in a higher quality arrow than I've been shooting made me shoot better. And then I noticed, Okay, as I've been shooting them more, as I go out to further ranges, I'm a lot more accurate. And that extra accuracy just adds more confidence.

It really allows you to know, Okay, my setups running right, I can make a more confident shot because nothing messes with your head more than when you know you're holding on the bowl and the arrow goes two inches to

the right or left. Then you just chalk it up to you shooting poorly where it might be you know that arrow what I've done in the past two Before I go hunting, I'll take if I buy a dozen arrows and shoot all the arrows and I number them, so I'll try to number them and then keep tracking your phone. So you got number one through twelve or whatever. You just mark them in a certain way and then

decide which arrows shoot most like the other arrows. So you can shoot a group of one through three and then is there one that was a flyer or whatever? And then pull that one out and okay, are the other two still close together and one is different? And really out of those twelve or even just like a dozen arrows that you buy, narrowing it down and saying which are the six that shoot most like each other?

Then I practice with those arrows, and then I take those arrows hunting, and I kind of like have an arrow that I think is my favorite through practice. I don't know, man, if that's weird, but it's like this arrow seems to be the one that every time I shoot it hits the bulls eye and then the rest are right in there. So that's my first arrow in the quiver and it's kind of a methodical approach, but

I think a lot of successful hunters do that. You know, once you start shooting through those arrows, yeah, you've got some others that might not fly the same, but that's just part of it. Like, it's a super expensive to keep buying arrows, so you end up using those other ones. But for the most part, you can go a long time with those those key most accurate arrows. They are most like the others, and so by getting those better

quality arrows, there's a lot less difference. When I had poor quality arrows, I might have a dozen arrows and three would fly where I wanted, and then the other ones were kind of more erratic, and you try to pair those up and match them up. But getting like a better arrow makes a big difference. Also, I'm talking a lot about this, but arrows and broadheads are like the number one questions I get, so I think it's

worth taking a little bit of time. You really have to get an arrow that shoots well for your bow. I was guilty of this in the past, thinking like, man, I don't like this new bow because I would have a dozen arrows left and I would get a new bow or something, and then I would just shoot the arrows that I had from my other bow for that bow.

That's crazy thinking, you know, if you think about it, like how many people have a right Like you have a rifle and you're gonna go to the range and there's certain amo that just does not shoot well out of that gun. Same with bows. You need an arrow that has the right spine for that speed and the right length and the right weight, and it maybe that bow shoots it a little bit different. It's just kind of hard because you can't test a bunch of arrows

without going into a big investment. So I I that's probably out of the option. But I would say that you need to make sure that if you get a new setup or start shooting a new poundage, you have an arrow that's spine and wait and everything is wrecked for that bow and that set up, and that's key.

And if you do have a setup that's not shooting, well, maybe you might have to think about, you know, getting a higher quality arrow, getting a different arrow, um, but just having an arrow that matches the type of setup

is huge. You don't want to underspine, you don't want to overspine, and with the spine is just like pretty much the stiffness of the arrow, and different weights and different draw lengths are gonna need different types of flex in that arrow because when you release, you want that arrow to flex correctly so it stabilizes quickly and is more accurate. Okay, this next question comes from Mitchell. I'm just gonna kind of summarize the first party he talked about.

He lives at More East. He came out west for an elk hunt that was successful on his first elk hunt and was by himself. He's got some friends coming out this year on the same hunt, so he's kind of gonna be He's the guy with experience and kind of wants these guys to have a good trip be successful. But also he notices when he's hunting with someone, things seem to move more slowly. They're definitely louder, they take

longer to make a move, etcetera. So his question is any tips on being more efficient and effective with strategizing and making important decisions when hunting with your buddies. That's a great question, and that's something that I've talked about a lot as far as I do a lot of solo hunting, and the thing that I really enjoy about hunting alone is the fact of instantaneous decision making. As a guide, you know, people are are coming to me to make decisions, so I get used to taking charge

and making those decisions and just doing the decisions. Like I hunt for myself and alone. But I do not do that when I'm hunting with friends. When I'm hunting with friends, decision making takes a long time. You're wondering what the other person wants to do, this, that, and the other thing, and sometimes that costs you opportune moments of success. But I also, when I'm hunting with friends,

don't like to act as guide. People might say what should I do, and I might offer a suggestion, but it's more of a nonchalant suggestion because I want people to enjoy the hunt and make their own decisions. And and then afterwards I'm always like, oh, this is what I would have done, and then they're like, well, why didn't you say that? But you know, I'm here as

a friend, not as a guide. But I do think that there is a happy medium between that going back and forth, because you're always second guessing yourself and everybody has their own ways of making decisions. I think that one of the best ways to do it is before you go into the situation and say, okay, like who's going to be hunting, like who's up, who's up to bat, who's going to be stalking this animal? What say you

spotted something, or even just going to a spot. I think that it's kind of a it's a trade off thing, but kind of having set up. Okay, if I'm the one going in and the stocking and I want to make the decisions, then you make the decisions. Now, if that person wants some kind of advice, then you know, offer your advice. And I just think that it's one of those things that, yes, hunting with other people has

its drawbacks. It's harder to make decisions, it's louder, it's whatever, but there are certain instances where it's better, and especially l hunting. You've got a guy calling, you've got a guy you know in position to shoot, you can trade

off on that. And I just think that that's something that you've got to work out with yourselves, kind of ahead of time, but also in the field, and then you just got to understand that there's moments that like things are not going to go right, but when things don't go right and you're by yourself, you have no one to blame but yourself. When things don't go right and you have and you're with other people, the tendency

is to blame those other people. So I honestly think the best way to deal with it is, no matter what happens, when it goes wrong, don't immediately blame the other person. And I think that that is key to hunting with people and having a good time and remaining successful, because when somebody then gets something goes wrong and you kind of get put down or like, oh man, if you would have done this, then the demeanor kind of

like their decision making in your decision making. You become slower at making decisions because you're afraid of the outcome. And I think you just like I've done this for years. Is like when you're hunting with people, When you're hunting with friends, things don't go right, things don't go right when you're by yourself, but you just kind of know

that you messed up and you move on. I think it's just like you just have to understand that when things don't go right, that's just how it is, and that keeps the decision making a lot faster, so nobody's afraid of making the wrong decision because in the moment, the decision you make is the one that you think is the best. It will either work out or it won't. And if it doesn't move on, that doesn't mean you don't make decisions in the future. That doesn't mean anything.

It just means that time it didn't work out. And understanding that makes the whole process smoother over time. And that's just something. Hunting with people. That's why, like, hunting partners are some of the hardest things to find. I mean, it's it's like I have a group of people that I hunt with like and it's my dad, my brother, and maybe two or three friends, and that's it. It's very difficult to find people that are compatible in a certain way in those high pressure situations that kind of

make the trip more enjoyable. I don't enjoy just hunting with anyone as a guide. You really learn to get along with a bunch of different types. But on my own personal hunts, there's certain people that I want to hunt with and it's because we we have an understanding and we hunt well together and hunt really well as a team. And we're more successful sometimes hunting together than alone because you do have you have more eyes, you have more help, you have a lot of things. So

hunting with other people can be great. You just have to understand ways to work around and make those decisions. A lot less of back and forth and more of a cohesive thing. So a little bit of team building. Do some trustfuls in camp. I don't know. C J says, Hey, I listen to Cutting the Distance today and heard you're doing Q and A episode. I would love some tips and tactics on spot and stock antelope hunting and Outhern Colorado is rattlesnake country and most of the landscape is

pretty barren with little to no vegetation. We've gone the last four years and seen a lot of game, just cannot get close enough to get an ethical shot. I would love to put one down this August. Thanks for your help. This is a great question, and I think that it lends itself to a lot of different not just antelope hunting scenarios, but a lot of different hunting scenarios in general. You know, antelope live out in some

really open country. They your eyes are their key defense, and where they have that key defenses where most of the antelope are gonna be, So you're gonna see a lot, but like he says you, it might be very hard to get close. What I do is I hunt in a way that lends itself to giving me a slight advantage. So for antelope, for instance, because they see so well and live in really flat terrain, I know the ones that live out in the just pure flat are probably

going to be pretty dang safe. Now there are ways around it, crawling very very long distances. I have been successful sneaking up on antelope. I've actually crawled up on antelope in a wide open field using a gilly suit. But when it comes time to shoot, you know, you that's the trouble is as soon as you get up to make a shot, they can see nearly behind their heads,

so that makes it a little bit difficult. But I would say, you know, may start focusing on areas that don't have as many antelope but have more of the terrain where you can trick their eyes. Some more broken country, there's gonna be fewer animals in it, right, You might spend more time looking, might be harder to hunt, but when you do see one, your odds of success for getting close and getting a shot are better. So just because there's an area with a lot of animals doesn't

necessarily mean that that's where you should hunt. Now another thing would be changing your tactics. There's a place that I hunt antelope where yeah it's open, there's great bucks, but good luck sneaking on one. So what I do in those scenarios is I find water holes and choose to hunt that way where I've got a blind set up, I'm sitting the water hole or maybe um, well, because it's August, you know, the ruts not really kicked in,

so the decoy thing doesn't really work as well. But you know, changing your tactics and changing your location, so you're hunting for a way that you can get closer opportunities as opposed to just hunting for the animal because you'll get you You'll spend a lot of time hunting in areas that are going to be very difficult to make a stock, or you can focus on those areas where you aren't gonna see as many You're gonna have as many opportunities, but the opportunities you do have will

be more successful. And that goes for every kind of hunting. Just because the animals like a certain place doesn't mean that that's the best place to chase them. You've got to really pick and choose your things that you want to compete against. Now there's also the option of try the long crawl. I've snuck up on antelope in the wide open by crawling for like over a mile. But man, does it hurt your knees and neck and everything gets sore.

And you can only do so many of those a day, And most of the time, by the time you even get close, the antalope have just naturally moved off. So it's just way more opportunity if you choose the area that you hunt a little bit differently. We'll jump on a couple of rifle questions, so this one is Hey man,

love the podcast, Thanks for the awesome free content. I have a question for your Q and A. I drew a Colorado do Analop tag for December and plan to hunt over the counter elk during the second rifle season. I shoot a seven millimeter rim mag What is a maximum yardage I should be practicing at? Is five yards too much of a stretch? If I can shoot consistently at that distance I think, uh no, I think that's yards. If you are practicing regularly, that at that, especially for antelope,

is definitely not too far. You know, elk, that's about the limit that I would like to shoot normally. I'd prefer a thirty cow, but just because a little bit more weight retention and that bullet a little bit more speed with a heavy bullet. But seven millimeter, yes, you can. You can definitely be lethal out to that distance. But I would always encourage you to try to get closer. I said this with the archery thing last Year's okay, just because you practice it this far range and that

would be your maximum range. Some people get to that range and say, okay, now I can shoot. But if you get to that range, you know you really have to think, Okay, can I just get a hundred yards closer? Can I get two hundred yards closer? The answers of the time yes, and if you can do it, because you know, you just have like a lot better chance of success and be more successful at that. But I would say that for all intents and purposes, that's not

too far of a range. I think that that's pretty much where I kind of cap myself as that five hundred yards max, I have actually shot things further, but that's not really what I strive to do. I just try to get, you know, as close as possible. So I hope that answers that this one comes from Louis. He says, Hi, remmy listening to episode right now. My question isn't archeruated. I just got a new Christians and

ridgeline is my first rifle with a break on it. Well, putting tape on the muzzle to keep moisture and debris out change the effectiveness of the muzzle break. Do you recommend doing this and if so, what kind of tape? Thanks. That's a great question, and I know I actually really suggest people hunt with muzzle brakes for a lot of reasons. I hunt by myself a lot. It takes a jump out of the rifle, so I can actually see the impact a little bit better, so it makes me shoot

better as well because there's less recoil. And I like the light rifles, so I think that that's a great combination to have a muzzle brake. But you know, in the later in the season, especially if you're walking through trees, you've got that break on as you brush up against things that actually funnels more stuff into the barrel. I personally generally have a rifle like a the solo hunter rifle covers on my gun, and I've just got so used to that that it protects the scope and the

barrel and all that stuff. It's really good, but it's also you know, I take it all and certain instances what I'm carrying and thinking I'm going to get close to things I don't. I like to be ready at all times as well, so I have covered the break. You know, that's one thing. You know, just shoot it and see at the range. Every gun is a little bit different. You shouldn't really have any problems. Electrical tape

would probably work fine. I have shot a muzzle brake with electrical tape, but at longer distances, I think that you'd probably want something that comes apart a little bit easier I use personally, I'll just use like the finger

of a latex glove. Just stretch that over and then electrical tape the base of it, so that way as the air comes out of the barrel, just blows that glove apart and you don't even have to worry about it, and that will not affect the accuracy of it, whereas if you tape it might change the pressure a little bit might probably be negligible either way. But that's what I do, So I hope that helps al right. The last question here, Joey says a buddy of his drew

mountain goat tag and could use some sage advice. He says, really love the content and appreciate the hard work you provide. It so happens that a buddy of mind, you're a mountain goat tag in Oregan once in a lifetime tag, and as you and the folks you surround yourself with have much more vast history of successful hunting, I was curious how you might prepare for a goat hunt. This guy is still yet to put an elk under his belt despite hunting them for fifteen years, so he hopes

karmas on his side. Yeah. So, you know, with every new species you hunt, there are things that are different. Um, there are things that are different about a mountain goat hunt that are different challenges than an elk hunt. And now I'm not sure exactly what area he has or whatever, but I'm having guided quite a few goat hunts in Montana and I've actually drew my first goat tag myself

last year, got to hunt in Kodiak. Goat hunting, for the most part, is not generally hard to find the animals, so it's like elk hunting is mostly the challenges finding

the actual animal. Goats like steep habitat. You find that steep habitat, they're probably gonna be on it, or a white animal that stands out, so you know you're gonna want good optics, but you're gonna really want that physical conditioning because mountain goats live in some rugged, rough terrain and the challenge of goat hunting necessarily isn't finding them all the time, but actually having the persistent ability to keep going after them and get to where they live.

And that's really the challenge. Now. You also, I would work on my shooting because shooting it further distances might be the difference between being successfully not because getting on the same hill as them and making a stock might be actually pretty hard, or you might be shooting across canyon. One of the things you're gonna want to think about is you have to shoot that animal where you can

retrieve it. So just being cognizant of that and having the physical ability to get to where you need to go. That's the kind of prep that I would do for a goat hunt. Physical shooting, and then you know, as far as gear goes, having a good set of binoculars and a great spotting scope. I think the hardest part for people new to mount and go hunting is identifying the difference between a billy and a nanny. Once you've looked at them for a long time, it's like it's

really apparent like a billy stands out. Nanny's don't many areas you can probably shoot either a billy or a nanny, just not a nanny with kids. But you know, it's awesome to get a billy and you don't have to worry about it potentially having you know, kids or whatever, so understanding the difference between the two. The Rocky Mountain Go To Alliance is a great organization that has like this awesome video. I actually think the one I saw, Yes, Steve Ronell actually um did the voice over for it,

but uh, that's a great video. Go check out the Rocky Mountain Go To Alliance if you've got a goat tag and you want some extra info on identifying the difference between the two, and once you get out there, you know, really be patient, look him over and spend that time. The ones that you can't get close to, really analyze with a with a good spotting scope, and you're gonna be able to tell the difference a lot sooner. So I hope that helps. Oh actually, speaking of mountain goats,

that reminds me. You know, we've got a lot of people that listen to this podcast from New Zealand, from Australia. Uh I hunt there every year and have for a better part of a decade, over a decade. I love hunting there, and what I love hunting is tar It's kind of a different management system because the animals are invasive.

That's that and the other thing. But there's a tar coal that's planned that kind of you know, unfortunately didn't really address hunters like they're supposed to, and they used to just shoot nanni's and kids, females, immature males, whatever, But they're trying to now just eradicate everything in certain areas. There is a petition going around. You can pretty much find it um tar Coal petition on change dot org. So if you ever think you might want to hunt

New Zealand or live in New Zealand or whatever. That's just kind of popped up, kind of trying to sneak it in there. So I would highly suggest you go over there and find that petition and just help your fellow hunters out other places, because I think that that's important to to support other hunters other places, whether you're gonna tar hunt there or not. You know something that

I care a lot about. It's something that a lot of people that listen to this podcast care a lot about, and so we'd we'd love to help those people out. So if you get a chance to go do that, do that today, I'd appreciate it. I just want to thank everybody for tuning in. We've got some awesome stuff coming up. We're gonna talk a lot about hunting tactics and some scouting stuff over the next month, and I really think you're gonna enjoy it. If you enjoy this podcast,

you know, please share it with a friend. Subscribe If you don't subscribe, you know, what helps us keep going is is having that subscriber base. So if you listen every week and aren't a subscriber, don't follow, you know, subscribe, follow, leave a good comment, leave a good rating wherever you listen. I really appreciate that I run through and read this and I and I honestly thank you guys very much. So that's our Q and A for the week and until next week, keep staying sharp, see you guys,