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 the podcast everyone. Today's the day I reached deep into the mail bag. Here the old male sack and answer your questions. So we've got a lot of great questions coming in. I hope that over the season some of these things have been helpful to you. Maybe you know I like to open up every you know, almost every podcast. I'm saying, send me your questions, send me your questions, because I really enjoy being able to answer specific questions, and I know that I get a lot of the same questions as well, So I think that the Q and A is a really good way to kind of just make sure that I'm on topic and and answering things that you guys want to know. Also, I've got a ton of good messages about just some success, so I'll just read a few here. This one comes from Kylie said, I just wanted to pass along thanks for the Glassing podcast, which was a recent podcast that we just did, He said, I listened to it last Friday on my way to set up camp for the week. Later that day, I glassed up a group of mealies that I probably wouldn't have without some of your advice on bodylines that stand out. Long story short, I got the buck in that bunch opening morning on a very heavily populated public spot. Was practically sitting on them when the sun came up. Thanks man, crazy, how it helped have a great winter Kyle and Kyle sent me a picture of the buck in his backpack, and it is a great buck. Good workman, love seeing that stuff. Another one came in from it, says, hey, Remy been an avid listener to the podcast for the last few months, keeping my spirits high and learning all that I can for this fault. Was fortunate enough to connect on beautiful CU's buck using some techniques I learned from your podcast. I'm off on a late season cow hunt next week and hope to put more of your tips to use. Thanks Zef. He sent in a picture of a really nice cus deer buck. So it's awesome to me that, um, you know you can take these tactics. I love hearing some of these successes where people have taken the tactics and just kind of adapted them to what they're hunting, whether it's a mule deer story and whatever. But a lot of the tips that I'm giving, you know, can be used across species lines. I will say, where you can take some of these tactics that I talked about for elk or deer, antelope or whatever and apply it to where you're hunting for the situation you are, and that that always is awesome. I love hearing that kind of stuff. So let's go. Let's let's start diving into some questions here. I'm just kinda I've got a bunch of them, and I just kind of scroll through and pick a few and and we'll go from there. And then the ones that I think that there was a lot of similar questions on UM you know, I try to answer those as well, but uh, this one I thought was pretty interesting because um, I actually had a similar experience, so that this one comes from James. He says, Remy loved the content and the podcast. You really know your animal behaviors and sounds, which I'm also fascinated with. I was recently on stand and had a very large, mature mule dear work through the edge of regent and timber mostly covered. He was raking very hard and went to town on a six to eight inch pine only about forty five yards away. No shot obviously, However, he went on to make several very loud vocalizations that I'd never heard before that sounded like a kazoo. It was way louder than grunts and high pitched in long, like blowing on a kazoo. If it is the buck I think it is. It may have been that he's eight to nine year old category probably near four pounds. Any thoughts on this or idea is what this guy was trying to tell me? That's a really great question, because um, actually this year I heard some very similar sounds coming from mule deer as well. Uh. Now, I think a lot of people don't. I think dear vocalization maybe is underplayed because they really only make those noises primarily during the rut, and it's not sounds that you hear all the time. But I have heard some very very strange sounds coming out of deer. What I was standing there glassing across the hill and it sounded like I don't even know how to describe the sound. It sounded like a sound that you would hear in the movie Jurassic Park for a weird dinosaur noise, And it was just this and I'm like, okay, it's like a weird elk strange, very similar to this kazoo sound. Um, and then some more roars and I've heard those buck roars before. You know my thoughts on this sound, It could have been one of a few things, not really knowing the full setup, if it was really thick, that really loud, becauseoo kind of sound could have been the buck, but it also possibly could have been a dough in Estris, because I did hear some more extra sounds coming from does down below me as well. So what I was hearing in this particular scenario that I encountered this year was two meal ear bucks grunting, and then the bucks would do these long grunts. I'm just doing these with my voice. I wish I had like a something to do it, but it's I don't even think there's calls that make some of these sounds. So then they were making these more longer, like drawn out roar type grunts like and then circling each other, and then off in the in the side, I spotted this. It was like this weird sound and it was a dough making an estris bleat, and it was more I'm going to try it right now. We'll see if I can even mimic it. I'll tell you if it was good or not. But it's more like a ah, that's more like a moose. But it was it was like this, And then I could see those bucks now like very interested in this one dough. I don't know if that sound quite like it, but um, it's a sound that you don't really hear very often, so I wonder if it was that or if it was one of the bucks. Now, I also was hearing some more roaring sounds from these particular dear which isn't just a sound that you hear very often. But they were being very aggressive. They were hissing at each other, doing more of like a snort wheeze. You could see as I was watching him, the hair on their back of their next stand up they were stomping, and then that dough was doing her estrius call. And then these bucks were more like roaring at that dough. Um, Now in your particular instance, if you knew for sure that this buck was making those noises, do your do make a lot of different strange vocalizations. Maybe it was more of like a roar sound, or more of like a kind of like that, but particular bucks hiss at a dough or at another dear, whatever it was, he was very, very be fired up. Now I have even seen where certain deer just make really weird sounds because their vocal cords in some way have been damaged. Um the same thing happens with elk. This year, we had a bull that could not for the life of I called him the chuckler because all he could do is chuckle, because when he would bugle, it would break really weird and sounded like one of the worst bugles you've ever heard. And I've seen I've actually been fortunate enough to have um taken bowls that make these weird bugles. And we've seen like scars in their neck where they've taken a tyne in the neck, and you go, okay, that makes sense. Somehow it had taken something in the neck where the tying and arrow who knows what, some form of damage to his throat, and it makes this really horrible bugle noise um, but then is scarred back over. So I've seen that as well. So there's a lot of different possibilities for that. But dear do make some pretty strange sounds out there, And what I like to do is when I hear those sounds, try to try to remember what they were. Maybe what that deer was doing. If it was raking a tree, it was fired up. Is probably a sure deer, And they do make some very aggressive sounds at each other that are outside of the tiple typical sound. So when you're calling sometimes all one of the things that I've used on mule deer a lot when calling is um, the roaring sound and then that snort we's that and then the hissing, and it's just like one of those additional sounds that you can make that might fire him up to come in that little bit. If I had heard that weird kazoo type sound, I probably would have tried that snort weas and seeing if I could have brought him in a little bit more distance, just more of a direct challenge to that buck, like, hey, you're in my bedroom too. Um. To me, it sounds like maybe he was making a sound that was telling another deer that hays and you're in my zone, get out like and trying to be as aggressive as possible. And that snort we's might have been enough of a sound to drawn from that forty five yards into your location, and it might be worth it try next time. This question comes from Daniel. He says, good a mate, love the podcast. Can you discuss the moon and your thoughts and experiences using moon phase? Please cheers. That is a great question and I probably should do a full podcast on this, but I think it's worth noting now. I think there's people that have their theories on moon phase, and and then there's people that have done studies on moon phase, and some say that it's a big factor, some say it's not a factor. Um, I absolutely believe it's a factor in certain ways. And I think that I think that the moon phases kind of um misunderstood by hunters and people, even people that study it. Now, I would say there's probably very few people that have been out year round watching and observing animals, and I am one of those people, you know, through guiding through hunting all over the place. UM, I really don't have an option with that. I'm going to hunt a certain week or not. I hunt every week when I'm guiding, it's every week during the season, and over the years, I've got to experience hunting during different moon phases, different things. Here's my thought on the moon phase and it I think it really lends itself to the style of hunting you're doing as well. I primarily do spot in stock hunting. Now I've noticed for certain species especially, it makes even more of a difference. UM. One one that I can definitely say it makes a bigger difference with happens to be like bears in the spring. Um. Depending on the moon in the week is really going to depend on how many animals you see, because you got to think about when you're spot stock hunting, you're wanting the animals to be somewhere where you can spot them. Um. I've seen studies where people say, oh, well, the moon phase doesn't uh affect animal movements. I don't personally think that the moon itself is what's affecting animals moving. Now, they might be moving and cover more, they might be whatever. What I want is I want dear to be out in the open or elk or bears or whatever. I'm hunting to be out in the open when during legal shooting times when I can see them, and I think that the moon plays a big factor in that, not for the fact that it's a full moon. I think it's more of an issue of light and those animals being able to feed and do their things that they do in the open during nighttime in more safety. So if you think about it, when the moon is out and it is bright, it's easier to see. Deer and elk and other animals have a certain capability of what we would call nocturnal vision, but it is not as good as the nocturnal vision of many predators. So what they're gonna do on the nights that are dark, they aren't going to be walking around as much. They're gonna be bedded, They're gonna be using their nose and ears for safety. When the moon comes out, you're gonna see more animals feeding, more animals moving around at night because under the cover of more light they can actually see. Well, it's it's for them, it's they're under the cover of maybe some darkness, especially during hunting seasons where there's pressure during the day, so they can get there. Let's just say their chores, there's their activities, the things that they need to do done. Here's where the moon won't play a factor because it's a factor of light and not necessarily the moon itself. I believe that on really cloudy or stormy times during a full moon, it's not going to affect it like it would if it were clear. So clear nights on a full moon the next day, um, you're definitely gonna see some some differences in movements in the day. One thing I've noticed, um actually during full moon is you're going to get some more erratic like you might see them out longer in the morning, but not see them in the evening because what happens is it depends on the time that the moon rises as well. Is if the moon's up and they can kind of will come up a few hours after dark, they'll probably start feeding then, so in the evening generally deer elk whatever moon about of cover and then feed, you know, until it gets dark or whatever. So they feed as the sun starts to go down. They're very crepuscular moving mornings and evenings, and so they're gonna be out in the morning, out in the evening most days. Um, you just tend to see them out more often when there's no moon at night, and that is um some of the ways that I plan my hunts. But I have also noticed that over the years, we generally tend to find that are hunting success, Like when I'm guiding or whatever, my hunting success is kind of generally the same no matter what the moon's doing whatever. I have found that, uh, temperature also plays a very very big factor in that. So those times where it's a full moon and it's hot out, the deer definitely going to be more active at night. UM. So it's not necessarily just the moon, but it's also a factor of temperature and many many other things uh that can go into it. If I can plan around hunting where there's a smaller moon, I will absolutely do it because I just think it gives me a little bit more time to spot animals during the daylight hours while I'm glassing, because they're going to be out doing those chores and things that they need to do outside of nighttime more often. And that's my philosophy on that. That's a great question though I actually don't have a name for this one, but it says question for the podcast, which is great, how do you identify places of glass from from a map? I never seem to be able to identify good spots to glass from when doing map recon of a new area. So the first thing I look for is the areas that I'm gonna want to glass into. So if you go back to some older podcasts, I talk a lot about head basins, you know, draws cross canyons. So what you want to do is you want to look at the map and say, Okay, here's some potential areas that I want to hunt, and then I go back and say, where can I see this from? UM. One thing that I always like to think of is this idea of a glassing knob. Well, and knob is just the land of the top point of a hill where you can look across into something else. Those knobs work so long as there's no vegetation. So what I'm doing is I'm I'm looking for areas UM two ways. One, I'm using the topography lines to find areas maybe across a certain distance from where I am planning on hunting. And then I switch to the satellite mode, and that satellite mode is gonna show me vegetation and hopefully I'm gonna be able to find a spot where it has little vegetation, where I'm gonna be able to theoretically see whatever I'm looking at. Now, if I'm planning on hunting this one particular canyon, Um, maybe it's a draw and I'm gonna walk up this draw. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna look at my map and i'm gonna say, Okay, the wind is probably gonna be Let's say the draw goes um east west, Okay, and then so you're gonna be walking up the draw to the east, and then the wind is coming from the south. So I'm gonna be one of I'm gonna want to walk on the south side of the Let's say there's a creek in the bottom, I'm gonna be one of walking on the south side of the creek going up the canyon. So I'm pull up my map, I'm gonna look at that draw. I'm gonna say, okay, that way. If anything I spot, I'll be moving down wind too, and okay, Okay. Out here in the flat, here's a here's a here's a kind of another range or whatever. It's maybe half a mile away, and it looks like there's an open spot in the satellite imagery where I can kind of sit down and look into that canyon first, and then if I got to walk up that canyon maybe there's nothing else, then I'm gonna look up the side that I'm planning and going and seeing if there's any good spots along the way where the vegetation breaks where I can see across or up into that basin. And if there is, then I kind of note those and try to work my way to those spots. One thing I like to do as well is just kind of get a wide view of things. So if there's certain places that go, okay, this is a good place to hunt, then I just scan around, mainly in that saddle light mode or I mean on on next what I use. The feature of the layer that I used the most would be satellite topo, like the combination, so I can see the topography lines and see the vegetation at the same time. Another great tool is using three D mapping. Um, if I can go into that three D map, I can kind of figure out get a better perspective of like where I might be theoretically, and then just kind of swivel that map around and look into the places that that I want to look and get a good idea if I can get a view of that, and then I just go and verify that there's no vegetation that's going to block that. And those are the ways that I really uh use my maps to find those glassing areas. All right, this is an interesting question. It comes from Christopher. He says, I remy love the podcast, and thank you for all your advice. I'm playing in my first back country. I'll cut next year, and I keep wrestling with a strange gear issue. Glasses or contacts. I wear both usually where my contact lenses when I hunt, because they don't fog up and make glassing and shooting a little easier. But I'm also typically near home or a camp should there be a problem like getting one stuck in my eye. Glasses are lower maintenance, but well, they fog up and make glassing of pain in the ass. I know this isn't a problem you likely have to deal with, but have you had any experiences with something like this. It seems like just the kind of trivial detail that can screw up a good hunt. Thanks again, that's a great question, Chris Um. You know I personally don't have um corrective vision, but my dad at one point did. UM. Now he and my wife as well. Both of them ended up getting lazic surgery. And my wife. Now, it's like funny because I always thought I was just really good at spotting things, and then now I realize it's just I am really good at spotting things. But she started spotting way more animals after having really good vision. She's like, wow, I can actually see them mountain Now. UM. You know that obviously isn't doesn't work for everyone, but it is like, it's crazy, how good everybody I know that's gotten lazy. My brother and my dad and my wife all have better than at least vision now, and they're spotting of things has gone drastically up, even more than just having their contacts of their glasses, UM, which I mean I would just promote it. I know that that's not possible for everyone. UM, some people, you know, their eyes haven't settled or whatever the cases or don't opt for the lazing, but it is crazy how well that works. Before that, my dad would always run contacts, bring a spare set you just just extra crap you have to carry. But it's something you have to do. He would bring contacts and then in a case he would keep his glasses his backup for the most part outside of getting dirt in his eye or whatever his he would get the week long type contacts. He would have a spare set and then a set of glasses, because, yeah, I've hunted with a lot of guided a lot of people with glasses. It's terrible. There's so many times where I've had people lined up on the rifle their glasses are fogged. Because what happens is you're in the moment, you're hiking up, you've got to move fast. You're moving up, you're moving faster, your glasses are fogged. Then you go to shoot, you can't see. You take your glasses often you can't see the radical. It is a major, major pain in the ask. So my suggestion would be contacts number one, number two have backups, and then number three have a backup of a backup, which would be your glasses. Because it's better to be able to see than not to see. So I think that that would be the option. But if I could suggest anything, get some lazic. And if I'm going to suggest lazic, don't get the cheapest lasic. There is the guy that doesn't for twenty and I maybe maybe spend fifty dollars and I but because it is it's that important. Um. However, I think that uh, if you if you don't have that option, then I would say contacts and then glasses as a backup. This question comes from ASA. He says, Hey, remy love the show. My question is about hunting late season with a bow. How do you make a stock after leaves have fallen but there isn't any snow to quiet things down. I've had a few opportunities but haven't been able to make the stock in those situations. Things. Yeah, that that can be very difficult, and where you live, you know, definitely depends on the type of leaf fall and the type of noise. If you're in a very like that kind of place where there's a lot of leaves, that can be very difficult. One thing that I do think about is sometimes hunting where I can minimize those things that are very hard to control, so the amount of noise on the ground, um, leaves and other things. You know, maybe picking those spots where I can move without really intercepting that. So like creek bottoms where there's a lot of leaves a lot of times. What I do is I follow the creek. I try to stay in the rocks in other places. I pick my routes in the places that I hunt based on places where I can be quiet and still have a good opportunity of running into deer. Now, if you're in an area, you can only hun a small area a certain area. UM Very very early on in the podcast, one thing I talked about was a shoes off situation. If you watch my videos or followed some of my stuff, you notice that I take my shoes off an unordinate amount of times. Late season, early season doesn't matter, because I know how much more quiet it is. The stiff sole of the boot is really what cracks everything underneath your feet. Think about a deer walking through They've kind of got a lot less surface area than our feet, and so they can walk semi quiet. But you know there are things moving around in the forest that are making noise in those leaves. Squirrels, um other roads, birds, other things, but those don't tend to They might alert the deer, but they don't spook the deer. So as you're stalking, think about the way that you're walking, the cadence that you're walking and how you're walking, um tiptoeing through the forest. Yeah, it makes sense because you're letting your toes feel the ground, you're slowly rolling your foot down, and you're going to be more quiet. Another thing that I'll do when I'm stalking, Like I actually just recently stalk some white tails and something similar and it was I ended up I have like, uh, some stocking socks that I throw on. It was luckily not super cold or not wet, but um, one thing that I will do is I'll take my foot and I'll just push the leaves aside, then place my foot, push the leaves aside, place my foot and even crawling like crawling stopping that noise sounds like something, but it also might be a way that you can distribute your weight and maybe not make so much noise going through the leaves. Just something to think about. There are ways that you can, um still make those stocks. It's worth trying if you've got no other options. And then if you're in a place where it's like hey, it's absolutely way too loud to stalk, then you need to change your tactic. Your tactic might be more of an ambush set up where you figure out the trails and things that the deer moving and then set up a blind tree stand uh in ambush of some kind. And those are some ways to kind of combat that this question comes from. Um, I'm not sure the first name. Actually I don't have a first name here, but last name Gonzalez. He says, Hey, remy, what bullets do you use in your three short meg? Do you use different grains for pronghorn, deer and elk? Actually I got this question a lot so UM recently. I've been using Federal terminal ascent bullets UM for quite a few reasons. So, I mean, if I were to go into my entire like exploration of the perfect hunting bullet, what I'm looking for is so many different things, and I think this bullet is probably the best that's matched what I'm looking for. What I like is I like a bullet with a good b C, so something that has a good ballistic coefficient. What that means is a little bit less drag, so it has less drop. It flies, I mean, they fly well, and I want something that groups really good from a hundred yards out to whatever distance I might be shooting. So the first step in picking a bullet is something your gun likes and something that shoots well right out of the gate. Um, my first sight in with these particular ones, like I went to two hundred yards. Um, my previous bullet was that. Uh, currently I'm using two hundred grains. So my the bullet before out of a three short bag. Three short maags generally used to tend to liking the like hundred and fifty five to one sixty grain bullets, and they would shoot the best. So when I'm picking a bullet, first off is accuracy. I need something that is gonna hit where I'm going. Um, these ones, you know, So just as like a personal story, I recently was shooting one fifty grains out of this same rifle. I switched to the two grain. Now you think two grain is gonna be heavier, it's gonna um so it's gonna drop more than the hundred and fifty grain and relatively, say aime velocities, these ones are maybe a little faster. The terminal sense are a little bit faster. So um, you know, I I adjusted my scope high because I'm gonna expecting it to drop. I shoot hits high. I set it back to the zero at two hundred yards. Those bullets, the two grain bullets were shooting uh an under one inch group on target on bulls eye where those hundred and fifty grain bullets were cited. And so it's just because they've got a better, better drag curve, they drop less and they weigh more. So that means that downrange, I'm gonna have more energy hitting. And it's a really good bullet. Also it performs really well out at distance but also at close range. So I really settled on that bullet. Um, I don't I don't dance around with grains for different species. I get one that shoots well and I hunt everything with that. So I kind of picked something for my top end and go from there. I have jumped back and forth a little bit, but I think that it's just easier to to get a bullet that works well, shoots accurately, you're you know the drop compensation and everything, and hunt with it. Um like anything though, shot placement is key. UM. So I kind of picked something, I mean anything in that three short bag from ELK. You know, you could go with a one fifty and up you'll be good. Um. I never really thought I would be shooting the two grain, but it's hey for elk at longer distances that gives me a little bit more knockdown power. Some people might say, well, it's overkill for dear pronghorn or whatever. Well, I don't know. I haven't really noticed a lot of meat loss. If you make a good shot. Um, you know, a good SHOT's a good shot. And so I don't know if the difference between using a bigger bullet and a little bit smaller bullet is gonna be it's gonna be negligible when it comes to like meat damage and impact. You know, if you hit something in the shoulder with any of those bullets is going to have some damage. So I don't like to grain hop. I like to get something that works for that rifle, and I just stick with it because I'm not the type of person that wants to go and and mess with a bunch of different grains. Now, if you've got some that work well, and you already know, hey, this works good for it, then it's fine. If you've got it and you can switch back and forth easily, that's great. But I just like to have my rifle set up and know where it shoots and then and then stick with it and hunt with it, especially because a lot of these trips will be like pretty back to back, so you might be like hunting elk and then and a deer tag. I don't I wouldn't try to just switch, especially during like mid season or anything like that. So that's what I shoot. UM. I got a lot of questions on bullets and firearms this week. Actually we'll jump into another question here because UM some other people were thinking asking questions like what's a good all around caliber. I've said it before. I think the three short MAAG is a great all around caliber kind of for everything, because it's got a short action, a lighter rifle for mountains, but also has some pretty good performance, very similar to a windmag but you know, a shorter bullet throw, which is is nice when you're you're proned out in you want to make sure you don't lose, especially if you're by yourself. You know, you want to be able to stay on target. And uh, just a little bit lighter action as well for like carrying around. UM, So that's kind of my thing on that. And then I also got a lot of questions on the use of suppressors UM in hunting. You know, some people asking are they legal? Some people asking why I use a suppressor. Um, I've guided a long time. I've hunted a lot of different places. I am a big proponent of having a firearm that is both accurate and that you shoot really well. And I think to shoot a firearm really well, you need some form of recoil management. Now. It doesn't matter how tough of a guy you are. How if you shoot a lot and that gun keeps hammering you over and over and over, you're gonna develop some form of bad anticipate vation. What I mean is a flinch, And so there's a couple devices that take that flinch out. A muzzle break is one. Um. A suppressor is essentially a muzzle break that doesn't So what happens when you put a muzzle break on your rifle. It throws the energy out to the sides, taking some of that felt recoil out. But what that also does is it's super loud. Um. We used to calm guide killers because it's like the guys next to you hear it even more. It's very damaging to your hearing. I have had muzzle brakes go off near me and like no joke, my vision go black like it's just the concussion from that gun. If you're at the a little bit weird angle or something like that, your ear plugs aren't in, it's very, very, very damaging. I know very quite a few people that have had a muzzle break go off by them or I have thrown up their gun shot and no your protection in and they got ringing ears for the rest of their life because of that one shot. I don't want to be that guy, so uh, you'll see me all aways. Have the ear protection earpro around my neck and I always make sure that I put it in ahead of time because I'm so cautious about ear protection and other things. Um, using a suppressor makes sense because if you don't have time to put your protection in, it's not going to be of those same damaging levels as an unsuppressed firearm or a muzzle brake. Now you hear people say, oh, well it's still in damaging rang. I you know whatever, you take certain things. I mean, I shot a shotgun for a very long time without your protection. That was a big mistake. I always suggest now if you can wear your protection when you can, Yeah, even when I fire my suppressor at the range. UM, it just takes that crack out of the rifle and brings the decibel levels to a safer balance than it does with the muzzle brakes. So it's like a muzzle brake that isn't going to blow your ear drums out and destroy your hearing in one shot. UM. So when I'm at the range, I still throw my ear pro in, but UM, when I'm hunting, I just I don't necessarily think about it. And it's really nice because you can if you're hunting with someone else they're spotting, you can communicate back and forth the person. It's especially nice for the person that's watching or near you because it's actually UM, you know you you don't have that negative effect like you do with the UM muzzle brake. I know that kind of as a tangent from the bullet thing. But I have like a three dozen questions on that topic. So I figured I just instead of pulling one question out, just touch on it, because that was gonna be the next kind of thing that we talked about. I got a lot of questions, UM about the guiding stuff, UM, questions about choosing guides. I thought this was kind of a good question Um, because you know a lot of people. Maybe you're getting into hunting, you're new to hunting, or even you've been hunting your whole life. I think choosing a uh to go guide it is a great way to learn an area to or not learn an area, but like to go with somebody that is an expert at what you're looking to do, it's going to be a lot more successful. Yes, it costs money, but sometimes you can lean tips and things from those people. One thing I will say is you don't want to be that person that's like goes on a guided hunt to try to figure out spots. That's a dick move. Don't be that guy. If you're that guy, shame on you. But um, one thing that I will say is, you know there there are a lot of questions and are there there's some great guys, some great outfitters out there, and there's some bad ones. It's really hard to find to sift through and figure out who's who. But um, you know you kind of know just um talking to other people. Maybe you get some hot tip from someone that's been and and that's really the best way to figure out. But uh, this question it comes from Derek. He says, although I've listened to Cutting the Distance for a relatively short period, I've binge listened to every episode over the shutdown, some of your best ones twice. I'm what you guys call an adult onset hunter, but I prefer to call it late bloomer hunter. Mid December, me and some friends are using an outfitter in Uh, using an outfit for a combo hunt for ducks and geese. I like it because the cost of entry so high for ducks, it's overwhelming. My first question is in your wheelhouse, how much should I tip our guide for if he's phenomenal, down to average? That's a great question, you know. Being a professional hunting guide myself, I have tips are what get me through the season. I mean honestly, like it's it's I hate, I hate to say it, but you know, like the wages are pretty low, the margins are pretty tight. Tips are like the kind of thing that puts you into like feeding yourself. So um, you know. I I would always say, like, oh yeah, beer tips better, but uh, the average I think, just like cost of hunt generally, you kind of start around ten percent. That's an average tip for hunting or outdoor type services. Now you're like, well, ten percent, you know, and then it just kind of depends if the guide is really good and the hunt was fairly cheap. It's just kind of like think about it kind of like a restaurant as well, where if you got really good service and you really appreciate the guy and it's like maybe the guy doesn't have a lot of spots available and you got in and you want to come back, it's better to be a good tipper, and those are the type of people that they want to come back because they know that they're helping out their guides there or whatever there. You know, so that's a factor of the cost you should include. Um, you know, on a one day type hunted, two day type hunt kind of thing, you know, you could always do a little bit more or you can kind of take that ten percent, say this was a really shitty hunt, Um the guides were, you know, I really base it off of not necessarily like even if myself, if I go with a guy that's a guide or a friend or whatever, not a friend, but like if I'm on a trip where there's a guide, um, I like to be the guy that tips on the higher end of the scale. And but I also would say, like, if you're thinking about when you go on a guided hunt, you know what your tips should be reflective of is the work that the guide provided? So was he organized? Did he work his butt off? Was he no matter the success that you had, doing everything in his ability to help you be successful? Was he knowledgeable? Was he an expert? Was he a professional? Was he going above and beyond the call of duty? Um? No matter the circumstances. And I think sometimes you know, people think, well if I get a big elk, then I'll tip more if I get whatever I and I like to think of it as like, how well did that person give me a good experience, a good service, or whatever, and then your tip can reflect that. But that ten percent is kind of like an average um starting point, and you go up or down from there. This question comes from Kyleie says, Remy love the podcast and I decided to be a hunter by listening to it. I have no mentor so this has been a great resource. I'm starting a small game this falling Nebraska and hoping to get a turkey for the holiday table. What can you recommend for a new hunter mixing with old hunters that are also hunting deer on public land. So I don't become that guy. Um, he says, So he doesn't become that guy. He's familiar with local laws, but more concerned about being courteous to others. That's a great question, and I think it's something that you know, really needs to be discussed because as more people are hunting more public land, things are changing, the landscapes changing. Uh. Some of these changes are very very sad to me. Um, But it's because I think a lot of people kind of lost this sense of common courtesy. This this uh yes it's public, but also we're all hunters, were all trying to have a good time. And I don't mean to paint like a bad picture because there are many many people that are the opposite of this or or do things right. And I think the most important thing is like if you roll up, you know, you don't want to disturb someone else's hunt. You don't want to ruin someone else's hunt, and you don't want someone else to ruin your hunt. So being courteous in that way. But there's also limited amount of spaces you pull up to a trailhead, there's another vehicle parked there. Um. What do you do? Do you walk in behind them? Do you go somewhere else? Well, maybe everywhere you go there's someone and that ruined your experience. You really got to understand, like how big the area is you're going into. Um, you don't want to walk in on anyone. You want to just kind of think of I don't want to ruin someone's hunt. The best thing you can do if you're somewhere and you run into someone in the woods, talk to each other. This has happened so many times with me. I've been in a trailhead. Okay, it's the one hit trailhead. It goes and access is five hundred different areas. You know. I don't own that trailhead because I got there first. And I don't own that trailhead because I got their fifteen. Um, what I do is, we're all here, we're all hunting, we're all trying to enjoy ourselves and have a good time, and I don't want to upset anyone else's hunt. But I also want to have an enjoyable trip myself. So you think about those things. You think about the area you're going into. Is there enough room for two people, if there is cool, if are you gonna be able to figure out where that other person went? Yes? Or no? You know that person that's the head, you might have an advantage, but you know, there's been so many times where I walked into a guy coming down to trail, I walk up three yards, passed them my spotted milk. You know, just because someone else is up there doesn't mean that they see what you see. Doesn't mean that they're gonna things happen, things move, things change. So, um, I wouldn't necessarily say that. You know, you can't go to where other people are at, but you also want to be very courteous of each other, everybody, the people that came in behind you, and the people or whatever. So this is my kind of gentleman's rule that I have. If somebody is somewhere where they're ahead of me or got there first, and I run into them, I asked them, hey, what's your plan? What do you guys thinking of doing? We want to stay out of your way, um, which is a courteous thing to do. And they'll say, hey, well we're thinking about going up here and into this basin. I'll say, okay, cool, here's what now I will do. If it's the same plan I was gonna have. I'm gonna readjust and say, oh, that'll be a really good hunt for you. We were thinking and doing that same thing. But you know what we're gonna do. We're gonna go this way and will that stay out of your way? Yes? No, whatever. Now if the other person is being a jerk about it, you know, sometimes you just go and do and have your hunt and leave and say have a good day. There's other times where I have run into people and know where are you guys going? Uh, I'm gonna go up here? Okay, we'll give you leave you to that spot, And I go, hey, you know what, um there, I saw elk here the other night. Why don't we both try to go get an elk out here? You know, if you guys want um you know, generally like the person that's kind of leading thing. Okay, I'll get first shot and you know, you guys can whatever. Yeah, yeah, that's great. I mean I have I have helped people that I've run into pack out animals. I've helped people um hunt. There's times where I've seen something and it wasn't something that I wanted to take, but kind of pointed them in a direction. So just talking to each other, being civil and understanding they're fellow hunters. They're out there. It's not a real you know, just be common courtesy and you should be fine. And I think if everybody kind of keeps that in mind, the woods will be a much more harmonious place and we'll all get along. And then we want to have to make all these rules to block certain people out Idaho. Just just kidding. This question comes from Renee. It says Hi, remy new fans on of the podcast here. I think you give great advice. My question is what would you say is the most important to work towards your first when you're starting to plan towards anilk hunting trip. My brother and I went to plan a trip and I'm starting from ground zero. I'm having a hard time trying to figure out where to start as far as gathering gear, tweaking my bow, practicing, shooting, et cetera. With the amount of knowledge that's the unfrail hunting, it starts to get a bit overwhelming. Thanks in advance if you have time for my question, big fan, that's a great question. I think the first place you start is just narrowing in where do you want, find a place to hunt, get a tag, and honestly, you know, everybody, what's the best state for a first ltcount where wherever is fairly close to you and you can get a tag. I mean, it doesn't really matter. Um if you have a tag in your hand, it's gonna be your hunt and then you can start worrying about all the other stuff. I really think too many people are just stressed out about where do I go? Where do I go? Where do I go? Instead of just get go somewhere, Get get that portion of the trip planned, because that's gonna be the first step. Now you can start investing time into whatever area it is. You know, I think a lot of people go, oh, I want to hunt where you're hunting because you're very successful there. It means absolutely you know, if I spent the same amount of time some other place, that would be the good hunt for me. You know, there are areas that are better than others. But I don't necessarily get wrapped up in that. I find a place I want to hunt, and I hunt it, and I invest that time into that. Everything else will then fall into place. So the first step step one always get the tag, Get the spot that you're gonna go to. You whether or decide how you're gonna do it, you know you gotta There's only certain amount of over the counter tags available, so get one of those and and pick a spot, and then start researching that spot, start figuring out where you're gonna go, start looking over those maps, and then you start, as it gets closer, building out the gear and all the meanwhile building up your fitness and practicing with whatever you're gonna shoot. And I think if you do those things in that order, you're gonna have a successful trip, and if you're unsuccessful, you're gonna learn a lot of cool stuff along the way, and you're gonna probably readjust for the next time you do it. But just plunging in right now, figure out where you can get a tag. By that tag, and then invest into it. The other stuff that you're gonna need will all kind of fall into place. The hardest steps the first one, and that's just once you've got that tag, now you've got somewhere to go and you can get it all figured out, all right. Last question here comes from Tray. He says, Remy, my wife and I just did three night pack in deer hunt in Texas, UH and had a great time. We went seven miles in and had to carry all our water since there is none available to where we were. I feel like we've packed light and we still had a hundred pounds between us forty two pounds of it or Watermind you, I saw a really good buck, but wasn't as aggressive because I couldn't imagine us getting it back out. Even on the hike back after we had dumped the extra water weight, I kept thinking, there's no way I could have had an entire You're on me back? Did we just go too far in? I'd love to hear your tips and suggestions on planning and executing packouts. Thanks, love the show. That's a great question. So, I mean, my my philosophy on this is probably different than a lot of people's because when I go in, I kind of have this mindset that like, nothing's too far. So if I see a deer then I'm like, Okay, that's a really long ways away. I'm absolutely gonna get after it, and I'm gonna try to be successful because that's my opportunity. Um, the way I think about it, it it is like, let's say I got an elk down way back in there whatever. It's like, okay, yeah, it might be days getting it out or what have you. But there's also not like you gotta you're gonna have to. You're gonna keep hunting, You're gonna keep expending energy. Once you get something down, you know, now your energy is just getting that out. So it's kind of like a trade off, like you can keep hunting, but um, do you know you're using that energy now to to get something out. I think of it like maybe you went in if it's if you're new to it and you're like, oh, this is so far. One thing you'll figure out is like it's difficult, but you'll probably get it done, or you will get it done. Sometimes it might take multiple trips. Um. You know, I I a lot of the places I hunt carrying water sucks. Um, what I would have done on that particular thing is said, like, okay, this is very difficult. I think what I would have done is done. I would have stashed a lot of my water, like say at the end where the deer is or whatever, and just done a couple of stages. Um, you're clearly far enough where you're camping, so I would have you know, one day, packed my deer, uh like back to camp and then maybe a mile pass camp, then set the deer back, then kind of leap frogged it with the water in different stations, so I'd have my water to get out, and by the last trip, I've got my gear and the deer and it's probably maybe like one last push to the vehicle the last two or three miles with all my stuff. So I would have probably figured out a plan like that. Um, if you if you if you see something like that and you're like, Okay, that's too far, I don't know how I'd get it out, then I probably wouldn't have spent my time hunting in that area if I had that, you know, if that makes sense, like where you're like, okay, it's gonna be if we see one back here, we weren't gonna be able to get it out. I just wouldn't hunt back there. Then I would instead spend my time hunting where it's like, I know I can get one out, because you're kind of wasting your time almost looking for animals that you aren't going to go after when maybe there's not as many animals somewhere where you can get them out. Easily. But you're probably better off looking in those areas and not seeing anything than seeing something that you're like, I'm not going to take that out. Um. So that's why over the years, I've just developed this mindset that nothing's too far. Um. I've really really really had some like I've had some horrible packouts. I mean I've had packouts like I mean, I could probably hundreds of packouts that I think that really really sucked. It taxed me to my physical limits. But I also put myself in that situation and because of it, I was success full and pretty stoked to them and end up doing it. But I understand to like, if you're just getting into it, maybe next time, like start out not going so far, go to place where it's like okay, maybe a mile or two or three, and and then hunting in that area because you can find those places that are closer within your limits, and then you know, working into it that way. I think that that's a better option than just going like balls out and then being back there and being like, no, this isn't gonna work. Because I've there's been hunts where I've been on and I've like get back to the trailhead. I'm like, wow, man, I would have sucked if I had to carry something from back there. But I think me personally, I would have done it. Um, So I don't think that. I just think it's one of those things like planning your hunt a little bit better next time, where you kind of know, like, Okay, this is a lot harder than you think. And now I also have to ahead of time factor and getting something out and then hunting those areas where you can get those things out so you don't have to pass up something because it's in a place that's gonna be difficult to pack out from. And that's my suggestion. I hope that some of those questions help you guys out. Uh. Next week, we're gonna jump into a few more stories hopefully some tips that uh, you know, help you for some more later season hunting. I'm looking forward to this coming next year. Maybe some you know, some of the stuff, the questions and suggestions. I got some more late season stuff, a lot of small game questions, a lot of people requesting more tips on duck hunting and other things. I know I've talked about some duck hunting and only done one duck hunting episode. I'm actually on my way to go do some duck hunting up off of Kodiak Island. My dad drew an Emperor Goose tag, so I'm really looking forward to that that's gonna be later this season. Some of the hunts that I I've still got some some of my best hunts I think for the year coming up, So Kodiak deer and ducks, and then archery meal deer tag. I still got a late season archery meal their tag, and then I've got that um Texas tag. Might even throw in some couzy deer uh in the Arizona area. A lot of cool late season hunts still coming up for me, So I'm really looking forward to some of this stuff. I know the holidays are coming up and it's just gonna be kind of weird this year with like COVID and everything like that. But hopefully, you know, maybe some people can get out and if you if you're a big game hunter and haven't done a lot of small game hunting, maybe this is a good year to to take that time where you can get out and do some outdoor activities with some people, uh and and try something new or if you're new to hunting. I think there's a lot of awesome small game opportunities, a lot of great stuff. I would say call it late season hunting, but there's a lot of great hunts still available from December through January, even maybe into February depending on where you live. So a lot of cool things to look forward to. UM. As always, please feel free to send me your suggestions. You can reach out Remy at the meat Eater dot com or UM probably the easiest way because I've got all these hunts and traveling on, moving around and outside whatever. UM via Instagram. You can always follow some of my stuff on there, and yes, I appreciate you guys. Thank you for checking it out, and we'll catch you shortly. M