00:00:07 Speaker 1: As a guide and hunter, I've spent thousands of days in the field. This show is about translating my hard won experiences into tips and tactics they'll get you closer to your ultimate goal success in the field. I'm Remy Warren. This is Cutting the Distance. Welcome back to Cutting the Distance podcast. Everyone. It's the end of the year and New Year's is upon us. For me, kind of seemed to fly by, and yet here we are heading into a new chapter. Coincidentally, this will be my last transmission as host of Cutting the Distance. It's been a great ride sharing tips and tactics with you. I feel like over the past few years we've learned a lot, shared some incredible success, and had some fun stories to tell. So this week I'm gonna give you my twenty one all time best tips for finance six us on the Mountain, and I'll leave you with tip twenty two for going into the future as we transition into this new year. Also make sure to stay tuned to the end where you can hear about the future of what I have coming down the pipe in the future of Cutting the Distance. But before we do that, let's jump into the best hunting tips you'll ever hear in one spot. I feel like it's let's go back, let's look back. We've got hundred and some odd episodes of Cutting the Distance podcast, but I wanted to pull out a few of my favorite kind of tips. If I was just to summarize, if you're like remy, give me the best of the best, how do I be more successful? I think that just going through this podcast is a good way to kind of get a grasp of the things that I think lead to success. So we're gonna go tip one all the way from episode one. Now, that episode I was talking about a lot of it came down to a story about shooting at the best buck of my life and at the time not knowing about shot angles, aiming a little bit lower because horizontal distance all that, and that was that was kind of a takeaway there. But I think that the real takeaway is practicing those tough shots, whether you're a bow hunter, whether you're a rifle hunter, practicing those shots that are difficult that you're probably going to encounter in the field, making that practice realistic to those situations, and practicing that downhill angle, especially when you're hunting the mountains. Now of course, we've got range finders that adjust for that distance. But I've got the question a lot that I think I never actually addressed is they're like, well, if I'm shooting downhill, do I aim low? What if I'm shooting uphill? It's the same, aim lower because it's that horizontal distance. Now, your range finder should tell you what the actual distances with that angle compensation. But I think that even with knowing that angle compensation, I found that those downhill and uphill shots are probably the most difficult, and they're the ones that get practiced the least, and for most hunters. I would say nearly everything that gets shot, whether you're a mountain hunter or not, is probably at an uphill or downhill angle because a lot of people are shooting out of tree stands, and a lot of people that hunt the mountains will be shooting up or down. So I think that that's probably one of the most important shots you can practice, and having that practice is key to being proficient in the field. Tip number two I like to call it the Dog the Bull episode episode number four. Now, this has to do with elk hunting being successful elk hunting olk calling, but the real tactic behind the tactic is what is the winner, and that tactic is thinking of behavior in terms of elk acting like elk, not acting like elk, acting towards you as a non elk. I've read so many articles over the years from people that are writing about at elk hunting and popular hunting magazines or whatever, and they talk about, uh, certain things you do and in the elk don't respond or go away, And in my opinion, I think some of that is misguided because what you have to think about is when you're hunting elk, right, you gotta fully understand an elk's behavior, and you have to assume in many ways that that elk is not does not know that you are not an elk. But as our human brains were very very human centric, egocentric, we we blow the bugle and then we think, oh, well, we mess that up because they're going the other way, or they were thinking we were too aggressive because now they're going the other way, when in fact, elk or doing elk things, and one of those elk things is elk round up their cows and they move off. They they try to conserve energy and avoid fighting. So you have to make a play on that tactic by those elk just acting like elk. That doesn't mean that you did anything wrong. It might even mean that you're doing something exactly right. And that elk is acting is just another elk made that noise. And so that dogging the bowl tactic is following that elk until it kind of has no option but to turn around and come fight, and that and that is a really good tactic. I found that that work is very successful. Um, but I think that the reason that tactic is successful is because it's exploiting elk behavior. So thinking in terms of acting like an elk, and that goes with any really calling scenario or a lot of different hunting scenarios. I mean you could say like, um, you know, bugling to an elk and there's an elk bugling below you and thinking like, oh, that elk is gonna come to me. But in the wild they don't necessarily do that a lot of times. Um, if if if I'm that bull at once, what that other elk has? I don't know what that other elk might have. He might have cows, he might be alone. We gotta we gotta kind of assess the situation and then make a play based on the behavior of if I were another elk, what would that elk do? And that comes from understanding how the elk act and watching and observing animals, you know, when they're just interacting with each other, you can kind of pick up those cues of like, well, what why is that elk doing that? And critically thinking of like what are elk doing? And what's the behavior that I'm trying to exploit. And I think that's a real tactic there. Number three, the shoes off situation, episode number seven. This is one of my favorite things because I think people associate with me a lot of the time. If you've watched Solo Hunter, if you've watched my any kind of content that I do, I end up taking my shoes off a lot. And it's because when it comes to bow hunting, I believe stealth is everything. It's it's paramount and the like when you're talking about bow hunting, you're talking about getting extremely close, and I like to get so close that I think. I like this thought of like getting so close that I can't miss. I do shoot my bow quite far. I can shoot proficient out to a hundred plus yards, and I'm not afraid to say that, But when it comes to hunting, I like to get twenty yards, thirty yards, I mean even closer. I like to get really close. I like to get so close that there's no other option than to be successful. And sometimes you you might blow it. But I like to trust my stocking, my stocking abilities. And one way that I find getting close to animals through spot and stock is taking off those shoes. The sole of your boot leaves a loud, crunchy noise that is easy for animals to detect and is not this most stealthy approach. So when it comes to bow hunting, I take my shoes off, go in your socks. You can go in your shoes and stocking socks barefoot. Do a lot of barefoot hunting. But I found a lot of success with that. And one thing that I love about that tactic is people always sending me the shoes off situation photos. I hope, I hope I continue to get shoes off situation stuff sent from you eyes pretty much for the rest of my life. When you have those moments where it's like, hey, I had to slip in tight, it was loud, I had to get quiet, I had to get sneaky, little shoes off situation. I love getting those photos of being like, heck, yeah, man, this guy, this guy went and and did it, and that's um that that I really enjoy seeing. But when it comes to spot and stock hunting, you know, the little things make a big difference. It's all the little things that add up. It's the noise of your feet on the ground, it's the noise of your gear, it's it's quieting down. Even just when it comes to you know, your bow and making that shot, and maybe you weren't even talking about bow hunting, but you're you're trying to slip through the woods, still hunting an area that's got leaves all over the ground, and it's like, well, how do you make that quiet? And maybe you just put on a pair of socks or whatever and and and sneak through. And whether your rifle hunting, bow hunting, shotgun hunting doesn't really matter. Stealth is everything, and so being quiet and learning to quiet yourself down and make a good stock is huge. And getting close enough to make a shot. Number four it's going to come from episode nine. It's about glassing. And when we talk about glassing, the key is getting steady and knowing how to get comfortable. It's it's one of those things I like to say, you know, you've got your your binoculars, you should know how to use them and getting steady even without a tripod. Maybe you got You're like, oh, I'm glassing off a tripod, and that's great, but it's not great for all situations. The way that I glassed in the majority of the times I sit down, I've got my pack on, I put my knees up, I locked my elbows to my knees. It's just grounding everything that's going to the binocular so it's creating a tripod with my body essentially. And then I wear a brimmed ball cap. And the reason that I can't I can barely glass without it because what I like to do is I clip my binoculars to my hat, so that's one more point of steady context. So it's from my head to the ground, to my feet to my supported back, and I can hand hold my binoculars extremely steady, and I have spotted animals five six miles away through just regular ten power binoculars by locking off well and knowing what I'm looking for. Glassing is probably if I had to emphasize one of the best tactics for hunting, it's being efficient glassing. And so I think it's super important to know how to use your optics and know what to look for. So number five, it's kind of expanding on the glassing. I like to say, look at the best place. First episode eleven. I think that was like how to spot things before your buddies. But this is a this is a turner that I coined many years ago. So if you hear somebody referring to any glassing tactics, that's call it strategic shotgun glassing. That came from me um, and you should point that out that hey, that's someone else's that's you know that that is my uh patented asking term. But what I consider strategic shock and glasses is where you're looking at you know, there's this this idea of gritting an area where you're just like scanning back and forth and shocking glassing is like this garbage way of glass room. You're just throwing your binoculars up willy nilly. But I think that the best ways you look at an area with your eyes and you understand where the animals will be at the time. That you're gonna be looking and focus on the highest percentage areas first. So we're looking where the animals are most likely going to be. We we can kind of at the beginning when we sit down, maybe ignore a lot of the stuff because there's gonna be of the country you're looking at has got nothing in it. It's ten percent of the land that holds of the animals, and that will be the case everywhere you want. Um. One of the things that I do is like, hey, I I sit down. First place, I'm gonna look at the places that are easy to spot them, especially if I've got limited amount of time. Maybe it's the morning and it's like, okay, well where are they gonna be at the morning? First place, I always look as the skylines. Just scan those skylines because they stand out, they just pop out. Find the easy ones, the spot the ones that's like, man, I should never have missed that before they get into a place that makes it more difficult to spot places that they stand out. Then I'll go from there to looking in places that are a little bit more specific to the time of day. So maybe it's morning and I'm l counting. I'm gonna then focus on the feeding areas. Boo boo boo. I'm just picking out feeding ears here here, here, here, here, like going from spot to spot to spot the highest percentage places first strategic shock and glassing. Then it's like, well, maybe now they're gonna be later on in the morning, we're moving to bedding, so I'm gonna start focusing on the bedding. In the middle of the day, it's like, well, they're gonna be betted. So now I'm focusing on where like shadowed spots where they might be bedded where it's like they've got the wind coming downhill, the shade on the downhill side. They're bedded facing downhill, but they've got the wind at their back and plenty of shade. And I'm even picking those spots apart. So I'm looking at the best places for the best time of day. Number six. When it comes to east scouting, I think gets episode twelve. We start to look at topography, and I think that when you're thinking about just as an overview, if you're EAT scouting, you're like, well, what's the best way to eas scout? And the first thing I do is I look at the topography of the area and base that on what am I hunting? Right? So if I'm hunting pronghorns, say, I'm going to be looking for that flat topography the thing that they use, and and what I want you to do is kind of start critically thinking of why the flat topography. Well, pronghorn use their eyes as their main defense, so they need to be able to see far, so that flat topography is the safest where they're gonna live. When it comes to elk, Now what am I looking for? Well, I'm looking for those mountains, but I'm also looking for maybe a basin that's got steep hillsides but finger ridges for betting, or you know, gradual ridges where they can bed a little bit easier. And then I'm starting to look in and key in on things like maybe water that's marked there. Then I'm gonna maybe switch to something else and see like, Okay, well is there timber? Is there? Open? Is their feed? And what I'm doing on that first initial EA stout is I'm looking for the things that the animals need but are rare in the area where I'm looking, If that makes sense. So I think about it like this, if I'm elk hunting in an area that's uh fully timbered, well, I'm gonna look for those pockets that have good open feeding areas, right, because they're gonna be in least demand but highest in need. If I'm in an arid area, I'm gonna be looking for water because there might be plenty of food and there might be plenty of cover, but the water is the most rare thing that they need. If I'm in area that's fully open, right, just plenty of open sage, well, then I'm gonna be looking for cover because they're gonna need that security and that safety. So I'm looking for the things that they need that are the most rare, and that kind of helps me narrow down places where I can start my search. Number seven, we got to talk about understanding thermals. In Wind episode thirty six. We cover a lot of this, but one thing, you know, the thermals they rise in the morning, they fall in the evening. Um, but there's a lot more to it, right, So, um, the wind will will suck down on the on the shaded side and go up on the sunnyside. And I think that when one of the questions I get asked a lot, what same control to use? And the same control that I use is understanding the wind when you're mountain hunting, when you're Western hunting, you know, using products. I just don't think that there's anything that works personally, um you know, I think maybe on the first day of the hunt, when you're clean and you I mean, I just use regular soap I have. I've talked about this before, but on the first few days of a hunt, you probably smell less and if the wind swirls live it, you get caught less. But I've had hunts where it's like ten days in the wind swirls, and just understanding the thermals and the currents and the wind has helped me not get winded. One thing you want to think about is when you're thinking about wind, think about it like water moving over the surface of river bed, stream bed and how that water booze. Fly fisherman, I think one, I'm a bow hunter in the fall and spring and whatever, and I am a fly fisherman in the summer. And every time I'm working that river, those eddies, those those pillows, those beds, the way that the water moves helps me determine how m my fly. Like throw a dry fly into the water and see how it reacts, right, and you can fish those pockets, those streams, those seams. All the little things that you need to understand fly fishing translate to the way that your scent is going to move in the wind. And you know, aside from maybe like thermals and up currents, So you kind of mix those two things in and you're gonna have a really good understanding of how wind moves. And when you understand how the wind moves, you can understand how to make a better stock and how not to get winded. Number eight comes from episode thirty seven, and it is what I would consider the most deadly tactic you could have and bag of tricks, and that is persistence. I like to make it look easy by doing it the hard way, and in turn it becomes easier over the course of my life, over the course of my hunting career, just being able to keep after it going that one more ridge, hunting that till the last day, hunting hard, day in day out, when something doesn't go right, readjusting and continuing to hunt is going to make you a better hunter, and it's going to make you more successful. Luck to me is just like the intersection of or I would say success. Oftentimes with the intersection of just persistence and luck, like where you're so dang persistent that you get lucky. I think a lot of people have been like, man, you're really lucky to get that. You're really like you to get this, and I'm like, yeah, but I put in so much time. I struggled, you know. I still you can still struggle on a hunt, and just being able to go day in, day out and not give up is what is going to make you successful in the long run. I've talked about it before, but I've always been a person that I never like to shoot something on the first day. I think this year was the first time that I shot something on the first day. I was a moose, that moose that I got the video of and it felt weird to me, but also looking back at the trip, having like someone else with a tag and bad weather and whatever, I'm now looking back, I was glad I took that opportunity when it presented itself, but rarely does ought to kind of opportunities present themselves for me early on. Looking back, I don't think that I actually would have got a moose if I did not um shoot that one on that first day, because we just you know, the opportunity kind of never rose for a similar archery set up. But I like to be hunting till the last day, Paul, Like I just enjoy the experience of hunting, and many times I've passed up opportunities and and had kind of created my own need for persistence by the style that I hunt. But because of that, I've gained a lot of experience and knowing how to do things right and how to do things wrong. So when the right opportunity comes, I know how to not make the mistakes. And that's something to think about as well as just being out there, being persistent and being able to keep after it, not not being not giving up. You gained so much more knowledge of what you're doing that it makes it easier in the long run and more successful in the long run. Number nine comes from episode forty three. But when you're talking about your backcountry gear kit, one of the things you want to do is just, especially if you're getting started out, put things in that you feel like you need, and as you go along more trips, it's fine tune it. What didn't I use last time? What seemed like something that was at the bottom of my pack, that I never needed. You know, I could just tell you. You know, I think I'll just tell you right now, Like off the top of my head. Let's say I'm going on a seven day backpacking trip. I don't have any notes or anything. These are just the things that I think of on top of my head, So they're probably the most important things that I have in my pack on a seven day trip. I probably have one or two extra pairs of socks. I have a dry bag that I keep things in to keep them from getting wet. I I personally have my camera and my batteries and stuff off my sleeping bag sleeping pad intent. I will have my stove, which is UM. Probably on a seven day trip, I would take my heavier stove, but I have an MSR poky rocket or I'd probably take like this MSR depends on the time of your way. Is it my UM reactor stove. I'll have a large bottle of fuel. I'll have all my food, so I'll have seven probably peak refueld meals. UM. I'll throw in an extra like to maybe one or two biscuits and gravy kind of things for those tough days morning breakfast. Then I'll have oatmeal pack for each day, and then four or five bar kind of like day snack kind of thinking maybe a tuna packet, chicken pack something like that, and you know, like various snacks for each day. I'll separate those out and each day's rations, and then I'll have some coffee. I love the coffee I got, like those black rifle um either the tea bag style or the instant style. I kind of mix it up for the way, you know, depending on how much I want to carry, I will have a large bottle, the large analgene bottle full of water. I will have another probably now I started carrying two bottles, especially in areas where there's not a lot of water. And then for fil trate, I'll have a water filter of some kind, generally a well Sterey pen not um something like that. And then as far as ending here, I'm gonna have a knife, game bags. I will have probably one or two contract or grade garbage bags that I can use for various things, but primarily just a pack liner. I will have a little bit of um. I might have a little bit of cordage. I'm gonna have my first aid kid in there that's got a little bit everything, a spare um, maybe a little bit of fire starter in there that I just keep in, uh in a lighter. And then in my pocket I will have, you know, either my knife or something of that sort. I'll have a knife sharpener in my pack, and maybe I'll probably have a like a Gerber multi tool, let's trust multi tool they use a lot and that's and then on my chest I'll have my binoculars. I will have a tripod in my backpack, and then I probably will take like my lightweight vortex spotting scope, a little small one. I think it's like a thirty three objective or fifty E mail objective thirty like eleven to thirty three, just depends on the hunt. But that's probably if I think about it, I think that's pretty pretty much everything that I'm gonna have. And that pack will probably weigh in about forty thirty pounds something like that. Um, it'll be like at like the largest stone glacier pack they make, because I can always sent it down or whatever. And then I might, depending on you know, the type of hunt, various other little little trinkets. But that's my kitten and nutshell. Number ten is practice, practice, practice, and practice like you're gonna hunt Like kind of touched on this at number one, but episode we talked about archery practice and practical archery practice, like things that mimic the situations of hunting, and that doesn't necessarily only apply to archery, but rifle shooting as well. I think that there's no I think that one thing people say is like practice makes perfect. Practice doesn't make perfect, just makes you better. But the right kind of practice makes you better in the right kind of situation. So if you're archery practice or your shooting practices at the range, at a target on flat ground, it a set yardage consistently, you're gonna be really good at shooting paper and foam, and that's the God's honest truth. But when you get into the field, you're gonna have brush obstructing the shot, you're gonna have various ranges, you're gonna be an uncomfortable situations with uncomfortable rests, And by practicing those real life scenarios, you're going to be a lot better when the actual opportunity arises. Because you can be really good at spotting, and you'd be really good at stocking, but if you aren't good at making a lethal shot, then you're gonna go home unsuccessful. And it's a very important skill to have, and it takes practice, and I think a lot of hunters don't put enough emphasis on that kind of practical practice. Number eleven. When it comes to spot stock hunting, a little tactic I called the cut off episode forty nine. But what we're talking about here is planning your stock based on factors of assuming where the animals going. And an advanced way to do that is like like I say, I try to stress this chess game where you are thinking three steps ahead. You've got the gam but you've got you know what they're gonna do, or assuming what they're gonna do, and you can make your play based on knowledge. Now that knowledge can come from previously watching what they do and building out kind of a pattern, or just assuming their next hierarchy of needs. If they're out feeding, maybe it's like, okay, well it's gonna be time to bed. Where's a good bed area and then cutting them off from there, or just using topography and terrain to see where they're going and then get in front of them and use your best knowledge of like animals in the way that that animal is moving to cut it off and be in position where the animal cuts the distance for you. Number twelve. It's probably my preferred stalking method, and that's on bedded animals. So episode fifty one talk about it, but especially when it comes to about the best scenario is sneaking in from above on a bedded animal. When animals bedded, it really helps you kind of pinpoint and it's like they're in a stationary spot that gives you time to make the correct moves. So stalking bedded animals, I find is probably my most successful method of spot in stock and getting in on them. The best scenario if you could choose, if I could choose, if you're like, hey, how do you want to stalk in on this animal? I find that I find the most success from stalking in from above. Now a lot of factors are involved in that, the wind, the way the animals bettered, where the animals betted, what kind of how the position they put themselves in. Sometimes it's not possible, but I would say if you have the option, that's probably going to be your most successful bet especially with a bow. Now with a rifle it's the opposite. I just try to stok where I can get a shot across where I can get a good open shot and uh and see what I'm moving in on or have potential options. So I try to planet based on what I'm hunting with and where the animal is. Number thirteen we're gonna go talk about calling again, and one of my favorite calling tactics is creating a cow party episode fifty six if you missed it. Personally, I love to b I'm a bugle freak. I love to just below on that bugle, just keep bugling right. But cow calls kill too, So uh, understanding that cow party and creating this like frenzy where a bull really needs to check it out. It's lethal on loan bulls, and it works really well on a bowl that has cows. It might be thinking that it's heard split up you. Now, maybe you could combine a few of these tactics like dogging and elk and then getting in there, splitting the herd up once they've kind of got a little crazy, and creating a cow party where it's like, oh, other bulls, satellite bowl or even the mature heard bull might have to come check it out. Number fourteen goes back to glass and because it's such a critical skill set and understanding size, shape, color, and movement episode sixty seven, sixty eight. We talked about it. But if I was to to pick out a few of the things that I think you should look for is using various magnification depths when you're glassing. Right, So we're gonna sit there, we're gonna look with our eyes and we're using that to catch movement. Then we're gonna throw our binoculars on and and look for those those things like we're creating search parameters in our minds were like looking, okay, what are these search parameters? And then we look with our eyes, and then we throw up binoculars and do our glassing with that, and then we can go in and and maybe grab the spotting scope and get a little bit closer look, but still looking for these certain search parameters, those lateral lines in the back of the verticals of the legs, the white spots of a deer like the white butt, the right like throat patch. And then also movement. Movement is probably going to be the biggest giveaway when it comes to spotting. So if we're in an area where it's like it's fairly close, right, and it's like a time of day where stuff should be moving, we probably don't want to be like zoomed in all the way on our spotting scope because we're gonna not catch that wider view. So it might be like, let's let's pull out the binos and glass at this part, because it's very critical time where you might catch those movie animals and I can scan fast and look for those colors, those search parameters, and those things that are moving. And then as the day progresses and in situations and terrain changes, then we adjust are the things that we're looking for. And that's something to keep in mind. Number fifteen. If I was to think about the most critical gear you were, it would be boots and packs. Episode eighty nine, Episode nine. But the reason for that is it's the most uncomfortable thing. It's the touch point when someone's like, what should I know about a western hunt? First big game hunt? And my first thing is always get a good pair of boots and break them in. If you're spending money on things, it's like the three things you should spend money on is probably boots, pack, and binoculars or optics, because they're gonna be the most critical gear that you wear and use, especially on backcountry style hunts or any kind of hunt. The Western hunting, you're covering a lot of ground. I like the Snais boots. They fit my foot well, They're super durable, it's a it's a really good piece of gear. When it comes to packs, I have a pack that, like I've said before, needs to be adjustable and you need to make it fit you. I've got a stone Glacier pack. I like it because it's light, but it's also has all the adjustments and carries a lot of weight. One thing the mark of a good pack is something where you can put a lot of weight in it and it it doesn't feel like a lot of weight, and it's still gonna be a lot of weight. It's gonna be inherently uncomfortable, especially when it comes to the pack out. But there's a big difference between being uncomfortable and being unbearable. And I've used packs that are unbearable. So those two things are really critical because it's making something that's inherently uncomfortable more comfortable and having a pair of boots that are broken in and you can go day in and day out when you if your feet give out, your hunt can be over and it can ruin. I've seen it ruined more hunts than anything else. Bad boots, bad feet, So you want those things broken in. You want a good pair of boots, and you want to be able to get after it day in and day out. And you don't want to be cold, you don't want to be wet, you want to be comfortable. And those are just in my mind if you were to say, okay, like success and boots are highly tied together. And I know that from guiding and years of experience guiding guys showing up, and I would say the majority of hunts that were ruined early or the guys couldn't push on was because they had severe problems with their feet and boots. And that is the God's honest truth. Number sixteen. As Western hunter, playing the draw game, you draw that tag and that now what kind of hits right? Episode kind of covered a lot of this, but I think that if you get a tag, or let's say it doesn't even it could be any kind of tag, like over the counter tag, could be any tag. Once you get that tag, now we know our hunt's beginning, but a lot of the success later on is coming in this pre planning stage, and I like to do a few things. First, I researched the unit, I'll look over a lot of maps. I'd like to talk to people on the ground, and then I create a hunt plan with multiple options. That means I'm I'm talking to people saying like where are the concentrations animals, I'm learning about the unit and maybe looking even for photos of things that have been taken to get a good picture of what can I expect here. And then I'm doing a lot of east scouting, pouring over maps, and then having pinning possible places. Then the final step is going to be just previewing that unit, understanding like getting in there, or it could be the first day you hunt, just previewing a lot of the spots that you've marked, or getting in there and scouting saying like, okay, this is matches up with what I'm looking for. Oh, maybe there's no animals here, or maybe you don't even have time to look the animals, but you're like, I'm looking over the country, doesn't match up with what I was looking at or what I was expecting when talking to people about this particular unit. Having a good hunt plan and multiple options for backup are going to help you be successful going into an area and being able to focus in and say, Okay, I know where I'm going and I know what I'm going to do before I get there. Number seventeen. So the last few tips I pulled from various episodes. I think these last five I'm just gonna do is kind of overarching, let's say, overarching themes of pretty much every podcast, but really broken down into the things that I'm looking for in my philosophy when it comes to finding success. So number seventeen is focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of whatever you're hunting, not only to find them, but to get close. So when I think about hunting spot and stock hunting, I'm hunting a different animal. I've hunted many different species around the world, different units, places I've never been, and I find success more often than not. And that's hard to say that you do. But I think my number one attributing factor to that is really focusing in on those strengths and weaknesses of whatever I'm hunting. So We've kind of covered it in many ways, but I'll just reiterate some of what I'm talking about. So let's let's talk about like antelope and where strength is good eyesight, but their weaknesses can also be they rely on that ice sight. So in order to get close to an antelope, I need to trick the ice sight because there's some smelling is not great and they're hearing isn't super crazy, right, So we're finding it's like that's the strength. So the strength is their eyesight. So they're gonna live in that terrain where their eyesight can protect them from things. But if I've got a bow and I've got limited time to hunt, maybe I'm thinking I need to find an area where I can overcome that and make that their weakness where it's like maybe I'm going to hunt some more broken terrain where I can get closer and can't see. I'm not going to see as any antelope, but I'm gonna have a better chance of sneaking in. Now. The same thing goes for elk. Like elker use their nose. They're herd animals. Noise and sight don't necessarily get them as much, especially when they're in groups and in the trees. So if I've got a group of elk and I'm like they're in the open and the feed and I'm close, but I'm like, I can't. I'm not gonna be able to sneak in in this open right, So I'm gonna wait for them to get into the timber. And now I know that I can move in a little bit faster. I can make some noise. Maybe you can throw some calls in with that and distract them. I might be able to move around some other cows and position myself and be fairly aggressive getting in close because I'm using that weakness that they're looking for. Now. Maybe it's something like mule deer where it's like, Okay, they're really good at hearing. They set themselves up in places where their their sense really good, they've got good eyes sight, they're pretty hard to sneak on. But what are sometimes when they're the most distracted. Maybe it's waiting until they bed down in the middle of the day. Maybe it's a hot day, and I can use that as a time to make a move to get close. So I'm fine those those little things about each animal that they rely on and maybe trying to find a way to exploit that or finding like when that is one of those things that makes them very hard to get close to, gets kind of blocked, if that makes sense. So I can use that to my advantage. Number eighteen. You gotta be in good shape. You gotta be in the best physical shape. And I think getting in the best shape you can is the best thing you can do to be a good hunter or to be highly successful. Right, you got to invest in yourself. And I think sometimes that gets like portrayed is whatever, whatever ends of the spectrum it is. Some people are like, I don't need to be in any shape I do find and some people are like, I gotta be in this kind of shape. I I personally feel like I'm I mean, I'm definitely in really good shape, and I know for a fact that that has led to a lot of success, being able to go day in, day out. Now, I don't know where everyone's at. You might be older, you might be whatever. But I told the story before of seeing my dad who was completely out of shape, and he would he was always one of those guys, like a bigger guy, but could get along and go. And he just made a commitment to work out every day to eat right, and he did it for hunting so he can hunt with his kids. And to be honest, that guy can out hike anybody I've ever met, out carry anybody I've ever met. I mean even I do it every day for a living. And he is he's twice my age, and in is good or better shape. I hate to admit it, but like he's he's an animal, and so it is possible. Like you don't have to be limited by that, You just have to commit to changing it. And I think investing in yourself is the best. Like you can buy all the gear, you can have all the right spots, you can have all the right tags, But if you physically can't get to the animal on the mountain, or you're worried about the places it might take you to be able to pack it out, then you're gonna find not as much success. So investing in yourself is a huge investment in your success. When it comes to hunting number nineteen, it's kind of been covered, but you gotta learn how to spot stuff. And one thing that I find so funny is the amount of hunters that have binoculars, right, and they don't even have them around their neck. They're just like in their pack, or they don't put them to their face. Binoculars not put to your face don't do you any work. You know you gotta you gotta put them to work by using them, and I use my bionos in close range, close quarters and far spotting. I've used my optics for everything. And yeah, I think most people are like, how the heck did you spot that? The honest answer is, well, I looked. I used my binoculars and I looked. And when you do that, you start finding that finding things is a lot easier. Number twenty. I think one thing that could be you're probably most successful tactic would be to learn from your mistakes and don't be afraid to act. I think a lot of hunters, especially new hunters, well, actually hunters have been doing a long time. You can analyze the crap out of anything right, and sometimes you just gotta make moves. This paralysis by analysis over analysis of the situation. Hunting in many ways needs to be Now. If you're you're just getting started, you're like, well, it's not like I don't have enough skill set to know what's right. Well, do something many times right, and if it doesn't work out, then you're gonna go I should have done this, and those I should have are gonna be your building box. For future success. So don't be afraid to make those mistakes, don't be afraid to act, and don't analyze the crap out of it. Paralysis by analysis is probably the single like the thing that keeps some things, keeps you from being successful many times, sometimes you gotta make those moves. Um. I've learned to make those moves by hunting alone because I didn't have to bounce things off people. Instantaneous decision making. I think if you're to a point where you're comfortable hunting and you feel comfortable doing a few solo trips yourself, do it obviously within parameters of being safe and and knowing your limits and your skill set. But I think that that's pushed me further into being consistently successful in anything. Is just knowing how to act and how to make decisions. Now Tip twenty one. If you learned anything from this podcast, it should be the saying that I've had since I was I don't even know, probably sixteen years old. When it comes to stocking animals. It's a mantra that I I've said over and over in my head and still say it every time and still have to still have to convince myself of this because we always want to take the easy way. But you need to tell yourself go the best way, not the easy way. If you do that, you're gonna find success. And it's so much easier to say, oh, I can just run down here and be in there with the winds a little weird. No, instead, I've got it's gonna be better for me to go this other way. It's the best way. I always choose going the best way. And if you tell yourself that before you go make some rash decisions, you're gonna find more success. Go the best way, not these ways. Now, sometimes the easy way is the best way, right, they aren't mutually exclusive, but go the best way first, and you will find more success. Tip twenty two. As we move into I think your tip is gonna be fairly simple. It's gonna be get out there, have these experiences, right, and then the second part, come find me not necessarily in the mountains, but because my tips and tactics are not ending, They're just gonna be somewhere else, and so, you know, keep the knowledge growing. I think anything you can do listening to you know, continuing to listen to this podcast, whatever it becomes, finding me wherever my tips and tactics are, and and just picking up and learning, reading, doing whatever you can to expand your hunting knowledge, because having more and more knowledge. If you've only got a few you days to hunt, right and it's the weekend, you've got the weekend to hunt, you've got whatever to hunt. Building up a skill set of knowledge is never a bad thing. So continue to learn, continue to build that knowledge, and continue to get out there and keep hunting. First of all, I just really want to say thanks to all the listeners for all the support and continued support. I really don't think I could ever say how much it means to me. I just appreciate you guys so much. This is my last episode as host of the show, and I've enjoyed being on this journey with you last couple of years. I hope that you found the podcast useful, informative, and entertaining. I've thoroughly enjoyed sharing my experiences and knowledge with you every week. In the new year, Cutting the Distance will be getting a new host, so stay tuned for more details from the Mediator crew right after the podcast. I just want to say thanks again. I hope that you'll stay in touch so make sure to find me. Okay, So I'll give you the places where you can find the information. You can find me YouTube. I've got a YouTube channel. If you subscribe to it, you'll be informed on everything that I've got. Follow me on Instagram at Remy Warren. Maybe facebook's your jam at remy Warren there. Maybe you're a Twitter person at Remy Warren. One thing that I did do so, I've got my mailing list on my website, Remy Warren dot com. You can go there and I'm gonna be drawing a winner. So if you sign up for my mailing list, my email list, it's two full one. I wanted to give you an awesome price back worth of incredible gear, and I continue to do awesome giveaways throughout the year. That's what I use the thing for, just given sweet stuff away. But I'm also it's also a thing where as more information comes out about what I'm doing next, I can keep you informed. So if you go and sign up for that, then you'll be in touch with me, and no matter what other social media stuff is going on, I'll be able to tell you what I've got where I've got. So I follow those channels and that way you can hear about any new and ongoing projects. I've got some awesome stuff in the pipe. I've got a video series if you like this this podcast, I've got kind of like a master class of video stuff coming soon. I've got a lot of other videos and other projects in the works, some some really good stuff. If you like the tips and tactics. They are not going away from me, okay, They're just gonna be finding them in a different place. This won't be little. This is the first podcast, but it won't be the last podcast they do. So make sure you stay in touch with me, and then as things come out in the future, we can connect and hopefully feed that fix of tips and tactics. Right. I appreciate every one of you. I thank you guys so much, so much so. As my final closing, I just want to say, get out there and cut the Distance. Probably been waiting for that one for a long time. That's a good close. Get out there, Cut the Distance. Should have started with that. Hey, folks, Jason Phelps here from Phelps Game Calls, and starting early next year, I'll be your new host of Cutting the Distance. I've been building designing calls for the past twelve years and been fortunate to hunt across the country for the past several decades, trying to close the gap on some pretty wildly critters. As we kick off the new Cutting the Distance podcast next year, I plan to use my experience as a dedicated hunter call maker and competition caller to give you the tips and tricks I use on my personal hunts, as well as sit down with hunting and calling experts to discuss everything from the pursuit of turkey to elk and everything in between. So stay tuned for the new launch in early Get Him Close